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

I use these headphones on long intercontinental air flights (from the West Coast to Africa several times a year) so they are often in my ears for hours on end. I find them very very comfortable and beautiful to listen to. They are so good at isolating and amplifying sound that when I plug them into the in-flight entertainment systems I usually have the volume at the lowest setting.

I am not a techno-phile and use these with my iPod to listen to various 1970s rock bands, audio books and 'sounds of the wild' ambiance. Admitting this probably labels me a nerd, but it is useful to consider what these headphones do. Listen to Boston, Hendrix or Led Zepellin and it is as though you have never heard your favorite music before - it is that good. Listen to spoken word and the quality becomes a problem - unless the production is perfect you can hear each breath of the reader and even the pages turn (I'm not kidding), which is a distraction. For the hippy-esque relaxation sounds of nature I like, these are again superb - every drop of rain in a shower and each bird call is crisp and clear to take you away from it all.

I bought the (push-To-Hear) PTH option as well. It works very well indeed and the little microphone picks up speech with amazing clarity. Problem is that the headphones are still jammed in your ears and the smiling flight attendant doesn't know that you can hear him perfectly as he yells 'chicken or fish' at you. Basically I feel embarrassed to talk to people with the earphones in so don't use the feature.

These replace a pair of Bose QC2 which fell apart (literally) after a couple of years of gentle use. I wouldn't ever consider going back.

These are expensive to be sure, but worth saving for. Anything else would just disappoint in comparison. In fact the quality of this product continues to cost me more and more as I now have to systematically upgrade my radios, home Hi-Fi, the sound system for my TV, and even the Harmon Kardon stereo in the car sounds hollow now I'm used to my little shures.

These arrived today.. What can I say.. I never write reviews but these have set a precedent..

I first got a pair of Shure e2c's a couple of years ago. I loved them. Great for the office because no matter how loud you play them they dont annoy anyone around you.. Loud to you. Quiet to everyone else.. Nearly silent..

The e2c's were destroyed in the buncefield oil depot explosion.. google it if interested.. I rewarded myself with the Shure e3c's. They rocked... More than the e2c's.. I was hooked.. I broke them.. I wasnt happy with myself...

I had a decision to make.. Do I buy the e3c's again.. or do I upgrade... Being a man of extravagant tastes the choice was simple... I got the Shure SE530's with the PTH thingy..

By god I never thought I'd enjoy deafening myself so much... They always say 'you'll hear things in your music you never heard before'. I read a lot of reviews.. They weren't lying.. I've turned the volume down a few times because I've heard things that I never expected to hear.. Glorious. Turn them up and you will be mesmerized.

The closest analogy is this. If you've ever watched the file 'Sunshine' where they become fascinated with the sun.. To the point where they want to be exposed to it even though its killing them... These headphones are like that.. You just want to turn them up. and UP. AND UP.. They sing. They resonate. They totally and utterly rock... They're dangerously good..

These earphones are magnificent..

I've owned both the first version SE500PTH and this one SE530PTH, not sure why they changed the model number, it's the same, albeit with a few different accessories.

The box is sleek, black and silver brushed metal, solid. The paper box inside has the earbuds surrounded in molded foam, the cable is about 1'. Also inside is the rather small oval zip carrying case, containing a host of accessories; short (~9") extension, long (~2') extension, cleaning tool, volume control extension, pth adapter (has volume control and 2' cord and push to hear mic with on/off switch), stereo adapter plug, and airline (2-1 plug) adapter. The first version 500PTH didn't have the airline adapter, its a welcome addition to the 530PTH. It also comes with a small bag of several different earbud tips, S/M/L soft rubber, M/L black foam, and one size triple flanged rubber. Instruction booklet and warranty papers also inside. Very neat and stylish presentation.

Try out all the tips to see what fits best, I was fine with the medium soft rubber. Once inserted, it really blocks out ambient noise, walking the NYC street to the subway, I heard nothing, I only "felt" my footsteps. It was pretty awkward and cool, watch out for traffic though! With my Ipod volume not even halfway up the music blocked out all the noise of the NYC subway! I didn't even know the train was approaching until it was right in front of me. The sound is unbelievable, and you will love it more the more music you listen to, it really spoils you. In my entire collection of music I am hearing sounds and lyrics I never heard before. The clarity is great also, voices sound natural and lifelike, and there's great separation between lows, mids and highs. You can even pick out any single instrument and follow that alone if you want to, its that clear.

The reason I've had both models is because about eight months in, the sound on the left earbud began to fade until it was mute. The cords are thick and heavy, but its possible I tugged on them too hard a few times. I thought it was my hearing at first but eventually it was clear the left earbud was malfunctioning. The phone support staff was great, giving me no hassle directing me to their website to complete a service request form. I mailed in the bad earbuds with my receipt and the service form and within 4 days I received a brand new box (the SE530pth!)

Also of note, I bought mine, new, from ebay, for $350. I used my paypal reciept as proof of purchase and had no trouble from Shure replacing the defective product. I can't guarantee they will honor ebay or other secondhand purchases, but I had a great experience and am loving my brand new second set of Shures.

October 5, 2008

To all those who are skeptical about what seems like an almost obscene price for ear buds, please let me hasten to reassure you, if you have the disposable income to afford these, you will definitely not have buyer's remorse; that is, if you take the time to set them up properly, and play properly encoded music on your iPOD. I assume those who buy these transducers at this price are in search of the best "portable" music or private listening possible.

