The Shure SE210 review

I'm going to make two confession right now.

First: The reason why I never update my blog for some time is because I was too pre-occupied with the "peanuts" you see above.

and Second: I did not blog because I really want to write a proper review on this earphones. But I soon realise that it is really not possible for me to actually write a review on this earphones because no matter what I say, or no matter what kind of words I used from any language at all, I absolutely CANNOT describe and put it in any form of words to let my readers know how BLOODY GOOD this is!!

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Shure SE210 (and optional Shure in-line volume control on the left)

Shure SE210 is actually the second entry-level in-ear earphones by Shure's new line of SE series earphone, so this is actually the second best of their "budget" series earphones. The high-end series of Shure SE line up are the Shure SE420 and SE530, where they have 2 and 3 seperate drivers in the earphone itself respectively. But most websites will consider even the Shure SE110 to be "high-end" earphones already, as even the Shure SE110 already doesn't come cheap, costing as much as RM350 in Malaysia, with the SE210 almost doubling that, followed by the SE310 doubling the SE210 price tag. And if you're curious, the top of the line Shure SE530 cost as much as RM2299!!

So you see, these are not your average earphones originally supplied by your mp3 player when you bought it, they mean business!!
(Btw, for those who are curious. The supposedly cost RM129 Apple Earphones which is so kindly supplied by Apple with every iPod is actually made in China, by a seperate factory. And I've learned that the cost of this RM129 Apple Earphones actually only costs RM5+ each for them to manufacture! So, for those who bought this RM129 Apple Earphones to replace their original one which is spoiled, well, I hate to say this but you are really quite S _ _ _ _ _!!)



So, after spending a good frustrating 5 minutes trying to cut open the box with a razor sharp kitchen scissors meant to even cut up bones, this is what you get in the box. 4 sizes of sponge plugs, 3 sizes of silicon plugs, triple-flange tip plugs, ear wax cleaner, extension cord, a high quality semi-hard earphone case and the Shure SE210 itself. Everything screams "quality", especially the cables and the case that comes with it. The cables for the earphones, and even the extension cable is much thicker than your normal earphone cables and it can never get tangled up! But seriously, who cares even if the casing is made out of carbon fiber (of course is not la!!)?? The main reason why you would want to spend your hard-earned money on this is of course for it's sound quality.

And how did it sound?? Didn't you read my second "confession"???
NO words can describe how BLOODY GOOD it is.

I'm serious. This is the BEST sounding earphones I've ever heard. I thought my previous RM180 Philips earphones was really good. I thought my previous previous Sennheiser MX51 was good. I thought my Sennheiser HD212pro headphones was quite impressive. I thought the new Sennheiser HDsomething headphones that I bought for Church is amazing in delivering fine details. However, after listening to this Shure SE210, ALL the previous earphones and headphones I've used are TOTAL RUBBISH!!

After letting it "run-in" for some time. I start having a proper listening session with this earphone and the sound quality is really beyond words. The first time I playback "I'll be home for Christmas" by "Michael Buble" on it, it sounded so good I actually teared. It gives the listeners a whole new experience listening to their music. It's like, this earphones somehow magically revealed a "hidden" layer of sounds that can never be heard through cheapo earphones. There was one time I said that music can transport you away to your own world, well, listening to music through this is something like that.

One of the main reason why it is so good is probably because of the sound isolation. After choosing the correct ear plugs for your ears, stuff the earphone tip into your ear canal and instantly - it is as though the whole world soften down..ALOT! Switch on any of your favourite music and even at a below average volume, it is good enough to totally shut-off the outside world. I tested this in a full-house Blitzone a few days ago. If you don't know Blitzone, I think it is one of the noisiest cyber cafe around, as everyone is killing people at full volume! So, I plug in my Shure SE210, stuff it into my ear - mmm..still can hear abit of gun sounds. Then I switched on "Norah Jones" and put it at 50% volume (my "normal" listening volume is around 60-70%), and it was more than enough to totally cut out ALL outside noise!!


iPod Touch to Shure in-line volume control to Shure SE210

Even though this Shure SE210 have only one full range driver inside, it can really reproduce sounds all the way from the lowest frequency right to the high end frequency with amazing clarity and detail. This earphone is all about details. Suddenly it is like someone "overhaul" your ears, all the defects and nuances of a poor quality track that were not apparent before seems to surfaced. Play back all your songs again, even if you heard it a hundred time, listening to it again through this earphone will make you feel as though you were listening to it with your ear close last time. I can't really put it in words, but the amount of details this earphone recreate is very impressive.

If you are the type of person who likes thumping bass, then this earphone is definitely not for you. Don't get me wrong though, personally I think the level of bass is more than sufficient when you have on a proper fitting ear plug. It certainly won't make your heart skips-a-beat, but what it does give you is a very detailed and refine bass sound. Listening to "Dave Weckl, Vinnie Colaiuta & Steve Gadd" drum battle with this earphone is - Intoxicating! Again, becase the detail and clarity delivered by this earphone is so great, you can really listen to every single sound in detail, even the slightest ring from the smallest cymbal or the soft retract echo sound after everytime they hit the kick drum becomes so obvious. You can easily differentiate each level of the frequencies very easily and it's really a feat. Any imperfection at the live recording stage can be heard way too easily. Heck, even the sound of Diana Krall wetting her mouth after she sings a long sentence sounds so darn obvious and evident through this earphone!! Replay it with my Edifier speakers or with any of my old earphones and it is impossible to hear those details already.

Honestly I can go on and on and on telling you about every fine, little but perfect details about this earphone and how good it sounds, but like I said earlier, I can try to describe it, but there's really no way to actually let anyone how good it is, until they actually hear it properly themselves.


So to end, this is what I personally think and feel about this earphone in not-geek language:
This is no doubt the best thing I've ever bought in my 19 years alive on this earth. Yes, even better than a car. Call me crazy but give me a chance to buy a Shure SE530 or a iMac/Nikon D300/iPhone/Nokia N95 8GB/Mac Book Pro/Surefire U2 now, I'll go for the Shure SE530 without batting an eye. This earphones are so good that they really sound better than sex!!! And I'm not the only one saying that this is better than "sex", get a copy of this month "Stuff" magazine and a interview with an expert said exactly the same thing too. Play your most favourite song on this earphone; if the recording is excellent, with good high quality encoding, then the pleasure you'll get is not much different then an o r _ _ s m!!

So for those of you who really enjoys listening to music, you should really consider this. If you're calling me crazy right about now, then I ask you..Why is it really insane to spend RM600-700, or even up to RM2k on a earphone? Some of you spend easily at least RM200-500 or more on jeans, shirts, shoes; or close to RM1k on sunglass; or RM700+ just for the Oakley spectacle frame; or wastes alot of money to mod car (I'm guilty of this too); or buy a PSP, or Nintendo DS, or even Xbox 360 or PS3?? If you spend money on those, then why not earphones? I bet you'll even use it more and much longer than most of your other stuffs, and best of all, you'll experienced a make-shift "heaven" here on earth everytime you listen to your favourite tracks.

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NEXT...
Look out for the next geek update on the NEW, long awaited, and successor to the Dopod 838pro: HTC TyTN II.


The long awaited HTC TyTN II!! Successor to my previous Dopod 838pro.