I currently own a pair of shure se215's and se315's. I listen to music mostly on my iphone 6 on a daily basis using Spotify's highest quality synchronization setting. I am able to hear differences in the type of sound they produce and the quality (se315 more clear but less bass for instance). However, my cable has broken again and I am wondering whether I would notice a step up in quality/sound if I would go for the ie80's? Or would it be negligable given the way I listen to music? Any help is appreciated.
95% of what people mistake for a step up is a signature difference, and from a SE215 to an IE80 the difference in signature is massive enough for you to decide you love it, or can't stand it. if your aim is supposedly closer to a neutral sound, I would stick with shure. if you feel like you're a massive bass head and don't care much for mediums, then the IE80 can be mighty enjoyable.
but the concept of upgrade is dumb most of the time when used in the IEM world. you almost never get an improvement in distortions and frequency extensions, that is clear enough to be unanimously called an improvement, while staying in the same kind of signature with the same kind of comfort and isolation. so it's always a game of trading one thing for another. when you read people telling you how much better something is, it usually means they like it and they don't know how to speak objectively.
one clear step up is to stop using IEMs and go get a good pair of speakers well placed in a nice room. ^_^ .
oh and BTW, the IE80's isolation is not even close to be as good as it can be on a pair of shure with the right olive tip or comply foam.
did you get a look at the signature measurements of se215 se315 vs IE80? do you feel it might be a change you would welcome? that's the kind of questions you must ask yourself IMO.
I never was a huge fan of the shure cable, but even with it, I rank the comfort higher for shure than the IE80.
not "shure" (I'm so 1970 funny) if that helps you at all, but here are my own measurement of my own IE80 vs se215. they're my IEMs, they're not new and I can't guaranty all sold pairs are identical to this. same with my play pretend "diffuse field calibration", don't go making comparisons between this and other online measurements! or at least dismiss the treble part that is always unreliable on measurements.
but still the differences between the 2 pairs is indeed legit as it's done with the same gears under the same circumstances so this graph on its own makes sense.
the IE80 has a bass setting, so I show mini, max(you can go wherever you want in-between). and also the vastly loved "tape mode" that is no more than duck taping the bass screw to seal the vent.(click the pic to view something)
to make exaggerated simplifications, you could kind of see the taped IE80 as a SE215 missing a lot of medium. the rest being a lot more V shaped overall(still no medium).
to me the 215 is a nice cheap all rounder. the IE80 I use to have fun with some bassy music that will shake my brain. I enjoy both a lot, but upgrade.... nope ^_^.
oh and no you do not need high end devices to enjoy all the music of your IEMs, just like you do not need a 3000$ bottle of wine to enjoy wine or know when one is clearly not to your taste ^_^(tell me if my crap analogies are too french for you
).
best bet in the end is probably to get a pair from a place where you can send it back if you realize it was really not for you.