» Shure E500PTH Sound Isolating Earphones

Shure E500PTH Sound Isolating Earphones Reviews

Customer Rating:
Summary: Oustanding. Add the Sensaphonics custom sleeves, and make them unbelievable!
Comment: I went from the E3Cs to these in November last year. I could not believe the improvement in sound quality: the tonal response is smoother and flatter, and the dynamics jump out at you. Really, REALLY good.

And then a friend recommended the Sensaphonics custom sleeves to go with them. He let me try his -- OK, the fit was not very good, and it was a little uncomfortable, but with the sound being delivered further down the ear canal, I was truly astounded by how much better the listening experience was. I was hearing stuff in the music that I just had not known was there. Of course, I soon made an appointment to get my impressions taken, and the sleeves ordered.

At a total of $570 ($400 for the IEMs, and $170 for the sleeves) this is NOT cheap. However, the sound is superior, noticeably, to the sound I get from my $2500 speakers driven bi-amped from my $4000 CD/pre/power setup (listening from the headphone jack on the pre-amp).

I really can't say enough good things about this combination.

Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful!!!

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Shure E500
Comment: For people who are not satisfied with the free earphones that came with your ipod and for those who believe that listening to quality music demands quality equipments then the Shure E500 Noise cancelling Earphones are for you.


I plugged the E500 to my ipod and pressed play, the sound quality was beyond any I had ever heard from a pair of headphones. The best way to describe the listening experience would be , like having music wired straight to your brain. The isolators are very good in cancelling outside noise, it is so good that shure developed a voice port module that would enable you with just a flick of a switch, and the outside world come back in, thanks to a microphone embedded in the line.

Another downside would be that it has a lot of wires to contend with especially when the voice port module is connected. I find this to expensive for an earphones, because of its high quality. So if you are serious with your music and have the extra money, this would be worth every dollar.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Outstanding Earbuds
Comment: I have owned the Shure E500PTH for 4 months now and would definitely spend $379 to purchase them again.

I use them mostly for going to the gym and working out with free weights, elliptical machine, and Stair Master. They nearly eliminate the clang from weights, noisy AC, and loud background music, and leave me with crystal clear, well balanced, full range music from my iPod. The cord is not microphonic and produces no added noise, even at a fast pace on the elliptical machine.

The E500PTHs are so clear that I can hear the difference between low and high bit rate music. In fact, I have gone back and encoded most of my CDs to Apple Lossless format.

As many other reviewers have commented, I can hear background instruments, vocals, and effects that I never knew were in my music.

I took the advice of other reviewers and gave the E500PTHs a 20 hour "burn in" with my iPod on 3/4 volume. I noticed a huge increase in clarity and tone after the "burn in" period.

I also read the manual for proper insertion of earbuds, and have found that the best technique for getting a good seal is to pull down on the bottom of my ear lobe while pushing the earbuds into my ear canal.

I do not use the PTH module since it is too bulky to wear at the gym. It is very easy to get the earbuds back in and quickly get a good seal. I tried the foam, hard rubber, and soft rubber inserts in different sizes, and have found the soft rubber to get a perfect seal and stay in my ear despite a fast pace and sweaty face.

These earbuds are very durable. They have been dropped, sat on, and sweat on for 4 months and still look brand new.

The accessory kit is awesome. I love the durable aluminum case. The included wax removal tool works perfect. There are many different sizes and types of inserts. And best of all, the included cords and adapters ensure the earbuds will work in almost any environment.

Over 500 miles of cardio and 100 trips to the gym and I am still in love with the E500PTHs!

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Very Very Good but for $500 should have been perfect
Comment: I own three iPODs and listen to music about 3 to 5 hours a day. It helps me concentrate when working (i do some graphic art work) and block out noise and it puts me to sleep a few nights a week when I have trouble. I listen to everything from "fuzz" (white noise) to classical music, jazz,rock, bluegrass etc. so I guess i am a good "reviewer" and I felt obliged to pass along my experience as it has been fairly costly to obtain and could save others a lot of time not to mention money. So here's my take. By the way i am also a product design engineer, not that it helps me be a better consumer but rather i tend to see things more analytically than many consumers. So much for qualifications - this is still just my opinion -

Having lived with ultimate ears super.fi pro 5EB (excellent bass) and before that the ultimate ears pro 5 both for a couple years now,AND having to replace the thin cord set on both three times - the last time - I opted for a pair of Shure E500PTH's their best earphones instead.

My reasoning was based on my previous experience with Shure's most excellent V15 type III series of stereo phono cartridges (what are those) from back in the days of "record players".

Anyone who could make such a tiny transducer that produced superb sound from plastic discs with bumps on them surely could make one of these ear buds. I also thought about there industry standard microphones. so I ponied up the $500 and gave them a try.

