Shure SE530

The basics

Shure SE 530 was known as E500PTH. It produces soundstage using the Triple TruAcoustic Micro-Speakers. A built-in tweeter generates the mids and highs. The sound is isolated and the dual woofers are responsible for balancing bass. Adjusting levels of external sound for intelligibility can be done through the Push-to-Hear Control. Design and colours come in metallic bronze

The good

Unless you’re Bernie Ecclestone’s wife, you probably can’t afford the best car in the world, or the most luxurious house, but with these modest-looking Shures you can enjoy the warm, rich sound of the best earphones money can buy. The SE530’s have a tweeter and two woofers in each earphone, which deliver smooth, forceful bass alongside clear top notes. Nestled cosily inside your ear canal. The Shures almost completely block out all nasty outside sounds such as Formula 1 cars, nagging model wives, and James Blunt gigs. If you do want to interact with the outside world, a Push to Hear (PTH) button activates a microphone to allow conversations.

The bad

You’ll need a top-quality source to justify these beauties – a standalone hi-fi or lossless-encoded digital files, for instance. Even then, you might baulk at paying more for your earphones than you did for your brand new 120GB iPod.

The bottom line

Approach with caution: the sound quality – and the price – put these Shures in a world all of their own.