Customer Rating: 
Summary: These are okay, but the Ety's are MUCH better
Comment: I owned these earphones for awhile (with amply time to break them in), and while they are a huge step up from the included iPod earbuds, they are not great.
The biggest disappointment is that the fidelity of music is not quite there. They produce good sound, just not great. And earphones that cost more than $100 need to sound better than good.
Try the Etymotic Research ER-4P. They produce a significantly better soundstage and incredibly deep and accurate bass. ipodlounge has these as the top rated earphones out there.
I listen to all kinds of music. Classical. Jazz. Rap. Rock. Funk. You name it. I listen to it. So having a good set of earphones, especially for airplane rides is important.
Do yourself a favor and at least check out the Etymotic's. They are significantly better than anything out there. (The only possible exception would be the E500, which I've tried, and they are indeed great. Only they are also a $550 purchase.)
Customer Rating:
Summary: Great Sound and Great Customer Service
Comment: Many of the reviews of the Shure e3c have already stated what a great pair of earbuds these are and I have to concur. Compared to the standard iPod earbuds which "leak" sound, the sound quality is a major step up. They also travel well for those who fly a lot.
I'll also add that I was surprised by Shure's great customer service. After a year and a half of use, my right ear bud lost most of the sound. I went on to Shure's website, printed out the warranty form (2 years from date of purchase) and send my earbuds back in. Less than two weeks later I received a brand new set of e3c earbuds at no cost. On sending my earbuds in, I wasn't confident I'd even get my broken pair back. So to get a brand new pair exceeded my expectations. Kudos Shure.
Customer Rating:
Summary: very nice sound but can't get it to fit right
Comment: I love the sound, but out of all the supplied fitting options, I still cant get a good fit.
Customer Rating:
Summary: If you're serious about music buy these earphones
Comment: I'll get this right out of the way. If you want booty-shaking bass, save yourself the money and buy a pair of $9.99 Sony earphones. You will be disappointed by these headphones, especially considering the price. With that out of the way, if you want the hear music the way the musicians and studio engineers intended buy these earphones.
The sound is perfect. Crisp highs, mid presence, and deep bass. When you first get these phones you'll start hearing things in records you didn't know were there all these years. Just keep in mind, if you want bass-in-your-face look elsewhere.
I didn't realize how great these phones were until I was without them for a week and had to use the stock iPod buds. I walk through Manhattan everyday and the E3c's completely cancel out 90% of the street noise. With normal buds I could hardly hear the music over the background noise, and what I did hear sounded horrible in comparison to the Shure phones.
The two-year warranty is excellent. I broke my pair and in less than a week I had a brand new replacement pair in a sealed package, no questions asked. You can't beat that level of service, and for how much these cost it's expected. It's clear that Shure knows how to treat their customers and for that they have a customer for life.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Better than OEM!
Comment: I bought these earbuds as a replacement for the weak-sounding OEM Apple earbuds that came with the 60gb video iPod I purchased in the summer of 2006. The OEM earbud wire actually broke physically (I like to wrap the headphone wire vertically around the iPod, with the plug in the jack, when I'm not using it) and I decided to upgrade to an aftermarket pair both for physical durability and enhanced sonic quality. Let's be clear from the start: If you're listening to music on an iPod, we're NOT talking Hi-Fi to begin with, which I'm sure all you audiophiles out there already know but I just want to clarify this from the outset. That said, for the quality of reproduction you should expect from an iPod, you don't want your earphones to detract even further!
I recorded just about all (more than 95%) of my music into iTunes from my CD collection rather than buying it online from the iTunes store. Mostly I listen to rock, but also classical, jazz, opera and country, and I keep my iPod equalizer setting on "Rock" almost all the time. I reviewed all of the earbuds in this review on that setting. Usually I listen sitting on a train on my 2-hour commute to and from work weekdays. Also, I purchased all of these at the Apple Store on Fifth Avenue in New York City, which is a pretty cool place to go in and join the "buzz" [and which I have no affiliation with].
