Shure E500 PTH Earphones

There�s not much I can say that hasn�t already been said about Shure�s triple driver E500 earphones. Every review I read says that these are the best sounding earphones ever made if you can afford them. I got a pair for myself and these earphones retail for $549 but before you get discouraged and move on to the next RSS feed, read on for an in depth look at what $500+ earphones can buy in terms of complete audio goodness.

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Shure has been an industry leader in the audio landscape for years with their gear that is used by musicians during performances and recording. Shure wireless and cable based microphone systems are top notch and I am sure that most of their earnings still come from this sector of their company. After the iPod was released, Shure developed personal audio devices (earphones) that were unique in the way that they isolated your ears from outside noises thus allowing the listener to keep music at a low level and still receive exceptional bass and dynamic high notes. This sound isolating design and concept has been applied to a slew of earphones from the company. Shure has four core sound isolating earphones, hands-free units for cell phones and they�ve added phones that are marketed towards gamers and come in jet black.

Shure further expanded its line to compete with high-end companies like Ultimate Ears when they announced the Shure E500 PTH at Macworld San Francisco in January of 2006. The unit was not officially released until late July but was well worth the wait. The E500 is a triple driver design (more on that later) that was light, comfortable and contoured perfect with your ears. One perk of these phones is the added �PTH�. Push-to-hear is a small box that snaps to your belt and acts as a middleman between your iPod and ears. It adds the ability to hear everything around you via a built in microphone and more on that later. This is Shure�s first triple driver design and competes with other earphones that are double the price. The unit is built well with a thick cord and the overall construction compares to the price paid. You must also consider the research and development put into putting three dedicated drivers in a small package.

Construction: Shure�s E500 stands out from companies like Etymotic or Ultimate Ears because the cords that connect to your music device are super thick and less likely to tear under stress. The E500 replaces the �E5c� which was a dual driver phone that was large, uncomfortable and sported a transparent case and was not a stylish unit, if you ask me, for around the same retail price. The E5c was nice but its plastic felt cheap and childish. The E500 makes up for its downfalls by creating a streamlined jet black look, molded main body (the piece that goes in your ears), a slew of multiple ear pieces that fit every ear type and a gold plated connector which is standard for earphones at that price point. The multi-fit system that makes the phone fit every ear comes in many sizes, shapes and various materials. There is a stiff rubber and flexible rubber flavor in three different sizes (small, medium and large) and a style that consists of three �flanges� that help to isolate sound. My personal favorite is a circular foam style that expands in your ear for ultimate sound isolation. Shure has recently made those tips much more comfortable by making the foam piece more ergonomic for easy entry and covered the tip with wax to keep the tips from getting dirty. My largest complaint was having to buy new tips because they got dirty after a week of wear and a pack of 50 tips was about 30 bucks the last I remember. The ergonomic foam tips released at Macworld 2007 are amazing. I�ve been using the same pair given to me at expo for over a month and they�re working beautifully by maintaining their shape and don�t get dirty at all.

Sound Quality: The burning question in everyone�s mind is the sound quality of earphones and does the dollar match up to what I�m going to hear when I cram these in my ears. My answer is yes. I own a dozen headphones, earbuds and earphones and these are the best sounding phones I have every used. Of course, I won�t just leave it at that and so I begin with my breakdown of sound quality, isolation and how the design of these earphones affects every wavelength that reaches your cerebellum. Less expensive headphones have two speakers that go on or in your ears and they take electric signals from your audio device, turn it into a music signal and that�s the end of it. They�re relying on the signal from the device as the end all / be all music that is output with no technology in the middle to decide how that music sounds. You will have to reach the $75 dollar and up range to get a pair of phones that has a dedicated �driver� that is smart about the music it puts out. A driver takes the signal, processes it and decides what wavelength goes wear and how you hear it at the end. Pricier headphones add more drivers but that adds price and some companies just don�t get it right.

Drivers are physical devices. Think of them like mini speakers. I�m not speaking about the box around the speakers but the actual speaker itself, which is a circular piece with a metal back, and a cord coming out that will go into your receiver. Drivers are pretty small but putting three of these in a plastic enclosure that will go inside of your ear usually makes the package heavy and sometimes too large to put in your ear. Shure added another driver to its high-end earphones and made the item weigh less. Its quite a feat and certainly takes Moore�s law to the next level. Three drivers is the only way to fly and its funny because Apple�s earbuds that come with the iPod are just speakers and here I am saying that I would accept no less than triple driver ecstasy. A single driver device has complications especially when you turn the volume up loud. This is because the wavelengths contain highs, lows and mids. I�m not talking about three different instruments but about a high note from a soprano with a baritone vocalist singing alongside. Those two may sound great when you�re live in concert but once you crank the volume and plug it into your single driver buds, distortion will occur. This is why most large speaker systems for home theatres contain two woofers (large and small) and a tweeter (high pitch audio) in one box to create the complete audio output. There�s no reason why you should sacrifice sound quality by only having one woofer trying to handle every end of the audio spectrum.

