[Jonoh]

Hi,

I hope some of you with Shure SEs can provide your experience using these earphones while exercising and/or just moving around.

I was a happy owner of an E4 until it broke (my fault and out of warranty) which I used mainly for the gym. After having gotten used to the E4, I am really suffering using lesser phones while I determine to either replace or repair my E4 or to upgrade. I enjoy using earphones at the gym so much that lack of them is impacting my desire to even go to the gym. I credit the E4s in helping me stay motivated during cardio sessions.

I heard the se420 and se530 while at an airport recently and really liked the se530 as a noticeable upgrade over the E4 (the se420 would also be an upgrade sound-wise IMO). It has been a few years so I decided to upgrade vs paying $109 or more (Shure's minimum repair fee) to get my well used E4s repaired. I was already interested in upgrading before the E4s broke. I also resolve to take better care of my next earphone as they are oh so not cheap.

I bought a pair of se530s. Sound-wise, I could do with less bass—the E4s were a bit thin but more suited to my tastes in that regards for me, but overall, the se530s are so much sweeter than the E4s and worth the price.

However, I found that when I moved around as I would while at the gym, the plug that connects the extensions bounced around, even throwing the cords off the top of my ears a bit when I did some jogging in place to replicate the bouncing I will get while on the treadmill. This created a series of loud thuds. I am used to microphonics but this was loud and obtrusive.

My question to SE owners is if the bouncing plug problem moderates over time as the cord breaks in or if others, and I know from pouring over this forum some of you do use your SE phones for exercising including the treadmill, experience the bouncing plug or microphonics overall a problem.

In comparison, my E4 cord bounces around but without the weight of a plug and that the cord is naturally bent over my ears, it does not thud against my chest as much and the actual part of the cords touching the top of my ears do not lose contact with my ears. Microphonics, while not eliminated, are not an issue.

At this point, I want to keep the se530s for their sound quality and for the limited use when not at the gym however my outside of the gym use is so infrequent that I cannot justify the high cost for the se530s if I also need a set of E4s for the gym.

Any advice or experience with SEs you can share will be appreciated, thanks.

 

[dazzer1975]

I have n issue with microphonics from the cable or interconnect, however, I have noticed something which may account for your roblem, how to rememdy it though...

When the plug on the cable is bouncing around, it can lift and jump about the cable where it is resting over your aar and the thud of it landing against our ear is what causes the noise, it cant be microphonics as it does not occur anywhere else on the cable when i rub, flick it etc, so I think it must be the vibration from your ear as the cable lands back down on it.

The sound is exactly the same as the microphonics through my ety's, but the sure cable has zero microphonics ime.

 

[Jonoh]

Quote:

Originally Posted by dazzer1975 /img/forum/go_quote.gif I have n issue with microphonics from the cable or interconnect, however, I have noticed something which may account for your roblem, how to rememdy it though... When the plug on the cable is bouncing around, it can lift and jump about the cable where it is resting over your aar and the thud of it landing against our ear is what causes the noise, it cant be microphonics as it does not occur anywhere else on the cable when i rub, flick it etc, so I think it must be the vibration from your ear as the cable lands back down on it. The sound is exactly the same as the microphonics through my ety's, but the sure cable has zero microphonics ime.

Thanks for adding some clarity to my question. You are right, it is not the cable itself but the plug as it bumps around. It does also contribute to lifting the cables off the top of my ears. This might be due to the cables being stiff and new and not yet having formed a bend which will happen with some wear. On the other hand, the cables may just be such that they are relatively stiff (in comparison to the E4s) and any bouncing about will be communicated to my ear (sigh...well at least replacing the E4s rather than upgrading is less expensive, but not as much fun -- this is not to say the E4s are bad, I still like them, just like the se530 more).

I also contemplated clipping the cable to my shirt but the shirt will also move a bit. The mass of the plug is what is making the cable jump around and will probably not be eliminated by clipping to my shirt. Anyone have experience doing this?

Running the cable underneath my shirt might work but...not really a big fan of the idea as there will be some sweating going on.