Apple OEM earbuds: I purchased these with the iPod in July 2006, replacement price $29 from Apple's website; Sound quality: 4 out of 10 [with 0 being "does not reproduce sound" and 10 being the "best" I think one could expect from earbuds with an iPod] -- poor bass response in real-life. In-ear fit: 4 out of 10 -- hard plastic discs stay in the outer ear canal generally but are not "snug", this lack of direct ear canal pressure detracts from lower-frequency reproduction ability. Durability: 3 out of 10 -- OK, maybe I shouldn't wrap the wire around the iPod, but I do... the stress that induced on the main wire at the jack caused the wire to break off after 5 months.
Senheisser Style OMX 90 earbuds: I purchased these in December 2006 for $89.95; sound quality: 5 out of 10 -- part of the reason I bought these is they were the only pair I could find with performance specifications listed on or in the package, I think they were claiming 19Hz-22kHz and 115dB, which looks pretty darn good on paper. Unfortunately, these, like the Apple OEM buds, are not snug in the ear canal so suffer from poor low-frequency response in real-life. In-ear fit: 2 out of 10 -- Jeez these looked cool, with their over-ear "eyeglasses" style clips I thought they'd be great, like the B&O A8s which I'd never tried but look so cool and cost twice as much and after all, they ARE Sennheisers, which I've had real cans by for my home stereo for decades and sound great... but when I actually used them they basically hung on my ears and flopped around in my ear canals more than the Apple OEM buds ever did. Durability: I can't really say because after a week I replaced them with the Bose Triports. These were the only buds with a volume control built in to the wire; I guess I liked this but in retrospect it just seems like a marketing gimmick -- I can just as easily adjust the volume on the iPod, so why bother with additional hardware (and weight) on my wires?
Bose Triport in-ear Headphones: I purchased these in December 2006 for $99.95; sound quality: 7 out of 10 -- I bought these to replace the Sennheisers and they were a HUGE improvement mainly (as far as I can tell) because of the anatomically-molded silicone ear canal inserts. These provide a snug in-ear fit which leads to vastly improved frequency response across the spectrum but most noticably in the bass frequencies. Unfortunately the bass response is actually muddy! I could improve this somewhat by switching from "Rock" to "Bass Reducer" on my iPod equalizer settings, but even so these always sounded muddy to me in the low frequencies... that said, MUCH better overall than the Apples and the Sennheisers. In-ear fit: 9 out of 10 -- these are fantastic, with 3 pairs of silicone inserts, large medium and small, should fit 99% of all listeners better than just about anything else available. Durability: 5 out of 10 -- Unfortunately, the wonderful silicone inserts do not stay attached to the plastic earbuds so I'd recommend if you like these that you purchase a case of the size you like; if you're like me, you'll lose a pair a month, on average.
Sure E3C-N (black) Headphones: I purchased these in April 2007 for $179.95, to replace the Bose Triports; this is a bit unfair since on a dollar basis I should be reviewing the Sure E2Cs, which cost $99.95 (similar to my other aftermarket buds), but in the end I decided perhaps you get what you pay for with earbuds and decided to double my budget for this set. Sound quality: 9 out of 10 -- much more even frequency distribution than the others, and smooth bass response unlike the Bose Triports. Also these are more efficient than any of the others, with iPod volume settings around 50% giving similar dBs in my ear as when I used the Triports on 85% and the Sennheisers on 100%. Crisp, clear sound all the way up to 100% on my iPod volume settings. In-ear fit: 7 out of 10 -- These buds come with a variety of size and composition inserts -- I use the small silicone symmetric hemispherical buds, which fit best for me, though they are less perfect than the ergonomic silicone inserts that come with the Triports. If you don't select the right size for your ear canal, the Sure inserts can begin to work loose (not as bad as the OEM Apples or the shaky Sennheisers) if you start to, say, walk; or chew. This is fairly irritating since when they're snug in-ear they sound really great (and you should insert them pretty far into your ear canal, pulling back on the ear as you insert them). Durability: I've only had them about a month, so hard to say, but the rubber inserts don't fall off the plastic part of the buds easily the way the Triports suffer; also the wires are about twice the diameter of the others in this review (which might also account for some of the better sonic efficiency), so I expect them to last longer physically than any of the others.
