Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #41787 in Consumer Electronics
• Brand: Shure
• Model: e4c-n
• Released on: 2006-06-26
• Dimensions: .7 pounds

Customer Reviews

Excellent - after a few hours
I have just listened to 'Night on the Bare Mountain' by Mussorgsky through these headphones - never heard any sound reproduction so alive as with these phones. Incredible.

WARNING!! if I had rated them within the first hour of getting them I would have scored 1 star, because at first they sound cheap and tinny - after you've had them for about 3-4 hours though you have worked out how to get them in and on day 2 they are amazing! I did panic a bit at first and thought I had wasted my money but now, going back to the Sony Fontopias which I thought were excellent they sound mushy with the levels fubar'd.

Excellent sound but is let down by cable quality.
I first got into Shure in-ear phones over a couple of years ago with the E2C model, and then a year later upgraded them with some E4Cs. Both models have great sound (and sound isolation) but have two main issues:

1) having the phones fitted in your ears correctly makes a big difference to the sound quality; especially the bass. I find this an issue simply because there is little margin for error - if they're not in correctly the sound is not at its best. This generally keeps me paranoidly checking they are fitting correctly at regular intervals.

2) after a year or so the cable starts to crack and split around the area where you wrap it around the back of your ear. Now, although I do use my phones a lot of the time at work (continually taking them in and out) I'd still expect something that costs as much as these do not to have such a fundemental flaw. Moreover, as this has happened with both my E2C and E4C I can't help thinking this is a general problem across the range.

So, my conclusion is. If you're after an in-ear pair of phones that are comfortable, isolate sound well, and (more importantly) sound top-notch then E4Cs are a good choice - but don't expect them to last that long if you use them a lot of the time.

If you're in the process of researching what in-ear phones are out there then have a look at the Klipsch phones. From what I read, the Image phones are fantastic (albeit more expensive) so I will probably be replacing my E4Cs with them in the not to distant future.

If you budget can afford these...................
go get a pair and in a hurry....

I upgraded to these from the e2c's....which I thought were good, but EC4 are quite a bit better....

I've read other reviews regarding the lack of bass ?? I don't know if these people just like overbaring bass at the expense of the rest of the frequency range, but these headphones do not lack bass at all. They give very rich bass, as well as mid and high tones.

You do however need wear them as per instructions e.g. inverted with cable comeing over and behind the ear.......as this gives snug fit and better bass response.

I love these headphones and would not wear any other pair other than perhaps the EC5's.......which are a tad pricey for me !!

Easy to give these a 5 rating.......fantastic.