Shure SE846 Wired Sound Isolating Earphones Gen 2, Secure in-Ear Earbuds, High-End Professional Sound, Hi-Def Four Drivers, Upgraded Sound Filters, Durable Quality, Customizable Frequency - Clear

This is a long review but to spend this amount on in-ear headphones you must be pretty committed, right? I've broken it into sections so if you just want to know how they sound then skip ahead to The Sound part. The Shure SE535 have been my commuting buddies for 5 hours a day over the last 7 or 8 years. Recently though one earpiece failed so I had the choice of going for the same or upgrading to the SE846. I'm an audiophile. That means I'm unable to resist the upgrade bug, so naturally I had to go for these. Unboxing ======== At first I thought something else had been delivered, as the box felt far too heavy to be headphones. Inside the (double layered) outer box is a sturdy crush-proof, waterproof plastic storage box, or 'Road Case' as Shure call it. It's this that makes up most of the weight, but also supplied is a smaller travel case, spare cable, multiple different types and sizes of earpiece, volume attenuator, full size headphone jack adaptor and tool to change the filters (more on that in a while). It's a lot of stuff but packaged in a way that befits the price. The only thing that feels a little cheap is the small travel case, which has a metal plate on the top etched with the Shure logo. The edges of this piece of metal are quite sharp, even running your finger over the logo. A small thing for sure but out of place with the quality of the rest of the product. The important bits =============== The earphones are wrapped around a soft holder, the clear edition that I ordered coming with a transparent cable. The earpieces feel re-assuringly solid but well machined. They came already fitted with my preferred earpieces, the black squashy olives. I find that these give a much better fit in my ear, which is crucial to the sound quality. There are yellow foam, grey rubber and white flanges also supplied if you prefer these. Taking the earpiece off reveals a metal nozzle - plastic on the lower price 535s - surrounded by a metal collar. A key supplied can be used to loosen and remove this collar, followed by the nozzle. Inserted in this is a filter that adjusts the character of the sound. Unscrew the metal container attached to the key and there are two other pairs of filters. It's difficult to equate the cost of these with the tiny size but the transparent exterior at least allows you to see the complex array of tiny components and wiring. The Sound ======== Over the years I've become accustomed to the sound of the SE535 compared to over-ear headphones. The differences are detail extraction and breadth of sound. IEMs produce far more detail in recordings but can't compete in the depth of bass. The SE846 boasts to provide true subwoofer performance, but can it... Firstly, to achieve any bass with IEMs you MUST, repeat MUST, get a good connection inside the ear. This is why finding the best type of earpiece is absolutely critical. The squashy black 'olives' are the best, in my experience, but you need to find the right size. Too small and you won't get a good seal, too big and they'll squeeze out again. Inserting them properly is important and you can find videos on YouTube on how to do this. It might seem fiddly but hey if you spent this much you might as well invest a minute or so in putting them in properly. Squeeze the earpiece gently and then insert it, holding the top of your ear up and out as you do. Then hold in place for a few seconds while the olive expands and fits tightly. TIP - I have dry skin in my ears and have to moisturise them - I've found that Aveeno moisturising lotion (once dried!) helps to stop the olive slipping out and gives a better seal. I left the fitted filters in place (for a 'balanced' sound) and then let them run in for a few hours before trying out in anger. Initially I found them a little sharp in the treble, but this toned down after running in. Initial impressions were a huge amount of detail, more so than the SE535. Nirvana for an audiophile is hearing something you've never heard before in a recording, and I did, in the Jayhawks 'Bad Time' with percussion in the right channel I'd never noticed before. More importantly there was a weight to the sound that had always been missing from the SE535. The tone was still a tad bright for my tastes so I replaced the filters with the 'warm' versions. This was much more like it, the overall effect was quite subtle but smoother and generally more 'hi-fi'. Some might say vinyl-like in it's balanced tones. A word on the bass. It really is well integrated into the sound, which means it benefits the music rather than being something that jumps out on it's own. It's really detailed and tuneful too, so you can tell the difference between bass guitar, upright bass and synthesised bass. It is very extended when required though. I played Thundercat's Drunk album and there is a low end extension that IEMs just don't normally have. The best way I can put it is this: on the way home the other night I was listening to Si Cranstoun's 'Dance For Evermore' and - to the good-natured amusement of people opposite - not only tapping my foot, but bopping from one buttock to the other with a smile on my face. Since getting these I've had the most fun playing music for a long time. Testing was with a range of different devices: an iPhone with Cyrus Soundkey DAC, iPad and MacBook Pro/Audirvana with Chord Mojo DAC. The better the components, the better they sound.

