underdawg's Full Review: Shure E3C Consumer Headphones
I think I can accurately put myself in the category in between an audiophile and an average iPod-earbud wearing dude. I guess you could say I'm in the willing-to-spend-$40-$80-on-headphones category. But I've always wanted to try some really expensive headphones, and so here I am with the Shure E3C's...$200 headphones. Are they worth it? Um...I dunno. Are they good headhones? Yes. Let's take a closer look.
Sound Isolating
I had a pair of JBL noise-canceling heaphones before, but while I wanted heaphones like that for flying and studying, I no longer put much faith in actual noise-canceling headphones. The JBL ones would just make a slight hissing sound (like the sound you get when you turn up speakers high but have nothing playing through them) that would "cancel" noise. I tried them with the bathroom fan to simulate (albeit very very crudely) the sound of an airplane engine. They reduced that sound by about 50% I would say. However, with my brother playing drums in the other room, the JBL could only drown out the sound if I turned up my music quite loud, which doesn't exactly help me study for LSAT's.
Sound isolating is the way to go. These Shures don't make any noise of their own, and there's no battery and clunky wires to worry about. Instead, they fit into your ear in such a way that it "seals"...basically these are like earplugs and heaphones all into one. I could barely hear the fan with these babies and did not have to turn up my music very loud at all to drown out my brother banging on the drums. I recently flew and the Shure E3C's were great. Of course I could still hear the airplane's engine, but I could hear all my music and TV shows on my computer on about half volume. In the past with regular in-ear headphones, I'd have a hard time hearing them with the volume maxed out.
These are also good with ear health in general. Since these do a good job of blocking out most outside sound, you don't have to turn up your music as much, and your ears will thank you since they won't be gradually losing their functionality any more.
Shure's sound isolating is not some half-a*s noise cancelling. In fact, it's better than the only noise cancelling headphones I've tried.
Only problem is that the seal is so tight that if you try to jog with these, you'll notice that every step gets really loud in your head. If you try to eat while listening to something, you'll notice that jaw movements become really loud too. An annoyance, but you shouldn't be jogging with these anyway since they isolate sound so well.
Comfort
You get a whole bunch of tips with these headphones...in soft rubber, a harder rubber, and foam (my favorite) in all kinds of sizes. The foam tips are quite comfortable and so are the soft rubber. If you're not used to in-ear headphones, these might feel weird but you'll get used to it.
Sound
Well. I won't lie; these sound only marginally better than the Sony EX-71's I had before, and those were $70 or so. These don't have thumping bass or anything; instead, you can hear every bass note clearly. Clarity is the name of the game here, but I haven't noticed anything really new in my songs like other people with thse have. Maybe I don't have the ear for it, or maybe the Sony EX-71's are actually quite good.
Don't get me wrong; these headphones have great sound quality. It's just that they sound only a little better than $70 headphones I've had before.
Conclusion
Are they worth $200? If the sound isolation is really important to you, then yes. If not, I'd suggest the Sony EX-71's or EX-51's (a little cheaper and worse than the 71's). Also keep in mind that these have a 2 year warranty and from what I've heard, Shure is excellent in customer service. Don't buy from Amazon though, because I don't think they're an authorized reseller and that makes your warranty void. Go to the Shure website if you want em.
Superior sound quality for your Black ipod Nano or other black MP3 or Sony PSP. Sound Isolating in-ear design provides exception clarity prevents outs...More at Amazon Marketplace
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