Shure SE535 Upgrade under $300?

[HendersonDLK]

Long Story (CONTEXT)

I’ve been an active musician for around 20 years who has slightly dabbled in Hi-Fi off and on. My introduction to IEM’s was around 2007 with the Shure E3’s until I upgraded to the Shure SE535’s around 2010. They were my go-to IEM’s for years playing shows and became my favorite IEM also for music listening because the quality was better than anything I could get under $300 (to my ears). I had tried an Etymotic (too trebly, didn’t fit right) and Bose (broke after a year) and so I just kept using the SE535’s. Around 2012 I got the original Audioquest Dragonfly and a portable Fiio amp (Sorry, it’s been years since I’ve used it so I don’t know the model #). After about 7 years one of the earbuds in the 535's stopped working correctly, I believe a driver went out in one earbud but I don’t know enough to say for sure. I was in a quick pinch, out of both necessity and cost, so I quickly grabbed an SE215 with the intention of getting another SE535 at some point. Well, here I am 7 years later, married and with a kid and that still hasn’t happened haha.

I started the search again recently and to my surprise, a lot has happened in the IEM community in the last 7 years. There’s so many options and so much information out there that I couldn’t believe it.



Long Story Short (QUESTION)

Using eqMac I modeled several IEM tunings on my SE215’s and my partially working SE535’s. The tuning of the Moondrop Variations was by far my favorite to listen to. Sadly I don’t have $442 to spend on this so my thought on this is to find a cheaper IEM that has similar tuning and EQ them to my liking? I thought the SE535’s sounded beautiful with the Variations tuning and it made me really sad they don’t work correctly.

I’m honestly posting to hear from those more experienced than me in this realm and just learn and listen. I’m ignorant of everything that’s out there and what quality of things exist now so I’m just looking for help. Anything better than the 535’s with correct tuning is a bonus for me.

I’m really just looking to play music from my MacBook Pro and iPhone, so something like the Qudelix 5k and an IEM is my leaning, but I’m here to listen to viable options. The cost of an AMP/DAC such as the Qudelix would have to fit into the sub $300 budget.



Source-

Amazon Music

MacBook Pro

iPhone 13

 

[staticV3]

The Truthear Red has an almost identical tuning to the Variations, with just a touch less sparkle:


You can buy one for $45 at the moment.

It was also reviewed by Amir here: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...ruthear-x-crinacle-zero-red-iem-review.44865/

 

[HendersonDLK]

The Truthear Red has an almost identical tuning to the Variations, with just a touch less sparkle:
View attachment 326120

You can buy one for $45 at the moment.

It was also reviewed by Amir here: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...ruthear-x-crinacle-zero-red-iem-review.44865/

The Truthear Red and the Nova were the two closest I personally found to the Variations tuning based on Crinacle's readings, but like I mentioned before I have zero experience with anything outside of the 535's so I have no idea what the quality of everything is now. Would you say it's comparable or better than the 535 in the sound quality? The 215's couldn't really compete with the 535's with the Variations tuning. I don't know if that's because of the driver's used or just quality of drivers.

 

[staticV3]

Would you say it's comparable or better than the 535 in the sound quality?

I have not heard the 535 yet, so cannot tell.

 

[Dunring]

The Moondrop Kato or even the Starield are terrific, along with the Simgot EA500 or Truthear Zero Blue. I just had a blessing 3 and there's no way it was worth that price. After 90 dollars, the value for money with IEMs is a losing proposition...

 

[truckers_atlas]

The rise of Chinese manufacturers over the past half-decade has really invigorated the IEM space. Today $50 (Truthear Zero Red) can get you something that'll blow away the finicky, unreliable junk that Head-Fi loved about a decade ago.

That being said, if you're only going to use these with Apple devices, why not AirPods Pro 2? APP2 are on sale for $200 for the holidays, and I'd dare say they're one of the best-tuned IEMs on the market, full-stop. I find that APP2, particularly in the midrange, is more inline with what a good speaker, or the Harman over-ear headphone target sounds like than the IEMs tuned to the Harman in-ear target like the Moondrop Variations, Truthear Nova, and original Truthear Zero. Technical performance is competitive with $100-$150 wired IEMs. This is before you get to the quality-of-life features, with great ANC and transparency modes for when you're out and about. My Blessing 2 have mostly sat in their case since I upgraded to APP2 from the original AirPods Pro.

