I recently purchased the Shure SE-210K earphones. At $150 USD MSRP they are hardly cheap compared to the buds which I had used prior from my PSP. I own a decent amount of music and while the output quality of one’s player is important I’ve never really delved in to explore the audiophile realm of audio equipment.

I was a bit concerned purchasing something like this. You really can’t return them if they suck and I’ve never found a place where you can test them. I’ve also known a few people who bought $50-$100 buds which were horrible. Recently however my job moved me to downtown Manhattan from midtown and I now take the subway everyday. The subway is far louder than the bus I also take and I had a difficult time hearing my music without cranking up the volume. That however was not something I really wanted to do. I wasn’t going to get any better sound isolation that way… just louder music and it wouldn’t be any good for my hearing to do that. My boss has a pair of Shure E3C’s which he swears by so I decided to check them out and I noticed Shure recently released the SE line which according to all online reviews had the same quality output with a nicer design, better sponge buds and a were cheaper. So I picked up the black SE-210K and it sure was a good decision. They really are great. Sound quality is very good though I’ve heard better it’s difficult to compare without having multiple pairs of headphones available to try out. The sound isolation is excellent paired with the new sponge buds. They are the same sponge material used in those ear plugs you get for construction or at rock shows but with a hole in them. I use the smallest of the 3 sizes and while it takes a good 20-30 seconds to get them in and comfortable once they are in you are all by yourself. You can’t hear people talking normal volume 5-10 feet away or tapping on the keyboard right in front of you. When I’m in the South Ferry station and it’s squealing as it makes the sharp turn to head back uptown you can just barely hear it with the music off and with the music on it’s gone almost completely. You feel the vibrations more than hear them. I have an iRiver H340 running Rockbox and I used to set the volume to -40 at work and -28 or -26 in transit. Now I keep it at -40 almost all the time unless I have a particularly low volume track and then it’s set to -35 max. The length of the cable is just right. It’s actually made up of a short length connected to each bud and a couple foot extension. If you had a lite DAP in your front pocket it’d be a perfect length without the extension.

Cons? It’s damn hard to hear people with them on and because it takes a decent amount of effort to get them in and out it’s a major pain. The top model from my understanding comes with a mic which plugs in between the extension and the buds which can be used to interrupt the music and pickup the outside world. I’m not sure if they sell it seperately but if they do and it’s not too expensive or bulky I’d definitely consider picking it up. Besides that the only compliant is the fact you end up with ear wax on it constantly and needs to be cleaned. The sponges make that a bit more difficult since they give when you try to wipe them but a little water make it pretty easy.

Overall I’m very happy with them. Sound great, very good sound isolation, good design. After a few days you get used to the pressure of the sponges deep in your ear canals and you barely notice them. Now onto my next portable audio issue… my iRiver H340’s upgraded 60gig hard drive filling up and 80gig drives being hard to come by and expensive.

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