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Double press the volume button. Scroll to the last menu option, "Hardware". Second option should be "Disable charging".
Shure KSE1500 Review - Shure KSE1500 Sound Isolating Electrostatic Earphones
- Thread starter jude
- Start date
TYATYA
Headphoneus Supremus
Use shure provided cable (the one include in sale package).
Notice that charging light on kse doesnt lit in use
sklonchpower
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Hi. Does anybody compared KSE vs Solaris? Just interesting)
Misson07
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I have both. Solaris has quite a lot larger soundstage with more headroom and better imaging/more space between instruments. The bass on the Solaris has more rumble being dynamic driver although the amout of bass isn't really THAT much more than than of the KSE's. The KSE is more neutral sounding of the two with better resolution/detail retrieval/transparency and faster transient response. The Solaris has more sparkle in the treble. Fit-wise the KSE1500 is much more comfortable to me than the large and bulky Solaris but it also way way cheaper looking and probably has much worse durability.
Why on earth would you put key in the same bag as any that's worth $2k in the first place?
In the menu of the KSE1500 you can disable charging.
bosiemoncrieff
Headphoneus Supremus
Using the line in from my iPad the sound is kind of blah.
bosiemoncrieff
Headphoneus Supremus
HE-1 with a happy ending
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Love the optimism
Was passing through airport security and had to put everything down for security, I put them in my bag where i had keys....
sklonchpower
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Thanx. Very interesting.
FidelityCastro
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Spent 40 mins demo-ing the KSE1200 today, through my SP1000 SS, listening to Tidal Masters (24/96) and few Tidal HiFi (16/44) and A/B-ing with my current fave IEM pairing of Cosmic Ears CE6P + balanced 8W copper cable.
Quick impressions:
- The amp was smaller than I was expecting - pleasantly surprised.
- Very comfortable, just like the less expensive Shures (I started my head-fi journey with SE535s and I think to this day they were the most comfortable for prolonged listening and sleeping. Unlike, say, the Solaris and their ilk, which I tend to find very uncomfortable fairly quickly, lacking big lugholes as I do). This also means that I have no issues with build quality. The Shures are probably the least attractive housings I’ve owned, but their small and slippery form factor means they travel well and there’s less to damage. They do look cheap though.
- Good isolation from background noise.
- I needed to crank up the volume on the AK DAP very high, even with the KSE amp well above half way. There’s volume to spare in both devices, but I had to be very careful to dial the volume way back down on the SPK before switching back to my other IEMs, otherwise that would’ve been the end of the demo session (and any music listening for rest of the day while my eardrums recovered).
- Sound quality: STUNNING for CERTAIN music. As others have said, there’s not a massive character to them (I.e. they don’t come strongly EQ’d in any given direction except flat); but this means they spit out what’s put in. I like guitar-based music generally (blues, rock, Americana, country, funk etc), and I found that the modern, well-produced albums, without too much heavy guitar, worked the best. Straight up classic / heavy rock music wasn’t better to my ears than the Cosmic Ears - in fact it was slightly less exciting. But acoustic / lighter, carefully produced (not overly compressed) stuff sounded better than I’ve ever heard.
Two examples that jump out were ‘Slow It Down’ by TFDI (acoustic with harmony vox) and John Mayer’s new single, ‘I Guess I Just Feel Like’. Both already sounded great with the existing IEMs but definitely eased up a gear with the KSEs. And I think we’re both just 16/44 HiFi tracks rather than MQA.
The key ingredient for me, by a country mile, was note separation. A number of tracks that I know well - including the two mentioned above - had a whole new level of clarity and, frankly, emotion in them. It wasn’t quite the eureka moment from when you first heard a song on CD that you’re listened to for years on cassette tape (for those old enough to remember), but things were definitely popping out even compared to my other IEMs.
- Soundstage was better than I had feared. I love a wide stage and always listen to the DAPs balanced where possible, and although the single-ended KSE1200s weren’t as wide as that, the soundstage was still wide enough that it didn’t reduce any enjoyment. Still a lot wider than my FiiO X7II balanced (which I recently upgraded from), for example.
