goodvibes said:

I'm convinced! LOL Yours has been an ongoing theme.

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shigzeo said:

I hon
i honestly don't think Shure could sell it for 500$ - that is unless they intended to take a serious loss in order to strong arm the market into their camp.

This earphone has so many extremely fiddly, intricate parts that had to be mad expensive to implement.

The air of this thread is a bit confusing: had the SE846 been a custom-cum universal like the 334, its 1.000$ would make more sense?

I think you have to put this thing in your hand and in your ears. Then you'll see. It isn't another universal. It isn't a custom-cum universal. It's something else. Maybe the market isn't ready for it yet.

But I don't think that will last long. Portable hi-end audio has grown beyond the simple landscape of customs and high end portable amps.

Partially it is because our portables are getting better. We no longer necessarily need amps to get on with the sensitive earphones. All-in one units obviate the need for complicated set ups.

And earphones: the non-custom is rolling in. The SE846 really is a game changer. The market won't be the same after this.

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music_4321 said:

This is the last I'm saying on the subject, but I could say quite a bit more which is not related to SQ, re-sale value, refits and often extra expenses involving customs.

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currawong said:

Back to impressions. My last one was that the sound was one one track with vocals and instruments all-together somewhat of a blob with a lack of space between instruments, I don't remember anything particularly good about the soundstage in any direction otherwise. I more remember that they aren't as dark and "rolled-off"-sounding at the 535s are.  Maybe a good description of the sound would be to say they sound like the universal demos of a custom IEM, that is: almost right, but not quite 100%.
 
Maybe because I spend time speaking to engineers who have to spend countless hours designing and testing these things (which costs money) I think it's unfair to harp on about the price, because if they can't get a return on their effort a company will be less likely to approve radical R&D projects in the future. The SE846s definitely have some radical engineering in them.

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currawong said:

Back to impressions. My last one was that the sound was one one track with vocals and instruments all-together somewhat of a blob with a lack of space between instruments, I don't remember anything particularly good about the soundstage in any direction otherwise. I more remember that they aren't as dark and "rolled-off"-sounding at the 535s are.  Maybe a good description of the sound would be to say they sound like the universal demos of a custom IEM, that is: almost right, but not quite 100%.
 
Maybe because I spend time speaking to engineers who have to spend countless hours designing and testing these things (which costs money) I think it's unfair to harp on about the price, because if they can't get a return on their effort a company will be less likely to approve radical R&D projects in the future. The SE846s definitely have some radical engineering in them.

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1. What striked me the most was the excellent upper bass/mids/highs integration. Couldn't hear anything disjointed, it's as if this was one same driver doing the whole range.
2. Another thing I liked a lot was the total lack of shrillness and compression. I suspect these have rather low distortion until quite loud levels (and that was a particular improvement vs. the SE535 I listened to just afterward).

1. I'd need more treble or less bass for my liking. Basically, I loved how effortless and well integrated they sounded but the bass quantity is just too much for my taste. It's not a bass that steps over the mid/upper bass region but it feels boosted more than necessary (from the iphone, using these tips and neutral filter).
2. However, once I used Currawong's pico power (and bypassing the iphone dac by going through an HPP1), the tonal balance was much better, just fine for me I suspect (would need much more time to tell for sure). I guess this made me feel it's a bit of a waste to spend 1k on such earphone to drive it straight from an iPhone. On the other hand, I can't stand carrying more than an iphone...
3. As for the bass quality, I felt it went low with a LOT of impact (kick drums were particularly spooky). I felt it could be a bit more taught however when driven from the iphone (no sure with the pico power). As I said above, the issue for me was mostly the quantity (I heard 2 different samples, both prototypes, and I felt the second one was a bit more balanced, so maybe this may change by the time they hit production?).
4. What makes me feel the bass may be too much is that the perceived treble energy was a bit low (that's coming from the 009 rig though), yet the sound was absolutely not lacking in "micro-details". It gave a lot of depth to the music playing because I could year the room cues.

music_4321 said:

eke,

This is how I see it: The problem is not so much whether Shure chooses to charge $1,000 or $2,000 for this product but, like with many other very expensive products, it's the fact that people will want it, so in the case of the SE846 we have all the buzz now… and when the hype is in full swing… Already this thread (started only 2 days ago) has 20,000 views (!).

