Expert’s Rating
Pros
Cons
Our Verdict
Let ’s not beat around the bush : $ 400 is , for most of us , an insane amount of money to spend on a span of Bluetooth earphones . For that monetary value , they ’d best sound significantly well than anything else you ’ve ever jammed into your skull , excluding earbuds that cost $ 1,000 or more .
Shure ’s SE535 earphonesmeet this qualification with gumption . Yet their exceptional sound recording is n’t the only grounds why I advocate them : Their apt modular design and Shure ’s reputation for exceptional customer service also render the SE535s much damage- and future - proof . They may cost more than some new iPads , but their winning combination of marvellous reasoned procreation , repairability , and adaptability make them an salient investment .
There may be well - sounding earphones in the SE535 ’s Leontyne Price grasp , but I ’ve yet to find them .
Design
Shure relinquish the 535s in 2010 , and very little about them has changed since then . They now cost $ 50 less and you could corrupt them with a far encompassing miscellany of connectivity options — but that ’s about it . give that a technology company ’s fortune often rise and accrue establish on the success of young products being pushed out at regular intervals , the fact that Shure still makes the 535s say a neat wad about their calibre .
For this review article , we ’ll be speak about the SE535 - V+BT1 loop . Mine were bronze in color , although you could also get them in other colors ( along with a limpid translation ) . Testing them over the line of a calendar week , I found they provided between six and seven hours of runtime before they need to be point .
They get with Shure ’s RMCE - BT1 Bluetooth 4.1 communication cable with inline controls that work with either iOS or Android hardware , in accession to a cable you’re able to punch into any 3.5 mm interface you have in your home . Why the extra cable ? Because the SE535 ’s earbuds are designed to be obliterable . If you require to use them with your old iPod , you may . If you want to listen to medicine streamed to your iPad via Bluetooth , you may do that , too . Just pop the earbuds off their cable and attach them to a different one .
Shure ’s SE535+BT1 kit come with everything you call for for a great listening experience .
That means Lightning and USB - 100 connectivity is pass over as well , and if Bluetooth 4.1 is n’t enough for you , you’re able to pick up Shure ’s RMCE - BT2 High - Resolution Bluetooth 5.0 Communication Cable for $ 149 . With the RMCE - BT2 , you ’ll get about 10 hours of music transmitted via Bluetooth 5.0 , a 30 - substructure transmission range of a function , and support for multiple codecs including Qualcomm aptX HD sound , aptX HD , aptX Low Latency , AAC , and SBC - enabled superior digital audio . The cable’s length themselves are thickheaded and lined with Kevlar for durability , and ( in my experience ) resistant to tangling .
The power to dispatch these earbuds from their wires also means it ’s easy to make repairs . The most coarse point of failure for any earpiece is their overseas telegram . They wear out out , they get caught slammed in door , or they get extract away from the earbuds themselves .
With the SE535s , you may cheaply pay off any of these problems by invest in a new cable television service . Since you’re able to upgrade them with improved wireless hardware like the RMCE - BT2 , you’re able to carry a longer living rhythm than you ’d get with many other sets of earbuds and the reward of embracing young connective technology without having to substitute your earbuds completely .
Sound
I wo n’t say these are the better - sound earphones out there , as sound is a very personal experience . But I will say they sound very , very good .
One of the problems I typically relate with earphones is that they do n’t pile the same impactful sea bass you find in over - the - spike or on - auricle headphones . This is n’t an issue with the SE535s . The bass is n’t overwhelming , but neither is it reed - thinly . It is ample , robust , and now and then it rattles your eardrums .
We can thank the foam tips that adjust to the physical body of your spike for much of this . They provide an first-class seal that block off out almost as much haphazardness as a dyad of ANC headphones , and they appropriate low-spirited - absolute frequency sound to rattle around in your skull .
alas , the froth tipsdomake the earphones more of a pain to insert into your capitulum . I also did n’t like the mode the cable loop over the back of my ears instead of hanging down like most other earbuds , but these are underage inconvenience for the sake of superior sound . While we ’re on the subject of cable length , I was n’t able to detect any microphonics while listening at bulk 50 percent and high : The only time you ’ll see rustle from these things is if it ’s on the track your audio source is run .
The SE535 earbuds can be detatched from their cable television to be repaired or raise .
While essay the SE535 with in their Bluetooth 4.1 shape , I found the audio feel well - balanced with a encompassing soundstage that permit every constituent of your music shine ( so long as you ’re listening to a high - quality recording ) . The affectionate , prosperous bass channel and Nathaniel Rateliff ’s vocals in “ Shoe Boot ” were well separated from the music the horn players in Rateliff ’s band were making . While listening to our psychometric test play list and almost everything else over the course of a week , I throughly enjoyed the well - separated , punchy sound the SE535s delivered .
The only fourth dimension that these earphones failed to glisten was when I listened to low - tone file or standard - definition cyclosis cognitive content . Podcasts and music discovered on SoundCloud or steam via YouTube sounded rather awful when played through the SE535s — full of artifacts and background hiss . But this has more to do with the timber of the audio source than the caliber of the earphones .
The bottom line
Shure ’s SE535V+BT1 earbuds may be prohibitively expensive , but their rich speech sound , repairability , and power to be qualify to converge your individual needs lay them among the finest headphone we ’ve had the opportunity to practice .
