Shure e3c Review

[Davie]

Quote:

Originally Posted by bangraman Oh yes, definitely. But the thing is that you have to be prepared to give up certain things for the hugely increased isolation, and (generic fit at least) canalphones are sonically compromised... even the E5.

Technology has been improving so fast that I continually find myself tempted to think there's a "perfect" solution around the corner: give me a hi-fi audio player the size of a cigarette lighter and earphones that provide 30db of ambient noise reduction and sound like the Sennheiser 600's. And keep it all under $250!! I guess I'll have to wait awhile.

 

[bangraman]

Well... a good compromise is the Sennheiser HD25-1. I use mine quite often, and although 'splashier' and far more sibiliant than the E5, there's not much technically that it's missing, and in a commuting situation I think it's more useful, since you can flick en earcup out of the way or rest it around your neck when not in us, and there's no fuss with re-scrunching foamies or whatever. It's lightweight, efficient and tightly closed. It's not as comfy as an E5, but certainly for 'many stop' travel I find it sometimes more useful than the Shure. As befits a forward sounding closed phone, there's not that much in the way of soundstage, but this is common to all generic canalphones so you're not missing out on anything.

 

[Davie]

Quote:

Originally Posted by bangraman Well... a good compromise is the Sennheiser HD25-1. I use mine quite often, and although 'splashier' and far more sibiliant than the E5, there's not much technically that it's missing, and in a commuting situation I think it's more useful, since you can flick en earcup out of the way or rest it around your neck when not in us, and there's no fuss with re-scrunching foamies or whatever. It's lightweight, efficient and tightly closed. It's not as comfy as an E5, but certainly for 'many stop' travel I find it sometimes more useful than the Shure. As befits a forward sounding closed phone, there's not that much in the way of soundstage, but this is common to all generic canalphones so you're not missing out on anything.

I've been interested in those for a while, but have been deterred by the price. Maybe I'll find a used pair cheap one of these days.

I'm actually coming around to the e3's. Either that or they're burning in, but since I hear that's impossible we can attribute it to psychoacoustics. I still haven't gotten them to sound decent out of my iPod, but I'll blame that on Apple's lousy equalizer. With my Creative N200 I've come up with a custom EQ that boosts the bass a bit, the treble a lot, and reduces the upper midrange slightly. It's quite listenable and, though head-to-head with my Senn 280s the e3's come up way short, I don't find that I'm at all dissatisfied listening to them for extended periods -- occasionally even thinking "these sound pretty nice."

Plus they're extremely comfortable.