[jasonfodor]

My first high end ear buds were westone um2, which I ended up returning as there was little difference between that and the free iphone apple ear buds.
 
I decided to buy my shure se535 about a year ago since at the time it seemed like one of the best ear buds out.  And I can't literally tell any difference between these and the free iphone apple ear buds.  They are authentic because I bought it from an authorized reseller (who doesn't accept returns

).  Even had to send them into shure once for repairs and they fixed it and never said it was fake or anything.
 
I also have some sony ear buds, they were cheap maybe retail $25.  I think they are bass ear buds.  They are better than my ipod ear buds, not sure how they compare to the westone um2 since it's been a while, but I'd say really close to westone um2.
 
 
Am I missing something here?
The sony's since they were only $25 bucks, I expected it to be a little better than the original Apple ear buds, and they are.
But for the high end ear buds I really expected these to blow me away, but literally they are the same quality (shure) or a little better (westone um2) than the freebie apple ear buds.

 

[4ktvs]

For some sound just isn't something they care much about so they won't really pick up any difference. I could tell the difference between a $30ish pair and a free pair that came with my phone and a really crappy $5 pair I picked up at best buy but beyond that I can't say I would really be able to tell any difference.  
 
I will add, have you tried using it and then swapping it out for the apple ear buds right after and seeing if you feel like something is missing?

 

[Tail]

Difference is so extreme that it is just funny. You probably have some hearing problems, try to check with doctor and there is a lot of nice software for tone testing, frequency testing etc so you might check that as well. This is the first time I have read something like this, especially since anything that seal is substantially better (or at least substantially different) than Apple earbuds (or any earbuds for that matter). 
 
Difference should be literally extreme that you wouldn't believe it. There is a lot of hype and nonsense going on with players and D/A converters differences and they all sound very alike or even completely indistinguishable one from another, but earphones make really big one, especially SE535 vs stock Apple earbuds.
 
You either have extremely bad hearing or you are the man that gives the fewest fuc*s about audio I have ever came across.
 
There is also possibility that you don't like the sound signature of Shures, you maybe like more V shaped sound, with more bass and sharper highs which can give an illusion of better sound quality and can sound more fun, so it may be that the Shures just aren't for you. 
But that still don't explain how you haven't heard the difference... 

 

[EagleWings]

Apart from the above mentioned reasons, there could be this:
 
You are either using a old or a bad music player 
 
or
 
(Even if you are using iPhone as the player) You are using low quality music files
 
 
Hope this helps!

 

[Tail]

  Apart from the above mentioned reasons, there could be this:
 
You are either using a old or a bad music player 
 
or
 
(Even if you are using iPhone as the player) You are using low quality music files
 
 
Hope this helps!

But this doesn't have anything to do with differentiating the two earphones.
 
If different player has noticeable difference in audio quality it will have it on both earphones, but it usually doesn't make almost any difference comparing to the difference between two headphones, especially when there is so huge gap between the two he mentioned... Difference couldn't be more significant

 

[EagleWings]

  But this doesn't have anything to do with differentiating the two earphones.
 
If different player has noticeable difference in audio quality it will have it on both earphones, but it usually doesn't make almost any difference comparing to the difference between two headphones, especially when there is so huge gap between the two he mentioned... Difference couldn't be more significant

What if the player has a bad circuit or chip and so has a poor output in terms of quality? That wouldn't show a noticeable difference between the 2 earbuds right?

 

[Tail]

  What if the player has a bad circuit or chip and so has a poor output in terms of quality? That wouldn't show a noticeable difference between the 2 earbuds right?

That doesn't matter at all. Because it would be bad output for both Shure and Apple earbuds.

 

[Time Diver]

Sound is just sound, Shure ear buds look better and perform slightly better. Maybe you expected them to make the music real and vivid like listening to a live performance which I believe is not possible or you just don't have a sensible sense of hearing and therefore unable to appreciate the slight difference in performance of the new ear buds. In general there are expensive products and cheap ones that do the same job and it is up to the consumer to choose the ones that fit his needs. This is how life works, enjoy your Shure ear buds and think twice before purchasing anything expensive and don't forget to lower your expectations too!

 

[ZoNtO]

Are you inserting the Shures correctly? If you're not getting a good seal, that could be part of the problem.
 
Disclaimer: never heard the 535, but speaking from general IEM knowledge.

 

[ProtegeManiac]

 
Am I missing something here?

 

Can you tune a guitar for example? That's the easiest way to eliminate if someone is just tone deaf.

 

One other method is to try a Grado. A lot of our friends who can't tell the difference between our Ibanez on MesaBoogies vs Gibson on Marshalls (using the same pedals on either set-up) and similarly can't tell an HD600 on a CMOY from packaged earbuds put Grados on (driven by a tube amp when I had those), get wide-eyed, and proclaim to the whole group that they love it.