The last 3 pairs of headphones I had have been Sennheisers (CX300s twice, then CX500s) and now I want some new ones, but I want to get some Shures instead, as I've heard good things about them, and I tried some at a friends (can't remember the model now), and they sounded great.
 
I understand they're more expensive than Sennheisers, but are they worth it? How's the build quality as well, as Sennheisers always seem to go quiet, then dead in one of the ears after a few months. I'm looking for something under £80 if possible, maybe £100?
 
Thanks.
 
Oh, also I'll be using them with my laptop and phone (HTC Hero), not sure if that makes any difference (I assume it only makes a difference with high end headphones?)

Keep those generalisation of Sennheiser to its CX range. Bump that £100 to £120 and you're in IE7 territory. Win awaits you there.
 
As for Shure FWIR, the SE210 and SE320 sound almost identical, if you're going for Shure save yourself £20 with the SE210.
From experience I can say that the SE420's are atrocious, you might as well go for the SE115, which are equally uninteresting but with a smaller pricetag.

Shure se210's are utterly dull and flat sounding,hopelessly overpriced and uncomfortable as hell.

couldnt disagree more w/ the above 2 posts. Shures are good (probably my favorite iem line currently) but it takes some time to appreciate their unique sound sig (especially coming from bass-heavy iems like the Senns). The SE210 & SE310 do NOT sound identical, regardless of what many inexperienced listeners will tell you. They are a bit similar, but not identical. The bass of the 310s is MUCH fuller & extends lower than the 210's (read Headroom's freq resp graph comparing the two). Overall, I much preferred the 310's to 210s.
 
Once you step up to the 420's, the mid-range becomes much more lush & quick. Bass is also a bit more powerful & treble is slightly better. Not a huge difference in treble between 310's & 420's, but it's there. The biggest difference will be mids & mid-bass. Soundstage is also slightly improved.
 
The SE530's have THE single greatest mid-range I've heard on an IEM, w/ more bass presence, treble definition & soundstage. The midrange is only slightly better on the 530 than the 420, but bass, treble & soundstage improves quite a bit. They sound excellent, but are a little less flat & more 'exciting' than the SE420's (some may consider this a bad thing or good thing depending on the perspective).
 
Overall, they're all good IEM's, and Shure seems to be the one brand I keep coming back to (I'm currently re-discovering my SE420's ) Just give them some time before deciding that the bass is anemic. Immediately coming from Sennheisers, it will seem like the Shures are bass-light, but once you get used to them, you'll be grinning at how low they really dig. Good Luck!

I've got quite a few CX's, but I have to say that initially the Shure's were a shock, but after a while I quite liked them. How's about the Westone UM1?