justjoseph said:

Imo the shure se215s are a outdated product. Many good earphones have popped up with in the past 1-2 years which have rendered them obsolete in terms of sound quality-price ratio. Reviews which praise its sound quality tend to be old reviews dating a few years back or are by reviewers who have not heard its recent competitors. For example, LZ Z03A which cost 24USD has better sound quality. Filo EX1 at 69 USD also destroys it. I feel that you should only buy them if they're on sale, if you like the sound signature A LOT or if you prioritize comfort and durability over sound quality. 

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sparkonshore said:

There are no outdated headphones. Only cheese can be outdated, not headphones. If you like the audio signature 3 years ago, you like it forever. Sound is not fashion to fit you one year and get over with 2 years later. We don't buy new headphones every 2 or 3 years my friend. If a sound is good it's good, that's all. Now regarding SE215, tell me if the LZ and the something Filo have such lush and detailed mids while having such punchy and deep bass as well, such separation of the two, such cable quality, such unbelievable comfortable over ear wearing way which avoids every microphonic and thus cable gets out of the way, such detachable cable, such isolatiothe 215'sn and comfort and such unbreakable built quality and sweat resistance in such price!!! Well No, and you know what? No other iem still has such combination...

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justjoseph said:

Sorry I wasn't specific enough about my usage of the term "outdated". For an IEM to have staying power, it must have a good sq for its price relative to its current competitors, and a "good" sound signature that is able to please a considerable number of people. Iems like the ER4 series are considered relevant despite their 30 year old age because they have a "good" sound sig in terms of accuracy unachieved by its competitors. 

In this regard, I deem the se215s outdated. Their sound quality is medicore compared with today's offerings. Have you heard the LZs or the Filos yourself? They are just few of many iems that thrash the 215s in price/sq ratio. You'll be surprised at how good chinese iems are for their cost. The 215s sounds muddy compared to its competitors. Moving on, sound signature is subjective, but it can be agreed that the 215's sound sig is nothing exceptional or outstanding unlike ER4's accuracy etc that can cause the 215s poor sq to be ignored. I don't know about lushness, but the lz and filos do have detailed mids and punchy deep bass with good separation. 

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sparkonshore said:

There is no other who does mids like Shure. All these iems are good v shaped sig. But there are no front mids, no loudspeaker experience like the one that Shure can offer. For you 215 is muddy. For me and many others, what you call muddy is a rich sound, without the fatiguing and sibilant tremble of many V shaped iems. Even though I have other iems and headphones, I keep on loving this lushness and live sound natural presentation of the 215....To each his own...Its no surprise that the big Shure is still keeping its lines in production...

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williamleonhart said:

Can't say it better. 

As someone who was wowed by similar-priced earphones like the S4 or the Vsonic GR07, I later came to realize that all of these put a lot of efforts into trebles, thus giving impressions of better soundstage and accuracy. However, as a Grado and Audio Technica fans looking for mid range in an entry-level IEM, my choice was the SE215. It's almost a rule of physics. The lusher mids are, the less soundstage you'll get. At least in cheap IEMs.

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justjoseph said:

I get what you mean about enhanced treble being able to make an earphones sound more detailed. However, the tk13s just destroy the 215s in sound quality. The huge difference is purely technical and not due to tuning giving it a perceived "better performance. To put it into perspective, Tk13s have a sound quality better than 425s, almost reaching the se535 level of sound quality. So that's what I mean by the 215s sounding muddy compared to tk13s, by listening to them you can easily tell which one has better sound quality. Tk13s also has rolled off trebles btw so it doesn't sound fatiguing.
Like I said, only get 215s only if you really really like the sound signature. For just 30 bucks more, you can get the mee audio pinnacle p1 which has sound quality equal to se535, comes with a detachable high quality silver cable and can be worn both over and in ear. Nowadays shure provides a poor price - performance ratio. It's like choosing between 2iems, with difference sound signatures, but one sounds like it cost 2-3 times more than the other one.

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sparkonshore said:

You are trying to generalize your personal and 100% subjective opinion which is not a correct approach. You write that it destroys the 215, that it gives a better performance etc. According to whom? This is your subjective opinion, it's not some kind of audio rule, isn't it? For your info someone who likes 215 will never like 425 and 535 because they are quite bass light. The only 2 Shures that present acceptable low frequency response are 215 and 846. So it doesn't mean anything that your headphone sounds better than 425 since 425 is worst than 215 for what I like. Then again this is my personal opinion. Also in the real world, technical differences are not so important, but tuning differences mean the most. BA iems are technically superior than many dynamics but I dislike most of them due to lack of natural presence, too analytical and tiring audio etc. Shure combine many positive factors, are very durable, very comfortable and have wonderful full and warm mids...

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justjoseph said:

Sound signature is subjective, but sound quality tends to be not subjective. I'm saying the Tk13s destroys the 215s in terms of sound quality, which I mean technical performance. Tk13s has much much better soundstage, instrument separation, detail in the low mids highs etc. If you listen to them in person there's a very high chance that you'll agree with me.
Yes, I agree with you that tuning differences are important. However you have to look at the price range of the iems. At mid to high ranges eg 250usd and above, the technical differences tend to be very small due to diminishing returns. Hence more people pay attention to the tuning. But at the sub 100 usd entry iem price range, technical differences can be HUGE. You are one of those that like forward mids so much that you're willing to give up quite a huge amount of sound quality. Like I said, one should only get 215 if they like forward mids A LOT. That is why I feel that the 215s should not be recommended unless the user has a strong liking for forward mids or wants their iems to be indestructible.

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williamleonhart said:

I think you got it all wrong. Sound signature is not subjective, because I have never heard 2 people describe the same headphones as having different sound signatures. You wouldn't find anywhere that anyone is gonna describe the 215 as having thin mids.
Now sound quality is clearly subjective. You can find people trashing the DT880, HD650, K701, 325is etc. And yet all of them are popular to many many people.
I wouldn't vouch for comparison between the 215 and its bigger-number siblings, which honeslty I think do not follow the same sound signature. You are relying too much on those things you call "technical performance", but how technical can you get without a graph? Now, onto the matter of graphs, I have seen people reacted very differently to the same graph (in other words, the same sound). The O2 amp, technically perfect as it is, is not the favorite choice of EVERY person on earth. 
I've had Chinese IEMs that I (thought that I) prefered to the 215, in the end I'd still return to Shure. It's just a journey to find the best IEMs that I can have at less than $99 (which is now no longer the Shure, but the Grado iGe). Those Chinese IEMs have serious wow factor. But whether the impressions and the products themselves last for long is another matter.

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williamleonhart said:

  No matter what color they won't look as good as when they arrive. And yep clear would stay clear, just a bit more muddled. Same as black. I have both, the clear one have gone through a lot of abuse.

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williamleonhart said:

I think I should have gone with the blue LTD lol

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