Thinking about buying the Shure SE530's

The shures are definitely a great set of iems & i'd see no reason why you couldn't enjoy your music collection on them. Make sure you read a few reviews (or better yet try them out) detailing their warm/dark sound sig before you splash out.

You may of already seen this thread as its current now, but just in case you've not or overlooked it: //http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f103/difference-shure-se-earphones-340527/

May make you reconsider buying the flagship first!

I enjoyed the older entry level E2C for a while, then REALLY enjoyed the E4 but I am very dissapointed in the entire SE line-up except the SE530. It destroys the rest of the line-up by a longshot. Some here had high regard for the dual driver SE420 but I returned it within 2 days and ended up buying SE530 a second time after getting bored and selling it (idiot) once before. Can't go wrong. Go ahead and splurge...they are great IEM's. You will get upgradeitis very quickly with anything else in the line-up.

Fair enough, it was only a suggestion. You're your own person and if thats not what appeals or makes sense to you then its your call mate! I have the SE530's but I've only recently aquired them so have yet to reach any major conclusions on them, sound signature wise, though they are impressive, instantly, in their sound quality, producing a thick, full-bodied, robust, heavy sound, that is dark but warm and endearing. It is polarised at the low-end, however, which I'm sure, with you saying you've read many reviews on the hp's, you've become aware of. The bass is big in quantity, with a boom and feel, but is also accurate, extensive, detailed and defined. High quality bass, but slightly dominaeering over the rest of the sound spectrum. Part of the reason for this is also because there is a significant treble roll-off.This to me gives the visualisation of a very vertically squashed soundstage, though the width of it, for IEM's is impressive. I find the instruement separation very good and magnificantly clear from these phones, this and weight of sound the only qualities, at this early stage, I adjudge the SE530's to out-do my SA6's on. I am analysing and picking apart the sound signature critically here but I will say that what I'm hit with overall I find hard to dislike. In fact, I find it very pleasing to listen to! Sound assessment aside, these phones are aesthetically and ergomically very impressive, looking great, comfy and relatively easy to insert/achieve a seal with. Thats my input of what these IEM's are like. Hope it helps somewhat. As to the question are they worth the cash plunge, I'd say yes, but you may also want to check out the Ultimate Ears Triple Fi Pro's and the SA6 which have different sound signatures you may be more attracted to.

I bought the SE420 and literally returned it to 2 days. I found it quite disappointing at its price. It did sound strangely pleasant to listen to though, but it wasn't $350 pleasant.

Lots of opinions, but I agree with your decision to begin with the IEM you believe will satisfy you. I pretty much agree with BloodSugar's assessment, and have found the SE530 to be satisfying for IEMs across all music genres.

Enjoy!

I think Shure SE310 is also a very good IEM - I prefer it to Shure E4. Actually, I think the SE310s would work better than SE530s for low powered/low quality sources like cheap portables and built in computer audio. The SE530s really need a clean and powerful output to shine.

when using an ipod and low encoded files you don't have to spend so much, you won't hear the diffirence. the 420's deliver almost the same sound quality.

me i love my se530's but i found that when using high end end gear with low end sources you get really anoyed by the flaws the iems reveal in your source, it ruines your listening pleasure so when using low bitrates coupled with an ipod i'd really reccomend the se210's, they deliver really great music for a low price(they sound about the same as the se310's) and i think it will be alot more pleasant for you to listen to on that source than a 530

Personally, I don't recommend the SE210s if you have the money to buy 310s. The 210s have extremely rolled off upper highs, which makes them sound quite dark and dull The SE310s, on the other hand, have good extension on the highs without much roll-off, which makes them sound significantly livelier than SE210.

Congratulations on your choice! However, if I were you and aspirng to do what you are within music, professionally, I might look into a high-end headphone or IEM that covers the bass, mids, and trebles of your sound spectrum more. I'm sure you must have to consider the high parts of songs/compositions as much as mids and bass and the SE530's do have quite a significant treble roll off. Just a thought. For personal listening they're great but not sure if they are gona be satisfactory when used in studios etc.