[rmiller511]

BTW - thanks for the  PMs, guys.  Very appreciated.

 

[Seamaster]

You should get the westone true fit tips. I did a comparison between them and the comply foam tips with wax guard, and played One Republic's 'If that's what you wanted' and the initial bass slaps is evidently present and felt while using the westone truefit tips while the comply foam tips only gave me a light spackle or devoid of subtle reverberations. So yeah, the Westone True Fit tips are a go! I got them in red, my ear hole needs much filling. Hope this helps!

 
 

You should get the westone true fit tips. I did a comparison between them and the comply foam tips with wax guard, and played One Republic's 'If that's what you wanted' and the initial bass slaps is evidently present and felt while using the westone truefit tips while the comply foam tips only gave me a light spackle or devoid of subtle reverberations. So yeah, the Westone True Fit tips are a go! I got them in red, my ear hole needs much filling. Hope this helps!

 
I agree with above, the "star" true fit tip sound much better in every way than Shure tips. 

 

[Audiowood]

I've been a proud owner of the shure se535 for almost 3 years now - and they were my initial venture into high end IEMs. At first, the 535s didn't wow me but over time, I grew to appreciate them -alot! With the release of the se846, it has definitely piqued my interest. Having read several reviews on owners who owned both the se535s and se846s, they noted that there were vast improvements, even on the initial listen. I'm just wondering if it is worth to dish out 1 grand for another pair of magical cans? Is the difference between these two IEMs night and day? Really appreciate if anyone could reply to this. Thank you!

 
Its worth it for me. I have been listening E500 all the way to Se535 and the SE846 makes the greatest improvement. The biggest differences is we have a choice of 3 filters that will alter the sound to your preferences. For me, I find the SE535 and all their previous model a little roll off on both end but I kept coming back simply because the vocal is so creamy and lush. Finally after all these years, Shure finally "fix" it by offering the white filter and now the bass extend all the way down and deep while treble becomes airier giving some space for certain instrument to "breathe" better, and at the same time maintaining that wonderful romantic vocal that so many audiophile came to love it. The SE846 finally deliver what it takes to be a high end IEM rivalling some of very best out there.
 
Its so good even Steve G from CNET rated it the best he ever heard, and he had heard a lot in his professional career including the latest CIEM Roxanne from Jh audio.
 
Overall I would say the 535 is a rough diamond waiting to be refine further on both frequency end and the 846 is their finished product.
 
 
 
So in short, I will pull the trigger again and again.

 

[Casp1986]

Its worth it for me. I have been listening E500 all the way to Se535 and the SE846 makes the greatest improvement. The biggest differences is we have a choice of 3 filters that will alter the sound to your preferences. For me, I find the SE535 and all their previous model a little roll off on both end but I kept coming back simply because the vocal is so creamy and lush. Finally after all these years, Shure finally "fix" it by offering the white filter and now the bass extend all the way down and deep while treble becomes airier giving some space for certain instrument to "breathe" better, and at the same time maintaining that wonderful romantic vocal that so many audiophile came to love it. The SE846 finally deliver what it takes to be a high end IEM rivalling some of very best out there.

Its so good even Steve G from CNET rated it the best he ever heard, and he had heard a lot in his professional career including the latest CIEM Roxanne from Jh audio.

Overall I would say the 535 is a rough diamond waiting to be refine further on both frequency end and the 846 is their finished product.



So in short, I will pull the trigger again and again.

Thank you so much for this! I am now prepared to say Auf Wiedersen to 1 grand. Yes. Although, im not much for technicalities, sometimes the highs do seem to roll off on the 535s- i had to make sure this was not any part due to the input. At times it just seems incomplete when it comes to the highs. Bass was another thing- it certainly is present in the 535s but it felt under utilised. I do hope I get it by this coming Monday/Tuesday. I leave it to the gods of the audiophile pantheon.

 

[Casp1986]

I caved and purchased one. Should be here by Monday or so.

God-willing, I should get mine on the same day as you! I'm kind of anxious.

 

[goldendarko]

If music is truly important to you, these are 1 grand well spent. You will not regret purchasing them.

 

[caracara08]

God-willing, I should get mine on the same day as you! I'm kind of anxious.

Actually mine are being delivered tomorrow.

 

[mrsmith076]

I also owned the 535's before taking the plunge and buying the 846's. When I got them I was blown away by the low range of the headset. I own a set of Westone 4R's and the 846's were in a different league of low's. I compare the two of those because they are both 4 driver iem's. Shure's low filtering works very well and I have yet to find something to gripe about with these headphones.
 
