Shure SE846 Impressions Thread
Jul 25, 2014 at 12:22 AM Post #4,621 of 22,805
  I've tried the westone sillicon tips (bought the whole set). Unfortunately I could not find a size that fits me. So far the sillicon tips from shure provided the best fit. However it did take me longer then a  month to get accustomed to it. 
 
Btw are there any more views on which smart phone serves as a better DAP? For now, based on 2 fellow head-fiers, the LG G3 is the more soncially capable device. However the review provided by whathifi.com had a different opinion (http://www.whathifi.com/lg/g3/review-0).It would be nice to hear a unbiased review for these 2 phones based on music played on similar applications (eg, Poweramp).

 
I read that review and I didn't understand it. They basically said the audio was "boring". Which... I don't really know what that means. Coming out of my 8's it's about as exciting as I could hope for. Your source shouldn't have "exciting" sound. That's the speakers' job. The speakers shouldn't be dealing with colored sound. The GSM Arena review threw numbers around, which told the picture far more clearly IMO.
 
Jul 25, 2014 at 12:25 AM Post #4,622 of 22,805
  I made a startling discovery today and found that the triple-flange sleeves actually fitted me and sound the best. I've struggled with fit for the past few months, going back and forth between the silicone, foam, yellow foam and other 3rd party stuff like the monster gels and foams, and the Westone star tips and true fits, and they all either did not fit outright, or felt too uncomfortable.
 
I found the root cause of all this fuss was, the sleeves were not inserting deep enough, due to the angle of the wire makes in relation with the housing and outlet. I never had such a problem with the SE530 because the angle of the wire in relation to the housing is more like 90 degrees or an L shape, but the SE846's (and same as the SE535's, which I never owned) were more like V shaped. I've always just used the medium sized black foams on the SE530 and they fit me fine and can wear them for hours. Upon getting the SE846's I kept getting leaks from the medium foams. I tried to insert them deeper but the bend of the wire is always running against the side of my head, despite my dumping of the stock cables (with the memory wires) and going with after market ones (without memory wires). This improved somewhat but with some slight movements it was too easy to lose seal. I settled with the large black foams but they never seemed to sound right because I was mostly wearing them with shallow insertion and the sleeves never went past the bend in my ear canals.
 
I was almost ready to either sell the SE846's or go to an audiologist for some custom molds, but thought what the heck, maybe I should give the triple-flange sleeves a try. And this was a revelation. I think the sole reason for the triple-flanges being a good fit was because of the longer stem, which makes the sealing part of the sleeve further away from the housing, and in result a much deeper insertion. After a few trials, I found that by cutting off the top most part of the sleeve, which makes it a double-flange, is the most comfortable. I think I just couldn't stand having some foreign object inserted so deeply inside my ears. I knew I was getting a good seal as I can finally hear and feel the tremendous bass the SE846 has on offer. The double-flange does have a slight drawback though, as it is not as good isolating as the black foams, because I can still hear the outside sounds quite clearly, though not as bad as when I did not have the right seal.
 
Maybe I'll still go to an audiologist for a custom mold, but during occasions where I need to quickly take off the IEM's in case somebody wants to talk to me or I need to answer a call, the double-flange is now an acceptable alternative for me. During times when I can sit idle for hours (such as on a long transpacific flight) and listen to music without interruption, I look forward to having my own custom sleeves for the seal, isolation and comfort.

 
Glad you found (some) comfort with the triple (double) flange, but whenever you are ready, you'll be a great candidate for the Sensaphonics Custom Sleeves.  Fit and isolation will be increased dramatically.  The silicone has a very deep seal, but will feel great once inside of your ear canal(s).  I haven't heard or read anyone yet say otherwise, publicly or privately.  
 
Oh yeah, if you order them, they will be created as "full shells" no matter what the Sensaphonics website states (currently).
 
Jul 25, 2014 at 12:32 AM Post #4,623 of 22,805
   
I read that review and I didn't understand it. They basically said the audio was "boring". Which... I don't really know what that means. Coming out of my 8's it's about as exciting as I could hope for. Your source shouldn't have "exciting" sound. That's the speakers' job. The speakers shouldn't be dealing with colored sound. The GSM Arena review threw numbers around, which told the picture far more clearly IMO.

 
Even though I'm not in the market for any ecosystem (Android, Crackberry, Palm [haha], etc) phone other than the iPhone, I think I'll go to my local Verizon store and check out the newest phones, especially the G3 to hear how much better it sounds compared to my iPhone 5 with Neutron Player app.
 
