Shure SE846 Impressions Thread
Nov 14, 2015 at 4:43 PM Post #13,246 of 22,884
I'm a Shure 215 user. I'm looking to upgrade to the 535s or 856s. I have a Chord Mojo on the way too. Do you think an amp is needed with these or is an old school iPod or iPhone/iPad sufficient? Not a word used here usually....
 
Nov 14, 2015 at 5:20 PM Post #13,247 of 22,884
I'm a Shure 215 user. I'm looking to upgrade to the 535s or 856s. I have a Chord Mojo on the way too. Do you think an amp is needed with these or is an old school iPod or iPhone/iPad sufficient? Not a word used here usually....


I use the Shure SE846 with an iPhone 6S, iPod Touch 6th generation, and iPad Mini 4. Out for a walk, commuting, killing time at a coffee shop etc, the combination of the IEMs and Apple kit is more than sufficient. In those settings the Mojo becomes bling. Get into an area with lower ambient noise levels and the Mojo shines. It earns all the high praise received in various forums and reviews. I find it to be a good match for my Shures as well as my older Sony Z5 and H3 IEMs. The Mojo excels at what it is designed to do but can't work miracles. To avoid disappointment give consideration to your usage scenarios when picking your kit. The upgraded Shures, purchased the same day as my Mojo, were very much worth it, to me in my scenarios.
 
Nov 14, 2015 at 9:02 PM Post #13,249 of 22,884
If you are gonna use a Chord Mojo as a DAC/amp source and then it doesn't matter what the source is


As long as your source has a digital line out I agree and the Chord Mojo with the SE846 is a great combination. The Mojo really is an amazing DAC/amp and there is no need for anything else if you are driving IEMs like the 8s.
 
Nov 15, 2015 at 9:35 AM Post #13,250 of 22,884
That's comforting to hear. I have a Mojo incoming too for my cans. But maybe it'll work its magic on my IEMs too.
 
Nov 15, 2015 at 1:22 PM Post #13,251 of 22,884
I am thinking about upgrading to SE846s from Triple FI 10s and wanted to ask if anyone else here had had TP10s and what sort of upgrade or difference there is between these two earphones.

I do love my Triple FI 10s but feel the need for an upgrade as one does here.

I worry about hiss and I have a Mojo and a Hugo. Feedback is varied whether there is some degree of hiss or not.

Thanks for a any comments.
 
Nov 15, 2015 at 1:57 PM Post #13,252 of 22,884
not an issue for average hearing capabilities. 
 
Nov 15, 2015 at 2:59 PM Post #13,253 of 22,884
I've only heard hiss with my taurus amp however that is not an ideal solution for an IEM. For regular sources such as my phone I get no hiss.
 
Nov 15, 2015 at 3:24 PM Post #13,254 of 22,884
I am thinking about upgrading to SE846s from Triple FI 10s and wanted to ask if anyone else here had had TP10s and what sort of upgrade or difference there is between these two earphones.



 
Measurement out of my Vibro Labs Veritas coupler (note that it does not match IEC 711 coupler standards and has only a pseudo-711-like compensation with diffuse-field target applied, but it should give you a general idea of the sound signature and is especially good for comparative purpose). Both IEMs measured with the included silicone tips (as these are also the tips I use for listening).


What I'm hearing though:

Tonality: Just as it can be seen on the graph, the SE846's bass emphasis starts much lower - its focus lays really mainly on the sub-bass, whereas the T.F 10 has also a good amount of upper bass.
The T.F 10 has got thin and little bright-ish mids, the SE846 has lusher which are darker.
The T.F 10's treble is more splashy (and metallic), whereas the SE846 (white treble filters) is more gentle in comparison, though it has some sort of treble peak as well.
Treble extension - well, the graph shows it and it's also what I hear - the SE846 does not have the best >10kHz sparkle (it extends only 1-2 kHz greater than the SE425 in my ears), whereas the T.F 10 has got the better extension in the super-treble area above 10 kHz.

Resolution: Not even close, the SE846 is clearly superior. Much more details, better texture, more arid sub-bass. Overall sound is clearly more authentic and natural on the Shure's side.

Soundstage: I perceive the T.F 10's as elliptical and the SE846's as more circular. Instrument placement, separation and the ability to display empty space are better with the Shure.


I hope my quick comparison is somewhat helpful.
 
