[natalieann]

After much pondering due to my lack of love for most IEMs, I finally decided to give the SE846 a go. Got them from Amazon and should be here in a couple of days.

They will be used exclusively at work, most likely out of a Galaxy S7 (Exynos) directly, so I'm wondering how that will work out in terms of noise floor.

They'll have to be considerably better than my current IEMs to avoid being returned tho.

I use mine with my Itouch everyday and the onkyo app.....sounds incredible.........the mojo adds a little, but I love just the itouch on the go

 

[theintrospect]

LOL That is exactly what I did. The 846 sounds fine through my Note 5. But, it was so much better through a better DAC and amp. To the point where I couldn't stand the loss of sound quality, even though the sound quality was still good. It just felt criminally underutilized, like never taking a sports car past 25. Just a waste, really.

What is this better DAC and amp ?

 

[twice tzuyu]

What is this better DAC and amp ?

Chord Hugo or Hugo TT

 

[Imperfectionist]

I just auditioned the idsd bl. To be honest,I wasn't blown away by the sound. There wasn't anything that I hadn't hear before on my test music pieces. Sound is slightly more controlled.

Hissing is controlled. But just not blown away by the sound. It's just minor improvement for me.

 

[Samuel777]

hi
have modified my SE846 with knowles dampers specially brown color now.
​and the SQ is so amazing that even I was wondering if there any other IEM better than my SE846.
For those who use the knowles dampers on their SE846, which IEM could be now a real upgrade ?

 

[twice tzuyu]

hi
have modified my SE846 with knowles dampers specially brown color now.
​and the SQ is so amazing that even I was wondering if there any other IEM better than my SE846.
For those who use the knowles dampers on their SE846, which IEM could be now a real upgrade ?

how did you do that. Do they fit? I have some knowles dampers from my se535

 

[csglinux]

hi
have modified my SE846 with knowles dampers specially brown color now.
​and the SQ is so amazing that even I was wondering if there any other IEM better than my SE846.
For those who use the knowles dampers on their SE846, which IEM could be now a real upgrade ?

The only significant upgrade I've heard from the SE846+brown Knowles dampers is the KSE1500. I also preferred the brown dampers: to my ears, they make the SE846 FR approach that of the un-EQd KSE1500. Although the respective FRs are then close, the KSE has better clarity

 

[csglinux]

how did you do that. Do they fit? I have some knowles dampers from my se535

Not enough SE846 owners know about this! It's an ingenious trick from @Jamnperry:

http://www.head-fi.org/t/802350/se846-filter-mod

 

[beowulf]

Just got mine. Don't recall seeing the CLs without the Shure branding, guess it was removed. They do look nice, showing the internals.
 
Doing some listening now to figure out if they go back to Amazon or not...
 

 

[HiFiChris]

@beowulf
 
The Shure branding as well as the small labels and frequency range specifications on the drivers are only visible under certain lighting conditions and angles.
Your SE846 looks totally genuine and no other than mine that I bought from an official retailer (Thomann.de). 
 
If you want to, you can check out my SE846 review (http://www.head-fi.org/products/shure-se846-sound-isolating-earphone/reviews/14888) where I have also posted some photos. As you will notice, the logos are only distinctly visible under specific lighting conditions and are almost invisible in others.

 

[beowulf]

 @beowulf
 
The Shure branding as well as the small labels and frequency range specifications on the drivers are only visible under certain lighting conditions and angles.
Your SE846 looks totally genuine and no other than mine that I bought from an official retailer (Thomann.de). 
 
If you want to, you can check out my SE846 review (http://www.head-fi.org/products/shure-se846-sound-isolating-earphone/reviews/14888) where I have also posted some photos. As you will notice, the logos are only distinctly visible under specific lighting conditions and are almost invisible in others.

Indeed, I noticed your [quite nice] review before and recall that shot. Had the impression the lettering was more obvious tho and also part of the plastic shell.
 
But back to the topic, I've been using them for about 3h now and have been digging old IEMs from the stash to compare with. Not surprisingly I ended up with one of my favorites on the shortlist, the Havi B3 Pro 1 vs 846. At this moment I have to say that the result is not what I expected. The Havi are coming out on top by a large margin.