Jul 25, 2014 at 12:41 AM Post #4,624 of 22,805
On the topic of ear tips, I spent the last week or so trying as many as I could get my hands on. Although I agree with many of you that the westone start tips are excellent I still find that for me, the shure yellow foamies still edge ahead slightly in terms of comfort, isolation and sound quality (IMO). The westone stars are still the close second though and I will keep them around. Obviously, the main drawback of the yellow foamies is how fast they wear out (I found I could get about two weeks out of the initial pair) so I went ahead and ordered a 100 count (50 pairs) bulk bag. I figured that should last me about 2 years..... Good enough for me!
smily_headphones1.gif


P.S. For anyone wondering, the bag costed me just under $100 CAD (I live in canada) after tax and I ordered it from AVshop.ca

 
Glad you found some tips that are good enough for you.  Once I saw the price though, I thought "dang...for only 50 dollars more (not counting impressions), he/she (wasn't able to decipher your gender via your profile) could have just gotten the SCS!  The custom sleeves wouldn't wear out like the yellow foams, and you would have increased bass response and overall improvement of the auditory spectrum due to increased isolation and fit.  But I'm glad you like them (man that's a lot of yellow foams)... 
tongue_smile.gif

 
Jul 25, 2014 at 1:07 AM Post #4,625 of 22,805
^ Haha! I know you mean though....... it's a lot to spend on ear tips. It crossed my mind getting custom molded ear tips, but a couple things swayed me towards the foamies. I was familiar with them, and quite liked them (not that I have any doubt about how good the SCS sound). It may sound very shallow but I find that regular ear tips look slightly better than the SCS as well. (Not that that would stop me from choosing them after hearing them if they had SQ but it may have helped me in not purchasing them or listening to them in the first place :p). And last but not least (although maybe misinformed) considering my very young age, I imagine that my ears are still growing at a fairly fast pace, which is one of the reasons that I ruled out CIEMs in the first place, I figure that there is plenty of time to go custom later. :D
 
P.S. I'm a he. lol
 
Jul 25, 2014 at 2:01 AM Post #4,626 of 22,805
  I'm waiting~~~~~~~~~~~LOL

 
 
   
Excuse me if you've mentioned this before, as this thread moves at a blinding rate thanks to us... but when you report on the fit, will you also be comparing the Klipsch tips to the Westone STAR and Tru-Fit 'sample platter'?

 
I'm still waiting for the Westones to arrive, but even without any comparison to the Westones I can say that the Klipsch tips are very, very good for people like me with canals that bend quite close to the opening. The silicone is soft, but doesn't wrinkle like my Vsonic silicones so the seal is exceptional AND comfortable unlike the Shure silicones which are too firm for my ears.
 
Photos with sizes to follow when I compare Shure vs Westone vs Klipsch 
 
Jul 25, 2014 at 2:02 AM Post #4,627 of 22,805
So today I was in NYC taking some photos at Grand Central Station. After I was done I went to B&H to pick Westone sampler pack, but they didn't have any at the store. So I went and got the Shure's small foam. I start feeling some pain/fatigue after +1 hour. Does that mean I need smaller tips? I'm pretty careful with volume. 
 
Side note: picked up the Dragonfly because I couldn't pick a DAP at this moment. Anyone getting hiss when songs not playing? Is this normal? 

 
Jul 25, 2014 at 2:23 AM Post #4,628 of 22,805
^ Haha! I know you mean though....... it's a lot to spend on ear tips. It crossed my mind getting custom molded ear tips, but a couple things swayed me towards the foamies. I was familiar with them, and quite liked them (not that I have any doubt about how good the SCS sound). It may sound very shallow but I find that regular ear tips look slightly better than the SCS as well. (Not that that would stop me from choosing them after hearing them if they had SQ but it may have helped me in not purchasing them or listening to them in the first place :p). And last but not least (although maybe misinformed) considering my very young age, I imagine that my ears are still growing at a fairly fast pace, which is one of the reasons that I ruled out CIEMs in the first place, I figure that there is plenty of time to go custom later. :D

P.S. I'm a he. lol




Egads, I am offended by your statement that the SCS doesn't look as good as regular sizes-fit-all tips! I'm totally just kidding...kinda. :tongue_smile: Just to let you know though, the SCS has around 30 different colors to choose from, from clear crystal colors, to solid colors, to multi-colored swirl colors as well. Meaning there is no way you wouldn't be able to find a color or swirl combination that suits your style.

Also, our ears grow for our entire lives, so don't let your ears growing stop you from purchasing the SCS. :wink:

As for trying to figure out your correct gender, I didn't want to make any assumptions based on your violin playing as I know both men and women play. Shoot, it would have been nice if I learned to play an instrument when I was growing up. Does being able to use nunchakus very well count?
 
Jul 25, 2014 at 2:39 AM Post #4,629 of 22,805
   
I read that review and I didn't understand it. They basically said the audio was "boring". Which... I don't really know what that means. Coming out of my 8's it's about as exciting as I could hope for. Your source shouldn't have "exciting" sound. That's the speakers' job. The speakers shouldn't be dealing with colored sound. The GSM Arena review threw numbers around, which told the picture far more clearly IMO.

Yea, I was wondering about that too. I would like to think they were referring to beats effect, which accentuated certain aspects of the sound. Most consumers would prefer this kind of a sound signature, where the bass is boosted further. You could very get this fun factor from the lg G3 by eqing it. Well for now, I will follow modawg 140's word of advise and try both of them in the store instead. Thanks for your opinion though!!
 
