[willprice]

Hi Guys,
I bought a pair of Shure's SE-315 and the sound quality is very far from what I expected, the bass sounds quite hollow and honestly I can't see much of an improvement over my old Sennheiser CX300s which obviously are about a 1/5th of the price. Before anyone starts making snide comments, I acknowledge I'm probably doing something wrong, if anyone could give me some tips on how to get the best sound I'd be very grateful (I've tried listening to uncompressed .wav and .flac and still the sound quality isn't great, it's not my source material that's the problem).
However if they are as bad as I perceive them to be at this moment in time, is it possible to return them? I bought them from Amazon.co.uk and bought a 3 year Squaretrade warranty along with it (anyone know whether that's transferable?)
 
Many thanks.
Will

 

[tannerbnd]

If the bass is hollow, try some more tips....If the tips aren't in your ear properly, the bass is going to sound hollow...I would try the comply tips....roll the tip in your fingers, and pull the back of your ear while putting them in....Press them into your ear then...If that doesn't work I would send them back....good luck

 

[willprice]

Hi tannerbnd,
Thanks you for the reply, I've just tried that, they just sound dreadful, I'm listening on my HD448s, to make sure I just didn't have an inflated sense of expectation, nope, the Sennheisers are just maybe 2 or 3 times as good, the Shure's don't seem to have anywhere near the detail as either the CX300s or HD448s, maybe I got a dud pair!

 

[tannerbnd]

Yeah, all the shures that I have heard didn't sound good to me....Just personal preference......Paying more for the name, than the quality
 
 
Have you tried the ultimate ears triple 10s?

 

[willprice]

No I haven't, this is my first entry into the more expensive realm of audio. I was impressed with my HD448s but I prefer IEMs hence the purchase. I'd like to try the UE triple 10s, they're a little out of my budget though (~£150) any recommendations for something with adequate bass (I'm quite a big electronica fan) nothing too overpowering.
Cheers.

 

[ZARIM]

The Shure SE315 are not very open sounding include bass or detailed as some other IEMs in same price range. I will recommend to try Sennheiser IE8 because they offers huge soundstage, deep punchy bass and great mids, highs. The few more IEMs like UE TF10Pro, JVC FXC90, Sony EX600, HF5, GR07 are highly recommended.

 

[willprice]

Thank you Zarim, I have to say, I was leaning towards the IE8s. I'll check out the others as well.

 

[Photofan1986]

Bear in mind that your ears will need some time to get accustomed to the totally different sound signature. The CX300 is pure crap in my opinion, and while I haven't heard the SE315, I cannot imagine them being that bad. The CX300 are bass heavy, muddy earphones with no mids whatsoever, while the Shures put the accent on midrange. That's probably the reason you don't like them. But give them some time, listening exclusively to them, and when you'll come back to the CX300, you won't believe how bad they are.
I had a very similar impression when I bought my first BA iem, the Super fi 3, after owning a pair of cheap Sony iems. Today, I can clearly say the Super fi are much, much better iems.
 
 

 

[nikp]

Quote:

Hi tannerbnd,
Thanks you for the reply, I've just tried that, they just sound dreadful, I'm listening on my HD448s, to make sure I just didn't have an inflated sense of expectation, nope, the Sennheisers are just maybe 2 or 3 times as good, the Shure's don't seem to have anywhere near the detail as either the CX300s or HD448s, maybe I got a dud pair!

I think you do not like the sound of BA IEMs. By the way, you can't compare headphones and IEMs. Headphones give a better value. 

 
You should be able to return them - just check out Amazon's return policy. I heard Amazon has one of the most flexible returns in history.
 

 

[h8uthemost]

I thought the exact samething with my SE215's. I was coming from the CX300's as well, and they were so clear sounding. Just an overall fantastic pair of cheaper IEM's. Then I got my SE215's(which were extremely hyped around these forums at that time) and I was disappointed. They sounded pretty good overall, but nowhere near as clear as the 300's.
 
But then I burned them in for about 50+ hours and the sound really started to open up and get clearer. So now I'm happy with them(well, besides the over-the-ear design).
 
You have the 315's though and are complaining about the bass, while I have the 215's and was complaining about the clarity. But I recommend to you what I did. Just burn them in for quite a while. And while you're doing that your ears will undoubtedly get used to them and you might even start to like them. So just stick with them for a while longer before deciding if you like them or not.
 
P.S. And most people aren't able to hear a difference between an album ripped in lossless(flac, wav, etc) and an album ripped in lossy(mp3, ogg, etc). Especially if you're using a portable music player. So I definitely wouldn't put much stock into the format that the album was ripped.
 
 
Quote:

Hi Guys,
I can't see much of an improvement over my old Sennheiser CX300s which obviously are about a 1/5th of the price.

 

 

[willprice]

 
 

The CX300 are bass heavy, muddy earphones with no mids whatsoever

 
 
I couldn't agree more, I was so tired of listening to artists like Sigur Ros where you need good mids to fully enjoy the sound. But (at the moment) the bass on the SE315 is almost non existent it sounds accurate but it's so hollow sounding that however accurate it sounds there is no getting over the lack of depth of it hehe.
 
Quote:

Shures put the accent on midrange

 
 
 
Yes, I did notice that, I found the mids in Yann Tiersen's works quite good really, but then, the bass did really detract from the overall experience.
 
 
 

P.S. And most people aren't able to hear a difference between an album ripped in lossless(flac, wav, etc) and an album ripped in lossy(mp3, ogg, etc). Especially if you're using a portable music player. So I definitely wouldn't put much stock into the format that the album was ripped.

 
I was mentioning it purely because I had wanted to state that I had checked that my source audio wasn't rubbish quality. I hadn't known that most people aren't able to hear the difference, thanks for then information
 
 
 

Just burn them in for quite a while. 

OK, I'll do that and see whether my opinion changes.

Thanks for the advice everyone, I very much appreciate all your help!

 

[dangrmous]

I just got the Shure SE315's new and I'm sending them back. The sound quality is poor. The bass doesn't seem to have much extension, and does sound hollow. The mids (in particular the vocal range) feel very pulled back and strangely smeared. Vocals sounded extremely weak. The highs were not there either, they almost sounded muted. I'm returning them immediately (unfortunately).
 
Prior to these I had the Shure SCL3's, which I absolutely loved. In fact, I just went back and ordered some more off eBay.
 
If anyone wants these SE315's let me know - I bought them new, took them out of the box, listened to them for about 10 minutes, then repacked everything exactly how it was. They're essentially new.