Well lets get the audio performance out of the way -I must note that It is hard to do A/B comparisons because you can't just switch between speakers. Changing involves pulling these guys out of your ear canal and stuffing the other set back in which is a bit distracting from your sonic memory

BOTTOM SOUND LINE - Yes they have excellent clear solid sound and decent bass response as I expected for $500 and they seem just slightly "cleaner with more separation both voice and instruments" than the UE 5EB's but with less bass (that's what the EB stands for i think - extended/enhanced bass so no big surprise there) BUT the differences are small and once I start listening with either one the music is so clear and enjoyable I forget any differences. But i prefer the Shure's

HOWEVER just as critically helpful in delivering that awsome sound was I suspecct the volume control. Since the frequency response of your ear varies with volume you can "tune in" the best sounding sweet spot by adjusting the volume - and with your iPod up all the way this control can either whisper or blow your eardrums out. (in fact Shure puts a warning paper in the box advising you to listen at the lowest level - which sounds the best anyway to me)

LET ME QUALIFY THAT - They sound really really good once you get the right sealed foam piece on the earbud so your ear canals are really isolated. I have one ear canal slightly bigger than the other so it took a while, but i guess everyone's ears are different both individually and in pairs which is why they give you so many different sleeve.

Just like ultimate ears (UE), they come with an assortment of different sizes of foam and soft rubbery "sleeves" as they call them, to help you get that fit right. One thing they do have that ultimate ears doesn't is a moldable foam material on some of the sleeves that slowly re-expands when you squeeze it so it creeps shut and since it's solid I imagine it blocks out sound more effectively than the rubber umbrella design.

Another difference is the heavier three piece cord - UE's have a single thin and very light weight cord with a right angle plug that goes into you iPod at one end AND at the other end(s) a stiff bendable wire sleeve at the earbud which bends around your ear and KEEPS the cord over your ears.

The right angle plug keeps close to your iPod and out of the way and it is harder to accidently pull out like if you drop you iPod (heaven forbid - I do it almost once a day with no problems). They are very comfortable to the point that you forget there is a cord and that you have earphones on! AND IF THEY GO BAD since the cord plugs into each earbud assembly right at the ear - YOU CAN UNPLUG THEM and replace them, Lucky for me. The cords are only about $20 instead of the $100-150 for a new set of earphones.

Shure E500PTH uses three pieces -
1. a short headset cord that comes together at chest level under the chin ending in a female mini stereo jack plug
2. a 2 inch long thumb-wheel volume control which has male and female ends and a short cord ending in a bulkier right angle jack
3 a 2 foot or so long standard male/female straight steros mini jack cable that plugs into your iPod and of course sticks up an inch and a half or so bulging above your pocket and adding that extra length to your iPod

Now i guess you can plug number 2 and 3 in reverse order so the handy compact right angle plug on the volume control is at your iPod but that puts the bulky volume control right there also since the cord it has is very short (about 4 inches from angle plug to volume control)

ANYWAY - I thought the idea was to put the handy volume control right under your chin so you can just reach up and turn it down (or up if you like the next tune) which is what i like about the Shure E500PTH's

On the downside Shure E500PTH uses no such bendable sleeve - the wire is molded into the earbuds so i guess if it goes bad after the 2 year warranty your out the $500 but it seems more durable than the UE's. Because the cord just winds over the ear, I found the cord kept falling from around my ear and pulling at the earbud unsealing it until I pushed the cowboy-hat-like rubber cinch that holds the two cords together, up tight under my chin. Yee-Ha with a strangle hold - well it isn't really that uncomfortable but you feel it up under the chin like a cowboy hat cord.

BUT this stiff bendable wire that keeps the UE's cord over my big ears is right where my UE's cord frayed and broke down so maybe this could be a hidden drawback for UE's

Shure E500PTH's heavier bulkier cord, while more durable, is always there making its presence known, with the volume control dangling from it.

I guess that's the trade off and why my UE cords eventually broke - and in fairness I should mention that I frequently fall asleep listening to my ipod in bed so there's a cord stress test.

After listening to the Shure E500PTH's for a while and adjusting the volume with each song, I put my UE's (the 5EB) back in and they seemed to have a stronger bass but very similar sound not noticablly worse or better -both excellent.

so i guess if i could put UE's feather light cord on Shure E500PTH's earbuds and add a magic lightweight volume control AND make the cord DURABLE - NOW THAT WOULD BE THE ULTIMATE EARBUDS

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Great Sound , Bad Wires
Comment: I purchased these from Amazon, and used them every day since. Great sound, but the wires won't stand long. I got mine taped cause the wires inside began to show after the outer rubber began to crack. And you can't change the wires because they're not replaceable. The only thing you can do is to fix them the hard way or ship them back to shure so be replaced.

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