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Shure SE535 Limited IEM Review

Rate this IEM:

  • 1. Poor (headless panther)

    Votes: 54 33.1%
  • 2. Not terrible (postman panther)

    Votes: 83 50.9%
  • 3. Fine (happy panther)

    Votes: 24 14.7%
  • 4. Great (golfing panther)

    Votes: 2 1.2%

  • Total voters
    163
Much like Santa, Amir comes round once a year to respond with moderate disappointment to some gear I have owned.

"Ho ho ho! Have you been an objectively good boy this year? Oh dear! It seems you have been buying less than best-in-class audio gear. It would be a lump of coal for you, but you already have quite a few! Fly Harman and Benchmark!", and with that he was gone with a faint jingling of on-axis measured and EQ'd sleighbells.

I've not found my pair particularly bass shy, but I do struggle a bit with ear seal to maintain it. I've also found the connection to one of the ear pieces to be less than ideal.
 
In humans, a generation is considered 25 years, in dogs about 3-4 and in IEMs around 1-2. [...]
I think we surpassed the peak of "IEM improvement speed" already. Even cheap IEMs are so good already, the room for improvement is not that big anymore.
 
If this is true (what I believe) there isn't too much reason to test IEMs older than 2 years, no matter what price tag.
 
Much like Santa, Amir comes round once a year to respond with moderate disappointment to some gear I have owned.

"Ho ho ho! Have you been an objectively good boy this year? Oh dear! It seems you have been buying less than best-in-class audio gear. It would be a lump of coal for you, but you already have quite a few! Fly Harman and Benchmark!", and with that he was gone with a faint jingling of on-axis measured and EQ'd sleighbells.

I've not found my pair particularly bass shy, but I do struggle a bit with ear seal to maintain it. I've also found the connection to one of the ear pieces to be less than ideal.
Hahaha. Thanks for the laugh.

I only gave it postman because distortion was in check, otherwise I wouldn’t consider these a contender in todays market. Thanks!
 
Thanks Amir! I own the SE535 and often felt they lacked bass. I'm a drummer and used them primarily for monitor use. But I did buy their adapter to use them in the gym and on flights etc. They were once great at sound isolation but now seem so far behind what's available with noise canceling. Shure does have an iPhone app with PEQ that gets them sounding pretty sweet but takes a lot of filters to do so. So yeah, too expensive comparatively to everything else. Merry Christmas!
 
If Shure wants to overprice something, they ought to get back into making and selling phono carts. Phono enthusiasts would gladly pay many hundreds for a new V15 VIMR
 
I would go for a nuanced position here.

- I agree this is not worth 450$ for most audio enthuasiasts in 2024.
- It is kind of weird that these kind of Shure IEMs (215, 435,..) are still top sellers on Thomann and other hi-fi shops.

But

- These IEMs are over 10 years old (maybe not the Limited, but I think it is just the color). The head-fi topic was started in 2012. This was far before Harman research. https://www.head-fi.org/threads/review-shure-se535.631340/
- I once owned the SE 215. The deliver comfort and isolation, which is important for professionals.
- The distortion measurements were a positive suprise.
- While the sound signature does not look like Harman, it does not look bad. It is rather flat, it has pinna gain in the right era, and the balance between bass and treble looks intact (both far below Harman). I sometimes think people cannot read these graphs and only see "it deviates from Harman, so it must be bad". It is important how it deviates.

So, calling this junk or a scam product or whatever seems of the mark to me.
There's a time and place for an IEM like SE215 or SE535 even if it's not for the general population in 2024. When anyone says "scam", "trash" or whatever kneejerk response to FR graphs it tells me that they probably lack knowledge about psychoacoustics, which explains relative frequency balance and equal loudness contours. They might also lack a concept of IEM use outside of content consumption, despite the name In-ear monitor. Such people are possibly reading this reply and fully believing that I'm suggesting everyone should buy this IEM, and maybe more IEMs in the brands catalog.
 
Wow, thanks Amir. I sent these to him. I purchased them quite a few years ago a have had a few issues over that time. One other aspect of Shure that I appreciate is the customer service. I had to replace one or the other IEM a couple times, the "repair" cost, which is simply a replacement is very reasonable. And more than once Shure has sent a replacement free of charge. I actually had just received one of them from Shure and thought it was the perfect time to have Amir give them a workout. Given their popularity and prominence I thought the review would be of value to the community, which I believe is true! Thank you again Amir and to everyone else, Enjoy! And have a great holiday!!
 
I still own the original SE535, which I bought over 10 years ago. I did fly around a lot for business for a few years back then, and these were trusted companions. Light and sturdy, and at the time I loved the sound compared to what else was available. Also, they isolate noise very effectively with the right tips. In fact I think over time I had all models raging from the SE215 through the 300 and 400 up to the 535. And now get this, fellow ASR members: I fully admit that I carried an Audioquest Dragonfly around with these, too, to ensure the magazine approved listening experience at the time... :)

These days, the Sony WF-1000XM4 are my travel/gym buds, I have several of them (motorcycle, gymbag, etc). Far more convenient, and since I never use either of them in under optimal, high-immersion conditions, the sound is plenty good.