 

[HendersonDLK]

The rise of Chinese manufacturers over the past half-decade has really invigorated the IEM space. Today $50 (Truthear Zero Red) can get you something that'll blow away the finicky, unreliable junk that Head-Fi loved about a decade ago.

That being said, if you're only going to use these with Apple devices, why not AirPods Pro 2? APP2 are on sale for $200 for the holidays, and I'd dare say they're one of the best-tuned IEMs on the market, full-stop. I find that APP2, particularly in the midrange, is more inline with what a good speaker, or the Harman over-ear headphone target sounds like than the IEMs tuned to the Harman in-ear target like the Moondrop Variations, Truthear Nova, and original Truthear Zero. Technical performance is competitive with $100-$150 wired IEMs. This is before you get to the quality-of-life features, with great ANC and transparency modes for when you're out and about. My Blessing 2 have mostly sat in their case since I upgraded to APP2 from the original AirPods Pro.

Thank you for the suggestion! I honestly hadn't even thought about the APP2, I would have to decide though whether or not I would like to use the IEM's for stage use also. My original thought was to replace the SE215/SE535's for stage use also, so it didn't occur to me to think in the APP2 direction. I would say I still would currently like to replace them for stage use but this brings up something I will have to consider for sure.

 

[markanini]

Some would say the upcoming Crinacle Dusk 3. But you can get a comparable quality in Truthear Nova for $150 that's available. The mentioned Truthear Red will probably be very competitive with the Shure SE535 because the IEM market moves at light speed and a high quality frequency response can be had for very little these days.

A caveat with stage use is that multidriver IEMs will be susceptible to varying frequency response from high impedance headphone outputs. Someone suggested a product called iFi iEMatch+ to me, but a portable Fiio A3 amp and an assortment of cables is what I personally use.

 

[HendersonDLK]

Some would say the upcoming Crinacle Dusk 3. But you can get a comparable quality in Truthear Nova for $150 that's available. The mentioned Truthear Red will probably be very competitive with the Shure SE535 because the IEM market moves at light speed and a high quality frequency response can be had for very little these days.

A caveat with stage use is that multidriver IEMs will be susceptible to varying frequency response from high impedance headphone outputs. Someone suggested a product called iFi iEMatch+ to me, but a portable Fiio A3 amp and an assortment of cables is what I personally use.

I saw Crinacle released his readings for the new Dusk, I'll have to do an EQ to on my IEM's to test out the tonality when I get a chance.

Thanks for the heads up on the headphone output frequency response, once I decide on something I'll have to listen for any major deviations. I use a wireless Sennheiser IEM system so I'll just have to check that when I get to that point, the iFi might be a good idea for that setup.

 

[LTig]

I have not heard the 535 yet, so cannot tell.

Neither did I, but I bought the Zero Red just out of curiosity after reading @amirm's review and SQ is really good, much better than my old UA5 for three times the money.

 

[Jimbob54]

I have not heard the 535 yet, so cannot tell.

I got a pair of open box from Amazon for a good price many years ago (way before my ASR time and understanding of Harman-ish tunings). Even back then my initial thoughts were the LF drivers were broken. I actually dont think they are, but it takes a very good fitting tip AND hella lot of bass EQ to get them sounding remotely "right". My 2cents to OP is almost anything from the last 24 months with remotely "modern" tuning will be better than the Shure's

 

[zonk]

The nozzle diameter of the Shure SE215 is about 3.3 mm and the Truthear Zero Red is 6.7 mm. The eartip will make that part that has to plugged in your ear even thicker. If it's comfortable for you, you will not be disappointed because they sound good.

But for me personally the Truthear is almost unusable because of it's size. And if there is not a perfect fit, the sound is not as it should.

 

[kongkong]

I have se535 ltd and crinarcle zero red.
Both are very different iem.
Normally zero red will give better balanced sound for many kinds of music.
Instead, se535 has good fit(comfortable) and passive noise canceling for monitoring. And it is focused on midrange sound.
I had some different iem for each purpose.
Red is not expensive but good iem so it can be good expreirence for your iem life.