Hey everyone. I just got my SE535s today (to those people who I was considering buying these used from, thanks anyway), so I figured I'd write a quick review after my initial impressions. I've only read the most recent dozen or so pages of this thread, so if I'm repeating stuff that's been said before, I apologize. This review is geared toward those who currently own, previously owned, or have tried the E500/SE530 as I will be comparing them to the SE535 a lot.
Construction and Appearance:
One of the most obvious changes Shure made with the SE535 is the cable. Not very shocking considering it was probably the number one source of complaints from SE530 owners. There are things I really like about it, and things I didn't care for. This time around, the cable seems much better on the durability front. It's more flexible and feels lighter than before. And as most of you know, it's removable. A quick note on that: Bravo to Shure for using a MMCX connector instead of just using a pin-and-socket connection. It really adds value to the product helping make it more worth the price. Near the earpieces, Shure has also added a wire that you can bend to (I would assume) hopefully help keep the cable over your ears during use, which I have heard people complain about over the years with the SE530. I personally never had that problem, so I didn't feel the added wire was necessary. In fact, if you're like me and have gotten used to whipping your SE530s over your ear and popping them in nice and fast, the wire may even slow you down a little at first because you have to actually place the cable over your ears. But I don't find it terribly annoying. I do, however, find what I believe to be another effect that these wires have to be a little more irritating, but I'll talk about that later.
The thickness of the cable is the same from the earpieces to the Y-split, but from there to the jack the cable has gotten a little thinner, and again, much more flexible. The cable length is about a couple inches longer as a whole, but the length from the earpieces to the Y-split is nearly 2.5 inches shorter than the SE530. Granted, the SE530 had quite a long Y-split length, but I'm not too crazy about this. I hate when earphone cables rub against my neck when I'm wearing them. They still don't with the SE535, but they're dangerously close to doing so. Fortunately, the cable cinch is much more effective on this cable and doesn't slip like on the SE530 when trying to tighten up cable slack. On the other end of the cable, the once straight 3.5mm jack has become L-shaped. I actually prefer the straight jack on the SE530. I've gotten accustomed to the cable coming from the top of my iPhone straight out of my pocket. But at least Shure put a very good strain relief on the jack itself which looks like it can withstand plenty of crimping.
As far as the SE535's actual appearance, (and this is of course my personal preference, but) if you're still deciding between the metallic bronze color and clear, I'll decide for you: Get the clear. It looks so cool. I was hesitant about it at first, but it looks just awesome in person. (And if you don't agree with me... well alright then....
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And then there's the tips.... Like the SE530, the SE535 comes with olive foam tips pre-installed on the earphones. When I was browsing different threads regarding the SE535, I came across one talking about how insanely difficult it was to remove the tips. It even mentioned cooling the earpieces themselves to get the tips to separate from the bore. I just read it all laughing going, "Oh, come on. Quit crying you woosies. Yeah, I'm sure the tips are a little stiff like they were with the SE530, but you just have to twist and pull. Having to chill your $500 earphones to get the tips off? Good Lord...." So tonight after I had a quick listen to my SE535s, I tried to take the tips off....
...I took them out of my freezer after about 10 minutes. The tips were STILL ridiculously hard to get off. I couldn't even get them completely off the first time because the foam tips got all squished and I had to wait for them to WARM UP so they could return to normal size so I could FREEZE them again! What the hell, did Shure put superglue on them as a joke? Jesus.... And the sound it makes while you're doing it. I felt like I was literally destroying my brand new earphones that I just opened 20 minutes before....
...Clearly a very enjoyable experience.
Fit:
I saw one or two people mention that they didn't have any fit issues with the SE530, but they do with the SE535, and I'm pretty sure I see why. First of all, I have no issues at all with either of them, but it also helps that I have bigger ears. As for the earpieces themselves, they're about the same size. The SE535 seems to be slightly thinner, but it also seems to be a little bigger height-wise, but I really don't see that much of a difference. Where they're drastically different is the angle that the cable comes out of the earpieces. On the SE530, the cable comes out almost straight up, angled only slightly forward. On the SE535, the cable comes out at pretty much a 45 degree angle. What this does is it allows the earpiece to sit deeper within the outter part of your ear. The good news is that the earpieces stay much more flush with your ear and, with the help of the extra wire in the cable, makes for a more solid fit and a tight seal (in my experience). The bad news is that if you have a shallow outter ear, the housing of the earpiece could rub against it. But I would think for most people, this won't be an issue. Overall, while I didn't have any problems with the SE530 to begin with, I find the SE535 fits even better for me.
