Shure SE210 Consumer Headphones

(Note: Review updated 4/16/07 which reflects some "second thoughts" on the bass response of these earphones after additional time was spent with the product.)

I bought a pair of these a couple of weeks ago while traveling. I've always heard great things about Shure and decided to go with the SE210's with the price point and the noise-reduction characteristics being key factors for me.

After putting away the chainsaw required to get the package open, I found a nice selection of ear pieces to put on the earphones. In all, there were 7 pairs in addition to the ones on the phones already. It also comes with a cleaning stick to keep the phones free of any accumulated wax. There's also a nice zippered hard case to stow your SE210's in when not in use.

The earphones have about an 18" chord plus a 3' extension chord so you've got plenty to play with.

The main sticking point, for me, is the chord is pretty heavy and you don't have the extended length on one of the phones to hang around your neck when you take them out. I resorted to using an old cellphone wire clip to keep them on my shirt but I miss the old feel of them around my neck and saying out of the way. Since the chord is so heavy and stiff, it seems to be in the way all the time. This poses a problem for me as I move through an airport lugging my bags.

As for the sound I'm no audio expert so take this with a grain of salt. For the amount of time I've had them, I've found the highs and mids to be pretty darn good. Originally, I felt the lows were OK but tended to bottom out a little bit around the super lows of some of today's music. What I should have done is a little more investigative work before publishing this review. I say this because after hooking up the SE210's to my home computer vs. my mp3 player (the one that I had based the original review on) I found the lows I had expected. Boy did I ever.

Because I found a difference as soon as I switched sources, I decided to find as much music in my collection that would tax the earphones. The one piece I found that really made me sit up was Pink Floyd's "Welcome to the Machine" as it really took my head into the lows. I came away really impressed after I could "feel" the bass in my head. Across the board, the music I tested with (e.g. Linkin Park, TLC, Lenny Kravitz, Enigma, Steely Dan, Diana Krall, etc.) showed what I was missing when playing these straight off my mp3 player instead of through my Creative Labs card on my PC.

Moving on to the noise-reduction characteristics... very nice. Even with the music off (a must during take-offs and landings ;-) ) the SE210's did well. With the music on, I didn't have to blast the music to drown out the din of the airplane engines, the screaming kids a few rows away or the chatty passengers immediately around me.

I found an issue when trying to rest my head against a pillow because these earphones stick straight out of my ear. When you try to put your head down or some other strange configuration as only air travelers know to be a challenge, the earphones press into your ear canal and it just isn't do-able.

Since this is my first pair of higher priced earphones, I'm not sure how these compare to the bigger brothers in the Shure family or other comparable lines. See if you can try some of the different models. Just don't make the same mistake I did... make sure you've got good source equipment on which to base your evaluation.

Price paid - $149.00 plus tax.