Hifiman RE-272 & Shure SE-535

i couldn't find a good se 535 to re 272 comparison, so here it is

some points that I noted 

properties of sonic acoustics: 

clarity : both have the same amount of clarity though I'll have to favour the re-272s mainly coz of its 'analytical/lean' presentation and clean sound

soundstage : the re 272s have a slightly better soundstage in my opinion, though i haven't really put a whole lot of time into distinguishing them by height,width etc.

the shures stage is rather disoriented and all over the place -   but this might be a monitoring perspective but if you take the sheer size of it, i find the se 535s to have bigger stage which is easily noticeable. 

bass : the shures seem to have a better rendition of the lower registers. the re 272s lack any actual bass body/texture in comparison. i find the bass of the shures to be near perfect for me

mids : the shures have an amazing resolution of the mids mainly coz of the mid centric signature. the mids are a bit too forward on the 535s causing some details to be smudged in the back ground . the mids on the re 272s are equally resolved however the mids are not as forward but forward still. 

treble : the shures reproduce the upper frequencies in an average manner. however the re 272s excel in everythin the shures lack here  :-  space, decay, extension ,clarity etc. 

guitar harmonics and cymbals are showcased with decay and crispness in the 272s, however the shures just show them as shrill sounds and dont resolve these upper sound profiles 

speed : even though balanced armatures are supposed to be faster, i find the re 272s keep up the clarity and air irrespective of the how fast the music is ; unlike the 535s that loses a bit of clarity and the texture of details fall behind the mids or rather into the mids

presentation : the re 272s are absolute stunners when it comes to presentation. the shures are not down in the dump or anything, the mids of the shures are absolutely brilliant and wow you with its mid clarity and lush sound but to a growing audio-enthusiast the clarity and presentation of the re 272s will be preferred over the shures.

non-sonic properties:

build and microphonics: the build on the shures are way better than the re 272s and offer more reliability . niether are noticeably microphonic but the re 272s are very much so when worn cable down.

comfort : the re 272s have a minute housing and are much more comfortable 

isolation : the shures isolate extremely well(like your telephone ringing right in front of you, and all you can listen is music), the re 272s not much but still appreciable

thank you for reading/ignoring this 

the re 272s are too perfect for me and i am more into electronic music which is not their true forte... ...however my occasional listening of necrophagist , brett garsed , mozart etc do make me crave for them.. d&bass sounds outright bad on these.. but i dont think these phones are made for it ...

hence i ll keep the shures  ... now that there are lotsa after market cable options that im willing to take up.. besides the se 535s  are too pricey which forces me to keep them!! 

thank you for reading...

i am not sure if you know this already, but i jotted somethings down which might make it easier for you to get a picture of the se 535 sound in terms of re 272s signature ..

(removed previous comparison table to include gh-erc-dms)

 i dont find the re 272s to have any 'analytical' signature whatsoever, they are very musical to me, however the shures are even more musical, but if analytical means technically capable then yes they are very very much so

please also note that i don't have much of a reference, other than the 2 iems serving as reference to each other .. 

but as far as soundstage is concerned the mdr ex 1000 beats both , and with regards to speed i can only imagine the higher possibility of faster iems! 

now for the scale of detail, where the shures lack detail(treble) the re 272s pick up and where the re 272s lack detail(bass) the shures pick up, hence neither are 5/5. 

thank you for your time and attention

cheers

this seems to be a combination opted by many.

thanks for sharing.

Quote:

An apt Shure / Hifiman comparison could be the SE-535 and RE-262; the latter known for it's mids as is the former. Add purchase price to the comparison as well. 

i've not heard the re 262 and probably never will as im not very interested in them.

and yes the price of the se 535 is double that of the re 272!! so its not really worth it... i got the se 535 as a gift from my father but if i had to pay such a premium price i would make sure its a custom or something like the ck 100 pro(most beautiful iems i've seen to date)

just a small update i thought of sharing..
 

i got a 6n ofhc silver plated copper cable for the se 535.... and glad to let you know that theres a small but noticeable improvement in sound... 

1. theres definitely a bit more grab of detail here .... like take the song 'wayfaring stranger' by jamie woon and mixed by burial .. theres a complete beat that was missing with the stock

2. in songs like drowning by brett garsed ...i found better cymbal decay with the new cable...

im very poor at defining sonic space ... and will take nearly a 3 or 4 hours to clearly explain it ..so im letting this aspect go ... 

clarity remains the same if not better ... detail has increased noticeably and instrument seperation is better as well ... 

now for the amp !!!! 

Lately I got my hands on DBA-02/B2 clones by a Japanese PC accessory manufacturer Greenhouse for which I thought I should share my thoughts

Greenhouse GH-ERC-DMS (GH) impressions in comparison to the 2 above

#detail - GH>=RE-272>=SE-535 with SPC cable

#micro detail - RE-272>=GH>SE-535 with SPC cable

#speed - RE-272>=GH>>SE-535 with SPC cable

#clarity - SE-535 with SPC cable=RE-272>=GH

#soundstage - SE-535 with SPC cable>GH>RE-272

#sq - SE-535 with SPC cable=RE-272>>GH

#transients - RE272>GH>SE-535

#seperation - GH>=SE-535>RE-272

Sub-bass  - SE535>GH>>RE-272

Mid-bass  -  SE-535>=GH>>RE-272

Mids - SE-535>=GH>RE-272

Treble - RE-272>=GH>>SE-535

Build - SE-535>>RE-272>=GH

Microphonics - SE-535>GH>>RE-272

Preference Genre Wise

Electronica - SE-535>GH>RE-272

Jazz - GH>RE-272>>SE-535

Death Metal - RE-272>=GH>SE-535

Classical - RE-272>=GH>SE-535

Best all rounders are easily the GH, followed by the SE-535 and the RE-272s.. as they have good bass body, superb mid-bass(even more than the SE-535s) and amazing speed at the same time. 

The SE-535 have disorganized and shy treble in comparison to the other 2 but the best sounding bass and forward Mids that contribute to the overall amazing clarity. However this clarity dies away with faster music like Jazz, Technical Death Metal etc.

The RE-272s have 'anorexic' bass and are highly technical sounding in comparison to the other 2.

Micro-detail wise the GH can only be compared to the RE-272s and the SE-535s don't even come into the picture.

The GH are very musical, have great speed, clarity and transients to my ears. They are much more 'neutral' than the SE-535s in my opinion.

What suffers with the GH is the slight bass distortion in the sub-bass(in comparison to the SE-535) and the 'sss' and 'ttt' in lyrics(if any) like the word 'statue' can sound piercing at higher volumes.