New Shure SE215 - First Impressions
Mar 6, 2011 at 4:44 PM Post #31 of 1,937
@Jant71 I hope you wrong in this case as the reviews of the 115 never really impressed me. Guess only time and some adventerous SE115 owner who upgrades will be able to answer the question. That and maybe a comment directly from Shure.

One thing is sure though. They won't be able to sound exactly the same since the 115 has such a massive body in comparison to the 215. That's also why I think they will have a different driver as well as I suspect the 115 needed the extra space to house a larger driver.

Maybe the 115 was getting trounced and Shure is upping the ante in the $100 market! :)
 
Mar 6, 2011 at 4:51 PM Post #32 of 1,937
Yep, hope they are not the same. I was gonna give you kudos for being the guinea pig on them given those SE115 reviews. Good luck on them. Guess we'll see soon enough if they are the real deal or pre-sale hype.
 
Mar 6, 2011 at 5:54 PM Post #33 of 1,937
OK did a quick search and unless the specs are all just hype here are the differences:
 
SE115
Speaker Type: Dynamic Micro Speaker II
Sensitivity (1mW): 105 dB SPL/mW
Impedance (1kHz): 16ohm
Frequency Range: 22Hz - 17.5kHz
 
SE215
Speaker Type: ??
Sensitivity (1kHz): 116 db SPL/mW
Impedance (1kHz): 27ohm
Frequency Range: 22Hz - 18.5kHz
 
So I don't know what they are calling the micro speaker but the sensitivity, impedance and frequency ranges have all changed so I do think this will be a different driver.
 
And yes I was thinking about the fact I have taken two for the team so speak as I could not find any good reviews of the Denon AHC-560R and now this one LOL. Having said that I do enjoy the 560R a lot so hopefully these will be a winner as well.
 
Also according to Softpedia, "SE215 Sound Isolating Earphone, featuring a newly developed Dynamic MicroDriver".
 
Mar 6, 2011 at 9:58 PM Post #35 of 1,937


Quote:
thanks for taking one for the time dweaver, especially since these just came out, but plz let them fully burn in to give an honest chance


I don't think dweaver needs to be reminded of the effects of burn in,,,he did the whole MTPC burn in thread thing a while back which was actually very interesting. 
 
 
 
 
Mar 6, 2011 at 10:21 PM Post #36 of 1,937
yikes, didnt see that MTPC thread, totally my bad
i didn't mean any disrespect, i just wanted to say that i would wait for a review rather than a rushed impression so no pressure
 
Mar 6, 2011 at 10:40 PM Post #37 of 1,937
LOL Thanks Solidsnake3 and no problem gduck. It never hurts to ask questions :).
 
What I will do is an initial first impression pre burn-in, mentioning that fact. Then I will burn them in and usually will post a couple times during the burn-in process giving my impression as the IEM changes. This way people will have a bit of an idea of what to expect out of the gate and as the IEM matures. Then I will put together a full review post burn-in.
 
Mar 6, 2011 at 11:25 PM Post #38 of 1,937
That sounds great dweaver!
 
As for the burn in comment, I just thought it was sort of funny 
tongue.gif

 
Mar 7, 2011 at 1:09 PM Post #39 of 1,937
 
I am so excited with this new earphone. It's my favorite backup earphones already.
 
This new model should stir a lot of other models going all the way up to $150 and it should become our overall best seller very soon if my opinion is any good. It's too much performance, comfort, fit, build quality, cable design, sound quality, etc, for the money.
 
I know Shure is not after the consumer market with these but they will get an avalanche of orders. These were built to be bundled on their entry level professional wireless monitor systems. But we sold out our first shipment already and some customer reviews are already popping on our site pending publishing and they seem to agree with my enthusiasm so far :)
 
I will try to get a hold of Shure's product developer to ask about the driver but these sound nothing like the SE115. It could be because I'm just too excited with the fit and price  
tongue_smile.gif

 
The overall "what you get for the money" is so much larger than most other earphones we tested in this price range that these SE215 should also affect models priced in the $40-$80 range. 
 
Mar 7, 2011 at 3:45 PM Post #40 of 1,937


Quote:
Falvio T are you able to confirm or deny the comments made by Sofastreamer in regards to whether the 215 uses the same dynamic driver as the 115. I suspect not simply because the housing is so much smaller I suspect it won't be able to hold the driver of the 115 but would love some clarification.



I just spoke with Shure's product manager for the SE215 (Sean Sullivan) and he told me that these drivers were the best dynamic drivers ever tested by Shure. They are smaller than the drivers of the SE115. Their objective was to fit the best dynamic driver available in the new form of the SE earphones allowing for the same fit and at the same time be able to continue to use the same nozzle size so that the PA910 (black olives) could be used with the new SE215. Being able to use the same nozzle size, as I understood on the call, would be dependent on the ability to position the driver at a certain position inside the new shell.
 
He confirmed to me that it was their intention to price these aggressively, confirming my hunch. We will see if the market confirms my feelings towards this product.
 
Mar 8, 2011 at 12:30 AM Post #41 of 1,937
I received these in the mail today and could not be more impressed for the price. I have owned nearly all of the Shure lineup at one time or another and these are certainly the value leader. If you're looking for a pair of earphones under $100, I doubt these can be beat.
 
Pros:
Cost
Sound quality (for the price--across the full range)
Build quality
Plenty of 'low-end' (as compared to armature-based equivalents)
 
Cons:
1/8" ending will NOT fit into 1st generation iPhones without an adapter (and you could have trouble inserting the plug all the way into devices with cases)
Cable is unnecessarily long for portable use
Flexible ear wraps are not particularly flexible
Comes with a soft case instead of the old hard case
 
Graham Bussell
Minnesota
 
PS. I ordered through Earphone Solutions and am very impressed. Quick arrival and nicely packed.
 
Mar 8, 2011 at 11:38 AM Post #43 of 1,937
Heh, I couldn't resist and placed an order yesterday. For the price, and with free cross border shipping, they seem like a steal. I'll be comparing them with my IE8's, which are also a single dynamic driver design. If they even come to 90% of the performance at a third the price, they'll be a real steal.
 
 
Mar 8, 2011 at 2:41 PM Post #45 of 1,937
It'd be interesting to see them compared to the RE-ZERO, ECCI PR401, and SW X-scape in terms of technical sonic quality alone, setting the sound sig preference aside.
 
Placing them at $99 just placed them into the firing range of the Klipsch Custom 3 as well (though those are kinda hard to come across nowadays, I think), and if bass is the strength of the SE215, it'll be interesting to see the Custom 3 and SE215 go head to head with one another IMO
 

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