Amazon.com Review
Conventional wisdom has long held that bigger means better when it comes to headphones. The thinking has been that a larger headphone isolates and covers the ear, letting it experience sounds more fully. Shure's E5c earphones are on the vanguard of a new school of thought: Tiny is actually better. Shure has managed to cram dual-driver speakers into small earphones that isolate the listener from virtually all background noise. If you don't mind the secret service look, and you're ready to spend more on your headphones than you spent on your MP3 player, the E5c's won't disappoint. In this case, you really do get what you pay for.
Design While the E5c earbuds are larger than other earphone-style headphones, they're still stunningly small. The cord, which includes an inline crossover unit that separates high- and low-frequency signals, is thin and pliant. A bendable stiffening material is added to the section of cable that runs behind the ears, allowing the listener to loop the cables over and behind the ear-- a simple and discreet solution. The gold-plated, 3.5mm input connector has a low-profile elbow bend to minimize accidental unplugging and snags. Shure includes a detachable in-line volume attenuator that controls volume without the need to fiddle with your player or listening source. The attenuator did seem a tad larger than it needed to be and, because it is not built into the E5c cord, it must be plugged in at the
end of the cord. More than one tester said, "Why not just change the volume on the iPod instead of this doo-dad plugged directly into it?" A solution that places the attenuator nearer the listener's chest would be a welcome addition, but it's admittedly a minor niggle.
In an effort to match the earphones to ears of all shapes and sizes, the E5c earphones come with a number of earplug "sleeves" packaged in what Shure calls a "fit kit". Our testers had little trouble finding a sleeve that felt comfortable. We especially liked the expanding foam sleeves that, like those foam dinosaurs that grow in water, expand to fit the contours of the ear canal.
Lost in Sound With the E5c earphones comfortably placed in our ears, we listened to a range of music genres encoded in both music CD and MP3 format. The most common response was, "Wow, I never knew this song had all these other instruments." Indeed, the E5c's have such dramatic clarity and frequency response that we were left wondering how we'd ever listened to music any other way. They're that good. The earphones produce the sensation that the music is actually inside one's head. Bass vibrates the cerebral cortex, high ranges dance in the frontal lobes. While Shure posts impressive impedence and sensitivity ratings for the E5c's, the truth is in the listening and we were simply blown away. In loud, crowded environments such as airplane cabins and teeming Seattle coffee shops, we heard absolutely nothing but music, a sensation that is both eerie and liberating. Anyone who says there is no difference between high-bitrate MP3 and CD audio tracks should strap on a pair of these earphones. The difference is striking.
The earphones remained comfortable after extended use, especially with the expanding foam sleeves. Listeners with especially small ears may want to give the E5c's a trial run; they are somewhat larger than the other, more affordable earphones in Shure's "E" line. This concern aside, if you have the ears, and the earmarked funds, for the E5c's, you are in for a listening adventure like none other.
--Joshua Gunn Pros - Simple, compact design
- Designed for compatibility with most ears
- Did somebody say something? We were lost in sonic bliss.
Cons - Costs more than many things it plugs into
- May be a tad big for small ears
- Volume attenuator could be better designed and integrated
Customer Reviews
Average Customer Review
(53 customer reviews) 77 of 78 people found the following review helpful
A few VERY IMPORTANT points:,
April 26, 2006 Owen Oyer "q3catscratch" (NJ aka Hellhole) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Shure E5c Sound Isolating Earphones (Electronics)
Instead of gushing prosaic over how great these earphones are, I would instead like to point out a few important points.
1) You will have probably noticed that there is a very great discreptancy between reviews. Some reviewers say that these earphones sound very full with rich bass, while others claim that they are very bright and tinny. The reason for this is that these earphones rely on getting a good seal with your ear canal. One of the symptoms of having a bad seal is a very steep drop-off in bass. If they sound tinny, lean, lacking in bass, thin, metallic, etc., then it is virtually guaranteed that you do not have a good seal. In reality, these earphones do tend to favor the bass quite a bit, and have a rather soft treble.
2) The amount of sound isolation does not always equal the quality of the seal that you get. It is possible to have them in such a position where they isolate quite well, but they will still sound tinny. This is, once again, because...Read more
67 of 70 people found the following review helpful
The Cadillac of Headphones,
December 28, 2004 JLP (New York, NY United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Shure E5c Sound Isolating Earphones (Electronics)
After a few years of using the ER-6 with pretty good results they started to kick out on me and I also got tired of replacing the ear wax guards. Yes, intraear headphones are not for the faint of heart but they work better than any noise reducing headphones out there not requiring batteries and permitting significantly greater outside noise reduction than the Bose. They are also considerably less bulky so you don't look like a space cadet on the subway. I purchased the Shure E5c from beachaudio and they arrived very quickly. There was also a nice discount from full price. I was impressed by the packaging and the wide selection of ear plugs you could use. They vary in size and in materials. So someone with smaller ear canals who would prefer a soft material can be as easily satisfied as someone who prefers a hard material with larger ear canals. From the selection you likely will find a pair that gives you the most comfortable fit and best sound isolation. I have found them to be quite...Read more
20 of 21 people found the following review helpful
Full, detailed, and beautiful sound...but is it worth the price of admission?,
August 7, 2005 Andrew (New Brunswick, NJ USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Shure E5c Sound Isolating Earphones (Electronics)
Being a gadget nut who needs the best of everything I got bit hard by the upgrade bug and sold my Shure e3c earphones to help pay for the e5cs. Seeing Amazon's wonderfully deep discounted e5cs made my upgrade path very interesting--I had to choose between the e5cs+$30 USD or the e4cs. Strictly speaking in terms of technical design the e5c seems to come out with an edge, featuring dual low-mass/high frequency transducers compared to the single low mass/high frequency transducer/tuned port combo in the e4c phones. Additionally I haven't heard (or heard anything about) the e4cs, and with it still being a relatively new product I decided to go with the "known quantity" in the e5cs. These phones have gotten nothing but rave reviews on the Internet and from a musician acquaintance of mine from work, so the choice made was that much easier.
And boy howdy, was I glad I made the upgrade :). First of all let me start with the sound that comes from these earphones--unbelievable, and a...Read more
