Shure SE530? Is it still a top ranking IEM?

[Feather225]

There has to be more SE530 users than W3 users at this stage of course since W3 just came out less than a month~
but cable wise, westone is def one of the best, they use the same twisting cable for UM1 2 W3, never had a problem~
W3 left earbud going quite? never heard...never experienced, sometimes it could be someone's ear, not the earbud...but to me, W3 is made of high quality, very solid~
Shure probably did redesigned their cable, but thats after I bought the ESW9 and Image x10 for portable use...so originally, the reason why I gave up on Shure is the cable problem...
Also there were many threads complaining about Se530's roll off treble...you understand after reading those, it just really turns you off...

I am 100% agree with you that it is probably too early to talk about W3's built quality~but at least to me, everything seems solid and durable~sound is full and powerful~I won't hesitate to post if any defective happens, I am not a Westone fan~I just appreciate high end audio equipments~




Quote:

Originally Posted by Arjisme /img/forum/go_quote.gif This is pretty questionable analysis. First off, "most peope" are NOT complaining about the SE530's cable. Some people are and have had problems. Second, Shure modified the cable about a year ago in response to the issues that customers were reporting. As far as we know, those reformulated cables do not have the problems the older cables did. I have not seen a poll asking about failure rates of SE530s with a manufacture date of, say, 12/1/2008 or later in an attempt to assess if the new cables are problematic. Third, there are many more people using SE530s than W3s to date (and have been using them for far longer than the W3 user base), therefore there is a higher likelihood you will hear reports about product problems with the Shures than with the Westones. You should reevaluate this after, say, one year and see where things stand. I can say I have seen four or five reports on this site already regarding quality problems with W3s -- most typically the left earbud going quiet. That isn't enough information to say yet that the W3s have quality problems though. Any manufactured product will have some percentage of issues. My point is it is far too early to compare the quality of the W3s with other IEMs that have been out for years based soley on user feedback.

 

[shigzeo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Taikero /img/forum/go_quote.gif It may sound like marketing hype, but it actually isn't. It's a factual difference between the crossover types (e.g. Three drivers to two-way crossover in SE530/Triple.fi 10, etc. vs. Three drivers to three-way crossover in Westone 3).

and what does that do again?

 

[Spyro]

Yes it's early but W3 seems pretty indestructable to me. The nozzle tip seems like it's molded as part of the housing and it's pretty short so I can't see it ever breaking. Then the strain relief on the cable is more than adequate. Slightly flexible but long and sturdy. The housing itself seems to be very solid plastic.

I can't see what could possible go bad (knock on wood....)?

 

[qusp]

these threads are really becoming very tiring.

SE530 great IEM but with a few problems. one thing thats really pissing me off right now is that I have spent the last 6 months defending the new cable and just in the last week or two the cable near the jacik on my iphone adapter failed, the same problem with the PTH unit. and the strain relief on cable near the the right earpiece has now split and so it wont be long before that starts to fail too. I look after these very well, cleaning the body oils off the cable every couple of days and rubbing oil into the cable to help to protect from becoming brittle. the cables have kept ok, but all of them have failed in some other way. this sucks because I really like the SE530 SQ; I use the W3 more these days but I still think the SE530 midrange is superior. with UM56 the W3 has better and more exciting sound over all IMO but thats just to my ears. as long as the source is good the sound will be good. i'm very annoyed now tat all this has happened with all the time i've wasted defending the SE530 and I feel a bit of a fool to be honest. I have requested an RMA from earphone solutions but I plan on exchanging for IE8 because as good as the SE530 is and I do really love it. I dont want togo through this every 56 months.

 

[Signal2Noise]

Quote:

Originally Posted by qusp /img/forum/go_quote.gif ... I dont want to go through this every 56 months.

Really? Every 4+ years??? I've purchase several earphones in that period of time. I also normally replace my laptop every 3~4 years. I don't think I'd expect my delicately high-tech IEMs to last amost 5 years.

 

[DavidMahler]

No doubt in my mind that the Shure SE530s are still near the top. I own the W3s, Triple Fis, UE10s, IE8.....the Shures are great! Rolled off yes, but truly one of a kind and very beautiful.

