Towert7
Headphoneus Supremus
- Joined
- Aug 31, 2005
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Hello all.
I had previously purchased the Shure SE310 IEM but was not satisfied by its sound, basically feeling that it lacked musicality while having good detail. I decided to give IEM’s another try, and purchased the Future Sonics Atrio M5 and the Shure SE530.
These are my initial impressions of the Shure SE530.
Packaging:
These came in a nice package, much better than that GOD AWFUL plastic mold that you find in the SE210 and SE310. Instead I found the earphones in a very fancy and sturdy black/silver brushed aluminum container. I was shocked. This adds to the feeling that you have purchased something that costs a lot of money, for better or for worse. I myself have no use for the brushed aluminum container, as I do not store my earphones in it. So in my case, this is money ill spent when I could have had a cheaper box serve the same function. It’s a double edged sword, so to speak.
Package contents:
Shure has bundled quite a few things with the SE530. You get the little carrying case, various size ear plugs, an earphone cleaner, two different size extension cables, a 1/4” adaptor plug, volume control, and airplane adaptor. That’s enough for people to say “wow !!!! so complicated !!!!!”. No push to hear module came with my kit (a 50$ extra).
Comfort:
I really found these to be the most comfortable IEM I have used to date. They curve to my outer ear much better than either the M5 or the SE310 did. I find I get the best comfort with the small ‘black olives’ foam ear plugs. The way they are designed makes it very easy to wrap the cable around your ear. I also like how they are toed in at an angle.
On another note though, I have the same issue that I had with the SE310. I find the stock cable to be just a little too short for me. I personally use my Ipod nano inside my shirt pocket which is fairly close to my face. With the stock cable length, the right earphone is being pulled on because the cable is a little too short. So, I am forced to add the small 8” extension cable. Some people, especially those who are buying expensive audio products will not be very happy with the idea of needing to add on adaptors or extension cables, as they feel it will degrade the sound. I am not that critical; however for me the issue is the comfort and size. With the extension cable I have extra weight hanging from the earphones as opposed to if it was just one cable. This is extra weight and size. Not good for an ultra portable setup.
A Shure representative said after doing research, they feel the setup they have right now is good. I say Rubbish! I think the 8” extension should be built into the stock cable length, and the long extension cable the only necessary one. The Atrio M5 was nice for me because there were no extension cables.
Sound quality:
As is to be expected with something just millimeters away from your ear drum, these earphones are very detailed. I would wager a guess, that due to the nature of the IEM, these are more detailed than some of the best full sized headphones out there. This is their strong point. It really does blow me away at times. Listening right now to some classical music, I hear one of the musicians chair creaking as he moves about. WOW!
However, they still lack the level of musicality that I would associate with a 450$ earphone/headphone. This was my main reason for returning the SE310; they were sterile and did not involve me in my music. The SE530 is a little better than the SE310, but still not there. My main issue with these is that:
Bass:
They still lack the low end bass that I demand. The SE530 edge on the analytical side (reminds me of my AKG K240M, god were those lifeless in the bass). In terms of bass weight, it’s lacking for me. Bass slam is slightly more noticeable than the Atrio M5, but this may be because the M5 had more bass weight that masked the bass slam. Still, these leave a lot to desire with the bass slam when compared to full size headphones. Doing tests, I can hear no bass below 26Hz, whereas the M5 went down to 20Hz. I preferred the M5 in terms of bass with its dynamic driver. It is said that the SE530 has two ‘woofers’… but I think they could have used a few extra.
Mids:
The mids are ok. They sound fairly neutral in terms of loudness. As with the bass though, nothing strikes me as being worth 450$. The mids are not the smooth sweet mids of my other headphones. The detail is its only redeeming quality for me here. So again, not blaring faults, just nothing that catches me and makes me go Wow!
Treble:
The treble roll off is not very smooth at the end. Near the end I can notice a little bouncing around of the frequency response. Other than that it’s a smooth roll off. It’s also fairly neutral.