 
Before people get the pitchforks, I'll clarify that in terms of sound quality the 846 are more refined in pretty much all areas. Not totally sure about soundstage width and depth, the Havi might come out ahead. This little exercise made me really value the little Havi tho. They are incredibly good compared to the 846. Really really good. With taxes, transport and fees it's a 65 EUR vs 880 EUR difference on my pocket. Are the 846 better? Hm yes, not a doubt on that one. The main difference is of course the bass quality (the Havi has a lot in quantity tho) but also the midrange. Positioning and separation are quite good. The sense of space is very decent, combined with the low end and mids it gets a pretty nice full-bodied sound. They're meatier than the Havis, which is particularly rewarding with tracks that are a bit thin originally, especially some classical.
 
But the problem is that the difference is not HUGE, even considering the usual diminishing returns in the hobby. Taking price vs results into account, I'm a bit disappointed. But while value is not a win, quality and end results are. Ignoring price, these are great IEMs.
 
One aspect totally sucks tho (read about it before but it still surprised me). The stock cable is super annoying. The guide over the ear is too stiff, combined with the casing shape, it really slows down insertion/setup. I'm a fan of over-the-ear cabling and pretty much refuse to buy otherwise (Going 846>Havi is a relief in comfort/speed. Terrible usability, except for pros who wear them on stage, or people who are in motion a lot. It's a fine design for workout or lots of activity, but not good for my use case (office/desk).
This aspect can be solved easily of course, but it also disappoints me a bit further... 880 EUR and still, one is thinking about spending even more on another cable, right after unboxing.
 
Hmm, this one won't be as easy to decide as I expected. I was hoping for a "Wow! Keeping them no matter what" and got a "Hmm, very good, best so far, but still, not by that much"...

I do hate to return stuff... and ultimately, the 846 DO...sound great... hmm... value... value isn't there tho. Going to need a few more hours for this one.

 

[Imperfectionist]

 @beowulf
 
The Shure branding as well as the small labels and frequency range specifications on the drivers are only visible under certain lighting conditions and angles.
Your SE846 looks totally genuine and no other than mine that I bought from an official retailer (Thomann.de). 
 
If you want to, you can check out my SE846 review (http://www.head-fi.org/products/shure-se846-sound-isolating-earphone/reviews/14888) where I have also posted some photos. As you will notice, the logos are only distinctly visible under specific lighting conditions and are almost invisible in others.

Indeed, I noticed your [quite nice] review before and recall that shot. Had the impression the lettering was more obvious tho and also part of the plastic shell.
 
But back to the topic, I've been using them for about 3h now and have been digging old IEMs from the stash to compare with. Not surprisingly I ended up with one of my favorites on the shortlist, the Havi B3 Pro 1 vs 846. At this moment I have to say that the result is not what I expected. The Havi are coming out on top by a large margin.


 
Before people get the pitchforks, I'll clarify that in terms of sound quality the 846 are more refined in pretty much all areas. Not totally sure about soundstage width and depth, the Havi might come out ahead. This little exercise made me really value the little Havi tho. They are incredibly good compared to the 846. Really really good. With taxes, transport and fees it's a 65 EUR vs 880 EUR difference on my pocket. Are the 846 better? Hm yes, not a doubt on that one. The main difference is of course the bass quality (the Havi has a lot in quantity tho) but also the midrange. Positioning and separation are quite good. The sense of space is very decent, combined with the low end and mids it gets a pretty nice full-bodied sound. They're meatier than the Havis, which is particularly rewarding with tracks that are a bit thin originally, especially some classical.
 
But the problem is that the difference is not HUGE, even considering the usual diminishing returns in the hobby. Taking price vs results into account, I'm a bit disappointed. But while value is not a win, quality and end results are. Ignoring price, these are great IEMs.
 
One aspect totally sucks tho (read about it before but it still surprised me). The stock cable is super annoying. The guide over the ear is too stiff, combined with the casing shape, it really slows down insertion/setup. Going 846>Havi is a relief in comfort/speed. Terrible usability, except for pros who wear them on stage, or people who are in motion a lot. It's a fine design for workout or lots of activity, but not good for my use case (office/desk).
This aspect can be solved easily of course, but it also disappoints me a bit further... 880 EUR and still, one is thinking about spending even more on another cable, right after unboxing.
 
Hmm, this one won't be as easy to decide as I expected. I was hoping for a "Wow! Keeping them no matter what" and got a "Hmm, very good, best so far, but still, not by that much"...

I do hate to return stuff... and ultimately, the 846 DO...sound great... hmm... value... value isn't there tho. Going to need a few more hours for this one.