I have a very high quality audio system, am a musician, and there is no question in my mind that these ear buds have the capability of transporting a good 95% of what a system costing 100x more to a portable format. I had a library consisting of about 350 tracks of classical music in iTUNES, made originally in MP3 with the lowest compression possible(least distortion) when I was initially listening with Apple's ear buds. The Shure's were a revelation by comparison, even in the MP3 format, but when I listened with them to the original CD's via the phone output from my preamplifier, I realized, as I had hoped, that they were capable of far better fidelity. All of their wonderful sound characteristics, described below, with none of the compression induced opacity and tubbiness appeared in a seemingly effortless, natural manner. So much so that I scrapped my entire MP3 library, and starting anew, importing my music using uncompressed WAV format. Apple has its proprietary lossless compression(AAC) which reduces the file size by 50% but I have not tried that.(I guess much like LZW compression of TIFF images in Photoshop) In any event, if you have a 60 GB iPOD, and record the entire CD, you can get about 80+ CD's on the drive even with files of this size. For those of you who use iTunes to import media, go to Edit/Preferences/General and select the IMPORT button and choose WAV in the drop down menu, which will stay that way unless you change it. Default position is in moderate MPEG compression.

Also, in the later iPOD's, the Equalization selection(under the Settings menu) is helpful, especially in CD's that are overly bright and suffer from "digititis" where you can select "reduce treble", giving a smoother, but not dull sound. The "classical" setting is optimal for most well recorded CD's of all formats of classical music. The phone amplifier of the iPOD is of surprisingly high quality and does not introduce noise or obvious distortion into the sound.

One very important caveat when using these ear buds is to use the sound output limiter on the iPOD to avoid imparting excessive acoustic energy to your eardrums, particularly in wide dynamic range material. The wonderful quality of these transducers is seductive, and prolonged listening at inordinately high volumes can be ruinous to the inner ears. You don't have the buffer of the ambient air environment as you do when listening to an audio system at high volumes in a room. There is a volume pot included in the package which can be inserted in series with the phone cord, and is very useful for adjustment on the fly, say when you are hiking, and it probably doesn't affect the sound quality significantly, although purists might prefer to use just the iPOD's volume control. Having iPOD's limiter set properly is an absolute MUST safety backup, please!!!!

Getting a complete seal in the ear canal is absolutely critical, particularly for optimal bass performance. Shure provides multiple different interfaces fitting on the posts of the transducers, acknowledging the marked variety in sizes and shapes of ear canals which has lead some companies to even provide custom adapters made from impressions! Of all those that Shure provides, I have found the yellow foam adapters the most successful. You squeeze them down and then seat them snugly, without force, please, into the external auditory meati, after which the foam reexpands to achieve a very good seal. If you press gently on the bud for a few seconds while this expansion takes place, you will get a better fit which will tend to last longer. Do one transducer at a time, synchronously draping the wire over the groove behind your ear from back to front. Be patient...it takes a little practice. After you start listening, you can tell if you have optimal seating by pressing gently on the buds and listening to see if you get enhanced bass response. If you do, the buds are not optimally seated. I cannot overemphasize the importance of learning how to place these buds in your ear canals properly to get the best results for which you have paid dearly!
BTW, additional yellow foam cushions can be ordered separately and are relatively inexpensive. A set lasts quite a while, but ultimately will lose its springiness or become somewhat dirty and will need to be replaced which is easily accomplished by pulling them off and reinserting anew over the sturdy ear posts.

The build quality of the phones and their wires is very good. I have had mine for almost a year, and they show no signs of wear.

And now, for the best of all: the sound quality. Timbre of instruments, stereo separation, dynamic range, frequency response, retrieval of detail, particularly of low level information, and absence of ear fatigue are all absolutely astonishingly exemplary! There is just a feeling of "just right" naturalness about the acoustic experience using these transducers, particularly when the source material is of high quality. They are very revealing, so it is really a case of garbage in-garbage out, if you use either technically marginally recorded material as the source, or high compression when you import. Of course, because of the geometry, you get more of an in-head image without the layered sound stage or more spacious ambience afforded by a high end audio system in a well configured listening area; however the imaging of these transducers, right, center and left, is outstanding, and there is the offsetting bonus of hearing even more detail than even with the very best audio systems, due to the greater efficiency coupled with their extreme but not phony clarity. This can be very enjoyable, in its own way, for example in hearing all the voices in exquisite detail in smaller ensembles, even if it be perhaps a bit unnatural referable to a concert hall experience. These ear buds are really as good as STAX III electrostatic headphones which were way ahead of their time when they were introduced in the 1960's and are still the equal of virtually all those used today. They can certainly be used as reliable monitors for recording, both in the studio and in the field, if desired.

Bottom line: Unequivocally very highly recommended without reservation.

Important take home points: Take the time to learn how to seat the transducers in your own ears for optimal results, and, set output limiter as a safety backup to protect your ears.

I'm picky about my sound and after trying Bose, B&O and a few other brands, I figured I'd give the Shure's a try. The Shure's sound is very smooth and well-extended at both highs and lows, and although I was hesitant, I find the in-ear design to be comfortable for extended periods of time. Really, the sound is amazing - can't say enough about it. I do have two minor complaints: one is that I find I'm not using the Push-To-Hear module much - I probably would have just as happy to have skipped it. The other complaint is that the case Shure provides doesn't really fit the earphones, cables and so on very well.