Shure's high-end earphones might be the best we've heard. Could they possibly be worth the cost? Matthew Ruiz has the answer in our full review.
Review summary of the Shure se530PTH:
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 Ultimately, what will decide whether or not you like these headphones is your level of devotion to true clarity in an earphone. If you just want your music to sound pleasing to the ear, and don't care to hear every nuance and mistake of every song, than the e530PTH is probably not for you. But if your library is stocked with LAME-encoded MP3’s, or even better, completely lossless digital music (apple lossless, FLAC, etc), and you enjoy dissecting the layers of your favorite music, then you just found your new pair of headphones. Start saving up! Release: August 2007. Price: $550.
Pros: Best audio quality we've heard on an earphone, compact design, bevy of included accessories, unique PTH device
Cons: Prohibitive cost
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Full review of the Shure se530PTH:
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Editor's Note: The model currenty sold by Shure is se530PTH, but the model we tested is labeled the e500PTH. The two are exactly the same except for their color. For the purposes of this review they will be referred to as the se530PTH.
Design - Very Good
The se530PTH is a modular earphone system, meaning it has multiple parts that are interchangeable depending on the desired listening experience. The main earphone cable extends only 19 inches; you need to connect it to either a short, 9-inch extension cable, a long, 36-inch extension cable, or the PTH unit, which has a small microphone near the female 3.5mm connector (more on this later). Every piece included with the earphones is sturdy, durable and functional; every wire has a flexible joint and the connection from the cable to the earphone is even kevlar-coated to better shield the wires.
The earbuds are surprisingly small, considering that there are three different drivers inside. They fit comfortably with most of the provided sleeves. Having owned several pairs of Shures over the years, we have grown to love the foam inserts. For some reason, the foamies on the se530s were the least comfortable we've worn. After about 20 minutes wearing the foamies, we experienced some pressure and discomfort in our ears. However, our second favorite sleeve, the rubber triple-flange, felt better than we expected. Shorter than the flanges included with the Shure E4s, the earphone sits closer to the ear, making for a more comfortable fit (not to mention a much cleaner, less dorky look). The triple-flange can be cleaned and re-used, unlike the grease- and dirt-magnet foamies, and they are much easier to slide in and out of your ear canal. That being said, each user will have to experiment to find which of the inserts they like the best.
Sound - Excellent
To say these earphones are powerful would be an egregious understatement. Even with the amp inside our iMac turned to below 50%, the sound was at ear-splitting volume. When listening on ANY device, it is important to have the volume turned ALL the way down before pressing play, and then adjust from the bottom up, as you could cause serious damage to your ears. To be fair, Shure does warn users about this, but something along the lines of a giant cigarette-sized warning across the front might be called for.
Once you have the volume at a reasonable level, you can appreciate the beauty of listening to music exactly as it was recorded.
We listened to a lossless, FLAC-encoded digital music playlist to test the limits of the se530's, and we were nothing short of blown away. Listening to everything from The Cure to Dr. Dre to Bjork to Elliott Smith, the experience was breathtaking. The highs were crisp, the mid-range vocals clear and the bass thumped when it needed to and rolled when the situation called for it.
One of the more interesting treats about such clarity are discovering sounds that have been hidden in your music all your life, just waiting to pop out so you can hear them. In Johnny Cash's "Live At Folsom Prison," the electric guitar usually dominates the mix, losing much of Johnny’s acoustic guitar. Not only does the acoustic come back to life on the se530's, but you can distinctly hear where each source is coming from: electric and percussion from the right ear, acoustic and bass from the left.
When we say that you hear "everything" with these earphones, believe us: you will hear someone's foot tapping along to the beat in the studio, as well fingers sliding furiously over guitar strings during the complicated fretwork on Metallica's "Jump in the Fire." The most intimate experience is with solo acoustic tracks, like Iron & Wine's "Jezebel," during which you can distinctly hear guitar pick scraping against the guitar string. The experience is almost visual, with sounds so clear you can picture not only the person in the studio singing and playing, but the sound waves bouncing around the room. In a way, it was kind of depressing, because we can't imagine hearing music this well ever again.
Shure's demographic for this product is very narrow. You're only going to enjoy the benefit of the three drivers if you're listening to high-bitrate or completely lossless digital music (or vinyl, if you're into that sort of thing); even then, the untrained ear might not be able to tell the difference in sound quality between the se530 and slightly cheaper competitors. In fact, if most of your music collection is comprised of AAC tracks you downloaded off of iTunes, chances are you will be disappointed. Compressed music actually sounds compressed on the se530; it makes your clean lossless stuff sound glorious, but also makes the 128kbps stuff in your library sound like it was recorded in a bubble-wrap factory.
Features - Very Good
The jewel of the e530PTH is its namesake Push To Hear device. One of the biggest logistical issues with Shure's sound isolating earphones, especially when using foam inserts, is that they do their job REALLY well. Outside sound is almost completely inaudible with no volume, and with any music playing is non-existent. The Push To Hear device uses a bypass to fade the music coming into the earphones, and a microphone to pick up the sounds of the outside world and route them to the speakers. The device works as advertised, and the microphone is quite sensitive. The hardest thing to distinguish is human speech, but turning up the volume on the device usually fixes it. In our quiet office environment, I could hear voices from several cubicles away. The biggest drawback is the bulk of the PTH, but the attached clip prevents you from having the clunky box swinging from your ears. The volume dial on the device is also absurdly small, difficult to move and cheap-looking. We were able to stick a fingernail in there to move the dial, but for a $60 attachment to $500 headphones, this should not have been an issue. That being said, it is a cool included feature, and is available for purchase separately, compatible with any headphones.
Included Accessories - Excellent
In addition to the three cable extension options, the package includes a 1/8-1/4 inch stereo adapter plug, a cleaning tool, a volume attenuator, an assortment of foam, rubber and plastic sleeves and a large oval carrying case. The case didn't seem big enough for both the PTH unit and the earphones, though we were unwilling to try to jam them all in there at once. Instead we chose to use another smaller Shure case to carry the earphones and the included case to carry the larger PTH unit.
Comparison
Compare the Shure se530PTH with similar products
Who is the Shure se530PTH for?
Music aficionados
Price and availability
Available in the U.S. in August 2007, the Shure se530PTH is priced at $550 .
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