All Things Audio

Buy the Shure E4 at zZounds for $299.99 (Jan. 14, 2007)

I wrote a short mini-review on the Shure E4 headphones a while back, but I wanted to do a more thorough review and haven’t gotten around to it until now. To start, the Shure E4’s are a well-regarded set of in-ear monitors priced around the middle of the in-ear market ($200-$300). As good quality in-ears they are appropriate for stage monitor use, shutting out the noise when you’re in a plane, or just for regular use with your iPod. You could even just use them as your regular headphones, though I find in-ears in general are not ideal for that application.

Features

The E4’s come in plastic clamshell packaging and includes various accessories. Both soft and hard silicone tips in small, medium, and large sizes as well as a triple flange are supplied, allowing you to fine tune seal and comfort for your particular ears. Replacement filters as well as a cleaning tool are provided. An 1/8″ to 1/4″ converter is also supplied for headphone use in professional applications or with your home receiver. An inline attenuator is also included for those times when your audio source does not have its own volume control. Lastly, a small zippered case is provided to protect your headphones while not in use.

Shure uses the standard single-driver design in the E4, which keeps the form factor relatively small–once they’re in your ears, they look as small or smaller than standard earbuds. As previously implied, the filters are removable in the E4’s, though it’s not a procedure that is commonly necessary. If you ever find that one side just stops working, it’s worth a shot just replacing the filter. It may have become clogged with earwax.

Quality

The cord is relatively thick, reducing microphonics which is especially important when walking with them on and terminates in a relatively sturdy right angle 1/8″ plug. Each actual headphone is encased in hard plastic with a brushed metal screw on end that removes for access to the filters. They could easily last someone sitting on them a few times, although I wouldn’t intentionally try it out. Though the build quality of these headphones is excellent, the soft tips including the triple flange probably won’t last forever. I’ve noticed that after a (somewhat long) while they tend to crease in the flaps and no longer seal quite as well. They are intended to be disposable and replaceable though, and the creases aren’t absolutely sound-destroying or anything like that. I expect the same thing happens with any brand of soft in-ear tips.

Musical Reference Tests

All reference tests were done with my computer through the headphone out on my Echo Layla 3G with flat EQ. Signal quality should be quite excellent, and primarily limited by the headphones. The same selection of music was used as from my BM5a review. Again, the selection was chosen to be difficult material. I will intentionally be picky and point out as many flaws as I can, but this does not mean that the overall sound is poor.

The tone test indicated reasonably audible lows down to around 35Hz, but a slight rolloff below 50Hz and another sharp rolloff below 40Hz. A reasonable show for a single driver in-ear.

I started again with Eric Clapton’s song My Father’s Eyes from his album Pilgrim. The opening bass line is ok–defined and punchy, but not especially hard-hitting. Don’t expect these to replace a subwoofer. As expected of headphones, positioning is excellent. Each part is easily localizable and clearly audible. Though the soundstage is pretty wide, everything sounds like it’s coming from right next to or inside your head. This is common with in-ear headphones and for some people takes some getting used to, but I don’t particularly mind.

In Club Descarga, from The Body Acoustic, the trumpet and bass shine. The muted trumpet of course has the nasal tone of a muted trumpet, but it is never harsh or strident. Likewise, the bass has a nice warmth to it. On the other hand, not all the detail is reproduced. Both the stringy rattle of the string bass and the slight breathy-ness of the bass clarinet are subdued, and the hits on the congas are also lacking some definition. It’s still an enjoyable rendition, but a tad more detail on the highs would certainly be welcome.

The titular song from Over the Sea to Skye: The Celtic Connection opens with a tin whistle. The sound is quite warm and smooth, almost to the point where you could call it flute-like with the exception of the slides. Galway’s flute likewise has a great warm and round sound. Even the pipes when they come in have a wonderful sweetness to them. This is definitely a good showcase piece for these headphones.

The harpsichord in Sonata in C, KK 153 by Scarlatti from my The Harpsichord CD reproduced fairly well. While feeling slightly on the side of small and enclosed. The E4’s manage to avoid most of the tinny-ness that can appear in listening to harpsichord recordings. There is a slight excess of nasal tone at times, but for the most part there’s a nice sweetness to the upper mids.

Tool’s Vicarious from 10,000 Days is filled with heavily distorted guitars, but on the E4’s it never sounds excessively nasal or grainy. Still, heavy distortion does often have some grit to it and that isn’t always reproduced with these in-ears especially in loud heavy portions of the song. Instead, at these times the distortion is somewhat warm and on the smooth side. It never muddies–each part is clearly separate–but the tone is not quite accurate.

