Shure SE420 Sound Isolating Earphones

Shure demoed their prototype SE-series earphones at CES Unveiled.; we're told that they're more wallet-friendly than their professional series. They do have fewer drivers--the 420, which we've got, has two, while the lesser two headphones (SE210, SE310) in the series each only have single drivers, and the SE530s have three. The SE-series is targeted towards consumers (the E-series is targeted towards performing artists) and don't have the same drivers as the E-series.

The range is great, near perfect with very little drop off at the bass end of the equalizer. At ridiculously high volumes their snap turns into a rattle, but they are noise-blocking, so the idea isn't to crank them all the way up anyway. And to be nice and polite, other people can't hear what you're listening to no matter how loud it is.

In a hotel-room test, they did a better job of blocking noise than a pair of Sennheiser noise-canceling headphones, and with an iPod at about 40% they blocked out the CES showroom noise completely. With a $350 MSRP, they'd better. We think online retailers will probably be selling them for a paltry $200. The real improvements are comfort and features; the new earphones come with earplug-style foam tips which are more flexible than the ones included with the E-series. The various provided tips are (relatively) easy to switch out, even though I think we might have torn one while passing the headphones between us.

In terms of features, Shure will be rolling out a line of accessories to go along with the SEs, including in-line cables that have volume control or little switch-controlled mics for the option to hear things without having to yank out an earphone. These are definitely the headphones to look out for if you have a couple of bills budgeted for sound. We're certainly fighting over who gets to use them here.

Kurtis' Note: Shure was kind enough to provide us with a SE420 earphones prototype to test out since I've got some Shure E2c earphones to compare them to. Sound quality is noticeably better from the moment you start listening, as there are 2 drivers (for lows and highs) instead of a single one, so the range is a little better. With that said, I'll have these on hand for a few weeks, so you can look forward to a full review after I've had more time with them. While these are prototypes, I've been told that the sound quality will not change whatsoever, there are just some minor design tweaks which they're working on.