Triple driver earphones have a dedicated speaker for every sound and the result blows every listener away. I sampled the new earphones at Macworld 2006 and knew that I had to own a pair as soon as they began shipping. We all have different music tastes but I�m sure everyone has heard a song from U2. There�s a bass drum, electric guitar, piano and Bono hitting those high notes (Original of the Species on their How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb album) and all of these are playing simultaneously. If you�re on regular single or no driver earphones and the audio is too low, you�re not able to hear the details but when you turn the volume up it all gets muddy. Imagine hearing every instrument with the volume up to the maximum and experience no distortion. This is what triple driver phones can do for you.

Let�s say you don�t mind muddy sounds from your headphones then but instead you want to be able to hear music at low levels then this is where sound isolation comes in. Sound isolating earphones are nothing like noise canceling phones. Noise cancellation adds pressure to your ears to keep outside sounds from entering the ear canal so all you get is a flood of the music that is coming from your headphones. These sometimes make the bass feel too deep and don�t completely cancel the outside sounds. Sound isolating earphones go in your ear canal and fill every nook and cranny so nothing from the outside is entering and then it�s just you and your music. There has been uproar about how sound isolating earphones are damaging our ears but the beauty of this technology is the ability to keep music at a low level while still enjoying your music. A great mix of highs lows, balanced bass and low levels without hearing a bit of the outside world. Sounds good to me! Shure has been able to deliver sound isolation starting at $99 dollars with their Shure E2c earphones and the E500 is an even better fit and is extremely light with triple driver goodness which fills your ear with evenly separated sound spectrums.

Since I�m discussing about earphones and music in general, I wanted to remind everyone that Shure is not the only company making these developments. Etymotic is one of the big boys but does not sell triple driver earphones. They specialize in light, affordable products that output significantly less bass than others but their stance is that bass is not always a good thing and complete music accuracy is sacrificed when the earphones overdrive the bass. I agree but bass feels so good. I generally see an older crowd sporting the Etymotic phones. My Ety E4P phones are great for listening to rock music but lack depth when I�m cranking up dance music for a workout. Ultimate Ears is another player in this market. Their phones are priced well above Shure�s and they have many choices available. I used their models for the first time at January�s Macworld and was pleased at the sound quality but even their triple driver sounded muddy at high ends. The developer was disappointed by my claims and I may be completely inaccurate or just have small ears but the seal was difficult to achieve, the sound (at full volume) was muddy and higher tones like a keyboard fell by the wayside to kicking drums. I think everyone should try before they buy but unless you go to Macworld, that�s kind of difficult. If you can�t make it out to a consumer electronics expo then read all about the various earphones before you decide to buy. When you�re spending $250 - $750 on earphones, it�s important that you don�t make an impulse buy.

Shure created a dongle that costs $49 dollars and works with all of their earphone offerings but is included with the E500s. The device is called push to hear or PTH and enables you to hear everything around you without removing the speakers from your ears. A big complaint for me through the years is the issues involved with squeezing the foam, placing it in your ears and waiting for it to expand and after half an hour the foam is extremely tight. Removing it is challenging so when someone strikes up a conversation, they don�t know that you can�t hear them even though the music is paused (thanks sound isolation) and removing the device is almost painful after they�ve been in for a while. Shure�s dongle ads a small microphone on the cord around your neck and the box which has an on / off button rests around your hip and when you hit it, your music goes to a lower level and everything around you is going into your ears. When PTH is engaged you can turn the music up or down from controls on the dongle so if someone is talking low, you can actually turn your music down or pause it. The main benefit is not having to remove the buds from your ears. I have found that this is convenient while shopping, on the plane and especially at the gym where everyone wants to strike up conversations.

So begins, my fourth page about the Shure E500 earphones and I�m not quite done. I wanted to close with a few thoughts and if you�ve scrolled to the end, then you�re in luck! The rest was just jimmer-jamma anyway. The Shure E500s with their triple driver setup are small enough to fit inside of your ear and the multi-tip system is easy to put in your ears whether they are large, small or Klingon. The cord is heavy duty and connections are gold plated. The wrap around the ear design makes it difficult to fall out and at any volume the sound quality is amazing and you�ll be surprised how much you missed out when it came to music. Its so amazing, I�ll go downtown during the afternoon about once a week and just walk around listening to music with no destination and its caused friends to ask if I�m on drugs but its just the beauty of music the way it was meant to be heard. I recommend re-importing all of your digital music at 192 KB or higher if you do own the CDs because you�ll hear every bit of static if you imported them any less than that. I also recommend cleaning these, keeping them in the included hard case and not letting friends borrow them. Your friends have dirty ears and you�ll look in there and it�ll be full of earwax. Trust me on this one; keep them for yourself and no one can use them even for just one song. The price is $549, the website is http://shure.com and you�ll absolutely love them! If you can�t afford the E500, then try the E4c and E3c. They�re sold at Apple Stores and online. Why spend $400 dollars on an iPod and $29 dollars on headphones. It�s all about the music so treat yourself. You�ll be glad you did.

I used their models for the first time at January�s Macworld and was pleased at the sound quality but even their triple driver sounded muddy at high ends.

Shure's e500s are the best earphones we've tested. They are more comfortable in ear than Shure's other designs, sound better, and rock nice features like the multiple cable options and the PTH module. They aren't for everyone however. If the majority of your music collection is encoded in low-quality you really won't be getting your money's worth out of the e500s

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Shure created a dongle that costs $49 dollars and works with all of their earphone offerings but is included with the E500s.

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