[Timo Silakka]

I tried grey, white and brown Knowles dampers. They are all a huge improvement over the stock damper. There is a plasticky or tinny quality to sound in mid-treble area that just goes away with new dampers.
 
As others have said, white dampers should be the same as OEM but just sound better and I have to agree with that. However, my choice is grey dampers. The bass is still there but vocals and trebles sound more natural. Sound signature is now pretty much comparable to AKG 70x series but with a more forward Shure style mid-treble.

 

[tracyrick]

Just stumbled on this thread. Very interesting. Such a cheap opportunity to tweak the sound on these. Very nice to be able to order 6x1 pair (except for white, which I ordered 2 pairs) different colors from Mouser for $13.86, and then just another $4.99 for Economy shipping.
 
If I read through this thread right, sounds like a no-brainer that the White will be a slight improvement over stock. Gray might be interesting in that it adds more treble - so many years of reading people complain about the weak treble with these earphones! Not sure how adding more "mud" or bass will make sense (Brown and up) but I'm gonna try them out just for kicks. Maybe I'll be surprised. Really curious how Orange can sound good to someone if it really takes the mud factor up that much. I like bass, but I like clear and defined bass. Impact is good, but boom or mud is bad.
 
Gray 721-BF-1999-000
White 721-BF-1859-000
Brown 721-BF-1860-000
Green 721-BF-1861-000
Red 721-BF-1921-000
Orange 721-BF-1922-000

 

[rcmpayne]

Just found this thread as well after getting my Shure SE535LTD-J in the mail today however, when I look down the tubes, I see no dampers or wax plug at all. Is this normal for the Red SE535LTD-J? Will the dampers still work? I love the sound however, concerned that wax buildup and such is going to destroy these things and was the reason why I ordered them. I upgraded from SE315's after I punched a hole in the wax plug cleaning. 

 

[Mmet]

  Just found this thread as well after getting my Shure SE535LTD-J in the mail today however, when I look down the tubes, I see no dampers or wax plug at all. Is this normal for the Red SE535LTD-J? Will the dampers still work? I love the sound however, concerned that wax buildup and such is going to destroy these things and was the reason why I ordered them. I upgraded from SE315's after I punched a hole in the wax plug cleaning. 

strange that your shure don't have dampers !! I believe this is not normal

http://www.audiophilethai.com/image/cache/data/Product%20Pic/Shure/Shure-SE535-LTD-4-500x500.jpg

 

[rcmpayne]

Yea, I just checked with a flashlight and magnifying glass and its not listed. It looks like I am not the only one to see this. I can't find it now, but a few pages back in this thread a guy also bought a set of SE535LTD-J and was also missing them... I should still be good to start with white aftermarket dampers though right? They sound amazing from the SE315's but scared to use them currently.  

 

[elfary]

  Just found this thread as well after getting my Shure SE535LTD-J in the mail today however, when I look down the tubes, I see no dampers or wax plug at all. Is this normal for the Red SE535LTD-J? Will the dampers still work? I love the sound however, concerned that wax buildup and such is going to destroy these things and was the reason why I ordered them. I upgraded from SE315's after I punched a hole in the wax plug cleaning. 

 Sounds to me like you got a fake SE535LTD. Did you get them from an authorized dealer ?
 
A few weeks back i almost got scammed with a fake SE535LTD set.

 

[Steve Wilcox]

My se425s had no damper. These were purchased from eglobal central.

 

[ScutuMix]

Hi everyone,
I just got mine few days ago from a local store in Toronto, Canada and same - no acoustic dampers - SE535LTD-J.
They came within a sealed box with all included accessories plus manual and warranty card.
I'm a bit skeptical now, and I've sent an email to Shure.com and asked them if this specific model doesn't come with any acoustic dampers.
I'll let you know as soon as I'll hear back from them.
 
I already ordered 4 sets of dampers from Digi-Key: gray, white, green, and orange.

 

[elfary]

  Hi everyone,
I just got mine few days ago from a local store in Toronto, Canada and same - no acoustic dampers - SE535LTD-J.
They came within a sealed box with all included accessories plus manual and warranty card.
I'm a bit skeptical now, and I've sent an email to Shure.com and asked them if this specific model doesn't come with any acoustic dampers.
I'll let you know as soon as I'll hear back from them.
 
I already ordered 4 sets of dampers from Digi-Key: gray, white, green, and orange.

 Back in the day the red SE535s shipped with the lowest impedance dampers.
 
I find very unlikely that any Shure balanced armature iem ships with no damper to tame the presence region and to guard the drivers. Let's see what they tell you.

 

[ScutuMix]

I totally agree, they need something to protect the drivers, but it will be a bit strange to get fake products from a store (not sure if it is an authorized Shure retailer). See their website here.
Anyway, if they will end up as being fake, I'll return them.

 

[elfary]

  I totally agree, they need something to protect the drivers, but it will be a bit strange to get fake products from a store (not sure if it is an authorized Shure retailer). See their website here.
Anyway, if they will end up as being fake, I'll return them.

 
He might be a bona fide seller that got cheated himself.

Sure Shure will tell you whether they are fakes or whatever happened with the acoustic dampers.

 

[ScutuMix]

And yes - they are FAKE!!!

"We can confirm this is a counterfeit Shure product.  Purchase Shure products only from Authorized Shure Dealers.
 
Rick Waller
Senior Applications Engineer
Shure Inc"

 

Now I have to put everything back in the box and return them!

 

[elfary]

  And yes - they are FAKE!!!

"We can confirm this is a counterfeit Shure product.  Purchase Shure products only from Authorized Shure Dealers.
 
Rick Waller
Senior Applications Engineer
Shure Inc"

 

Now I have to put everything back in the box and return them!

 The marketplace is flooded by SE535 and SE215 fakes.
 
So stick with Shure advice: just buy from authorized dealers.

 

[Dave Schinkel]

@Whippler how did those dampers work out for you and where did you get them?  Can you explain the difference in colors in lemans terms for me?

 

[Dave Schinkel]

I have SE315s.  NOT impressed by the whites.
 
Received whites today, browns on back order.  I used a sewing needle to get the stock ones out.   Prior to this these were killing my ears because of course one of the stock screens I poked a hole through.  So one of the filters was not punctured.  But I replaced both.  Now it's just as if I had the puctured filter again, doesn't sound any different, still terrible.  I know that before I moved the stock that wasn't punctured, it did sound better, but now that I've removed both, and using whites in both, it's back to the crappy sound I had with the punctured filter...sounds like that again for some reason.  So really can't listen now, it hurts my ears, is totally not balanced coming out, high pitches, it is horrible.  I don't know did I do something wrong?    I put it in with the filter side facing out.  Not sure if that matters.
 
Note:  I did move them back up flush with the top at the top, the pictures below shows them pushed down, which is what I did at first but I used the tool to bring them back flush, didn't make any difference.
 
I also don't understand why my ear pieces have white inside, looks like white glue, this is something recent...or at least something I noticed and it wasn't like this when I first bought them a couple years ago. I don't know if that is normal or what that is, if it's moisture trapped or what.
 
Here's mine now: