[audionewbi]

Another look at kse1500

It has been over an year since I worth my review of the kse1500 and I thought I share with some of the thought I had with regarding ownership of the product and my overall thought on the 'high end portable market'.

It has been over one year since the release of kse1500 and to my surprise the adaptation of this intensely rewarding product based on how very little we see it at various show and based on the recent heavy price reduction of them on my local retailers who happen to carry this suggest to me that it is perhaps isn't as much as what I would have imagined it to be in the time I was writing the review.. Some might argue this should be no surprise due the high price tag of the product but I would argue this isn't the first upper 2k product. We have seen many other products priced higher than kse1500 and they seem to be at times be sold out or at least in high demand based on the fact that I have never seen them be as heavily discounted.
Of course one can argue the markup of kse1500 perhaps was high to begin with, sure who can truly know or whose it to say, perhaps the same argument can be applied to other brands? My point of view is that yes it is priced high but we do get a complete unit and we do get a product that is custom made from every aspect but I digress.

So what is the cause of relatively low adaptation of the kse1500? My guesses would be1) age of stacking is over and 2) despite its future proof IEM concept its DAC/AMP is already outdate!

I think if I was to say the era of strapping a source/dap to an amplifier or dac/amp units are slowly fading away this shouldn’t surprise anyone one. This shift in this trend is thankfully due to the emergence of the new daps that are powerful enough to made amplification redundant. There will always be the few crazy of us who will always will use an amp, let's say for nostalgia purposes. The nature of kse1500  allows only one option, staking. Whether you use it as DAC/AMP or as a stand-alone it must have a source. 

I think my second point speaks for itself. The ear-piece alone is way ahead of its current competitors. In terms of performance it simply lacks nothing. However in term of what drives it, the DAC/AMP arguably from the day it was released it was outdate. It never supported DSD or anything higher than 24/96. With the release and growth of MQA the lack of MQA support will only hurt the KSE1500 more. 

What the KSE1500 needs is a new amp/dac module. Something that at least covers all basis, something similar to what Chord did with their Chord Mojo. Wouldnt it be nice to see a Shure module that does what chord Mojo/Poly setup does? 

 

[bobeau]

  the recent heavy price reduction of them on my local retailers 

 
I'm still seeing this as $3k across the board at retailers in the US.

 

[audionewbi]

I'm still seeing this as $3k across the board at retailers in the US.

Recently the local prices were 3499 AUD (2600 usd). The recommended retail used to be 4999 aud.

 

[spook76]

Recently the local prices were 3499 AUD (2600 usd). The recommended retail used to be 4999 aud.

The variances in prices for the KSE is not dispositive. Shure does not sell directly to consumers but through retailers who are free to discount as they choose. Most high end earphone manufacturers (UE, Noble, Campfire, 64 Audio etc.) sell most of their product directly, especially custom ear phones.

Further did you take into consideration the 20-40% Black Friday discounts offered by those companies when a lot of their sales are made?

 

[Eroica4th]

So i asked Shure techenical engineer department regarding the volume in the source and the volume of kse1500. What would be the optimal way. Below is the answer.



Thanks for contacting us, usually increasing the on the KSE1500 will increase the gain as well so you will be able to hear the floor noise of the AK380, I suggest going half the way on both and if you need more level then increase from the AK380, when ever distortion is heard then reduce the level on the AK380 and increase it few points up from the KSE1500. so it will be a balance between both.

you may use the line out of the AK380 if it has one which will bypass the volume and then your KSE1500 will have the full control.

Hope that help

All the best!

However, i didnt get the last point. Line out while bypassing the volume?

 

[spook76]

So i asked Shure techenical engineer department regarding the volume in the source and the volume of kse1500. What would be the optimal way. Below is the answer.



Thanks for contacting us, usually increasing the on the KSE1500 will increase the gain as well so you will be able to hear the floor noise of the AK380, I suggest going half the way on both and if you need more level then increase from the AK380, when ever distortion is heard then reduce the level on the AK380 and increase it few points up from the KSE1500. so it will be a balance between both.

you may use the line out of the AK380 if it has one which will bypass the volume and then your KSE1500 will have the full control.

Hope that help

All the best!

However, i didnt get the last point. Line out while bypassing the volume?

Thank you. It is nice to hear from the engineers. That confirms the way I have been using my KSE. I set the volume from my Mojo until it hits the yellow on the KSE display during peaks in the recording and adjust the KSE's volume as needed.

 

[jscmd2000]

When you are using the 3.5 mm jack as line-out, meaning you are using 3.5mm male to 3.5mm male to go from KSE to AK380, you will see a round circle with "line out" inside it when you change the volume.  If you click on that circle, the volume goes automatically to maximum 150.  This might be too hot, requiring you to lower the input to -10db on your KSE.

 

[jscmd2000]

Hopefully you already know that the same 3.5 mm jack on the AK380 is also an optical line out, if you have a Chord Mojo, for a toslink cable connection.

 

[Eroica4th]

Hopefully you already know that the same 3.5 mm jack on the AK380 is also an optical line out, if you have a Chord Mojo, for a toslink cable connection.

Hello jscmd2000,

Thanks for the reply. I know by setting ak380 to line out it will set the voluma maximum. But what i dont understand is that phrase " if it has one which will bypass the volume". I could have asked him in fact they replied within 4 hours too . But meh i dont know why i like headfi

 

[Eroica4th]

Thank you. It is nice to hear from the engineers. That confirms the way I have been using my KSE. I set the volume from my Mojo until it hits the yellow on the KSE display during peaks in the recording and adjust the KSE's volume as needed.

Good to hear that u benefeted

 

[jscmd2000]

Hmmm    Maybe referring to the fact that once you select line out and volume goes to maximum, you cannot control the volume on the AK380, hence bypassing the volume control?  Well, let me know if you find out the way to make the sound better.  Whatever you do, just don't use the balanced output!

 

[jpelg]

With regard to more widespread adoption (or perhaps lack thereof), I think that electrostatic portables are a very niche market. Stax's own SRS-001 & SRS-002 models were never as prevalent in the wild as other portable technologies. The KSE-1500 has the added hurdle of a very premium price point that competes with full-sized electrostatic systems. I'm not saying the KSE-1500 isn't worth it, as it is the only one of it's kind & arguably does things other systems can't. But there it is.
 
Also, the anticipated competition, or at least trickle-down technology within Shure, have never materialized, giving little market incentive to push down prices or improve on technology. Again, not saying the current product isn't worth it, but...
 
Lastly, I don't know how much Shure is actively marketing the product itself. I've never see print ads for it, or a mainstream publication review. Sadly, they did not have a booth at the NY CanJam event in February. Had they been there, I would have loved to audition a set to see what all the hubbub is about.
 
Glad you all are enjoying yours though.

 

[MRT-Man]

I don't know how many they've sold. Only Shure knows that. All I know is that I'm consistently blown away by the sound quality, whenever I put them on. 
 
The amp was, admittedly, almost a deal-breaker for me. But I'm willing to put up with it given that the sound from the KSE is so much better than anything else that I've tried. 

 

[SilverEars]

I had this and returned it.  Nothing special. Niche.  

 

[audionewbi]

I had this and returned it.  Nothing special. Niche.  

Define what is special for you.....