 

[AgainstTheGrain]

oh man so much misinformation. the w3 are not the first 3 way "on earth"...give me a break. all the hype around the W3 is so annoying to me now. and i'm tired of all the concerns about the cables with the se530s. nobody mentions that shure has one of, if not the best customer service of all headphone makers. also the comment about profit losses and shure needed to compete with the newer headphones is just ridiculous. Shure and Sennheiser dominate the market that matters most and that is through musicians and musical equipment. they are in no rush to contend with Westone, and make more than enough money where they stand.

i have never had a problem with my shures and am a proud owner. the se530s are still one of the top IEMs available and are rock solid as a headphone where all others are compared to. why is that fact being lost in this thread?

 

[DavidMahler]

Quote:

Originally Posted by AgainstTheGrain /img/forum/go_quote.gif oh man so much misinformation. the w3 are not the first 3 way "on earth"...give me a break. all the hype around the W3 is so annoying to me now. and i'm tired of all the concerns about the cables with the se530s. nobody mentions that shure has one of, if not the best customer service of all headphone makers. also the comment about profit losses and shure needed to compete with the newer headphones is just ridiculous. Shure and Sennheiser dominate the market that matters most and that is through musicians and musical equipment. they are in no rush to contend with Westone, and make more than enough money where they stand. i have never had a problem with my shures and am a proud owner. the se530s are still one of the top IEMs available and are rock solid as a headphone where all others are compared to. why is that fact being lost in this thread?

I agree with this. I don't think the Shures are THE best, but there is no BEST.....I guarantee there will be some people who prefer the SE530 to Sony MDR R10s. I know this becuase my brother has heard my R10s and prefers his 530s............its all a matter of preference........I do love the Westone 3s for different reasons than I love the Shure SE530. I think its important to see how a headphone compares to another headphone AT LEAST 6 months after its initial release.....I feel if Shure SE530 and Westone 3 were released on the same exact day you'd see a much more even display of affection for the two headphones. But its very hard to say how something fares when it is brand new. I was convinced that the HD650s were better than the HD600s for a very long time. I still may prefer the HD650s HOWEVER, I think they are much closer in quality than I innitially gave them credit. And the reason for this was because the HD650s were "new and improved".......2 years have passed since Shure released the E500s thus.....the westone 3s have to be "new and improved" one would think.....but sound is just not like that...........computers and portable music players and even DACs ARE like that, but listening devices should not be confined to this logic.

 

[davidhunternyc]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bunnyears /img/forum/go_quote.gif I also bought (into) the Westones as an upgrade cum replacement for the Shures. I am disappointed with them. The bass is recessed and the high end is not particularly detailed. They are very "warm" sounding, but that's about it. It's no fun listening to Mahler's 2nd symphony if that powerful double bass theme in the first movement sounds so recessed that you can barely hear it running under the violins which aalso sound recessed and undetailed. There is also an issue with note decay which is not well transmitted by these iems. In fact, listening to any of my Mahler recordings is problematical with them as they are instantly transformed to Mahler-lite. About the only bass instrument that seems to have any punch are the tympani, and then again, everything sounds a little out of whack. I've listened on these phones to an assortment of classical music both compressed (I use ALAC or 320kbps AAC for compression) and uncompressed and I find them not particularly good for the low notes of cellos, the double basses or gongs and tam-tams (their reverberations die out so abruptly on the Westones they almost sound clipped on many recordings) used in late Romantic music. Conversely, because the highs are also not particularly detailed, they don't shine for Mozart and Haydn either. They seem to do an adequate job with certain movie scores, but nothing exceptional. The Shures are not bass heavy either, but they are more neutral so what they do carry has more of a punch and their highs are more detailed as well. Now, having said this, I also have to consider that I may have a defective set; everything I have read about these phones says that they are bass heavy. The inline volume control accessory they included in the package was defective (it only transmitted sound to one ear at a time depending on the position of the control dial, and only with a great deal of static). Westone promptly sent me another volume control, but that control while functional is also defective or of extremely poor quality because it buzzes whenever the volume wheel is used, transmits static along the line, and makes the iems sound recessed even at ear-splitting volume. If my set is defective, then what does that say about Westone's quality control and build? Aside from the issues of the thin cabling that carries ugly grayish white marks that make the cables look as if they had been worn through, or the fact that there were numerous raw, plastic ends wherever the cabling was connected to something that I had to clip; more seriously, I was informed by someone in the sales department that this cabling used by Westone is the "most expensive" cabling available because it transmits less microphonics. Then in the next sentence I was told that it's the same cabling used by Etymotics which we all know transmits excessive microphonics! Why bother to make claims like this at all? Then there's the matter of the packaging and included accessories. The accessories included in the box (a cheap, soft carrying case that they label misleadingly "deluxe," a wax cleaning tool, a set of different sized ear tips, the previously mentioned inline volume control, and a¼-inch adapter) are pretty standard and nothing to write home about. Frankly, for $399 I expected something packaged at least as sturdily as my less expensive ipod nano as well as a decent case large enough to store the iems without tangling, and the tips and other accessories when not in use, as well as a sturdy hard case for travel. This wasn't too much for Shure and Ultimate Ears to do, so I can't understand why Westone couldn't also do it. (When I bought my UM2s, they came in an otterbox. Certainly that's gone by the wayside!) I dread carrying such a soft case on a jet when I know my handbag will possibly be crushed and mashed in security and baggage check lines. I wouldn't put my glasses in a soft case when traveling, and certainly want something as sturdy for $400 iems. Worse, when taking the iems out of the "deluxe" case, they are unfailingly tangled no matter how carefully I coil the cables. Sadly, Westone went the cheap and shabby route for packaging and included accessories. It's a pity they didn't carry this a step further and cut the price accordingly.

