[eat2na]

I did not end up getting them repaired. What I ended up doing was buying new earpieces for 300ish each. I still have the right earpiece which is in working order, and the left piece which I believe requires a new mmcx connector. It's quite an easy repair actually, as long as you have decent soldering skills and the right equipment. I know Vesper Audio does repairs like this all the time, and I've heard nothing but good things. The only thing that was stopping me from getting repairs done by them is they're located in Belarus, and I was a bit uncomfy sending my 846 that far.

Be careful of the housings splitting on each earpiece, that's something I and some other people have experienced. It may not look like it, but there's actually a very small seam that runs through the middle of each earpiece, and that's where they start to split. The clear models also tend to get foggy and cloudy as they age. If your housings split like mine, I've heard of people using e6000 glue to reseal them, and it was something I considered doing as well.

I got brand new se846 earpieces so I'm satisfied, but I recently acquired a set of Campfire Andromeda, so I may end up selling on the SE846 depending on my preferences. With the blue filter mod though, I really feel the 846 hold up very well in comparison. The bass on the Andromeda is not as textured, but punchy and has good depth. Mids are slightly recessed on the Andromeda, but that allows you to experience a lot more of the high frequencies. Despite that, I still found myself missing the beautiful smooth natural vocals that you get with the 846. They did improve on this with the andromeda 2020, but I have a 2017 edition. They're quite different iems really, the SE846 sound extremely intimate, while the Andros give you a much bigger soundstage which is preferable for some. Treble detail is better with the andromeda, sometimes I feel it's a bit too much as I'm quite sensitive to higher frequencies but my ears will probably get used to it. Overall they're very different iems for different people.

I had a similar experience. After 7 years, one of my earpieces MMCX broke off! Since they are now $719 at all major retailers, I ordered a new set from Amazon.

 

[plakat]

My pair doesn't show any fog so far, and they are about 7-8 years old... Still going strong.

 

[tbritton]

Like others have reported, my circa mid-2016 SE846 pair (for which I paid the full original price of $999) had started to yellow with the seam deteriorating, and finally one shell parted entirely with the other just starting to come apart just as much, the nozzle starting to wiggle. I am definitely not complaining - I used these regularly in the studio and for doing hundreds of live performances and wore them for many hours every single day for all kinds of listening. I do mean every single day, including to the gym!

I had lived without my Shures since January, and missed them so much! I finally sent them in to Shure to have them replaced, and just received them today nice and shiny-new and sparkling clear, with the blue filters already installed (which I instantly did the trishd mod to again!) and they came with the soft foam ear pieces, which I replaced with my silicone 3-tier ones.

These are such a joy to listen to on a properly very-low-impedance capable amp! Worth every penny. Bass, mid and treble are so perfectly balanced, and all the mods and earpiece rolling one can do to fiddle with different EQ's just ups the amount of fun you can have with them. Replacement cost for the two was $646 total with tax figured in here in the USA, so compared to what I paid for my original pair, I count that as a bargain price!

Terry

 

[Mangodango369]

yellow with the seam deteriorating

yah my ear hooks turn green lol anyway I enjoyed the sound a lot so I just look pass the aesthetics

 

[Kozwoz]

The coloured versions of the 846 I imagine would last aesthetically a bit longer. Are the coloured version a single piece shell or still two like the transparent version?

I had to buy a new Shure cable every few months from experience. The metal hooks eventually always snap. I found it comfortable whilst it worked but ultimately a poor design which cost me a lot. Over 7 years I spent hundreds of dollars on Shure cables.

