Shure SE846 Wired Sound Isolating Earphones Gen 2, Secure in-Ear Earbuds, High-End Professional Sound, Hi-Def Four Drivers, Upgraded Sound Filters, Durable Quality, Customizable Frequency - Clear

This is a long review but to spend this amount on in-ear headphones you must be pretty committed, right? I've broken it into sections so if you just want to know how they sound then skip ahead to The Sound part.The Shure SE535 have been my commuting buddies for 5 hours a day over the last 7 or 8 years. Recently though one earpiece failed so I had the choice of going for the same or upgrading to the SE846. I'm an audiophile. That means I'm unable to resist the upgrade bug, so naturally I had to go for these.Unboxing========At first I thought something else had been delivered, as the box felt far too heavy to be headphones. Inside the (double layered) outer box is a sturdy crush-proof, waterproof plastic storage box, or 'Road Case' as Shure call it. It's this that makes up most of the weight, but also supplied is a smaller travel case, spare cable, multiple different types and sizes of earpiece, volume attenuator, full size headphone jack adaptor and tool to change the filters (more on that in a while). It's a lot of stuff but packaged in a way that befits the price. The only thing that feels a little cheap is the small travel case, which has a metal plate on the top etched with the Shure logo. The edges of this piece of metal are quite sharp, even running your finger over the logo. A small thing for sure but out of place with the quality of the rest of the product.The important bits===============The earphones are wrapped around a soft holder, the clear edition that I ordered coming with a transparent cable. The earpieces feel re-assuringly solid but well machined. They came already fitted with my preferred earpieces, the black squashy olives. I find that these give a much better fit in my ear, which is crucial to the sound quality. There are yellow foam, grey rubber and white flanges also supplied if you prefer these. Taking the earpiece off reveals a metal nozzle - plastic on the lower price 535s - surrounded by a metal collar. A key supplied can be used to loosen and remove this collar, followed by the nozzle. Inserted in this is a filter that adjusts the character of the sound. Unscrew the metal container attached to the key and there are two other pairs of filters. It's difficult to equate the cost of these with the tiny size but the transparent exterior at least allows you to see the complex array of tiny components and wiring.The Sound========Over the years I've become accustomed to the sound of the SE535 compared to over-ear headphones. The differences are detail extraction and breadth of sound. IEMs produce far more detail in recordings but can't compete in the depth of bass. The SE846 boasts to provide true subwoofer performance, but can it... Firstly, to achieve any bass with IEMs you MUST, repeat MUST, get a good connection inside the ear. This is why finding the best type of earpiece is absolutely critical. The squashy black 'olives' are the best, in my experience, but you need to find the right size. Too small and you won't get a good seal, too big and they'll squeeze out again.Inserting them properly is important and you can find videos on YouTube on how to do this. It might seem fiddly but hey if you spent this much you might as well invest a minute or so in putting them in properly. Squeeze the earpiece gently and then insert it, holding the top of your ear up and out as you do. Then hold in place for a few seconds while the olive expands and fits tightly. TIP - I have dry skin in my ears and have to moisturise them - I've found that Aveeno moisturising lotion (once dried!) helps to stop the olive slipping out and gives a better seal.I left the fitted filters in place (for a 'balanced' sound) and then let them run in for a few hours before trying out in anger. Initially I found them a little sharp in the treble, but this toned down after running in. Initial impressions were a huge amount of detail, more so than the SE535. Nirvana for an audiophile is hearing something you've never heard before in a recording, and I did, in the Jayhawks 'Bad Time' with percussion in the right channel I'd never noticed before. More importantly there was a weight to the sound that had always been missing from the SE535. The tone was still a tad bright for my tastes so I replaced the filters with the 'warm' versions.This was much more like it, the overall effect was quite subtle but smoother and generally more 'hi-fi'. Some might say vinyl-like in it's balanced tones. A word on the bass. It really is well integrated into the sound, which means it benefits the music rather than being something that jumps out on it's own. It's really detailed and tuneful too, so you can tell the difference between bass guitar, upright bass and synthesised bass. It is very extended when required though. I played Thundercat's Drunk album and there is a low end extension that IEMs just don't normally have.The best way I can put it is this: on the way home the other night I was listening to Si Cranstoun's 'Dance For Evermore' and - to the good-natured amusement of people opposite - not only tapping my foot, but bopping from one buttock to the other with a smile on my face. Since getting these I've had the most fun playing music for a long time.Testing was with a range of different devices: an iPhone with Cyrus Soundkey DAC, iPad and MacBook Pro/Audirvana with Chord Mojo DAC. The better the components, the better they sound.

I bought my first se846 earphones in 2016. Had these until 2023 when I decided to go for the gen2. The gen1 set a sound quality and accuracy standard hard to beat for under £1000. Now I have the gen2 phones and can confirm Shure have made some improvements over the gen1 - these include a red filter that expands the frequency range and other tweaks including a better seal to the nozzle case seating and firmer filter seating into the earphone. These improvements have so far stopped the loosening of the nozzles and filters, and the related sound leakage and weakened bass that sometimes affected the gen1 phones. There may be other tweaks to the drivers etc but nothing is obvious. Testing different filters is easier on the gen2 as the filters seat better. With the gen1 I preferred the white filter for its airiness and clarity of female vocals; the same goes for the gen2. The new red filter gives more bass with higher frequencies also added, and is overall very good for all music types. However the white filters remain optimal for vocals and airiness. If you can afford a Chord Mojo2 (for example) you can easily play with the lower frequency adjustments it offers and achieve white filter airiness with extra bass as needed. Interestingly it looks like the gen2 filters are identical to gen1 - the only difference is the new red filter. The gen1s were in almost daily use and travelled with me every week. They withstood all this for years and never failed proving their robustness. Hope the above comments are useful.

I have recently upgraded almost all of my living room hifi, spending about £2,500 on new Dali Oberon 5 speakers, a new Rega Brio amp, and brand new high end Eversolo DMP A6 Master Edition Streamer. They all sound amazing and have taken my music to another level. But, having decided to invest in a portable high end system for use in different rooms and on holidays and trips, I bought these and a Chord Mojo 2. I can't overstate how incredible these sound together. The Shures are absolutely superb, right from the first note they blew me away, and they are certainly much better than my Quad ERA 1 fully size headphones for the living room. The Chord Mojo is also stunning, better than the Eversoslo in my opinion (and that cost £1295). Now, despite having spent a lot in the living room, I almost only want to listen to this golden combination time and again. Amazing detail, clarity, warmth, separation, soundstaging, and deep yet controlled bass, these in ears are just phenomenal! If you love music, and can stretch to the cost, they will amaze you every time. I am just hoping that the build quality is as good as Shure claim. There are lots of stories of their cheaper ear buds coming apart eventually. At this price they had better not! You do get a two year UK warranty with Shure though. Just remember to register them when you get them. Utterly fantastic to hear my music through these, and as I (luckily) got them just last week at £840 from Amazon, they are already the best hifi purchase I have ever made..!