You speak of a trend where manufacturers are now charging astronomical sums for these products — true, but, but, BUT, by the same token, there are now plenty of $50-$200 IEMs that are delivering fantastic sonics — hey, the new £25 EarPods (by that most awful company known as Apple) sound great to these ears, have excellent build quality, a very flexible, durable & absolutely non-microphonic cable, and are more comfortable than most IEMs I own, and certainly healthier for the ears than most non-vented (mostly BA-based) IEMs because the ears can breathe (!); yes, they don't isolate, but that's the nature of canal phones. But hey, it's Apple and only £25 (or less) — ie if you're a 'true' head-fier / audiophile, you've got to hate Apple, bash Apple's earbuds, Beats, Bose, etc.

Now, at least the customs madness / craze has gone down quite a bit after quite a few horror stories and the fact that more and more people also started reporting that the sonic merits of customs weren't quite what they thought they were — but you still get plenty of exaggeration, hype, expectation bias, etc., and sometimes said exaggeration is simply the result of a different sound signature, much like many sound sigs found on cheap / expensive universals. Customs may still be the best option for some, but they clearly aren't for many — many people still ignore quite a few downsides about customs.

Now, look at all the attention the $500 made-in-Japan EX1000 got (originally priced at $800 in Japan), while its $150 made-in-Thailand EX600 sibling didn't get even half of it, and naturally so when people often described the sonic differences between both models as being massive, when in actual fact the differences were VERY small and even the Japanese-made EX1000's housings had build issues not found on the Thailand-made EX600 (!). I've mentioned before how great-sounding the FI-BA-SB is, yet all the attention seems to always go to the much more expensive FI-BA-SS.
 
Now, look at all those veeeery expensive aftermarket cables, some costing $500+ / $1,000+; I still remember many describing the EX1000 cable as vastly superior sonically to the EX600 cable when, in fact, there were no real audible sonic differences between both cables.

Only today someone had this to say about the $1,300 ($1,500 in Europe) AKG K3003 they auditioned: "In a direct comparison I actually preferred the JVC FXD70 over the K3003. This is an in-ear you can get for 50 USD from Japan. The cable on the FXD70 felt better and the build quality about the same." That's not to say the poster is right or wrong, but simply that to him the K3003s weren't even as good as his $50 JVCs.

No matter how many times one states that there is something very, very real known as "the law of diminishing returns", the fact remains that many people will still prefer to ignore said fact / law, go with the hype, the marketing and all the (often obscure) audio jargon that goes with it that so impresses many (and not just noobs). Then there's also something known as snake oil... or things like "If you have X phone, you've got to listen to lossless files", when what matters most is the actual recording / mastering quality of the music more than the bitrate.
 
And there's more......

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shotgunshane said:

Mass produced items of any kind require markedly greater start up costs than fulfill and go, low volume products. These start up costs require large sums cash or debt to initiate. The profit isn't realized until months or years down the road. A minimum quantity must be built and sold before the first dollar is made. Budgets created, contracts signed, parts ordered, warehouse space leased, equipment purchased and installed, vendors trained, marketing materials bought and distributed, shippers contracted and employees salaries and health care and taxes paid. There is no magic mass produced light switch that is flipped for instant profit and lucrative revenues. It's a calculated gamble, a risk taken in a volatile and flooded market. Then there are those head-fi guys on the Internet to deal with. They can be a surly crowd. Time to hire a social networking PR staff. Are we raking in the dollars hand over fist yet?

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