[goodvibes]

63 pros.

Then you're correct in your case but that broad brush doesn't apply. Bass response in open electrostatics is limited a great deal by their dipole in free space nature. There is acoustic cancellation as the there is no directionality at low frequencies and the inverse phase rear output begins to cancel the front. That's aggravated by getting them too close to a rear wall as it accelerates that cancellation. Not an issue in the Shure which will have similar enclosure interaction as other sealed earphones.

 

[goodvibes]

Have just read the sales literature and apparently "bypass" as opposed to "Flat" bypasses digital signal processing (DSP).

I'd say you should at least have tried out "Flat" in comparison to "bypass", there's probably a reason for there being a distinction between the two (I'd wager that reason being that "Flat" with DSP engaged is how the engineers envisioned the system to sound...)

Thanks for that. So there is a true analog throughput

. I wonder how dependant tonality is on DSP. Certainly, a transparent EQ (rare) could give various listeners what's desired. Of course, that doesn't have to come from the Shure amp but I suspect they worked hard for that transparency here. There is no inherent bass limitation in this design though there could be a low bass vs volume one. I doubt that's so at any safe volume.

 

[Asr]

Does anyone know if Shure will have these at the upcoming Rocky Mountain Audio Video Expo (on 10/28-29 in Denver CO)? I did see that Shure is on the exhibitor list, but no mention of the KSE1500. I'll probably go to the show anyway, but would be awesome if Shure had these there.....

 

[ubs28]

  Electrostats biggest weakness and I say this from my experience with Quad ESL is the bottom end reach as well as percussive instruments.
Stats are best with strings and voice. Haven't heard these obviously but suspect they will have the same traits since it is intrinsic to the design of stats.

Didn't people say that Balanced Armature drives can't do bass until Shure made the Shure SE846. 

 

[musicday]

For those who have tried Shure KSE1500,can you please tell me if the DAC will play any files, including DSD but get down sampled to 24/96?
Also how is this kevlar cable,does it look it will last a long time?
Thank you.

 

[ClieOS]

For those who have tried Shure KSE1500,can you please tell me if the DAC will play any files, including DSD but get down sampled to 24/96?
Also how is this kevlar cable,does it look it will last a long time?
Thank you.

 
The fact that it is 24/96 almost means there is no native DSD playback (even DoP will require the DAC to supports 16bit/176.4kHz). If the downsampling you are referring actually means PCM conversion (which will be done in the source, not on the DAC itself), then it really doesn't matter it is DSD or not, since the signal going to the DAC will be PCM regardless. So the question is not whether the DAC will play what files, but whether the source (i.e. a smartphone) can decode/convert all the files or not.

 

[Toolman]

Why would you build a ToTL iem/amp/DAC combo, then not optimising your DAC to play all the formats, especially those that their target customers are most likely to be playing?

...and shure-ly they would have known of their weak cables after so many years, so I hoped they would have put as much design time as they did engineering the round cable because after paying a premium for an iem the last thing I want is having a cable problem (happened to me twice) that would mean more $$$ and downtime. After all you don't see Ferrari cutting corners in the leather, training, carbon fiber or the chasis material right?

 

[arnaud]

Jude was kind enough to let me have a short listen to the new shure today, using his AK dap (380?) line out. Take the following with a pinch of salt as I had what, 2 songs only to make my mind as I was in a rush.

I liked the shure but I was not mesmerized (I expected more I guess). In particular, I thought it was a bit short on both ends of the spectrum. The bass seem especially rolled off with some compensation in the midbass region. It gives it a nice punchy sound with good kick but maybe that would get tiring after a while.

I thought the mids were good / not too forward / no shrillness.

No much comment on the headstage, too little time to evaluate. It did not sound very open but did not feel claustrophobic either.

I'd consider it betrer priced <1.5kUSD when compared to full size cans. 3k seems like a big stretch to me. Having said that, I haven't tested the latest high end iem offerings , so maybe it's just everyone has gone nuts over the price of iems and shure is just placing itself in light of the competition?

Would require much more thorough listen to judge properly.:..

Cheers,
Arnaud

 

[nanaholic]

Not sure if the question has been asked yet but are these phones using the standard Shure ear tips/foams?  After using customs for so long I really can't go back to universal foams/tips but if these Shure uses the standard tubes then I know some companies in Japan are now offering to make custom ear tips which fits Shure IEMs that would essentially make these perfect without the hassle of full CIEM as well as able to keep a good resell potential.

 

[Joe Bloggs]

Have just read the sales literature and apparently "bypass" as opposed to "Flat" bypasses digital signal processing (DSP).


I'd say you should at least have tried out "Flat" in comparison to "bypass", there's probably a reason for there being a distinction between the two (I'd wager that reason being that "Flat" with DSP engaged is how the engineers envisioned the system to sound...)

Thanks for that. So there is a true analog throughput . I wonder how dependant tonality is on DSP. Certainly, a transparent EQ (rare) could give various listeners what's desired. Of course, that doesn't have to come from the Shure amp but I suspect they worked hard for that transparency here. There is no inherent bass limitation in this design though there could be a low bass vs volume one. I doubt that's so at any safe volume.

If by transparency you mean that the EQ should do nothing to the signal when set to flat, that is conceptually simple as simple can be. The complication is usually that there would be a volume difference (the bypass setting usually being louder, and louder simply being perceived as sounding better except at unreasonable listening volumes), resulting from having to create digital headroom for the EQ for boosting frequencies without clipping. (Conceptually, even cutting frequencies can lead to clipping, but that is much less rare).

Personally I get around the problem by cutting down the bypass signal in volume as well when doing comparisons.

 

[goodvibes]

I wish it were commonly so but not a big picture issue for me. Simply a matter of what does more harm or good. I'm not a black and white guy and understand trade-offs. None of these discussion points would limit me if I simply liked it enough on a listen. 
 
Your 1st reply to me was that modifying and mixing HD was difficult, to rationalize the choice of not playing formats beyond 24/96. Surely, a powerful PC with unlimited time and processing cycles has an easier time modifying 24/192 than a DAP does with 24/96 in real time. Now you're on the other side of that coin and saying that doing it in real time is easy when it's actually more difficult. It's clearly more taxing in real time as you don't have the luxury of waiting for rendering. You still need to upsample make the changes, apply dither and return to the original format for it to be optimal. There's added buffers, processing and background noise, like in FLAC vs wave. There's more going on than just bits. I'm not against DSP when it does more good than harm but just engaging the EQ circuit on a DAP does involve some harm. Whether one notices with a given file or setup is individual as it's not catastrophic but I avoid them when possible because I tend to notice on my favorite emotive files.
 
You can use programs like Wavelab Pro or Cubase, if your setup and recording are up for it, and clearly hear the difference between the very best dithers and plugins. Things like the Weiss INT202 SP/dif to best DACs, all with selected linears supplies help here. Alternately, a DAP isn't as revealing so doesn't need to be as critical but it's also much more limited in resources.

 

[Joe Bloggs]

Has anybody (Jude or otherwise) compared the sound of these in Flat and Bypass modes yet?

 

[Kunlun]

   
I didn't find the sub-bass extension that good on the tracks I had where it was noticeable. 
 
Very roughly speaking we're looking at an in-ear version of the later Stax Lambdas (e.g.: 404LE or similar). 

Very helpful, thanks!

 

[robm321]

My interest in these is now gone. Phew!

For the price to not be stupid, they would have to be lot more impressive than, "meh".

 

[goodvibes]

They may well be to me or you. I'll certainly seek out a listen and form my own opinion.