Home > Consumer Reviews > Shure SE530PTH Sound Isolating Earphones with Push-To-Hear Control

If you, like me, work or commute in noisy environments and are looking to replace standard iPod earbuds, read on.

A word of advice before my review, don't try Shure SE530 if you are not ready to spend over $300 on earphones. Seriously, trust me on this. Once you hear music through these earphones, you will know what you've been missing and will want to buy them. My advice: first set aside $350-500, and then try them on. If you are not ready to spend this much on earphones, don't try them (go and try some lower-end models), or you'll either end up buying these anyway (blowing your budget), or will know you missed out.

I first got Shure SE210 and boy they sounded good, nice sound isolation and a significant improvement over standard iPod earbuds. It was not until I ordered SE530 and compared them side-by-side (SE210 in one ear, SE530 in another ear, with the same Dire Straits album playing), that I was really able to appreciate the richness of SE530 on all frequencies (especially lows and mids).

I then compared four headphones side-by-side: Shure SE530 Sound Isolating Earphones, Shure SE210 Sound Isolating Earphone - Black, Panasonic RP-HC500 Noise-Cancelling Headphones, and standard iPod earbuds. Here is my take:

1) Shure SE210 provided the best overall noise isolation, matching Panasonic RP-HC500 for constant-frequency noise (such as fans and air conditioners) and exceeding it for other types of noise such as sound of TV or other people talking.

In terms of quality of sound and frequency response, Shure SE210 were very similar to standard iPod earbuds *if you were listening to them in a quiet room*. However, in a noisy environment they provide a much better listening experience than iPod earbuds, as noise isolation allows them to preserve clean output on all frequencies.

Bottom line: if you are happy with the sound of iPod earbuds, if you tend to listen to music of lower quality (MP3 128 kbps), and you just need earphones for noisy environments, get Shure SE210. They provide the same sound quality as iPod earbuds, and have the best noise isolation of all earphones I've reviewed, at a reasonable price.

2) Panasonic RP-HC500 Noise-Cancelling Headphones provided the best overall sound clarity and richness, but only when noise-cancelling switch was on. They sounded much better than both standard iPod earbuds and Shure SE210, and slightly better than Shure SE530. Their noise-cancellation was also superb, at par with Shure SE210 for constant-frequency noises (such as bus, airplane). You would probably never want to listen them with noise-cancelling circuit off, as the sound was much more "muted".

Bottom line: if you don't mind a pair of large headphones over your head, if you need them mostly for travel (such as subway or airplane rather than loudly talking people), these headphones (Panasonic RP-HC500 Noise-Cancelling Headphones) are your sure bet, they are some of the best-sounding headphones, with superb noise cancellation, and an unbeatable price below $100.

3) When you first try Shure SE530, you are sure to be amazed at how such small earphones can provide such great sound. Feel free to check out other reviews for superlative praises, and yes I also screamed "OMG!" when listening to them for the first time! I could actually hear the difference in quality between MP3 ripped at 192kbps and a CD, so clear was the output of SE530.

And while Shure SE210 provided a better noise isolation (perhaps due to their smaller size) and Panasonic RP-HC500 provided a fuller bass (due to their larger 40mm driver units), I will have to give Shure SE530 the first prize for their amazing sound clarity and rich bass in such a small package.

Bottom line: If you have $350-500 to drop on a pair of earphones, and you crave some of the best sound in a small size, you won't regret getting Shure SE530s.

The Shure 530s are hands down the best all around earphones on the market. Their clarity ranging from bass to highs are unsurpassed. I have owned countless pairs of headphones to include four from Shure, I have a passion for collecting and listening to just about all genres of music from country to Metallica, brodway, classical, top 40 and so on. These earphones handle and accentuate the spectrum of music I run through them. One comment I have for those stating that these dont sound as clear as advertised, if you are listening to music on your computer or MP3 player ripped at a low bit rate (64-128) trying to crush your music so small to maximize space, and increase the amount of songs you carry, yea it probally won't sound so good. try listening to quality ripped music, anything above a 225 bit rate. I guaranty you'll hear a difference then!!

Price. They are indeed on the expense side. A few years ago I would have never thought about paying more than thirity dollars for a pair of earphones, until a friend introduced me to a pair of Shure E2s. The bottom line is this, you getting what you pay for. With the 530s thats a lot!!!

Comfort. I prefer the foam tips because they conform to my ear creating a perfect seal. I have fallen asleep many nights with these in my ears and I have NEVER experienced pain or discomfort. Frankly just the opposite!

These are expensive earphones, however if you are serious about your music, and want to hear, and experience it the way it was meant to be heard, these are the earphones for you. Perfect clarity and comfort, absolute perfect. My hats off to Shure!

Having moved up from the Etymotic ER-6i, I am extremely pleased with these headphones. I have tried the ER-4 Etymotics in both the Portable and Stereo versions. For a true music head that has a portable amp, the ER-4S would take the cake. If you're on the go and interested in a bit more mustard behind the bass, the 530's are the way to go.