Real World Use

Though it will vary from person to person, I found the medium soft tips quite comfortable and easy to use and remove, but the triple flanges sealed better, most easily yielding the best sound and isolation. They felt like they went in a bit too deep into my ear though, so I ended up cutting off the third (smallest) flange which alleviated the feeling and as far as I noticed still kept the seal. They are definitely less comfortable for me than the soft mediums, but the sound difference is worth it. Something to note is that my ear canals adjusted drastically over a period of a few days. Over time they stretched to accommodate the tips more easily. The first day or two hurt a bit, and on occasion they still do (I’ve concluded that your ears change shape depending on the weather… seriously!).

The E4’s can be worn with cord in front of you as with regular earbuds or looped over the ears with the cord behind your back. I found the latter less restrictive with the cord not getting in the way as much–convenient for casual listening, but especially important when playing an instrument. There is an adjustable loop to tighten or loosen the Y in the cable to reduce cord rub.

My primary use for the E4’s is with my MP3 player, a Sony Pocket Vaio. I usually commute to work on the bus and have found that the in-ears block quite a bit of the noise. If you listen for it, there is still a bit of the low frequency rumbling of the road, but it isn’t distracting to me when I focus on the music. Sound quality is reasonably good, though somewhat limited by the player output. Your mileage may vary with other players, but I’ve found that the Sony has plenty of power for the E4’s and I leave the volume at around 2 or 3 bars out of 20. Although in general I prefer to leave EQ as flat as possible, with this MP3 player I like to boost both highs and lows as the bass seems slightly weak and the highs are not as defined as I’d like on flat.

I’ve also attempted to use these headphones to listen to music at work, but it really isn’t a great fit for that. Although they sound great with a decent output, in any environment which requires interaction with other people, I found myself annoyed at having to constantly take them off and put them on. Not only that, but if people came up to me with my back turned, most of the time I wouldn’t hear them call my name, which led to some embarrassment.

Other than for casual music listening, I also use my in-ears for on-stage monitoring. I play electric guitar using a POD XT Live, and our setup usually only allows for a single monitor signal for the whole band, making it difficult to hear myself in many situations. Combining the full band’s monitor signal with my own (split at the DI) with a mixer allows me to hear myself slightly above everything else without interfering with what the rest of the band hears in their monitors. One of the other important effects of using in-ears is protection from stage noise. The drums can get quite loud, and the E4’s provide an excellent amount of protection. Although the drums are still somewhat audible through the in-ears, they are quite muted. The 53″ cable is just long enough for this kind of use. I usually have the mixer set on a stand of sorts (or another nearby object around to elevate its position), and the cable length gives me a limited amount of freedom of movement. If the mixer is set on the ground you will need to have an extension cable (or be three feet tall). During practice sessions, it can be a little difficult communicating with some of the instrumentalists who don’t have microphones for obvious reasons. Also, in actual live sessions, it’s strange not to be able to hear the audience. That definitely takes some getting used to. In an ideal setup the sound crew would mix in a few ambient mics, but we haven’t gone that route quite yet.

Comparisons

Both Ultimate Ears and Etymotics provide good competition at this price range. UE’s Super.fi 5 Pro (I’d advise against the EB) and Etymotics ER-4P are excellent in-ears. Shure also has their new SE line as I’ve mentioned before. I have no experience with the SE line, but I would be quite surprised if they don’t include a comparable set. I don’t really have enough experience with the Super.fi’s to comment in detail, but below are two other possibilities from Etymotic that are worth a consideration at least.

Etymotic ER-6i

These are really a lower tier headphone, so it’s not exactly fair to compare them, but just for reference, the ER-6i which I believe is a great value, does not match up. The biggest difference is in clarity. The Shure E4 just gives you much clearer sound. The ER-6i will get muddy quite quickly. One thing that the ER-6i does have over the E4 is a bit more bass response, but that can be boosted through software, (most DAPs have EQ settings too), and the E4 headphones have good clean tight bass (much cleaner than the ER-6i which sounds boomy in comparison), just not quite as much of it. The ER-6i also has a wider soundstage; the E4 sounds very much like all the music is happening in your head. This is an issue with all in-ears, but more so with the E4 than the ER-6i.

Etymotic ER-4P

The ER-4P is just a different headphone from the E4, it’s hard to say which is better. The E4 has a warmer darker sound while the ER-4P is brighter with slightly better clarity. I found the ER-4P to be too bright actually; guitar crunch was often too harsh to the extent that it was annoying. On the other hand, classical music was great with the improved clarity. The ER-4P had more issues with microphonics than the E4. It could go either way, both are good headphones, but I think it just depends on what kind of music you listen to. I personally bought the E4 because it fit my listening choices much better (a lot of rock, alternative, etc.).

Conclusion

The Shure E4 headphones are a great set of in-ear monitors for both stage and consumer use. They isolate quite well, and sound great. If I had to change one thing it’d be increased detail in the upper frequencies, but in comparison to other in-ears at this price point, I’m really not complaining. The warm yet unmuddled sound with respectable bass response, beautiful mids and upper mids, and fair highs demand at least consideration.