I bought my first se846 earphones in 2016. Had these until 2023 when I decided to go for the gen2. The gen1 set a sound quality and accuracy standard hard to beat for under £1000. Now I have the gen2 phones and can confirm Shure have made some improvements over the gen1 - these include a red filter that expands the frequency range and other tweaks including a better seal to the nozzle case seating and firmer filter seating into the earphone. These improvements have so far stopped the loosening of the nozzles and filters, and the related sound leakage and weakened bass that sometimes affected the gen1 phones. There may be other tweaks to the drivers etc but nothing is obvious. Testing different filters is easier on the gen2 as the filters seat better. With the gen1 I preferred the white filter for its airiness and clarity of female vocals; the same goes for the gen2. The new red filter gives more bass with higher frequencies also added, and is overall very good for all music types. However the white filters remain optimal for vocals and airiness. If you can afford a Chord Mojo2 (for example) you can easily play with the lower frequency adjustments it offers and achieve white filter airiness with extra bass as needed. Interestingly it looks like the gen2 filters are identical to gen1 - the only difference is the new red filter. The gen1s were in almost daily use and travelled with me every week. They withstood all this for years and never failed proving their robustness. Hope the above comments are useful.

I have recently upgraded almost all of my living room hifi, spending about £2,500 on new Dali Oberon 5 speakers, a new Rega Brio amp, and brand new high end Eversolo DMP A6 Master Edition Streamer. They all sound amazing and have taken my music to another level. But, having decided to invest in a portable high end system for use in different rooms and on holidays and trips, I bought these and a Chord Mojo 2. I can't overstate how incredible these sound together. The Shures are absolutely superb, right from the first note they blew me away, and they are certainly much better than my Quad ERA 1 fully size headphones for the living room. The Chord Mojo is also stunning, better than the Eversoslo in my opinion (and that cost £1295). Now, despite having spent a lot in the living room, I almost only want to listen to this golden combination time and again. Amazing detail, clarity, warmth, separation, soundstaging, and deep yet controlled bass, these in ears are just phenomenal! If you love music, and can stretch to the cost, they will amaze you every time. I am just hoping that the build quality is as good as Shure claim. There are lots of stories of their cheaper ear buds coming apart eventually. At this price they had better not! You do get a two year UK warranty with Shure though. Just remember to register them when you get them. Utterly fantastic to hear my music through these, and as I (luckily) got them just last week at £840 from Amazon, they are already the best hifi purchase I have ever made..!

Mega gut!

La calidad de los auriculares es impresionante.....tanto su sonido por su calidad de fabricación....(Creo que no se puede mejorar) Lo que no me gusta es que por el precio que tienen es que deberían llevar de añadido un cable de respuesto libre de oxígeno transparente mmcx ( Con jack macho 3,5 mm) sin control de auriculares para poder conectarlo a un Dac portátil

Oh yeh they are expensive,But when you consider this iem is competing with others costing 3 times more then you realise you have something very special here,and if you have a headphone amplifier or streamer like a Chord electronics polymojo,Hugo or Astell and kern then you are in music nirvana,I have not even tried it with the Bluetooth dongle,my wife uses it with her ionic 5,if you want the best sound stick to the exchangeable cables,it took me almost 3 weeks to start enjoying music since I was overwhelmed at the information I have just discovered that these iem can make you hear.It might be expensive but these you can keep for a lifetime.Absolutely worth it.