The mids and treble together are a little bit bright for my tastes, just ever so much. I would have preferred a slightly warmer sound, but that is my preference. People who come from grado’s may find these to be too warm, haha.
Misc:
They are very sensitive, meaning you will hear background noise out of some, if not most, components because they don’t resist the noise floor. They have included an add-on volume reducer which helps if your source has a lot of noise or for those sources with high outputs. I have a funny feeling the volume reducer is a variable resistor that just adds variable impedance to the earphones. Audio purists may look down on this particular add-on.
They isolate very nicely. The cable is not very microphonic. When I ride my bike with these on, I do not get any wind induced noise entering my ear from the cable or IEM housing. This is terrific, as this was an issue with the Atrio M5.
L/R separation is good. Soundstage and depth is nothing impressive. I found the M5 to present a better sense of depth.
Resale Value?
Another thing bothers me: the resale value. Many people have said that the SE530 is just a renamed and repackaged Shure E500. The problem with this is that, since the SE530 is the new version, the E500 has come down drastically in price. As such, if I were to purchase this at the retail of 450$us, and want to turn around and sell it, who would buy it for 400$, or even 350$ for that matter, when they can get a new discounted E500 for 280$? Very few people I bet. And so, the resale value of these is very bad.
To sum up…
I don’t know… on one hand these are the most comfortable earphones I have used, with nice detail, and a fairly flat frequency response. On the other hand, they are still not involving enough for me to warrant the 450$ price. If these were priced at the 250$ price range I would highly recommend them. At 300$ they would be good, but at 450$ they are nothing special. If this is the pinnacle of the Shure line up, I think they still have a ways to go.
Some days I think to myself “just return them”, while there are times when I say “boy I’m glad I have these”. If I had more money I would just say “ah to heck with it, I’ll keep them since it’s the best I’ve heard to date”, but being strapped for money makes close to 500$ a precious commodity.
Now onto some pictures!
Hope this was helpful,
~Drew
I had previously purchased the Shure SE310 IEM but was not satisfied by its sound, basically feeling that it lacked musicality while having good detail. I decided to give IEM’s another try, and purchased the Future Sonics Atrio M5 and the Shure SE530.
These are my initial impressions of the Shure SE530.
Packaging:
These came in a nice package, much better than that GOD AWFUL plastic mold that you find in the SE210 and SE310. Instead I found the earphones in a very fancy and sturdy black/silver brushed aluminum container. I was shocked. This adds to the feeling that you have purchased something that costs a lot of money, for better or for worse. I myself have no use for the brushed aluminum container, as I do not store my earphones in it. So in my case, this is money ill spent when I could have had a cheaper box serve the same function. It’s a double edged sword, so to speak.
Package contents:
Shure has bundled quite a few things with the SE530. You get the little carrying case, various size ear plugs, an earphone cleaner, two different size extension cables, a 1/4” adaptor plug, volume control, and airplane adaptor. That’s enough for people to say “wow !!!! so complicated !!!!!”. No push to hear module came with my kit (a 50$ extra).
Comfort:
I really found these to be the most comfortable IEM I have used to date. They curve to my outer ear much better than either the M5 or the SE310 did. I find I get the best comfort with the small ‘black olives’ foam ear plugs. The way they are designed makes it very easy to wrap the cable around your ear. I also like how they are toed in at an angle.
On another note though, I have the same issue that I had with the SE310. I find the stock cable to be just a little too short for me. I personally use my Ipod nano inside my shirt pocket which is fairly close to my face. With the stock cable length, the right earphone is being pulled on because the cable is a little too short. So, I am forced to add the small 8” extension cable. Some people, especially those who are buying expensive audio products will not be very happy with the idea of needing to add on adaptors or extension cables, as they feel it will degrade the sound. I am not that critical; however for me the issue is the comfort and size. With the extension cable I have extra weight hanging from the earphones as opposed to if it was just one cable. This is extra weight and size. Not good for an ultra portable setup.