 

[waveSounds]

I hate the Shure cables, and any cable that has those ungainly metal ear hooks. Swapped to this one several years ago and it's just about started to fail at the connector on one side; not bad considering I have used them more or less everyday whilst at the gym, on the motorcycle and while at work - and I swapped careers to a gardener in that time period so they've been exposed to all manner of dust, dirt, trees, sweat, sun lotion, tears... for the price it's almost a necessity purchase for improving comfort. The previous is also testament to the durability of the 846. They're still going strong with no signs of wear even now. They make pretty excellent ear defenders for use with chainsaws, mowers and underneath motorcycle helmets, too

 

[fablestruck]

https://fiio-shop.de/en/cable/762/fiio-lc-3.5b
(Which is durable, does not tangle and sounds great, love it for se846)
https://fiio-shop.de/en/cables/earphone-cables/993/fiio-lc-re
(Which I ended up using, better microphonics, sounds fine, durable, still quite expensive)

 

[raysounds]

I've had a pair of 846 for a couple of years, and think they are brilliant. They are good all round, but with the right fit, they are especially good at deep, well controlled bass.

 

[chrischong948]

The coloured versions of the 846 I imagine would last aesthetically a bit longer. Are the coloured version a single piece shell or still two like the transparent version?

I had to buy a new Shure cable every few months from experience. The metal hooks eventually always snap. I found it comfortable whilst it worked but ultimately a poor design which cost me a lot. Over 7 years I spent hundreds of dollars on Shure cables.

I would probably suggest you go for a fiio cable. I see a lot of people using the fiio 2.5b, 3.5b and their other offerings. I have the lc 3.5b and it's really really nice, quite affordable too at $30. It's much nicer feeling than the shure cable which is very stiff and uncomfortable. When looking for the cables from fiio though, most of them will be mmcx but there's a huge variety of jack sizes, 2.5mm balanced, 3.5mm that fits in your phone etc so just make sure you're buying one that actually fits your use case. I didn't do enough research the first 2 times and bought 1 that was 2.5mm, and another that was extremely short.

The lc-3.5b I have did cloud a bit around the transparent plastic around the ear hooks, but I was able to cut that part off, and the material underneath was identical to the rest of the wire and hasn't clouded in the last 6 months. There's also no memory wire in the ear hooks on this particular model so no worries about that breaking and becoming flimsy like the shure wire. The earhooks are nicely shaped to fit around my ears even after cutting off the plastic cover. My only complaint was that it was a bit hard to attach to the mmcx connectors and take them off.

As for your question about the colored models, I'd assume their earpieces are also 2 different pieces. I wouldn't see any other way of getting the drivers, crossover units etc inside without having it apart. They probably were just able to hide the seam very well. On my clear versions, it was very well hidden, so I would imagine they would be able to hide it even better with the paint they put on the colored ones.

FYI for anybody looking for colored models and not buying straight from Shure, careful for fakes, I remember hearing the colored models had some fakes out there since they were able to throw some cheap drivers in there and hide how awful they looked.

 

[Kozwoz]

I would probably suggest you go for a fiio cable. I see a lot of people using the fiio 2.5b, 3.5b and their other offerings. I have the lc 3.5b and it's really really nice, quite affordable too at $30. It's much nicer feeling than the shure cable which is very stiff and uncomfortable. When looking for the cables from fiio though, most of them will be mmcx but there's a huge variety of jack sizes, 2.5mm balanced, 3.5mm that fits in your phone etc so just make sure you're buying one that actually fits your use case. I didn't do enough research the first 2 times and bought 1 that was 2.5mm, and another that was extremely short.

The lc-3.5b I have did cloud a bit around the transparent plastic around the ear hooks, but I was able to cut that part off, and the material underneath was identical to the rest of the wire and hasn't clouded in the last 6 months. There's also no memory wire in the ear hooks on this particular model so no worries about that breaking and becoming flimsy like the shure wire. The earhooks are nicely shaped to fit around my ears even after cutting off the plastic cover. My only complaint was that it was a bit hard to attach to the mmcx connectors and take them off.