Sound Quality and Performance:
I wasn't expecting a gigantic difference in sound between the SE530 and the SE535. And there doesn't seem to be, which is a good thing (at least to me). But they definitely are different. When I first heard about the SE535, I read that Shure used the same driver configuration as the SE530 and I went, "Well, then they have to sound the same, right?" But then I thought about it going, "Well then again, the cable's different, the physical volume within the earpieces is slightly different, the length of the sound bore must be different, and the filter is probably different.... There's no way they could sound EXACTLY the same."
Before I get into actual sound quality, I'd like to mention something kind of important. Remember when I said that the rigid wires in the cable near the earpieces has a slightly irritating effect? This may not be entirely true, but this is what I think. Without the wires in its cable, the SE530's cable pretty much rests all along the back of your ear. With the rigid wires in the SE535, the cable kind of "floats" above the back of your ear without making real solid contact. My theory is that because of this lack of contact, vibrations are able to travel up the cable without getting dampened by the back of your ear and are able to reach your inner ear more easily. Like I said, this may not be completely correct, but whether it is or not, unfortunately the cable does seem to be more microphonic. The cable noise isn't unbearable, but it does seem more audible than on the SE530 to me. Just something to be aware of.
*** Please keep in mind that these are all MY experiences. You may hear and experience things different from me, so take my comments with a grain of salt. ***
So I haven't spent a ton of time with them, but I have been A/B-ing my SE530s and SE535s all night. First, I used a headphone splitter, put one earpiece from each set in my ears, and connected them to my computer and ran a frequency sweep. To my ears, the SE535 does indeed reach lower and extend higher than the SE530. Not by a ton, but noticeable to me at least on that A/B test. Then I just started listening to music, still with one of each phone in each ear. The first thing I listened for was the mids. Shure doesn't seem to have touched the SE530's mids at all (thank God). They're still forward (meaning vocals still sound amazing), but not as prominent (making for better balance). The main contributor to that is the highs, which are much more prominent than the SE530's. That's not saying a ton, however, because those who have the SE530 know that its highs are, if anything, recessed. This wasn't a horrible thing though. Instead of just being dull, it was more forgiving to bad recordings and made for less fatigue. On the other hand, the SE535's are definitely not recessed. In fact, any more highs and I would personally consider it bright (but that's probably just me). It seems to give more life and body to upper-range instruments, especially cymbals so I'm finding. Fortunately, that boost in treble doesn't come at the cost of fatigue. They're still very smooth and polite, but now I don't have to crank it to 11 to hear detailed highs (though like other sources, turning it to 12 can cause some sibilance... and hearing loss...).
Unfortunately, the boost in treble does seem to come at the cost of forgiveness to bad recordings/files. For me, the SE535 makes artifacts due to digital compression more apparent. With my SE530, I've listened to 128kbps MP3s and not even recognized it. Today, I listened to a 192kbps MP3 and went, "Since when does this song sound like $#!+ ?..." And then I popped in my SE530s and actually listened for the artifacts, and responded to myself going, "Oh.... It's always sounded like $#!+ ..." But that hasn't happened very many times, and being able to listen at lower volumes while still hearing more detailed treble is a worthy tradeoff. So combine the enhanced highs with the extended lows and the same great mids and you get a set of earphones with a very nice, balanced sound that's worthy of being the successor to the excellent SE530.
The SE535 isn't anything revolutionary, but at the same time, it's not simply another rebranded E500 either. It's a very nice update to Shure's flagship earphone that's the result of good customer feedback and solid engineering. It's definitely not for everyone and may not be worth the upgrade for existing SE530 owners, but it sure is a great earphone, and so far, I'm loving it.
