I recieved the SE425 today I feel they are better than the E4c the last Shures I tried in 2008, but still lack that attention to clarity that I'm looking for.
The sound stage is pretty narrow also....while sampling Revel's Bolero on RCA Living Stereo, and Milt Jackson's Goodbye on CTI the instruments sound like they were performed straight into my ears without much field of depth or three dimentional placing. And with the lack of high frequencies the sound is vieled, not as muddy the E4 though.
This was done on an iPod Touch and Samsung P3 with 320 kbps encodings.
The bass is fine, people make the bass sound weak but its not, if theres boom in the recording then theres boom in the SE425. It just doesnt take much liberties with it.
I understand that the SE535 improve on some of these issues but I know that they are subtle and don't justify the addition $150.
I will keep experimenting with higher end scources and different ear tips but these might wind up in the For Sale/Trade forums soon.