Shure SE215 Quick Review

Shure SE215 Quick Review

Thanks to Advanced Headphones www.advancedheadphones.co.uk for the sample (AMP3’s sister site)

Brief: Shure responds to the competition in ass kicking style.

Price: US$100 or £90

Specification: Speaker type: Single Dynamic MicroDriver, Sensitivity (1 kHz): 107 dB SPL/mW, Impedance: 20 Ω, Frequency range: 22 Hz - 17,5 kHz, Cable length: 162 cm, Color: clear, black

Accessories: 6 pairs of tips, 3 olives and 3 “Flex” ones. Oh and it comes with a soft case too.

Build quality: Supreme, excellent cable that’s removable, jack feels uber sturdy, cable is flexible and the buds feel absolutely first class. Oh and 2 year warranty too.

Comfort/Fit: Well for a Shure it wasn’t that good. Not that it was actually uncomfortable but I’m used to them simply melting away and the 215 never really did. Fit was a little bothersome too with the new memory wire not really bending as much as I wanted resulting in the right side occasionally unhooking from my ear. If I pulled the slider it solved it but Shure is normally top of the class and the 215 is more in the top third.

Aesthetics: In pic’s the black just looks black but if you look at them up close they are translucent and it is very, very pretty. Not in a gaudy ostentatious way but I very much liked it. It looks much nicer in the flesh than in a photo.

Sound: It does not sound like a Shure. A Shure is supposed to sound like a monitor, a little dull, gentle and the ear and mid centric. Mid centric is what Shure does, right? If that’s what you want from these then you will be sorely disappointed as they are nothing like the SE210 they replace. Of course the 210 was regularly bashed for being boring and bass light (bass nonexistent to some.) If you were just coming into the word of higher end earphones or IEM’s then Shure with its famous name was an obvious choice and the 210 at near the bottom of the range was a good option right? Thing is compared to low end stuff that are usually bass monsters the 210 was a hell of a shock to most. So they get bought and then they go straight back, this won’t be happening with the SE215. It has a much, much bigger bass output than the 210 and moves a hell of a lot more air too. You feel it. Granted I missed the forward mids as this doesn’t have it, bass and mids are similar but the bass is bigger at times and the highs take a back stage but are still very well done. How Shure have done what they have done here at the price they have I really don’t know. I suggest reading the full review because I can’t fit it all in here but trust me; the SE215 is seriously ass kicking.

Value: If isolation, brand name and such mean nothing to you then its pretty good value. If they matter (and for me isolation does) then they are fantastic. Nothing does bass like this and isolates like this.

Pro’s: Name, Prodigious bass response, fantastic isolation and no driver flex or air pressure issues, warranty.

Con’s: Prodigious bass response, it doesn’t sound like a monitor or anything like its predecessor so I think a slightly misleading name, can get better sound for the money.