I got the Shure's a couple days ago and here are my first impressions. After almost cutting myself with my 6" CRKT "Operation Iraqi Freedom Certified"
knife trying to get the package open, I threw the instruction manual on the bed and started messing with the E2C's. First off the cord is thicker than any other set I have owned so that was a bit of a surprise. I kept the medium flex sleeves that was already on the phones and worked them into my ear. I feared that I wouldn't like the IEM but after getting them in wrong(more on that later) they were somewhat comfortable. They actually felt like my earplugs I wear every time I go outside the wire so if you do get blown up, at least you won't lose your hearing.
I took them to the gym and did my workout. I wasn't very impressed at all with the nosie isolation and worked the phones around a bit in my ear but couldn't manage to get a good seal. I chalked it up as the wrong size flex sleeve. The bass was also non-existant and overall they sounded horrible to me. I went through all the pre-set EQ's in the Nano and none of them helped. It literally sounded like I was tuned into an AM radio station.
I finished my workout, went back to my room and broke out the instruction manual in hopes I missed something. Being the impatience guy that I am , if I would have spent two minutes reading the first 4 pages when I opened the package, I would have discovered that the earphone that is all clear goes in the left ear and the bicolored phone goes in the right.
WOW, what a difference that made! Suddenly I have a good seal, decent bass and overall good quailty sound!!
I have them hooked up to the laptop as I type this through my logitech Z4 speakers and after setting up my own custom EQ through Itunes(bringing the 16 and 8k bands down and the 32, 64 and 125hz up) they sound as good as a 128 Kbps bit rate recording can.
Overall I'm impressed with my first set of IEM. I'm still experimenting through the different sleeves(I have the small foam sleeves in now) to get the best seal possible. Just remember, when all else fails, read the instructions.
I also told Beast if she eats this set of headphones(she has already destroyed my Sennheiser's and my Sony Noise Cancelling cans) that she will mysteriously become the first Military Working Dog to go MIA.
P.S- Metallica finally caved in and is on itunes now.
Crushing all deceivers, mashing non-believers
never ending potency
Hungry violence seeker, feeding off the weaker
Breeding on insanity
P.S.S- Itunes NIN "Hurt" is absoultely a horrible copy, I really want my $.99 back.
