[csh212]

Interesting to hear. In 2012 my etimotic research i6's had finally broke beyond repair. After reading reviews I replaced them with the Shure se425. I was incredibly disappointed with the lack of base, and couldn't quite perceive their "incredible soundstage". To the point I thought it was me. Within in two days the right monitor was cutting out. This is a problem that persisted through the life of the IEM's. I sent them back twice over the years but Shure never acknowledged the problem, they just cleaned them and sent them back. At one point they told me to lubricate connection with mineral oil. They recently stop working because the connection in both ears finally cut out for good. At that point I was a bit jaded and contiplated just using a pair of Sony IEMs that my wife had laying around. Despite reading people wax poetic about the 535, I was reluctant to buy another Shure without a demo. However i eventually replaced with them with the fender fxa7 (made by aurisonics)... Incredible. far exceeded my expectations. Clarity, depth... Customizable bass. And modestly priced compared to the 535s.

 

[estreeter]

Some interesting viewpoints here and i can relate to a lot of the frustration. The 425 can be eq'd to improve the bass but the presentation still seems odd to me after switching straight from the Solo2. I'm much happier with Floyd than edm or metal with the 425 but unless I nail the fit they're worse than useless. Forget them for use outside a quiet seated or lying position - I say that as someone who dragged his across she Asia and preferred the she3590 whenever I needed to escape my travelling companions. For mine the choice is 215 or 535 but I guess that's the beauty of hindsight and I'm not that keen on in-ears anyway. They have their pluses but durability for the asking price remains an issue for me. Hope this helps.