Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

SOUND I bought these ear-buds along with one of the Dr. Dre Beats headsets to compare the sound. They were both exactly the same price but the Shure earbuds busted a righteous cap in Dr. Dre's pretentious creation. The rich, creamy sound coming out of these Shure puppies is amazing. It allows for the correct balance between the bass, the mids, and the highs without any distortion at various volume levels. I couldn't believe it! The Beats earbuds had an ounce of more bass to them but the mids and high's had that cheap tin-can sound. People's voices came off flat and isolated in relation to the other sounds and it didn't take long for the off-pitch ringing to hurt my ears. Even when I tested the prescribed bass-heavy Hip-Hop/Rap songs on both earbuds, the Shure's stomped-stomped-stomped the Beats out of the competition. Shure's bass, which is a fraction less than the Beats, was still excellent and provided for the sound that felt truly SURROUND. After I found that Shure's were the one for me, I submitted the Shure earbuds to other tests. NOISE-CANCELLATION Technically, these are "sound isolating" earphones and I don't know how that's different from "noise cancellation" but the one thing is true: these earbuds keep the outside noise out and music in. I drove over to my half-deaf grandmother's house just to test this. She likes to get up close and shout all holy-hell about if you'd like to eat. Cue Shure earbuds and stand in shock as grandmother is transformed into David Bowie singing "Ziggy Stardust" and holding a spatula. Crazy. I could only hear the music. But it needed more rigorous testing. I then went to a friends house who keeps a mini-zoo, including guinea pigs. If you've ever heard a guinea pig squeal, you'll remember it forever. "Wheee! Whee! Wheeeee!" I looked those noisy suckers right in the face, holding a carrot and daring them to defy the Shures. A tiny bit of the squeal came though - not even enough to notice unless you were, as I was, looking at them. But that might not be Shure's fault; guinea pigs are hyper-sonic furballs from another planet. FIT-DESIGN Yes, the design is initially awkward. Yes, there was a moment when I felt like a lab-monkey, given triangle pegs to put in round holes. Yes, I initiated a contest in my family for who could figure it out the quickest. The current record is 2.75 minutes and one person still can't figure it out; it goes to show there's variation as far as personal adjustment to the design. I was right at 4 minutes the first time I put them in, but after 2 days of use, I can whip these puppies in and out of my ears single-handed and almost as fast as any conventional earbud set. It just takes some getting use to, but if you get frustrated, remember: THE SOUND IS WORTH IT. They do very well at staying put. After my 4 minutes of wrangling, I immediately started bouncing around and trying to dislodge them. In sum: running and jumping will not dislodge them; however, vigorous head-banging and a solid head-blow by a pillow, will. FEATURES No features except extra-ordinary sound. There is no control function on the earbuds. This was a little off-putting for me. I like being able to answer calls, adjust the volume, skip tracks, etc., directly from the earbuds. Such features are very convenient if you listen to your smartphone. If you listen to a single-function device like a MP3 player, then it might not be a big deal for you. Still, its not that bad. I mean, heaven-on-earth, I have to actually push the buttons on my iphone! YES, GOOD-LOOKS COUNT BUT... The Beats won the Beauty Contest. The Shure's didn't even get an honorable mention. The Shure's are not as clear as they appear in the picture. While the actual ear-piece is clear, the rest is like dull-silver. And the cable is thick; not thick enough to connect you directly to the energy grid, but thick enough to notice. I showed the thing to a person who knows way more about these things and he was knocked off his chair (in a good way). He said, "Look at these. It's clear plastic over BRAIDED STEEL. Look! Look how much steal there is!" and he went on how the steal made some sort of difference in the quality of the sound, limiting frequencies or some such thing (I'm pretty sure I got it all wrong). I looked at them and sure enough, I could see the braided steel. It certainly makes the earbuds durable. And while I'm not sure if walking around with these things makes you more susceptible to lightning-strikes, it certainly will not break when it does. Imagine: crispy critter with intact earbuds and a smile on face because he/she never heard the lightning storm in the first place. I'm just kidding. I'm sure these are perfectly safe. SUMMARY: In the end, I didn't hesitate to keep the Shure's, even in the face of lack-of-features and beauty-contest-rejection. For me, the sound outweighs everything and I will dwell is musical BLISS even as I push actual buttons on my Iphone and defend my Cool on the street. Sound is everything.