Recently I got a Astell & Kern AK120 to finally give the 846's a better source and the two of them work very well together. 

 

[Black Label]

A couple more observations
 
The SE846s are, evidently, far more forgiving of compressed audio than the IE800s.  This is not to say that there is no marked difference in what can be heard between compressed vs. lossless, however.
 
I have yet to delve into my 24bit-depth audio collection...  I think I might have to drag my computer to my bedside and play Pink Floyd's Pulse.  Oooooh yeeeeeah....!
 
Secondly, it is so nice having real isolation!  The walk to/from the tram stop (i am in Melbourne now) without constantly needing to reseal the eartips!  The 846s sound just as good on the go as they do inside the house for armchair listening.  Bliss, absolutely bliss!  The IE800s are touted as being especially great for portable use; I only ever saw evidence to the contrary.
 
Edit:  Bass impact is nothing short of phenomenal!  The Sennheiser IE800s bass plunged awesome lows and these do too however the 800s' bass impact was quite "airy" (that's where those two tubular protruding things come in).  There is serious explosion to the 846...  Real shake, rattle and roll!  Have a listen to Obscure Sphinx' "Intermission" to see what I am (literally) banging on about.

 

[Pepito]

  Is the 999.99 price gospel or has anyone seen them for less? 

I picked em up brand new from a local dealer for less than 999.99, tax included and everything. If you find a store that sells them locally you might be able to haggle.
 
Or find some 2nd-hand on head-fi 

 

[Brokenlax]

I inspected the included tips closer today and most of them were permanently deformed from how tightly they were packed into the tiny case. I emailed Shure if there's a chance if I can get replacement ones so we'll see how this goes. For $999 I think it's not too outrageous to expect perfection.

Now for the nozzles, anybody know if they sell cheap replacements? I'd like to pick a few up as wax guards instead of buying $20 complys if the nozzles are cheaper.




The case is by S3Cases. It's a rebranded T2000 and you can find them for sale for around $10.

Shure sells them for $40.

 

[vkalia]

 
That is the problem with relying on the views and opinions of everyone - people are so varied on any given aspect of how something sounds.  Earlier, I read a post in the this thread in which the 535 owner stated the improvement over the 535's is huge.  I am sure both  of you are correct in your statements, the question is 'who would I most likely agree with - given my tastes?'.

 
The problem with all audio reviews is that human perception and bias - whether deliberate or unknowing - plays a big role.   If the sound levels are off a little, that will throw off how sound is perceived.   Listener bias and placebo also affect perception of sound.    Add to that the fact that in general, high end audio is lacking any kind of intellectual rigor (every opinion, no matter how wild, is acceptable under the heading of "we all hear things differently") and it becomes very difficult to separate signal from noise.  
 
What I find useful to do is listen to reviews which focus on the sound a device - and less so on how 2 devices compare.   For comparison purposes, I typically limit myself to clearly-articulated descriptions of tonality differences (eg, "the violin had better timbral accuracy" or the "the piano's tonal balance was better"), where the descriptions are clearly defined - IMO, if someone cannot explicitly describe what they are hearing differently, then that review is not very useful to me in terms of helping me make a decision.    
 
I pay less attention to generalities like "these blow away the other" or, for that matter, reviews which talk about massive differences in sound, especially for things like amps, DACs and headphones in the same family.   I also pay less attention to posts talking about huge differences in soundstage, etc.   After a while, you tend to figure out what the typical difference in sound between various types of gear is, and realize which claims/reviews do not fit your own experiences.
 
Also, for my own part, I tend to err on the side of caution when describing differences, and do not report anything which could be affected by placebo, volume differences or listener bias.
 
For my part, the reason I ended up buying the SE846s was very simple - cellos.  Listening to Apocalyptica on the SE535s was very enjoyable - listening to Apocalyptica on the Se846s, the cellos had a greater bass and body that made them sound closer to the live sound.   

 

[schtinkmeaner]

 

[schtinkmeaner]

i do not like that I am incorrectly LABELED here as a junior one bit!  just wanna point that out to you moderators I think your labeling is full of w$$k 
subbed to this, 846 in the mail pretty chuft

 

[ubs28]

Anyone else use these IEM for home use also? I don't use my open headphones anymore since I got these Shure SE846. Maybe I should buy new open headphones. 

My open headphones are better in terms of imaging, soundstage and treble, but I really like the sound of these Shure SE846.