- The downside is obviously going back to a stack, not least because the SP1000 SS could already double as a brick in the event of a riot breaking out. Having said that, I spent many happy months with the Onkyo DP-X1 and then FiiO X7ii strapped to an ALO CDM mini tube amp, and the KSE amp is much smaller than the ALO. If I need to go without, i’ll also be very happy with a good set of universals and a balanced cable coming out of the SPK, as I have now.
Outcome: they don’t look great; they’re only single-ended; they could seem a bit overkill - electrostatic or otherwise - for everyday portability; they aren’t for every listening session, or every style of music. But when the stars are aligned, these things sound bloody great. Ordered them for arrival in a week or so, all being well.
Quick impressions:
- The amp was smaller than I was expecting - pleasantly surprised.
- Very comfortable, just like the less expensive Shures (I started my head-fi journey with SE535s and I think to this day they were the most comfortable for prolonged listening and sleeping. Unlike, say, the Solaris and their ilk, which I tend to find very uncomfortable fairly quickly, lacking big lugholes as I do). This also means that I have no issues with build quality. The Shures are probably the least attractive housings I’ve owned, but their small and slippery form factor means they travel well and there’s less to damage. They do look cheap though.
- Good isolation from background noise.
- I needed to crank up the volume on the AK DAP very high, even with the KSE amp well above half way. There’s volume to spare in both devices, but I had to be very careful to dial the volume way back down on the SPK before switching back to my other IEMs, otherwise that would’ve been the end of the demo session (and any music listening for rest of the day while my eardrums recovered).
- Sound quality: STUNNING for CERTAIN music. As others have said, there’s not a massive character to them (I.e. they don’t come strongly EQ’d in any given direction except flat); but this means they spit out what’s put in. I like guitar-based music generally (blues, rock, Americana, country, funk etc), and I found that the modern, well-produced albums, without too much heavy guitar, worked the best. Straight up classic / heavy rock music wasn’t better to my ears than the Cosmic Ears - in fact it was slightly less exciting. But acoustic / lighter, carefully produced (not overly compressed) stuff sounded better than I’ve ever heard.
Two examples that jump out were ‘Slow It Down’ by TFDI (acoustic with harmony vox) and John Mayer’s new single, ‘I Guess I Just Feel Like’. Both already sounded great with the existing IEMs but definitely eased up a gear with the KSEs. And I think we’re both just 16/44 HiFi tracks rather than MQA.
The key ingredient for me, by a country mile, was note separation. A number of tracks that I know well - including the two mentioned above - had a whole new level of clarity and, frankly, emotion in them. It wasn’t quite the eureka moment from when you first heard a song on CD that you’re listened to for years on cassette tape (for those old enough to remember), but things were definitely popping out even compared to my other IEMs.
- Soundstage was better than I had feared. I love a wide stage and always listen to the DAPs balanced where possible, and although the single-ended KSE1200s weren’t as wide as that, the soundstage was still wide enough that it didn’t reduce any enjoyment. Still a lot wider than my FiiO X7II balanced (which I recently upgraded from), for example.
- The downside is obviously going back to a stack, not least because the SP1000 SS could already double as a brick in the event of a riot breaking out. Having said that, I spent many happy months with the Onkyo DP-X1 and then FiiO X7ii strapped to an ALO CDM mini tube amp, and the KSE amp is much smaller than the ALO. If I need to go without, i’ll also be very happy with a good set of universals and a balanced cable coming out of the SPK, as I have now.
Outcome: they don’t look great; they’re only single-ended; they could seem a bit overkill - electrostatic or otherwise - for everyday portability; they aren’t for every listening session, or every style of music. But when the stars are aligned, these things sound bloody great. Ordered them for arrival in a week or so, all being well.
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Hello guys quick question: would Dragonfly Red from iPhone be enough to drive the kse1200 adequately? Ty
TYATYA
Headphoneus Supremus
Output 0.7V is surely enough
joshnor713
Headphoneus Supremus
Don't cheap out on the DAC, you've bought $2K headphones after all. I tried pairing it with a Fiio M6 because the size fit so well with the KSE1200 amp, and although Fiio usually does a great job with their devices, when I switched to the Mojo or Micro iDSD BL it was another level. Noticeably elevated the experience. I paid so much for these headphones, hell if I'm not gonna get my moneys worth out of them. Otherwise I would've just stuck with my SE846.