As for your question about the colored models, I'd assume their earpieces are also 2 different pieces. I wouldn't see any other way of getting the drivers, crossover units etc inside without having it apart. They probably were just able to hide the seam very well. On my clear versions, it was very well hidden, so I would imagine they would be able to hide it even better with the paint they put on the colored ones.

FYI for anybody looking for colored models and not buying straight from Shure, careful for fakes, I remember hearing the colored models had some fakes out there since they were able to throw some cheap drivers in there and hide how awful they looked.

Thanks for the tips. I think 2.5mm needs to be phased out of audio. There’s really no reason to use it when there’s 4.4mm pentacon option. So many cases of people snapping their 2.5 plugs.

 

[mariowar]

After two days testing the 7HZ Timeless IEM, I conclude that even though they are amazingly well tuned at ANY price range, they just do not dethrone the legendary SE846 ( Final Audio tips). I compared them using the same cable ( Linum SuperBax) + iPhone 13 Max + Hiby FC-3 (low impedance and high impedance modes). Music : Rock, Hard Rock, Jazz.

Fit: I had no issues with the fit but the SE846 much is better.

Isolation: Good, but the SE846 is way better.
Efficiency: The SE846s sound louder at the same volume. An advantage for low powered sources but a curse for the high powered ones ( noise floor)
Detail and Resolution : Very good, however, to my ears, the SE846 still beats them, specially in the mids, where the magic happens.
Bass: Draw, they are both excellent. I did not notice major differences, well amplified, they both go very deep with good texture. Perhaps, mid bass is a little more prominent in the SE846.
Mids: The Timeless are very good and detailed, however, the SE846 reigns supreme. They are more detailed and intimate. They have more body.
Treble : judging by the reviews the treble on the Timeless was supposed to be very detailed and extended. Perhaps, but I did not notice it. Lower treble is more detailed on the SE846 ( Blue filter - Thrish Mode) . They just sound crispier to my ears.

 

[fablestruck]

After two days testing the 7HZ Timeless IEM, I conclude that even though they are amazingly well tuned at ANY price range, they just do not dethrone the legendary SE846 ( Final Audio tips). I compared them using the same cable ( Linum SuperBax) + iPhone 13 Max + Hiby FC-3 (low impedance and high impedance modes). Music : Rock, Hard Rock, Jazz.

Fit: I had no issues with the fit but the SE846 much is better.

Isolation: Good, but the SE846 is way better.
Efficiency: The SE846s sound louder at the same volume. An advantage for low powered sources but a curse for the high powered ones ( noise floor)
Detail and Resolution : Very good, however, to my ears, the SE846 still beats them, specially in the mids, where the magic happens.
Bass: Draw, they are both excellent. I did not notice major differences, well amplified, they both go very deep with good texture. Perhaps, mid bass is a little more prominent in the SE846.
Mids: The Timeless are very good and detailed, however, the SE846 reigns supreme. They are more detailed and intimate. They have more body.
Treble : judging by the reviews the treble on the Timeless was supposed to be very detailed and extended. Perhaps, but I did not notice it. Lower treble is more detailed on the SE846 ( Blue filter - Thrish Mode) . They just sound crispier to my ears.

Overall agreed.
But put Timeless on a balanced output and you get more boost in performance.

 

[mariowar]

Overall agreed.
But put Timeless on a balanced output and you get more boost in performance.

I also tried them on high impedance mode (2 full volts). The Timeless do scale well, same thing for the SE846.

 

[fablestruck]

I also tried them on high impedance mode (2 full volts). The Timeless do scale well, same thing for the SE846.

Like you I love them both.
But I tend to listen more and more to the Timeless on balanced as the details are excellent and the tuning less fatiguing.
Also soundstage is more expansive with Timeless though imaging is more pinpoint with Shure.

 

[Kozwoz]

I think the Shure 846 images brilliantly however it’s becoming more and more obvious newer generation iems are pulling away in soundstage. Newer generation iems can have a 3D holographic soundstage which is the only area I think the 846 falls back on.