Shure SE535 Reds have served me very well over quite a long period now. It has been one constant while I shuffled through other earphones. This review is long overdue, but better late than never
Intro:
Although these are not having a metal housing, they still feel solid, and have held up remarkably well. The pre-included cable, while having very good build quality, has become quite stiff, and I use it with other MMCX cables now.The only thing which I’m afraid of, and am very careful with are the nozzles, which have a very small diameter and are very long. However, this long nozzle ensures also means that with the right tips, it gets rather good isolation while still being very comfortable to wear for long periods.
I love red colour, and these look gorgeous in shiny red. (and the colour has also held up very well). Over this long period, I have use the IEM with a lot of sources including LHL Geekout V2+, iBasso D14, SMSL M8/Sapphire, various Bluetooth cables including NiceHCK HB1, and directly through One Plus 5, Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge Exynos phones. I have found that having a good DAC, definitely improves the sound for better, but it works decent directly from the phones, if necessary.
Sound Quality:
Importance of tips: This was the first IEM where I encountered significant different in overall SQ depending on the tips. I remember, the first time I tried playing these with the stock silicone tips and being very disappointed. There was basically no-sub bass (say in songs like Limit to your love or Teardrop). It was only after I got my spinfit tips, that I was actually able to enjoy these earphones. I find using foam tips to be cumbersome because of the setup time (in office use, I might have to unplug/plug them more frequently), so didn’t spend much time with the foam tips, but remember that the olive tips also hadn’t worked.
So, how do these sound? Off the bat, what impresses you most is the amazing mid-range response. It picks up lots of micro-details, and is overall exceptional for any songs with prominent vocals. The bass quality is rather good, except for the sub-bass region, where it is not able to extend that well into sub-bass region(but still decent). Overall bass quantity, I found to be slightly lacking for my taste (+2-3 DB in 40 hz region was good enough), and although it is quite fast, it is not able to generate the bass slam.
Treble is where Shure SE535 Reds are supposed to differ most from the standard SE535’s. But, even with the improvements, I still felt there was treble roll-off. Any songs with large dynamic range such as classical, orchestra, many soundtracks, suffered a bit, as it was not able to fully bring the “liveness”.
It terms of soundstage, these have great imaging and slightly above average soundstage volume. Instrument separation is very good, and the music never sounds congested, even when it gets very busy.
Verdict:
These have been my daily drivers for long periods, while I cycled through other IEMs. (admittedly lower priced ones). One of the main reasons for the same has been that it is able to deliver the combination of good sound quality (great mids), good isolation and excellent comfort.
I have had the pleasure to try a lots of IEM’s, but unfortunately most of them have been in the sub-250 USD and a very few are in the above 1000 USD range. Because of this, I can’t claim to give a direct comparison with its competitor in this range. However, I have a feeling it would really struggle if judged solely based on sound quality in the 500 USD range, as I see lots of promising IEM’s now that cost much lesser, and outdo it in some aspects.
So, overall I feel at this price, you are likely to get a better IEM now if you are looking just for great SQ(especially if you don’t like the treble rolloff), but have seen this IEM go for half (or below) the price used, where it may have a strong value proposition. (Wanted to rate it 3.5/5 because of that)
Intro:
Although these are not having a metal housing, they still feel solid, and have held up remarkably well. The pre-included cable, while having very good build quality, has become quite stiff, and I use it with other MMCX cables now.The only thing which I’m afraid of, and am very careful with are the nozzles, which have a very small diameter and are very long. However, this long nozzle ensures also means that with the right tips, it gets rather good isolation while still being very comfortable to wear for long periods.
I love red colour, and these look gorgeous in shiny red. (and the colour has also held up very well). Over this long period, I have use the IEM with a lot of sources including LHL Geekout V2+, iBasso D14, SMSL M8/Sapphire, various Bluetooth cables including NiceHCK HB1, and directly through One Plus 5, Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge Exynos phones. I have found that having a good DAC, definitely improves the sound for better, but it works decent directly from the phones, if necessary.
Sound Quality:
Importance of tips: This was the first IEM where I encountered significant different in overall SQ depending on the tips. I remember, the first time I tried playing these with the stock silicone tips and being very disappointed. There was basically no-sub bass (say in songs like Limit to your love or Teardrop). It was only after I got my spinfit tips, that I was actually able to enjoy these earphones. I find using foam tips to be cumbersome because of the setup time (in office use, I might have to unplug/plug them more frequently), so didn’t spend much time with the foam tips, but remember that the olive tips also hadn’t worked.
So, how do these sound? Off the bat, what impresses you most is the amazing mid-range response. It picks up lots of micro-details, and is overall exceptional for any songs with prominent vocals. The bass quality is rather good, except for the sub-bass region, where it is not able to extend that well into sub-bass region(but still decent). Overall bass quantity, I found to be slightly lacking for my taste (+2-3 DB in 40 hz region was good enough), and although it is quite fast, it is not able to generate the bass slam.
Treble is where Shure SE535 Reds are supposed to differ most from the standard SE535’s. But, even with the improvements, I still felt there was treble roll-off. Any songs with large dynamic range such as classical, orchestra, many soundtracks, suffered a bit, as it was not able to fully bring the “liveness”.
It terms of soundstage, these have great imaging and slightly above average soundstage volume. Instrument separation is very good, and the music never sounds congested, even when it gets very busy.
Verdict:
These have been my daily drivers for long periods, while I cycled through other IEMs. (admittedly lower priced ones). One of the main reasons for the same has been that it is able to deliver the combination of good sound quality (great mids), good isolation and excellent comfort.
I have had the pleasure to try a lots of IEM’s, but unfortunately most of them have been in the sub-250 USD and a very few are in the above 1000 USD range. Because of this, I can’t claim to give a direct comparison with its competitor in this range. However, I have a feeling it would really struggle if judged solely based on sound quality in the 500 USD range, as I see lots of promising IEM’s now that cost much lesser, and outdo it in some aspects.
So, overall I feel at this price, you are likely to get a better IEM now if you are looking just for great SQ(especially if you don’t like the treble rolloff), but have seen this IEM go for half (or below) the price used, where it may have a strong value proposition. (Wanted to rate it 3.5/5 because of that)