Hands-on with Shure's iPhone Headset Adapter

The iPhone's annoyingly recessed headset jack—which isn't compatible with about 99 percent of the headphone plugs out there—has been a major bone of contention since the handset hit stores, and the few adapters on the market have been unwieldy disappointments. Now comes Shure with an adapter of its own, and I think we've got a winner on our hands.

The aptly named Shure Music Phone Adapter is basically just a 34-inch-long black cord with a 3.5mm headphone jack (yes, iPhone compatible) on one end and a microphone (or VoicePort, as Shure calls it) with a build-in control button on the other. Solidly built, the adapter should work with any set of minijack-equipped headphones or earbuds; I used mine with Shure's $150 SE210 earphones and Sony's $40 set of MDR-EX81LP's. Both sets of earphones sounded great with the adapter, but I was even more impressed by the Shure's call-handling prowess. Answering an incoming call is a simple matter of clicking the control button (just as it is with the cheap-o earbuds included with the iPhone), and callers said they could hear me loud and clear, even with the in-line microphone dangling a good six inches from my mouth (a small plastic clip holds the microphone in place).

Shure's Music Phone Adapter is pricey at $40 and hard to come by; a clerk at the Soho Apple Store told me that the first shipment arrived only last week and sold out in a day. To date, however, it's the best solution I've seen to the iPhone's nagging headset-jack problem.

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Music Phone Adapter [Shure]