A Shure representative said after doing research, they feel the setup they have right now is good. I say Rubbish! I think the 8” extension should be built into the stock cable length, and the long extension cable the only necessary one. The Atrio M5 was nice for me because there were no extension cables.
Sound quality:
As is to be expected with something just millimeters away from your ear drum, these earphones are very detailed. I would wager a guess, that due to the nature of the IEM, these are more detailed than some of the best full sized headphones out there. This is their strong point. It really does blow me away at times. Listening right now to some classical music, I hear one of the musicians chair creaking as he moves about. WOW!
However, they still lack the level of musicality that I would associate with a 450$ earphone/headphone. This was my main reason for returning the SE310; they were sterile and did not involve me in my music. The SE530 is a little better than the SE310, but still not there. My main issue with these is that:
Bass:
They still lack the low end bass that I demand. The SE530 edge on the analytical side (reminds me of my AKG K240M, god were those lifeless in the bass). In terms of bass weight, it’s lacking for me. Bass slam is slightly more noticeable than the Atrio M5, but this may be because the M5 had more bass weight that masked the bass slam. Still, these leave a lot to desire with the bass slam when compared to full size headphones. Doing tests, I can hear no bass below 26Hz, whereas the M5 went down to 20Hz. I preferred the M5 in terms of bass with its dynamic driver. It is said that the SE530 has two ‘woofers’… but I think they could have used a few extra.
Mids:
The mids are ok. They sound fairly neutral in terms of loudness. As with the bass though, nothing strikes me as being worth 450$. The mids are not the smooth sweet mids of my other headphones. The detail is its only redeeming quality for me here. So again, not blaring faults, just nothing that catches me and makes me go Wow!
Treble:
The treble roll off is not very smooth at the end. Near the end I can notice a little bouncing around of the frequency response. Other than that it’s a smooth roll off. It’s also fairly neutral.
The mids and treble together are a little bit bright for my tastes, just ever so much. I would have preferred a slightly warmer sound, but that is my preference. People who come from grado’s may find these to be too warm, haha.
Misc:
They are very sensitive, meaning you will hear background noise out of some, if not most, components because they don’t resist the noise floor. They have included an add-on volume reducer which helps if your source has a lot of noise or for those sources with high outputs. I have a funny feeling the volume reducer is a variable resistor that just adds variable impedance to the earphones. Audio purists may look down on this particular add-on.
They isolate very nicely. The cable is not very microphonic. When I ride my bike with these on, I do not get any wind induced noise entering my ear from the cable or IEM housing. This is terrific, as this was an issue with the Atrio M5.
L/R separation is good. Soundstage and depth is nothing impressive. I found the M5 to present a better sense of depth.
Resale Value?
Another thing bothers me: the resale value. Many people have said that the SE530 is just a renamed and repackaged Shure E500. The problem with this is that, since the SE530 is the new version, the E500 has come down drastically in price. As such, if I were to purchase this at the retail of 450$us, and want to turn around and sell it, who would buy it for 400$, or even 350$ for that matter, when they can get a new discounted E500 for 280$? Very few people I bet. And so, the resale value of these is very bad.
To sum up…
I don’t know… on one hand these are the most comfortable earphones I have used, with nice detail, and a fairly flat frequency response. On the other hand, they are still not involving enough for me to warrant the 450$ price. If these were priced at the 250$ price range I would highly recommend them. At 300$ they would be good, but at 450$ they are nothing special. If this is the pinnacle of the Shure line up, I think they still have a ways to go.
Some days I think to myself “just return them”, while there are times when I say “boy I’m glad I have these”. If I had more money I would just say “ah to heck with it, I’ll keep them since it’s the best I’ve heard to date”, but being strapped for money makes close to 500$ a precious commodity.
Now onto some pictures!
Hope this was helpful,
~Drew
