Ears-on with Shure's New $99 Earbuds

Shure's old E2c earphones were among the company's cheapest, at just $99—but users complained that they had the bass response of a kazoo. Now the company has launched the $99 SE110, a new pair of earbuds with the same type of driver as its premium models. So far, I love what I hear.

Reps from Shure visited my office earlier this week and dropped off the new earbuds, which have the same basic "microspeakers" as my $150 SE210 earphones—just in a larger housing (pictured above; the SE110 earbud is on the right). I also learned that the new earbuds will ship with an iPhone-accessible audio jack (as will all of Shure's earphone models, moving forward).

I've been using the SE110's (available September 17) for a couple of days now, and I must say—I'm really impressed. High-end detail is excellent, and the low-end beats are nice and boomy; in fact, I think these earbuds actually sound better than my SE210's (whether the microspeakers have been improved or I just bought a bum pair of earphones is an open question). I also compared the SE110's to the older $99 E2c model (soon to be available only through pro retails chanels), and there's simply no comparison; the pratcially bass-less E2c can't hold a candle to the SE110's clean, rich sound. Give 'em a listen.

Related:
Press release [Shure]