Jul 25, 2014 at 2:58 AM Post #4,630 of 22,805
So today I was in NYC taking some photos at Grand Central Station. After I was done I went to B&H to
pick Westone sampler pack, but they didn't have any at the store. So I went and got the Shure's small foam. I start feeling some pain/fatigue after +1 hour. Does that mean I need smaller tips? I'm pretty careful with volume. 

Side note: picked up the Dragonfly because I couldn't pick a DAP at this moment. Anyone getting hiss when songs not playing? Is this normal? 



I was just testing my dragonfly with my se846s as I was curious now. Although I did notice a moderately faint hissing when no music was playing, it was faint enough that I could ignore it for the most part. Also, I found the dragonfly to have a better sense of space and more "air" to the sound than my IPhone.
 
Jul 25, 2014 at 3:05 AM Post #4,631 of 22,805
Egads, I am offended by your statement that the SCS doesn't look as good as regular sizes-fit-all tips! I'm totally just kidding...kinda. :tongue_smile: Just to let you know though, the SCS has around 30 different colors to choose from, from clear crystal colors, to solid colors, to multi-colored swirl colors as well. Meaning there is no way you wouldn't be able to find a color or swirl combination that suits your style.

Also, our ears grow for our entire lives, so don't let your ears growing stop you from purchasing the SCS. :wink:

As for trying to figure out your correct gender, I didn't want to make any assumptions based on your violin playing as I know both men and women play. Shoot, it would have been nice if I learned to play an instrument when I was growing up. Does being able to use nunchakus very well count?


About the SCS, I know I know..... I don't actually really mind anything about them, my mind is probably just forming reasons to stop myself from purchasing more new things when possible. :D as I said though, I very well may go custom later, lots of time for that.

As for gender assumptions, after looking through my profile I realized there is NOTHING to give you a definitive gender. I may just add something later.

Any instrument counts, right? Us musicians (amateur beginners, guitar playing dads, professional musicians and everything in between) have to stick together. We're part of a special elite group! :wink:
 
Jul 25, 2014 at 3:21 AM Post #4,632 of 22,805
About the SCS, I know I know..... I don't actually really mind anything about them, my mind is probably just forming reasons to stop myself from purchasing more new things when possible.
biggrin.gif
as I said though, I very well may go custom later, lots of time for that.

As for gender assumptions, after looking through my profile I realized there is NOTHING to give you a definitive gender. I may just add something later.

Any instrument counts, right? Us musicians (amateur beginners, guitar playing dads, professional musicians and everything in between) have to stick together. We're part of a special elite group!
wink.gif

 
I'll be here to give you reasons to get the SCS, that's for sure.  But I do understand financial reasons why people wouldn't want to spend for the SCS, It is an investment, but a very good investment in my honest, non-biased 
rolleyes.gif
 opinion.
 
Yeah, there was nothing that I could use to interpret your gender.  Even though I said I am a wrestler on my own profile, that may make it seem like I'm automatically a guy (I am), but there are many women wrestlers as well!  Actually coached a girl this year that made it very far (Girl's CIF Masters Championships), after she learned the sport for only four months!
 
If you say any instrument counts, I'll take your word for it.  I don't play any musical instruments, but would be nice if I had the time to learn something like the piano.  I do play the iPhone app "Music Piano" though. 
bigsmile_face.gif
   "Special elite group",  eh?  Alrighty then. 
tongue.gif
 
 
Jul 25, 2014 at 4:33 AM Post #4,633 of 22,805
   
I read that review and I didn't understand it. They basically said the audio was "boring". Which... I don't really know what that means. Coming out of my 8's it's about as exciting as I could hope for. Your source shouldn't have "exciting" sound. That's the speakers' job. The speakers shouldn't be dealing with colored sound. The GSM Arena review threw numbers around, which told the picture far more clearly IMO.


http://www.wired.co.uk/reviews/gadgets/2014-07/shure-se846-headphones
 
Jul 25, 2014 at 8:23 AM Post #4,634 of 22,805
  So today I was in NYC taking some photos at Grand Central Station. After I was done I went to B&H to pick Westone sampler pack, but they didn't have any at the store. So I went and got the Shure's small foam. I start feeling some pain/fatigue after +1 hour. Does that mean I need smaller tips? I'm pretty careful with volume. 
 
Side note: picked up the Dragonfly because I couldn't pick a DAP at this moment. Anyone getting hiss when songs not playing? Is this normal? 

No.  I don't normally use mine with IEMs but when I do I don't notice any hiss.  With HP they are dead silent. 
 
Jul 25, 2014 at 12:39 PM Post #4,635 of 22,805
  No.  I don't normally use mine with IEMs but when I do I don't notice any hiss.  With HP they are dead silent. 

Thanks, its a very low hiss, gets a little annoying when there gaps in songs. Both my MBP and iMac doing the same thing. 
 
Are the Westone smallest foam smaller then Shure small? Yesterday night I tried a few tips and hacked up the triple fringes silicon, fit/isolation was alright, but I much prefer the foams for comfort and isolation. Are the Westone smallest foam smaller then Shure small?
 

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