Shure SE425 - a very mini review

[BoredSysAdmin]

Well, I just got them this morning. On my morning commute I learned of two things: all my mp3 will be getting deleted from my phone. Lossless are here to stay.
Listening to ape'd Final Cut - I was amazed in the amount of small details in soundtrack I rarely heard, and never on the small in-ear headphones.
The tiniest background hush, bird's noises.. everything was heard in pristine quality.
It was basically Pink Floyd did a private concert for me...
My old ones were Etymotics HF2 and the difference is like night and day.
Noise Isolation is also quite good, not deaf like experience like HF2, but still very solid.
Fit - Well, it's new headphone - i'm still getting used to new fit.

The only gripe I have is - for $300 they could include the microphone cord, but instead selling it for extra $50 The only good news is this cord completely replaced original one since the "speakers" are fully detachable.
My ebil plan is hang around with original cord for the warranty period (2 years) or more until it breaks and then get the microphone cord

No pics, since these same as stock

PS: Source was my original Droid (Froyo 2.2) . For Ape playback I used "Player" - it's a 3rd party app

 

[Boerd]

Well, I just got them this morning. On my morning commute I learned of two things: all my mp3 will be getting deleted from my phone. Lossless are here to stay.
Listening to ape'd Final Cut - I was amazed in the amount of small details in soundtrack I rarely heard, and never on the small in-ear headphones.
The tiniest background hush, bird's noises.. everything was heard in pristine quality.
It was basically Pink Floyd did a private concert for me...
My old ones were Etymotics HF2 and the difference is like night and day.
Noise Isolation is also quite good, not deaf like experience like HF2, but still very solid.
Fit - Well, it's new headphone - i'm still getting used to new fit.

The only gripe I have is - for $300 they could include the microphone cord, but instead selling it for extra $50 The only good news is this cord completely replaced original one since the "speakers" are fully detachable.
My ebil plan is hang around with original cord for the warranty period (2 years) or more until it breaks and then get the microphone cord

No pics, since these same as stock

PS: Source was my original Droid (Froyo 2.2) . For Ape playback I used "Player" - it's a 3rd party app

Congrats!!
I understand you get a lot of detail - cool; still have a few questions:
How are the lows? How about the 4 khz + (highs)?
Do you hear any hiss from the Droid?

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

Congrats!!
I understand you get a lot of detail - cool; still have a few questions:
How are the lows? How about the 4 khz + (highs)?
Do you hear any hiss from the Droid?

Well, Last time i checked my hearing (I'm 34) I can hear up-to about 17.5-18 Khz.
Everything sounded great both lows and highs. Sound best described as warm, but not tube warm - just a tad bit.
I did add 1.5db Eq on both ends just since I liked it a bit more. ps: My Droid doesn't hiss

For dry numbers instead of my very unscientific impressions head-out to http://www.headphone.com/headphones/shure-se425.php

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

Small update - it's my third day using Shure's daily for my commute. More impressions:
Sound isolation: Very good - I wish it would be a bit better but I haven't tried different attachments yet.

Comfort: With stock small/mid sided foam - it's pretty good and not tiring on my ears for long (over hour each way) commute

Quality: While I couldn't hear much difference from lossless Led Zeppelin I-IV or Queen, Pink Floyd albums were good examples why everyone should enjoy lossless. I also checked several Classical albums - not typically my cup o tea, but I really enjoyed Vivaldi's Four Seasons - Music, Performance, Imaging and SQ were all outstanding.

Makes me very happy I got them - Expensive - Yea, but you get what you paid for

 

[FirstReflection]

Nice!

I've been using the Shure SE530 (since updated to the SE535) for a few years now and for small, in-ear (vs. full-sized cans) earphones, I've yet to find anything better - or anything that really even comes close, for that matter! Pretty much only custom-fit JH Audio earphones would be a step up from the Shures.

I wear a single earpiece in my left ear pretty much all day (I'm a road traffic supervisor and it serves as my communcations earpiece ). Personally, I've found the rounded silicone tip to be the most comfortable for all-day-long wear. Comparing the various tips, I've found that the foam tips provide the best sound quality. The silicone tips actually make the bass seem a bit louder and make the bass seem to have more impact, but the high frequencies are definitely attenuated with the silicone tips, so the foam provides the more "open" and naturally detailed sound.

I appreciate how easily the Shure earphones are driven. While I'm a fan of pairing great headphones with powerful, noise-floorless amplification, it's so much more convenient to be able to plug the Shure earphones directly into a mobile phone or iPod and still get high output without having to crank the volume setting.

A lot of people will baulk at the idea of paying over $300 for a pair of earphones, especially ones that are so-well suited and so-often used for portable purposes. But in the case of Shure's earphones, I have to say that you really do get your money's worth and there really is a VERY noticeable upgrade vs most other small, in-ear earphones. I always say, $300-$500 doesn't seem like all that much money if you're talking about buying a great pair of speakers. so just think of the Shure earphones as a great pair of speakers that just happen to be really, really small and fit inside your ears!

 

[strube]

Thanks for the mini-review.

How do you like the formable cables? I have the old versions, the SE420s, and kind of wish the cable would hold its shape better over my ears so they would be less likely to fall off when I am doing active things.

I am jealous of your phone's lack of hiss. My new Droid Thunderbolt has a nasty hiss with my Shures - I am going to try bumping up my impedance with a cable mod to get rid of it, hopefully not at the cost of much sound quality.

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

How do you like the formable cables? I have the old versions, the SE420s, and kind of wish the cable would hold its shape better over my ears so they would be less likely to fall off when I am doing active things.

I guess, i'm not that active , but with with good (aka deep) fit with cable going upwards in front of the ear toward behind it - the headphone do seem to hold in place, but then again i don't run with them. Imo the heavy cable could be a problem for such activities...

I am jealous of your phone's lack of hiss. My new Droid Thunderbolt has a nasty hiss with my Shures - I am going to try bumping up my impedance with a cable mod to get rid of it, hopefully not at the cost of much sound quality.

And I'm much jealous of your HTC Thunderbolt - Verizon (the only real 4g) LTE speeds are blazing !!

 

[strube]

I guess, i'm not that active , but with with good (aka deep) fit with cable going upwards in front of the ear toward behind it - the headphone do seem to hold in place, but then again i don't run with them. Imo the heavy cable could be a problem for such activities...

I shouldn't have said "active," I should have said...walking...and turning my head different directions while sitting at my desk.
I think it sounds like the stiffer cables would work good for me.

And I'm much jealous of your HTC Thunderbolt - Verizon (the only real 4g) LTE speeds are blazing !!

I wouldn't know - I live in a 3G area but I wanted to lock in my 4G unlimited for 30 bucks a month before they start charging more and capping and whatnot. I hope that doesn't make you more jealous.

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

I shouldn't have said "active," I should have said...walking...and turning my head different directions while sitting at my desk.
I think it sounds like the stiffer cables would work good for me.

I walk and turning head with 425 in ears without any issues...

I wouldn't know - I live in a 3G area but I wanted to lock in my 4G unlimited for 30 bucks a month before they start charging more and capping and whatnot. I hope that doesn't make you more jealous.

I do live in LTE area and I know about upcoming capped tiers, but unfortunately I got my droid late and I'd be eligible for upgrade only in November. Getting Thrunderbolt now at full price doesn't make much sense, even at risk tiered plan, thou i'd like to keep the unlimited of course... We'll see

 

[k_lewis]

nice short review, thanks