I'm kind of having the same sentiments, but with m50x. Perhaps it's the sound signature that made the difference.
Sq wise, se846 is great on its own. The resolution of sound is way better. But the forward mids is not my cup of tea.
I was really hoping the se846 to be my end game portable gear, without having lugging my cans around.
Maybe I'm just too used to neutral sound leaning slightly towards bass signature.

 

[beowulf]

I'm kind of having the same sentiments, but with m50x. Perhaps it's the sound signature that made the difference.
Sq wise, se846 is great on its own. The resolution of sound is way better. But the forward mids is not my cup of tea.
I was really hoping the se846 to be my end game portable gear, without having lugging my cans around.
Maybe I'm just too used to neutral sound leaning slightly towards bass signature.

 
You're a demanding customer.
That might be taking it a bit too far, even with the m50x. Regardless of how good the 846 are, they're still IEMs and limited by design. I do like their signature, the bass and forward mids, with a slightly warm sound (yup, I don't think they are bright-ish with the default blue filters) make them sound a lot like full size cans, well, as much as possible. I think you will always need your cans, even if you go for TOTL IEMs costing twice as much as the 846 (and more).
 
My problem is of a slightly different nature. They are good, they are better than my current favorite, but they're not better by an impressive margin. So it feels as if I'm paying a bucket load for a slight improvement in performance. NASA-like. 880 EUR vs 60 EUR. That's x15 more. I can get 15 Havis B3P1 for the cost of one 846.
 
But sometimes that little small improvement is the most expensive. Not just in Formula 1. I'm just not sure the 846's faster couple of seconds lap time are worth such a premium. Actually, to my ears ,I'm sure they are not. But they're still better, meatier, the lush sound is getting to me and I still really like their signature. It is closer to my current favorite (Z1R) than anything I've heard before in IEMs, so I'm fearing I'll take the unwise step of keeping them.
 
There's still hope tho... ahh, should return them. Going to try more tracks. Frequent swapping also makes more obvious that the stock 846 cable is indeed a major pain in the ass. Sigh...

 

[Imperfectionist]

You're a demanding customer.
That might be taking it a bit too far, even with the m50x. Regardless of how good the 846 are, they're still IEMs and limited by design. I do like their signature, the bass and forwards mids, with a slightly warmish sound (yup, I don't think they are bright even with the default blue filters) make them sound a lot like full size cans, well, as much as possible. I think you will always need your cans, even if you go for TOTL IEMs costing twice as much as the 846 (and more).

My problem is of a slightly different nature. They are good, they are better than my current favorite, but they're not better by an impressive margin. So it feels as if I'm paying a bucketload for a slight improvement in performance. NASA-like. 880 EUR vs 60 EUR. That's x15 more. I can get 15 Havis B3P1 for the cost of one 846.

But sometimes that little small improvement is the most expensive. Not just in Formula 1. I'm just not sure the 846's faster couple of seconds lap time are worth such a premium. Actually, to my ears ,I'm sure they are not. But they're still better, meatier, the lush sound is getting to me and I still really like their signature. It is closer to my current favorite (Z1R) than anything I've heard before in IEMs, so I'm fearing I'll take the unwise step of keeping them.

There's still hope tho... ahh, shoud return them. Going to try more tracks. Frequent swapping also makes more obvious that the stock 846 cable is indeed a major pain in the ass. Sigh...

I agree to what you have said. When I do use my 846,I would usually unplug the jack rather than taking them off. It's just that inconvenient. Hence I am using silicons instead of foam tips, thus skipping the tip rolling part even if I have to take them off.
I am seriously considering selling my set off. The inconvenience coupled with the sound signature will make me steer clear of any Shure products from now on, if I cannot overcome my own misgivings. Lol

 

[phthora]

It's interesting to hear people's impressions of these headphones. It's always hard when the conversation turns to value. Everyone has a different opinion, different means, different priorities, and the like. And, I respect that. I have, in hindsight, wondered how much these IEM's are worth to me, and that number varies day to day. Sometimes I feel like the 846's are worth every penny and that I should sell most of my other gear. Other times, I feel I should sell the Shures and buy a couple of less expensive 'phones. I can't even really say whether I would buy them again if I could do it all over.
 
What I can say is that I haven't had any doubt about their place at the top of my own particular headphone harem and that I never really feel like I've heard an album until I've heard it through the 846's. I have other headphones that do particular things better (soundstage, for an obvious example), but the Shures are my bar and the standard against which I measure everything else. For better or worse. Personally, I also find that small differences on paper end up being a lot more important in ear.