A lot of people will complain about the over-the-ear way the Shure's were built. It only takes a few times where someone accidentally hits your earphone cord that you'll be thankful they were designed that way. Once you have these things in and fitted you'll forget you have them in.

Just like everyone else in this review, I wanted a replacement for my Bose noise cancelling headphone that broke after using it for a little more than two years. I didn't really have much complaints about the headphone, it sounded great, noise cancelling was working beautifully. But once the plastic broke, I just decided to splurge and get the best earphones, since I was thinking that lugging those bulky headphones around was a bit silly.

Reading various reviews, I ended up getting SE530PTH. For some reason the vendor I purchased from had cheaper price on SE530PTH than SE530, so I bought a pair of SE530PTH. When I received mine, I opened the package, connected to my iPod Classic (6G) and started play music. Hmm. The music actually sounded very good, but I was expecting absolute heaven, since most of the reviews raved about these earphones. Thinking that I might have made a huge mistake, I checked Shure website. There, it had a proper care and usage for these earphones. Yes, yes, now I understood, those olive like foam needs to be compressed, and yes I would have to hold them in my ear and wait until the foam expands. Then I properly inserted those earphones in my ear, and the sound improved a lot. Ok, it sounds good, but these things are being sold for $500. I was thinking I would pay $200 for them, but not $500... Feeling disappointed, I used them for a few days using my iPod, and then I realized that I've never tried them with other audio systems. So, I thought what the heck, I'll use the plug converter for my stereo and see if I can hear anything different...

OMG!!!!!!!!!!

The music that came out of my stereo system was absolutely positively the best I have ever heard, everything was clear, bass was so rich, and I can almost visualize instruments playing right in front of me. I was so taken by this revelation, I tried all different types of music, classic, opera, rock, house... They all sounded fantastic! I was discovering instruments and notes that never registered before.

Then I went back to iPod. WHAT A DISAPPOINTMENT! I just never realized how much mp3 would deteriorate the sound, and how much CDs retained the quality of music. The same exact tunes actually sounded so different with these earphones. I am actually regretting hundreds of dollars I've spent on buying mp3 or iTune music. With these earphones I can actually hear, and tell the difference!

Now I am in a very strange situation. I have this fantastic $500 pair of earphones with iPod that I use to travel with, but I don't want to listen to iPod with these amazing pieces of earphone. I am actually considering buying another pair of cheaper SE110 earphones so that I can use them with my iPod to not be able to hear the difference.... Noise reduction property of SE530 is superb, but I believe this is largely from the foam earpieces that are blocking the noise from outside during the music playback, so SE110 should do the same trick. I think I'll use SE110 for my iPod and save my SE530 for more serious listening.

Well, I really don't consider myself to be an audiophile, but I was able to, and did hear the difference in the sound quality between iPod and CD using SE530. Now that I know how big of the difference there is, I am not even sure I would ever want to listen to iPod at home. I'd have to dig up my CD collection once again, and listen to them using these wonderful earphones... (Although the cord is a little plasticky and feel like it will fray if I overused them.. And PTH is not that great. It's ok. I can hear my own breathing through PTH... And the carrying case doesn't hold everything but the earphones themselves... I guess nothing is perfect.)

Let's face it, if you're considering spending around 500 bucks on a pair of earphones you're someone who's obsessive about their music. You're the hard to please type not easily impressed by anything less than seriously impressive. Well, be assured that these tiny miracles of science are indeed impressive, seriously.

The most notable feature of the Shure SE530s is their ability to convey a multi-layered sound stage with absolute precision. Music you've heard over and over again takes on new life with an incredible sense of clarity that is always lucid and rich and never confused or entangled no matter what you throw at them. Where they really shine, though, is with lossless or uncompressed digital recordings or mp3s with a high compression rate. With recordings of this quality, the `530s are adept at producing an extraordinary dynamic range with a sense of magnificence that you didn't know your ears were capable of decoding. For example, the expertly mastered "Teardrop" by Massive Attack was delivered with insanely crisp and clear highs, a deep, solid bass and with the placement of Liz Fraser's spine-chilling lyrics with meticulous precision. My much older reference track, "Golden Brown" by The Stranglers was delivered with an equally exciting presentation whilst remaining true to the fidelity of the original recording.

Sparknotes.com describes an epiphany as "a sudden, powerful, and often spiritual or life changing realization that a character experiences in an otherwise ordinary moment." That's what happened to me when I listened to The Beloved's "The Sun Rising" on my `530s.

For those new to "shove-right-into-the-ear-canal" type earphones the `530s may take a few goes at experimenting with the different types and sizes of sleeves supplied in order to achieve the perfect fit necessary for them to perform (no seal = no bass). But once you've found your "sweet-spot" you might just find yourself ignoring everybody you know for the foreseeable future or taking your dog out for a walk several hours a day more than he's used to.