chrisfromalbany
Headphoneus Supremus
- Joined
- Aug 9, 2004
- Posts
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- 13
[size=medium]Sound[/size]
Like the AKG K701s, the E500s deliver sound that even neutrality-obsessed audiophiles will find acceptably balanced on the high and low ends, with just enough warmth to make music sound richer and better than you last remembered hearing it. This is true even by contrast with the more expensive UE-10 Pros, which add a hint of bass to the ER-4Ps, but not enough to fully justify their $600 difference in price; here, the E500s are perceptibly but delicately superior. In a word - and a rare one around these parts - we’d call the E500’s sound balance “perfect” for an in-canal phone, even when heard immediately after competitors that are themselves very hard to fault.
[size=medium]Conclusions [/size]
Overall, our feeling about the E500 earphones is overwhelmingly positive: for the foreseeable future, the only way we’d imagine Shure could improve this offering would be to lower the price - it has so impressively engineered these headphones physically and electronically that we would be hard-pressed to find a major flaw worth noting other than the cost of entry. But then, to the extent that the E500 comes in at a price $350 lower than the category’s previous performance leader, yet delivers superior sound quality, greater comfort, a microphone accessory, and other goodies in its package, even that factor is hard to criticize. In the E500, Shure has delivered the ultimate in-canal earphone at a better price than its competitors - a very highly recommended offering that is too expensive for many iPod users to afford, but deserves to be worthy of their lust in the meanwhile. As all of iLounge’s editors are now lusting after E500s of their own, we can only hope that someone will be inspired to take up the challenge of doing better, for less.
http://www.ilounge.com/index.php/ipod/review/8283/
Like the AKG K701s, the E500s deliver sound that even neutrality-obsessed audiophiles will find acceptably balanced on the high and low ends, with just enough warmth to make music sound richer and better than you last remembered hearing it. This is true even by contrast with the more expensive UE-10 Pros, which add a hint of bass to the ER-4Ps, but not enough to fully justify their $600 difference in price; here, the E500s are perceptibly but delicately superior. In a word - and a rare one around these parts - we’d call the E500’s sound balance “perfect” for an in-canal phone, even when heard immediately after competitors that are themselves very hard to fault.
[size=medium]Conclusions [/size]
Overall, our feeling about the E500 earphones is overwhelmingly positive: for the foreseeable future, the only way we’d imagine Shure could improve this offering would be to lower the price - it has so impressively engineered these headphones physically and electronically that we would be hard-pressed to find a major flaw worth noting other than the cost of entry. But then, to the extent that the E500 comes in at a price $350 lower than the category’s previous performance leader, yet delivers superior sound quality, greater comfort, a microphone accessory, and other goodies in its package, even that factor is hard to criticize. In the E500, Shure has delivered the ultimate in-canal earphone at a better price than its competitors - a very highly recommended offering that is too expensive for many iPod users to afford, but deserves to be worthy of their lust in the meanwhile. As all of iLounge’s editors are now lusting after E500s of their own, we can only hope that someone will be inspired to take up the challenge of doing better, for less.
http://www.ilounge.com/index.php/ipod/review/8283/