Nov 15, 2015 at 4:17 PM Post #13,255 of 22,884



Measurement out of my Vibro Labs Veritas coupler (note that it does not match IEC 711 coupler standards and has only a pseudo-711-like compensation with diffuse-field target applied, but it should give you a general idea of the sound signature and is especially good for comparative purpose). Both IEMs measured with the included silicone tips (as these are also the tips I use for listening).



What I'm hearing though:

Tonality: Just as it can be seen on the graph, the SE846's bass emphasis starts much lower - its focus lays really mainly on the sub-bass, whereas the T.F 10 has also a good amount of upper bass.

The T.F 10 has got thin and little bright-ish mids, the SE846 has lusher which are darker.

The T.F 10's treble is more splashy (and metallic), whereas the SE846 (white treble filters) is more gentle in comparison, though it has some sort of treble peak as well.

Treble extension - well, the graph shows it and it's also what I hear - the SE846 does not have the best >10kHz sparkle (it extends only 1-2 kHz greater than the SE425 in my ears), whereas the T.F 10 has got the better extension in the super-treble area above 10 kHz.

Resolution: Not even close, the SE846 is clearly superior. Much more details, better texture, more arid sub-bass. Overall sound is clearly more authentic and natural on the Shure's side.

Soundstage: I perceive the T.F 10's as elliptical and the SE846's as more circular. Instrument placement, separation and the ability to display empty space are better with the Shure.



I hope my quick comparison is somewhat helpful.


Super helpful. Thanks. I have been wanting to press the trigger on the SE846s for some time and this edges me towards it. Which DAP were you using, if any BTW?

What still stops me (for the moment ) is the concern over hiss
 
Nov 15, 2015 at 5:12 PM Post #13,257 of 22,884
I've only heard hiss with my taurus amp however that is not an ideal solution for an IEM. For regular sources such as my phone I get no hiss.

Interesting, I use my iem's (including my 846) with my Taurus amp  every day and I have never heard any hiss. The output of the Taurus is less than 1 ohm so it should be fine. The Taurus is not ideal because of the high gain. I owned the Taurus before I got into iem's and it worked so I just went with it. Still get that great sound from the Taurus with my iem's. If I was buying strictly for iem's I would buy an amp with lower gain just for ease of use.
 
Nov 16, 2015 at 2:55 AM Post #13,258 of 22,884
 
Super helpful. Thanks. I have been wanting to press the trigger on the SE846s for some time and this edges me towards it. Which DAP were you using, if any BTW?

What still stops me (for the moment ) is the concern over hiss


DX90, just as you. Lowest hiss I have ever hard in a standalone DAP (only audible with "empty" music files in a very quiet room, extremely sensitive IEMs as well as hard concentration - and even then, it is only a tiny tiny bit above my blood's noise and hard to tell apart) -> hiss-free.

And I like the detailed upper-end character of the DX90. Got an UHA-6S amp as well, just like you (not sure which OP-Amp, but I guess it is the AD8610), and it is about hiss-free as well.


Don't worry too much, your gear will be fine for the SE846 (don't know about the Hugo though, wasn't interested because of the size and price). And though the SE846 is very hiss-prone, there are even more sensitive "divas" around (to my surprise, the inexpensive Ostry KC06A (dynamic driver) is more hiss-revealing than my SSE846 by a good amount).
 
Nov 16, 2015 at 9:47 AM Post #13,259 of 22,884
I'll be using these on a business trip today. Will be interesting to see how good the isolation is of the Shure SE846 in an airplane.
 
Nov 16, 2015 at 10:06 AM Post #13,260 of 22,884
  Interesting, I use my iem's (including my 846) with my Taurus amp  every day and I have never heard any hiss. The output of the Taurus is less than 1 ohm so it should be fine. The Taurus is not ideal because of the high gain. I owned the Taurus before I got into iem's and it worked so I just went with it. Still get that great sound from the Taurus with my iem's. If I was buying strictly for iem's I would buy an amp with lower gain just for ease of use.

 
Well I don't use the 846 with the Taurus primarily however I do hear it with no music on and it is very noticeable. The only way I can remove it is if I add a 86 ohm adapter however the sound is not ideal. With most music I don't hear it but if it is a soft passage then I may be able to hear it slightly. I would have preferred an amp that works well with my iem's as well but that's what I get for going the cheap route (my other option was the Violectric V281) and the amp with the higher resale value.
 

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