Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #16134 in Consumer Electronics
• Brand: Shure
• Model: e2c-n
• Released on: 2006-06-26
• Dimensions: 1.00 pounds

Manufacturer's Description
Shure's E2c in-ear headphones are tiny, lightweight, and designed to sonically outperform most ear-bud-style headphones. The E2c's unique, relatively affordable design comes from Shure's years of collaborating with professional musicians. With high-energy drivers in distinctive enclosures, the E2c produces high-quality sound with excellent isolation from background noise.

The E2c's speakers are constructed with studio-grade components, producing exceptional audio clarity. Their in-ear design, using supplied flex sleeves, naturally blocks background noise. This permits lower listening volumes in loud environments--critical in safeguarding your hearing during performance or other activities. No batteries or extra equipment are needed for sound isolation.

Because every ear is different, E2c earphones come with 3 pairs (small, medium, large) of flex sleeves and 3 pairs (small, medium, large) ultra-soft flex sleeves to ensure a personalized fit. These disposable foam sleeves gently compress to fit in the ear canal. Once in the ear, the foam expands to form a tight seal. Once tightly sealed, the sleeves hold the earphones firmly in place. The E2c's cables pass behind the ear--out of sight and out of the way for comfort and discretion. Weighing only 1 ounce, the E2c is lightweight and comfortable enough for any portable listening application. The set comes with a soft, stylish, compact, and zippered carrying case, which allows for an easy, tangle-free way to store your earphones.

Box Contents

Customer Reviews

Great sound but not durable
I wrote this review for the original non-black versions. As they are exactly the same only black, I will repeat my comments as they have a durability issue which is not initially apparent in the first 6 months or so.

In common with other reviewers here who had had these headphones for more than a year (I've had mine about 18 months), I've been very impressed by the sound quality and how much outside noise is blocked by these snug fitting in ear designs but felt let down by the build quality.

The 9 different types of fitting covers (small, medium and large each in soft silicone, hard silicone and soft foam) ensure a great fit not matter what size your ears are. The sound quality is top notch with both high treble and low bass being reliably produced, allowing you to listen to any music from rock to classical without changing any equaliser settings. I'm seen some complaints of people losing bass, but I think that this must be due to using the wrong fitting kit.

I travel on the London Underground everyday, I when I don't have my E2C's in, I'm amazed but the constant tinny "tsh-tsh-tsh" from other commuters headphones (normally from the stock iPod ones that have terrible noise leakage if they don't fit perfectly). When I do have the E2C's in, I travel in blissful silence with only the music I want to travel with for company.

Unfortunately these headphones have an achilles heel, caused by the need to loop the cables over the ears. Firstly prolonged use (greater than an hour) can lead to irritation of the skin at the top of the ears. Secondly, and this is an issue mentioned many times in other reviews, the rubber/silicone covering of the wires is not good enough to take the constant bending and straightening of being looped over the ears. The covering becomes extremely stiff, especially in the cold, resulting in both cables splitting and cracking and ultimately breaking (even thought I covered them with insulating tape).

Because of the issue of the cables breaking, I couldn't recommend them unless you are the sort of person who likes to replace their headphones yearly, which is a real pity as their sound quality is superb.

Other possible options I would recommend would be: Sennheisser CX300 (cheaper) or Bose in-ear (more expensive).

Perfection in a box
Having experimented with many different headphones from many different manufacturers and having read more than enough reviews on the multitude of headphones on the market, I decided to purchase the Shure E2C headphones. My last pair were the Sony MDR EX71SL and they were at the time, a very good pair of headphones. Once I had received the Shures I plugged them in and gave them a whirl, and I was astounded by the quality of music that was coming out of them. All parts of the music sounded clearer and more defined, and whilst the bass element was not as heavy as the Sonys, they are ample for the type of music I normally amuse myself with. There were elements of the music I had not heard before with other headphones and even coming out of my home speakers. It just draws you deep into the music and won't let go.
I did a back to back test with my previous pair, and the difference between the two were just astonishing - I don't know how I managed to live without the Shures!
Admittedly it took me about a week to work out which ear piece i needed (I use the medium foam ones) but it worth trying them all out to see. The hard plastic ones look good but fall out quite easily without much movement.
The noise isolation aspect is stonking - I was in a friends car with his music on LOUD (and he likes his hard house) and all i could hear.. nay.. all I could feel was the bass shaking through my body. I couldn't hear any of the mids or tweeter sounds nor even the bass!!
For the price on Amazon you cannot go wrong considering you will be paying twice the price from the Apple shop or similar prices for top end sonys or sennheisers from any retail store.
Get them!

Black is the new white!
First the phones are an odd fit with the wire going round the back of your ear but as soon as you get one of the three sets of ear buds that works best then you're on your way. Some say the wire is flimsy but they don't seem so as it's much thicker than any earphone I've had, time will tell. Beware they do isolate the outside world very well which won't make you feel guilty about ignoring on the street market researchers or beggars playing the Hovis theme on a mouldy recorder.
The sound quality you get from these phones is very transparent and neutral in flat studio monitor type response, you know you're stepping into the realms of true high fidelity when you can crank up the volume and everything just sounds better with no fatigue on the ears or distortion in sound. These phones will also revile how good your sound source is as my old Shuffle now sounds a little wooden however they did seem like they needed a few days to break in. Although the phones do lack a bit of clout in the bass end and sparkle in the high end its still an honest frequency response with no colouration in sound. If you want a wider frequency range (beyond 128kb MP3) then the E3's are the next step.
If you want big BOOM-BOOM for listening to music with a low dynamic range then look elsewhere but if you want to go up a notch from your regular earphones and hear your music in a much more detail then for £35 with a two year Shure warranty you can't go wrong with these beauties.