Summary: These are okay, but the Ety's are MUCH better
Comment: I owned these earphones for awhile (with amply time to break them in), and while they are a huge step up from the included iPod earbuds, they are not great.
The biggest disappointment is that the fidelity of music is not quite there. They produce good sound, just not great. And earphones that cost more than $100 need to sound better than good.
Try the Etymotic Research ER-4P. They produce a significantly better soundstage and incredibly deep and accurate bass. ipodlounge has these as the top rated earphones out there.
I listen to all kinds of music. Classical. Jazz. Rap. Rock. Funk. You name it. I listen to it. So having a good set of earphones, especially for airplane rides is important.
Do yourself a favor and at least check out the Etymotic's. They are significantly better than anything out there. (The only possible exception would be the E500, which I've tried, and they are indeed great. Only they are also a $550 purchase.)
Customer Rating:
Summary: Great Sound and Great Customer Service
Comment: Many of the reviews of the Shure e3c have already stated what a great pair of earbuds these are and I have to concur. Compared to the standard iPod earbuds which "leak" sound, the sound quality is a major step up. They also travel well for those who fly a lot.
I'll also add that I was surprised by Shure's great customer service. After a year and a half of use, my right ear bud lost most of the sound. I went on to Shure's website, printed out the warranty form (2 years from date of purchase) and send my earbuds back in. Less than two weeks later I received a brand new set of e3c earbuds at no cost. On sending my earbuds in, I wasn't confident I'd even get my broken pair back. So to get a brand new pair exceeded my expectations. Kudos Shure.
Customer Rating:
Summary: very nice sound but can't get it to fit right
Comment: I love the sound, but out of all the supplied fitting options, I still cant get a good fit.
Customer Rating:
Summary: If you're serious about music buy these earphones
Comment: I'll get this right out of the way. If you want booty-shaking bass, save yourself the money and buy a pair of $9.99 Sony earphones. You will be disappointed by these headphones, especially considering the price. With that out of the way, if you want the hear music the way the musicians and studio engineers intended buy these earphones.
The sound is perfect. Crisp highs, mid presence, and deep bass. When you first get these phones you'll start hearing things in records you didn't know were there all these years. Just keep in mind, if you want bass-in-your-face look elsewhere.
I didn't realize how great these phones were until I was without them for a week and had to use the stock iPod buds. I walk through Manhattan everyday and the E3c's completely cancel out 90% of the street noise. With normal buds I could hardly hear the music over the background noise, and what I did hear sounded horrible in comparison to the Shure phones.
The two-year warranty is excellent. I broke my pair and in less than a week I had a brand new replacement pair in a sealed package, no questions asked. You can't beat that level of service, and for how much these cost it's expected. It's clear that Shure knows how to treat their customers and for that they have a customer for life.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Better than OEM!
Comment: I bought these earbuds as a replacement for the weak-sounding OEM Apple earbuds that came with the 60gb video iPod I purchased in the summer of 2006. The OEM earbud wire actually broke physically (I like to wrap the headphone wire vertically around the iPod, with the plug in the jack, when I'm not using it) and I decided to upgrade to an aftermarket pair both for physical durability and enhanced sonic quality. Let's be clear from the start: If you're listening to music on an iPod, we're NOT talking Hi-Fi to begin with, which I'm sure all you audiophiles out there already know but I just want to clarify this from the outset. That said, for the quality of reproduction you should expect from an iPod, you don't want your earphones to detract even further!
I recorded just about all (more than 95%) of my music into iTunes from my CD collection rather than buying it online from the iTunes store. Mostly I listen to rock, but also classical, jazz, opera and country, and I keep my iPod equalizer setting on "Rock" almost all the time. I reviewed all of the earbuds in this review on that setting. Usually I listen sitting on a train on my 2-hour commute to and from work weekdays. Also, I purchased all of these at the Apple Store on Fifth Avenue in New York City, which is a pretty cool place to go in and join the "buzz" [and which I have no affiliation with].