I don't regret buying the SE535 at all, but I shall not claim they made a great difference in my listening experience. But it made for some fun conversations with fellow travelers a few times. :-D

 
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I'm not an IEM user, but I've been following all the reviews - does seem like expensive IEM's are a thing of the past for informed buyers! We do alright!
 
I had a pair of Shure 425's that were one step down from the 535 and cost around $300 in 2005. Today my 7hz Crinacle Zero's at $23 are clearly superior in every way. Older IEM's are just not competitive. That's good news because it means you not only don't have to spend a lot to get great sound, you really shouldn't because this year's $2000 IEM, will be bettered by next year's (or the year after's) $20 IEM.
 
Just like all the in-ear, headphones, and amplifiers I have heard for professional use, they always tend to be calm, with mid-frequency retraction and low-frequency reduction. The most representative ones are MB Quart qp240 and SPL Phonitor.
 
There's a time and place for an IEM like SE215 or SE535 even if it's not for the general population in 2024. When anyone says "scam", "trash" or whatever kneejerk response to FR graphs it tells me that they probably lack knowledge about psychoacoustics, which explains relative frequency balance and equal loudness contours. They might also lack a concept of IEM use outside of content consumption, despite the name In-ear monitor. Such people are possibly reading this reply and fully believing that I'm suggesting everyone should buy this IEM, and maybe more IEMs in the brands catalog.
There is a good reason Shure mostly withdrew these designs from the consumer in ear canal market and started selling them for stage use only.
 
These used to be my daily drivers for commuting about 10 years ago. The main reason was that Shure IEMs fit my ears very well. Also, they dealt with warranty issues quickly. I had a series of 535's develop connection issues with the cable and they simply replaced them with no questions asked. These days I just use my Airpods Pro. Plenty enough fidelity when walking to work or taking the subway.
 
Talking about how IEM have evolved and which qualities can be nowadays achieved with a fraction of the past prices I just remember a moderator from a German audio forum having 10+ years ago a collection of very expensive IEMs in the order of almost 100.000€ (!), I wouldn't want to be in his shoes, not back then and even less today.
 
These used to be my daily drivers for commuting about 10 years ago. The main reason was that Shure IEMs fit my ears very well. Also, they dealt with warranty issues quickly. I had a series of 535's develop connection issues with the cable and they simply replaced them with no questions asked. These days I just use my Airpods Pro. Plenty enough fidelity when walking to work or taking the subway.
I bought the E-500 in 2007 or so. It was $500 at the time, though I found it cheaper online. I was splurging because they were hailed as the best things going short of custom. After a few years one earpiece got very quiet. A common issue apparently. They wanted $250 to get a replacement set. I passed. Later they came out with a new design that had detachable cables, which was supposed to fix whatever design flaws I experienced. I was excited until i read reviews saying that the same issue was recurring on the new design. That was that for me.
 
The cost would have been a bit high a few years ago but now, you can get superb IEMs for $50 and less, leaving the Shure no where to hide.
But do any of these provide nearly the same isolation? That always used to be the crux of budget IEMs.

Back when I got a used Etymotic ER-6 (not even the ER-6i) in 2006ish, those were a revelation in terms of being able to take a bus with a bunch of rowdy kids in the morning without losing my mind, even if the sound was very thin. Later I upgraded to SE420s, which needed a lot less help from the EQ even though the response still was a bit unexciting and mid-centric. When those failed in 2013, I got some budget SoundMagic E10 dynamic driver IEMs as a "temporary measure" (which ended up lasting me the better part of a decade)... not nearly the same amount of isolation but they did sound a fair bit better for sure. The public transport I'm taking these days tends to be less noisy and the Rockbox compressor is doing a good job, so I'm getting along OK for the most part, but I do wonder what's out there.
 
But do any of these provide nearly the same isolation? That always used to be the crux of budget IEMs.

Back when I got a used Etymotic ER-6 (not even the ER-6i) in 2006ish, those were a revelation in terms of being able to take a bus with a bunch of rowdy kids in the morning without losing my mind, even if the sound was very thin. Later I upgraded to SE420s, which needed a lot less help from the EQ even though the response still was a bit unexciting and mid-centric. When those failed in 2013, I got some budget SoundMagic E10 dynamic driver IEMs as a "temporary measure" (which ended up lasting me the better part of a decade)... not nearly the same amount of isolation but they did sound a fair bit better for sure. The public transport I'm taking these days tends to be less noisy and the Rockbox compressor is doing a good job, so I'm getting along OK for the most part, but I do wonder what's out there.
Etymotic still exist with ER4-SR and ER4-XR.
 
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