Bunnyears, thank you for such a thoughtful and considered response. It means a lot and I could tell you are wearing your heart on your sleeve.
Regards.

 

[jinx20001]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Arjisme /img/forum/go_quote.gif This is pretty questionable analysis. First off, "most peope" are NOT complaining about the SE530's cable. Some people are and have had problems. Second, Shure modified the cable about a year ago in response to the issues that customers were reporting. As far as we know, those reformulated cables do not have the problems the older cables did. I have not seen a poll asking about failure rates of SE530s with a manufacture date of, say, 12/1/2008 or later in an attempt to assess if the new cables are problematic. Third, there are many more people using SE530s than W3s to date (and have been using them for far longer than the W3 user base), therefore there is a higher likelihood you will hear reports about product problems with the Shures than with the Westones. You should reevaluate this after, say, one year and see where things stand. I can say I have seen four or five reports on this site already regarding quality problems with W3s -- most typically the left earbud going quiet. That isn't enough information to say yet that the W3s have quality problems though. Any manufactured product will have some percentage of issues. My point is it is far too early to compare the quality of the W3s with other IEMs that have been out for years based soley on user feedback.

in response to this i have to say regarding the shure cable update i think its a definate fix, the newer cables dont seem to stiffen like the older ones did, and because of the stiffening this is why the cables split. thats what happened to mine anyway, since having a newer set sent to me i have had no problems at all, the cable does still seem to hold my skin oils tho, i dont know if its sweat, grease or what but i do still have to wipe them down after use, but again they dont seem to stiffen like the old ones.

and aslong as you do get the updated cable i tend to think shure has some of the strongest phones out there, the cable is thick ( although a little heavy ) but because its thick it is very strong, you can feel along the extension cable that the OFC is woven inside and braided. so IMO the cables are actually very underrated, especially the newer ones as these dont have the old problems.

edit: in response to the original question...do i think the se530 still rank up there? ofcourse they do, i think etymotic er6i, UE super fi 3, 5. etc etc all still rank up there, just because the westone 3 and IE8 are now on the block that dont relegate the triple fi and se530 to the lower divisions that would be insane. the fact that the westone 3 and IE8 are out just means we have more choice to us. none of them are the best, but they all offer us a high end, quality and beautiful listening experience.

 

[forsberg]

Why do you guys still make a big deal in trying to find the "best"?

Anyone who buys IEMs at this price range will be satisfied with their music no matter Shure, Westone, UE, or Senns. You're really unhappy when you start to think other big name competition IEMs may or may not be better than yours.

 

[Nailzs]

Quote:

Originally Posted by forsberg /img/forum/go_quote.gif Why do you guys still make a big deal in trying to find the "best"? Anyone who buys IEMs at this price range will be satisfied with their music no matter Shure, Westone, UE, or Senns. You're really unhappy when you start to think other big name competition IEMs may or may not be better than yours.

Finding the "best" sounding earphones is like a junkie trying to find the best high.

