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stars
"The Best There is Besides $ 1,000 ultimate ears" on by charesr22
Pros: near perfect fidelity, inline crossover, much better than etys
Cons: none at all
Summary: The only in ear phone on the market today that is better than the shure e5cs is the ultimate ears ue-10 pro, however these require a trip to the audologist for a custom mold, and they cost 1,000, so they are absurd unless you are really a professional musician. That said, the shure e5cs deliver studio quality sound without being excessively expensive (you can get them online for 350 or so).
Bose headphones are a joke compared to the shure e5cs. But then again, that should come as no surprise, because Bose is to audio equipment what apple is to computers - a maker of vastly overpriced, low quality products that are marketed to morons who don't know any better. Like I said to my friend, if you want a nice 100 dollar pair of headphones, buy the Bose QC2s, except that you will get charged 300 dollars for them.
As for the ETYs, they are decent, and nothing more. The CNET editor who reviewed the ER-4 clearly doesn't know much about high end audio equipment. Sure, if you've never listened to audiophile level headphones before, and put on ETYs, you will think wow, aren't these great! Fact is, their bass is decent at best, although their fidelity is above average. In every way, the shure e5cs outperform the ety er4s. But then again, thats what you should expect, since you have to pay about 60% more for a pair of the Shure e5cs. I mean, you would expect a ferrari to be better than a lexus, right? You get what you pay for. So, if one is willing to enter this segment of the headphone market, I would suggest saving your money for a pair of e5cs rather than doing it on the cheap and getting ety er4s.
Lastly, the shures are actually worth the cost, you will smile as you discover a whole new world of music.
- 4 replies to this review
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Your review mentions that these are worth the price and that people generally get what they pay for; however, the first portion of your review specifically attacks Bose as a shining example of not getting what one pay for. <img border="0" src="http://www.cnet.com/i/mb/emoticons/happy.gif" alt=":)">
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Would put a huge dent in my wallet, but sounds good. BTW, don't take anything out on Apple - I'm not a moron, but you have to pay for design and a long life, though the new Macbooks are CHEAP (I know this should go under "Macbook review")
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Well, this reviewer probably never did any extensive search on the internet about the different brands of earphones out there. Besides the UE10 from Ultimate Ears, which is a bass-heavy canalphone with three drivers to extend the low frequency response, the Sensaphonics dual driver canalphone is actually much better than the shure E5C. The lower model UE5 from Ultimate Ears also has dual driver design, and is similar to the E5C in the sound quality. The Sensaphonics is better, first because they are custom made, and fit your ears better; second, they have a 2 bore design, while the E5C only has one bore, which means that the sound doesn't mix in your ears like the Sensaphonics but in the phones themselves, making it too bass heavy and muffled above 5k frequency. Also, the Sensaphonics has a much better looking cable than the Shure, because their crossover is built in to the canalphone, and the cord is thinner--better ergonimics. If you are going to spend so much on these canalphones, either get the Sensaphonics, Ultimate Ears for a better balanced, warm sound reproduction, or just buy hi-fi headphones at about the same price (the HD650 from Sennheiser is their top model available these days around $350, with an amp these headphones rival the best electrostatic headphones in the world).
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I see you know a lot about earphones. Right now I own the ER4Ps, and I realize they are old technology. Im thinking of upgrading to the shure e4c's and e5c's. I know what your answer is gonna be when I ask "what ones should I get?" I want to chat about the earphones. My email is RAnoodle@hotmail.com . I have AIM as well (ill provide via email). Hope to hear from you.
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