Apple OEM earbuds: I purchased these with the iPod in July 2006, replacement price $29 from Apple's website; Sound quality: 4 out of 10 [with 0 being "does not reproduce sound" and 10 being the "best" I think one could expect from earbuds with an iPod] -- poor bass response in real-life. In-ear fit: 4 out of 10 -- hard plastic discs stay in the outer ear canal generally but are not "snug", this lack of direct ear canal pressure detracts from lower-frequency reproduction ability. Durability: 3 out of 10 -- OK, maybe I shouldn't wrap the wire around the iPod, but I do... the stress that induced on the main wire at the jack caused the wire to break off after 5 months.
Senheisser Style OMX 90 earbuds: I purchased these in December 2006 for $89.95; sound quality: 5 out of 10 -- part of the reason I bought these is they were the only pair I could find with performance specifications listed on or in the package, I think they were claiming 19Hz-22kHz and 115dB, which looks pretty darn good on paper. Unfortunately, these, like the Apple OEM buds, are not snug in the ear canal so suffer from poor low-frequency response in real-life. In-ear fit: 2 out of 10 -- Jeez these looked cool, with their over-ear "eyeglasses" style clips I thought they'd be great, like the B&O A8s which I'd never tried but look so cool and cost twice as much and after all, they ARE Sennheisers, which I've had real cans by for my home stereo for decades and sound great... but when I actually used them they basically hung on my ears and flopped around in my ear canals more than the Apple OEM buds ever did. Durability: I can't really say because after a week I replaced them with the Bose Triports. These were the only buds with a volume control built in to the wire; I guess I liked this but in retrospect it just seems like a marketing gimmick -- I can just as easily adjust the volume on the iPod, so why bother with additional hardware (and weight) on my wires?
Bose Triport in-ear Headphones: I purchased these in December 2006 for $99.95; sound quality: 7 out of 10 -- I bought these to replace the Sennheisers and they were a HUGE improvement mainly (as far as I can tell) because of the anatomically-molded silicone ear canal inserts. These provide a snug in-ear fit which leads to vastly improved frequency response across the spectrum but most noticably in the bass frequencies. Unfortunately the bass response is actually muddy! I could improve this somewhat by switching from "Rock" to "Bass Reducer" on my iPod equalizer settings, but even so these always sounded muddy to me in the low frequencies... that said, MUCH better overall than the Apples and the Sennheisers. In-ear fit: 9 out of 10 -- these are fantastic, with 3 pairs of silicone inserts, large medium and small, should fit 99% of all listeners better than just about anything else available. Durability: 5 out of 10 -- Unfortunately, the wonderful silicone inserts do not stay attached to the plastic earbuds so I'd recommend if you like these that you purchase a case of the size you like; if you're like me, you'll lose a pair a month, on average.
Sure E3C-N (black) Headphones: I purchased these in April 2007 for $179.95, to replace the Bose Triports; this is a bit unfair since on a dollar basis I should be reviewing the Sure E2Cs, which cost $99.95 (similar to my other aftermarket buds), but in the end I decided perhaps you get what you pay for with earbuds and decided to double my budget for this set. Sound quality: 9 out of 10 -- much more even frequency distribution than the others, and smooth bass response unlike the Bose Triports. Also these are more efficient than any of the others, with iPod volume settings around 50% giving similar dBs in my ear as when I used the Triports on 85% and the Sennheisers on 100%. Crisp, clear sound all the way up to 100% on my iPod volume settings. In-ear fit: 7 out of 10 -- These buds come with a variety of size and composition inserts -- I use the small silicone symmetric hemispherical buds, which fit best for me, though they are less perfect than the ergonomic silicone inserts that come with the Triports. If you don't select the right size for your ear canal, the Sure inserts can begin to work loose (not as bad as the OEM Apples or the shaky Sennheisers) if you start to, say, walk; or chew. This is fairly irritating since when they're snug in-ear they sound really great (and you should insert them pretty far into your ear canal, pulling back on the ear as you insert them). Durability: I've only had them about a month, so hard to say, but the rubber inserts don't fall off the plastic part of the buds easily the way the Triports suffer; also the wires are about twice the diameter of the others in this review (which might also account for some of the better sonic efficiency), so I expect them to last longer physically than any of the others.