 

[Feather225]

Quote:

Originally Posted by AgainstTheGrain /img/forum/go_quote.gif Shure and Sennheiser dominate the market that matters most and that is through musicians and musical equipment. they are in no rush to contend with Westone, and make more than enough money where they stand.

I just really wish you can audit W3 before making all these comments~yeah, I understand, it is right to defend whatever you have, shure, sennheiser...~
The reason why I bought W3 is same as the reason why you bought IE8, why do you buy it if Shure is everything good?
its simply because of the hype, you always say W3 is HYPE HYPE, but isnt that IE8 also HYPE HYPE? you guys even talk about wearing the earbud upside down to get a better seal~there has to be weaknesses somewhere in every earbuds~W3 has its weakness too, sometimes I found the bass over reacting and mess up the mids and treble a lil bit~thats a weakness (but problem solved by changing tips~)~just have to play around with it~
It doesn't matter, and trust me, Shure will come up with something eventually~! just like AT came up with a new triple drive CK100~every company is tryna catch up the most recent technology~

And I wanna mention that when company loses market share, they lose a lot of money, even SONY, Microsoft (most dominant company)~loses money when their market share is taken by another company~and they wont just stay there and say "Anyways, theres no rush to contend with them, we are so giant and we make more than enough money where we stand." company don't act like that~they do everything they can to make money, otherwise shareholders will kick their ass lol

 

[Feather225]

Quote:

Originally Posted by forsberg /img/forum/go_quote.gif Why do you guys still make a big deal in trying to find the "best"? Anyone who buys IEMs at this price range will be satisfied with their music no matter Shure, Westone, UE, or Senns. You're really unhappy when you start to think other big name competition IEMs may or may not be better than yours.

Exactly, I personally still think SE530 is one of the best (apart from cable and treble complaints, its just too many and turning me off)
But to me, I just really wanna buy something new, SE530 is been there for a long time and I can disclose something to you, SE530 can be sold at $270 shipped from an authorized dealer with a 2 years warrantee through call (just bought one for my cousin)...Why price fell? because it is been there for long and demand is felling with all the new competitors~

The main reason why spent much more buying a W3 is simply because I want the new thing, the new tech that companies make~why do I wanna buy something that announced 4 years ago and something that just announced if I have the money?~

My conclusion is that if you have around $250+ to spend, get the Shure, and stop talking about W3 (Its fine if you cannot afford but don't say bad things about it), and if you have $400 to spend, get the Westone 3, its the most recent tech, you will never regret~Just to mention that, you can get a IE8 for around $270 but with no warrantee...

So these are the choices, choose one and no complaint about others.

 

[jinx20001]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Feather225 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Exactly, I personally still think shure is one of the best (apart from cable and treble complaints, its just too many and getting me off) But to me, I just really wanna buy something new, SE530 is been there for a long time and I can disclose something to you, Shure can be sold at $270 shipped from an authorized dealer with 2 year warrantee through call (just bought one for my cousin)...Why price fell? because its been there for long and demand is failing with all the new competitors~ The main reason why spent much more buying a W3 is simply because I want the new thing, the new tech that companies make~why do I wanna buy something that announced 4 years ago and something that just announced if I have the money~ My conclusion is that if you have around $250+ to spend, get the Shure, and stop talking about W3 (Its fine if you cannot afford but don't say bad things about it), and if you have $400 to spend, get the Westone 3, its the most recent tech, you will never regret~Just to mention that, you can get a IE8 for around $300 but with now warrantee... So these are the choices, choose one and no complaint about others.

the westone 3 was announced a very long time ago, in fact its been so long since it was announced that ultimate ears even managed to drop the UE11 bomb before westone had a chance to get the westone 3 ready.

and if it was the case that you wanted the newest and best technology why have you opted for the westone 3 when the UE11 is still a step ahead technically.

and it has been proven that the most recent tech is not necessarily the best,er4 anybody, there are many out there that still rate these above anything else, i dont know why because i dont like em but its all preference isnt it.

demand isnt falling for the shure's at all, same goes for ety er4 and triple fi 10, what you have to remember is demand isnt especially high for these high end earphones anyway, the average person out there simply dont know how good these expensive earphones are, they just see them as expensive earphones and dont want to spend that. the se530 and triple fi 10 is not old technology, not by a long shot. and because of the ue11 the westone 3 is not exactly brand new.