prima geluid, na wat instellingen aanpassen

あるいは…もっと深い沼への登竜門？ . . 昨今は完全ワイヤレス型のイヤホンの音質が各社急速に向上。外出時に音楽を聴くのに充分かそれ以上の音質になってきています。 そんな中でも、SHAREは完全ワイヤレスとして開発したモデルを発売していません。SHAREのインイヤーモニターのクリアで緻密な音は、有線だからこそなのでしょう。SE425の音質が好みなので、SHAREから完全ワイヤレスでその位のレベルのものが発売されるのを待っていましたが、SHAREからはそんな気配もなさそうです...SHAREの完全ワイヤレスは一旦諦めて他のブランドのものを使うこととして、一方でSE846がずっと気になっていたので、思い切って購入しました。 . 視聴してまず感じたのが、再生する環境によってグッと性能が引き出せる、ということです。 以下、iPhoneに接続する場合での比較です。 . . ●Apple標準のUSB-C - 3.5mmヘッドフォンアダプタ経由 . 普及価格帯のイヤホンであれば、このアダプタで十分鳴らせますが、SE-846ではそれなりに普及価格帯のイヤホン程度には鳴っている感じです。ただ、音圧が低く、高音の抜けも良くない。ポテンシャルを生かせていない感じがよくわかります。 . ●FIIO KA-11経由 . Apple標準アダプタと似たような形状で、ヘッドフォンアンプ搭載。そちらで接続すると、明瞭度や音の迫力がかなり向上します。電車内など移動中に聴くなら充分です。 気になったのは、Apple Music提供のハイレゾロスレス音源（24ビット96KHz）を再生すると、それ以外の音源に比べて中高音域が強調されたような音質になってしまい、ハイレゾの空気感が壊れてちょっと聴きづらい感じがしました。僕個人的にはこれはちょっと安っぽく感じます。次章で比較するアンプでは感じませんでしたので、これはSE-846側の問題ではなさそうです。むしろそういう差まで感じられてしまうのはSE-846の再生能力の高さ故なのかもしれません。 . ●Khadas Tea Pro経由 . iPhone裏面のMagsafeのエリアに固定して持ち歩ける、薄型のアンプ。しっかりと音圧が感じらる迫力のある音になります。ノイズがなく非常に抜けが良い。ハイレゾ音源では生の音を聞いているような空気感に包まれます。 そしてケーブルを交換して4.4mmのバランス接続にすると、音の定位がくっきりとして、より透明でリアルな音場感となります。ギターの弦を弾く音の圧力が感じられたり、非常に繊細な音が楽曲全体に溶け込んでいても聞き分けられたり...イヤホンの限界を超えてヘッドフォンで聴いているかのような感覚に近づいている...そんな感じです。 Apple Musicで提供されているSD音源（AAC圧縮音源）→HD音源（16ビット44.1KHz）→ロスレス音源(24ビット44.1～48KHz）→ハイレゾロスレス音源（24ビット96KHz）と、音源のレベルが上がるごとに空気感であったり楽器の響きやボーカルの倍音の美しさがよりリアルになっていく..その繊細なニュアンスをはっきり聴き分けることができます。 . ●SHURE RMCE-TW2経由 . SHUREから発売されている、SEシリーズをワイヤレス化できるアダプタ。iPhoneとのワイヤレスのコーデックはAAC接続。SE-846で使った場合、外出先で移動中に聴く分には申し分ない音質。ただ、じっくり聞くにはSE-846では粗さが目立ち、臨場感も薄めで、SE-846の持つポテンシャルは生かせず...SE-846と組み合わせで使うのは勿体ない。 あと、TW2本体側を耳に掛けるデザインで、それは理にかなっていて良いとは思いますが、耳が大きいせいか、ちょうど良い位置でフィットせず、耳にきちんとかからないので、イヤホンがすぐにべスポジから外れてしまいます。他の方のレビューでは、かけ心地が良いという評価も多いので、僕がたまたま耳が大きすぎるだけなのかもしれません。 . 音質面でSE-846とTea Proとの相性が想像以上に良くて、しかもiPhoneの裏面にTea ProをくっつけてiPhoneと一体化できる取り回しの良さも相まって、とても気に入っています。 SE-846はインイヤーモニターの特性上、他社ブランドに比べて低音が弱めですが、Tea Proに搭載のイコライザーは音質をかなり細かく調整でき、ポップスやロックなどでビートの効いた曲を聴く場合に低音を最高に効かせて音量を上げれば、ドンシャリっぽいリズミカルなムードを演出することができます。Tea Proのイコライザーの画面を添付しますが、このような極端な設定で低音の音圧が非常に強くなっても、音割れすることもなく、中高音部の細かいニュアンスも潰れてしまうことがない...SE-846では余裕を感じます。 . 24ビット192kHzのPCM音源を超えるハイレゾ音源を再生するときは、スマホOS本体の音響処理がバイパスされて、Tea Proでのイコライザーも無効になります。そして、iPhoneやAndroidなど機種に依存しない、ピュアでダイナミックな音響空間が広がります。この環境ではモニター用に開発されたSE846の本領発揮。目を閉じてじっくりと聴けば、収録会場ですぐ目の前で演奏を聴いているような迫力。贅沢な空間が広がります。 データ量が巨大なので、処理が追い付かないとノイズや歪みの原因になりますが、そんな兆候は全くなく、余裕をもって再生してくれます。（※iPhone 17 Pro Maxで検証) ハイレゾ音源は当然ながら録音時の会場や機材構成、録音方式で音の印象が違いますが、Tea ProとSE-846で聴いた場合でも、やはりDSD256で録音されたDSD256音源がいいですね。マイクに直接集音されるクリアな音と会場で広がる反響音が調和して、圧倒的なリアル感を感じさせます。 . インイヤー型のイヤホンでは、イヤーピースが耳にしっかりフィットしていることが大前提。緩いと音が漏れて全体的に軽くて迫力の薄い音になってしまいますし、緩んできたのを何度も付け直したりだと音楽に没頭できませんよね。 SHAREのイヤホンで唯一僕に合わないのが、このイヤピース。ソフトフォーム、アジアンフィット、ソフトフレックスのそれぞれLサイズで数日間ずつ試しましたが、どれもしっかり止まらず、数分でじわじわと緩んできてしまいます。他社のイヤホンのイヤーピースでここまで困ったことがないんですけどね... 唯一、「たけのこ」のような３フランジだけは完璧です。装着するとき、しっかりズブズブ奥まで挿入させる感じがユニークですが、たけのこの節がちょうど返しのように作用して、耳の中でしっかり引っかかって抜けにくくなります。今まで長時間装着しても緩んで取れたことがありません。しっかりフィットするので、低音が響いて音の厚みが増すというメリットもあります。 白くて汚れが目立ちやすいので、交換用スペアの在庫は手元に持っておきたいです。 . . SE-846はSHAREの誇る最上級モデル。SHAREファンがイヤホン探しで到達できる終着駅として相応しい性能を感じられました。 でも、果たしてこれでこれからずっと満足なのか...ここまで細かいニュアンスが感じられると、もっといろんなケースを試すとどうなるのか...ケーブルを変えたり、アンプを変えたり、iPhoneではなく再生専用機にしたり、はたまた...？！ ここから先の、もっと深～い沼へはまっていく冒険への登竜門なのかもしれません。