Shure E4c Sound Isolating Earphones
by Shure Incorporated
|
Our Price: $599.99 Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Category: CE See more product details |
|---|
Customers in the UK,
Buy this product at amazon.co.uk
for British Pounds
Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Shure E4c Sound Isolating Earphones
Customer Review: E4 Series - Not too happy with them
Summary: 2 Stars
I'm using these with the Sansa 6 gig Nano equivalent. I was using a pretty cheap set of Koss Porta Pro headphones which are VERY high rated for the price on Amazon for years with my minidisk. I figured let me pick up a nice set of headphones when ordering the MP3 player.
The pro is sealing out noise. NYC subway noise is reduced by 80-90% when they are in and cranking. About 60%+ when just in and off. What I did notice is that these are not powerful on the bass and tinny on the high end. Midrange seems to be where their performance is. Because of their increased impedance which is a gauge for lacking quality in a speaker, you need to boost the volume.
I then cross tested the MP3 player and the headphones with different devices and headsets. It was confirmed that the headphones need more power for the same output and they are perform poorly on the bass. The high end is a little annoying too since it seems to outpace the volume setting. Meaning, if you have to put the volume to 8 (which is NOT loud) to hear a song, the treble seems to be on 14 and sounds distorted.
Like that other high end speaker manufacture where most of their $ goes into advertising and not R&D, I think these are VERY overrated and overpriced for what they deliver. They DID NOT outperform a $50 pair of 3 year old headphones.
Customer Review: Big mistake out of this small earbug, but you can try without much risk.
Summary: 1 Stars
After reading the reviews of Bose noise cancelling headsets (QC2/3), I decided to give the Shure E4c a try. I arrived at the airport earlier so that I have time to try things out. The earphone sounded just fine on their demo CD player. I didn't try it on my laptop, which is a mistake.
On the airplane, I put this earphone is real test. Of course, the "sound isolation" works, (put a piece of memory form in your ear, it will block the sound), but when I listen to some real music like the "Carmen - Act 1 Prelude", the bass was totally cutoff. My broken $60 worth of Panasonic headset did so much better than this one.
Besides the sound problem, I don't feel comfortable at all with it.
As soon as my plan landed on the run way, I called the store, and they are kindly let me to return in Huston airport (where I transit). I found their store, and the salesman listen my test music and had to agree with me and accepted return. (GREAT SERVICE!)
I ended up with Bose QC3, which I am VERY happy with.
My recommendation to everyone is to try this one with your own music source and pay attention to the peak bass performance. They have a great customer service and you can buy with confidence. But the little thing may or may not work for you.
Customer Review: Awesome! Read this to learn a secret technique for a good seal!
Summary: 5 Stars
I won't extole all of the virtues of the E4c's, since plenty of other reviewers do a great job of praising them. I do want to share a trick that works for me which MASSIVELY improves the sound quality. When I first got the earphones I couldn't get a good seal, even by pushing them in pretty far into my ear. Bass was ok, but didn't blow me away.
I then found the magic trick that worked wonders for me. First, gently push the earphone as far as it can comfortably go into your ear. Now here's the trick. Grab the edge of your ear directly behid the earphone with your thumb and index finger and pull on your ear while simultaneously pushing in the earphone with a free finger (I use the finger next to my index finger). You will feel the earphone slide in a bit more. Let go from your ear, and you will get a TIGHT seal!
You can easily do this with one hand in a single motion, and it takes all of a second or two. I use the clear rubber tip with this technique, and WOW I'm TOTALLY blown away with the bass!
I do have custom ear molds on order, but this technique does wonders for the stock tips. For any reviewers saying the bass sucks, they are NOT getting a good seal/fit. I was frustrated with them at first until I got the hang of inserting them.
Customer Review: great portable headphones
Summary: 5 Stars
I recently upgraded to the Shure E4c earphones having previously owned the E2c's for about a year. The difference even just after using them for the first time is immediately apparent. The E4c's have a much stonger bass response, even before the break-in period. They sound more full than the E2c's, and have much better mids, especially improving the sound for rock music. I have them on right now, listening to Radiohead's "The Bends," and it's like hearing a whole different album than before. Like the other Shure in-ear models, when you have these earphones in (even without music playing), you can hear very little outside noise, and when there is music playing, that's all you hear. I personally prefer the foam ear pieces the best, but the new soft flex sleeves are comortable as well. I think the foam ones really allow for the best sound from the earphones, and they are the most comfortable. Overall, these are a vast improvement over the E2c's and even with the price difference, I would reccomend getting them. They are great for any use - I use mine mostly for my iPod, since I have Sennheiser HD-595's for home use. I highly recommend these earphones to anyone with the means and the desire for superb sound. If you're debating whether or not to get them, go for it.Customer Review: Too good for an iPod
Summary: 4 Stars
I've tried out a number of noise-cancelling and isolating headphones with an iPod. Here are my impressions:
Shure E4c (isolating): the most accurate and open I know of. With high-quality source electtronics and material, these (or the E5c's) would be the pick of the lot. Unfortunately, they're too revealing for listening to compressed source material through the mediocre electronics of an iPod and very quickly become very fatiguing in that context. Their other disadvantage is obvious: they're quite expensive.
Sennheiser PXC 300 (noise-cancelling): these are my favorites. Very accurate without being too unforgiving for an iPod. Their disadvantages: comparatively bulky & won't play as loudly as any of the others mentioned here.
Sennheiser CX300-B (isolating): considerably more compact and somewhat less expensive than the PXC 300, these are also quite good. Bass can be very tubby (that might be improved by stiffer custom inserts, but that would more than double the price)
Koss "The Plug" (isolating): laughably innacurate. Buy these only if you have tin ears and a habit of losing small things on airplanes. Otherwise do yourself a favor and invest a bit more in one of the alternatives.