Chuong's Pick: Shure SE115 Earphones Brings Quietude and a Symphony

Shure's SE115 headsets are some of the best sounding personal earphones at the $100 price point (retail is $99, MSRP is higher at $120). If you're in the market for earphones that fit comfortably in your ears, sound great acoustically, and block out the sounds of crying babies and fighting spouses on your next air travel, the SE115 should be on your list of items to pack. The earphones offer up to six ear tips to ensure a comfortable fit and its noise isolation technology performs much better than the noise cancellation technology found on the competing Bose earphones at around the same price point. Because of its exceptional performance and its ability to mute out screaming infants with lungs of steel on my recent claustrophobic plane trip from Los Angeles to Boston trip, I am awarding the SE115 earphones from Shure a Chuong's Pick Editor's Choice award.


Shure video introduction of the SE115

Chuong’s Picks is a series that features electronics, gadgets, and gears that I have used and selected due to the product’s balance between performance and value, form and function. Essentially, it is my personal “Editor’s Choice” and recommendation to you to hopefully help the beginning gadgetphile pick from among the best products in a category without having to spend too much money or time researching a group of products.

Read on to find out more.

Noise Cancellation v. Noise Isolation:
So you've hard me used the term noise cancellation and noise isolation before, what the heck do they mean? Shure uses noise isolation, which isn't necessarily the most high tech solution to blocking out background noise. Rather, with memory foam ear tips that expand to fill out in your ear canal, the Shure SE115 works to really create a physical barrier between your ears and the noisy environment. Noise isolation is done passively.

Noise cancellation, on the other hand, is done actively and works to cancel the noise from the external environment before it reaches your ears. This is achieved through a process of active noise control. Headphones or earphones that use this method requires electronic circuitry and requires a battery or power source, and Bose is the champion of this method. Noise cancellation works by using a microphone to detect ambient, white background noise and create a sound wave on the opposite polarity of the noise being picked up by the microphone. This cancels out the noise within the headphones through a means known as destructive interference. Noise cancellation works best for ambient, background noise, like the wind noise on an airplane.

Hardware:
Unlike the complicated, circuit-filled hardware of Bose noise cancellation headphones, the Shure SE115 earphones look like traditional earphones. Shure went a unique route. You get the earphones (left and right) which comes together on a connector. That, you may notice, would be too short to connect to your Windows phone. Well, you connect the left and right earphones (which omes together to a single 3.5 mm connector) to another cord. That allows the earphones to have that "Y" shape. The best part? Shure makes another component--called the Music Phone Adapter (at another $50 cost)--with a microphone so you can swap out that secondary cord with a cord that has a microphone for those who prefer to use their smartphone as an MP3 device and the earphones as a corded headset for phone calls.


Shure earphones, it still lacks the final connector or the Music Phone Adaptor


Music Phone Adaper (MPA) connects to the Shure SE115 so you can use your phone SE115 earphones as a corded headset for phone calls

The earphones come in a number of colors--black, blue, red, and pink. The model that I got is red.

Performance:
The earpieces fit comfortably in my ears. There are rubber tips, which comes in small, medium, and large, as well as foam tips, also comes in three different sizes. The foam tips are like memory foam. You squeeze them in and plug them into your ears. The foam does take a little bit of time to expand again to fill and fit the shape of your ear canal to create that noise barrier in noise isolation so don't be alarmed if they looked crushed or squished after you squeeze them. Once expanded, you can hardly hear the outside world. I wouldn't recommend using the SE115 for street jogging, running, cycling, driving, or in situations where you would need to be aware of the surroundings and be conscious of what's happening around you. Otherwise, on a plane they work marvelously well.

Acoustically, the sounds produced by the SE115 were great. The sounds are balanced, rounded, and rich. There are a number of various models for consumers to choose from, but the SE100 series are the beginning point--as you get higher, you get better audio quality and will need to spend more money. If you're a big audiophile with a huge earphone budget to spend, Shure also makes higher end earphones with multi tweeters, multi drivers, and multi woofers! Imagine that--a stereo system in your ear drums! Of course, be ready to shell out $500 for the SE530, which comes with dedicated tweeter and dual woofers. For my purposes, the SE115 sound better than my Zune and iPod headphones and beat out the Apple In-Ear Headphones ($80) and the Bose In-Ear Headset ($130). I was extremely pleased with the audio quality that the SE115 provided.

Value:
If you're a frequent traveler or find yourself wanting more performance from your headphones, the Shure SE115 will definitely give you plenty. It's great noise isolation system, comfortable fit, and great performance earns it a 5 out of 5 stars and the title of Chuong's Pick. I would highly recommend these headsets to anyone who needs some quietude while enjoying their tunes.