Shure SE215 Wireless Review - Review 2022

Best of the Year 2022 In 2022, nosotros reviewed the Shure SE215, $99 wired earphones that still sound ridiculously good for the cost and come with a removable cable. Few earphones in this price range offer removable cables, which can add together years to the life of the product (replacing a cable is a lot cheaper than buying an entirely new pair). At present Shure is bringing the swappable cable to the wireless realm with the SE215 Wireless, Bluetooth earphones with a removable neckband wire. At $149, they deliver superb sound performance, with full, round bass response and crystal clear highs, and easily earn our Editors' Choice thank you to the value of that replaceable cablevision.

The large secret hither is that the earpieces are the exact same ones establish on the wired SE215 model—they're simply sold with a different cable. This means if y'all already ain and love the SE215, you merely need to purchase the wireless Bluetooth cable in order to too have a wireless pair. The bad news is that the cable costs $99 on its own—only $50 less than the all-in-one package reviewed here. Still, it's a nice way to breathe new life into your older earphones, particularly if your phone doesn't have a 3.5mm jack.

Blueprint

Bachelor in black, translucent bluish, clear, or white, every SE215 Wireless model features a black collar—these colors refer to the earpieces but. The included cable clicks into identify at the connection signal on each earpiece, and features a rigid-only-bendable department of cable designed to go up, over, and behind the ears.

An inline remote control and mic compartment is located near the right earpiece. It has three buttons—a central button for playback and call amangement, and plus/minus buttons that control both volume and rail navigation. You'll likewise find a rubber cable sure-fire for managing slack, and a plastic compartment with no connections or controls that rests behind the neck. The included micro USB charging cablevision connects to a covered port on this compartment.

In addition to the charging cable, the SE215 Wireless ships with a shirt clip, an earwax cleaning tool for the eartips, and six full pairs of eartips in various sizes—three pairs are silicone, and three pairs are cream eartips that passively cake out a significant swath of ambient racket. All of these accessories and the earphones themselves fit inside the included zippo-upwards protective pouch.

It's notable that a 2nd cable is not included. For $30 more, you can but purchase the replacement cablevision from Shure'due south website, which allows you to utilize the earphones in wires or wireless mode. It'southward just a tad surprising the company doesn't offer this arranged, even for a slight bump in price. It is, after all, a common inclusion with Bluetooth headphones (over-ear and on-ear models).

The in-ear fit when using the foam eartips—aided by the extra security the moldable over-ear cable sections provide—is impressive. It'southward hard to get a more stable in-ear fit without going the custom-molded route.

Shure SE215-BT1 inline The mic offers mediocre intelligibility. Using the Voice Memos app on an iPhone 6s, we could empathize every word we recorded, but sound was fuzzy similar you lot go on a weak prison cell connexion. Even for Bluetooth mics it'south pretty weak, but each word was even so clear enough to be understood, at least.

Shure estimates bombardment life to be roughly eight hours, only your results will vary with your volume levels.

Performance

On tracks with intense sub-bass content, like The Knife'due south "Silent Shout," the earphones deliver a powerful low frequency response, and at top, unwise listening levels, they don't misconstrue. At moderate levels, the lows are still quite stiff, but they're not wildly boosted equally they are on many competing models in this toll range.

Neb Callahan'due south "Drover," a track with far less deep bass in the mix, gives us a meliorate sense of the overall audio signature. The drums on this rail tin can go insanely thunderous on some bass-forward earphones, but here they sound full and round—they receive the ideal amount of depression frequency presence without going overboard. Much of this has to do with how well the lows are matched with first-class clarity and detail in the highs. Callahan's baritone vocals are rich in the depression-mids, merely also exceptionally crisp and articulate. The guitar strums are bright and cutting, and the college annals percussive attacks as well take some dainty presence to them. This is a balanced audio signature that doesn't forsake the lows or tamp down the highs.

On Jay-Z and Kanye Due west'due south "No Church building in the Wild," the kicking drum loop has a strong high-mid presence, keeping its assail abrupt and allowing it to slice through the layers of the mix as ane of the more prominent elements. The sub-bass synth hits that punctuate the beat are delivered with a lilliputian more restraint than nosotros often hear through in-ears that really push the sub-bass frequencies forward. You withal gets some serious depth from them, but just as powerful is the sustain of the drum loop, which is given some solid low frequency thump here. The vocals on this rail are all delivered with ideal clarity in the loftier-mids and highs—they're crisp, articulate, and never overly sibilant.

Orchestral tracks, like the opening scene in John Adams' The Gospel Co-ordinate to the Other Mary, go an added button in the lows, bringing the lower annals instrumentation forwards in the mix a bit without things sounding unnatural. The higher register brass, strings, and vocals maintain their stiff loftier-mid and high frequency presence, the virtually prominent forcefulness in the mix, and the added bass depth brings some fullness to the mix that it can sometimes sound deprived of, but still plays a supporting role.

Decision

The Shure 215 Wireless earphones are essentially a modular organization with both wired and wireless operation if y'all buy the $30 wired cable accessory. Even at that price—$180—information technology's a good bargain, and no matter how you expect at it, these are hands some of the best sounding wired or wireless earphones on the market place for under $200, period. For $150 or less, we're also fans of the Jaybird Freedom 2, the 5-Moda Forza, and the JBL Reflect Mini BT, all of which offer solid audio performance, and some of which have more than exercise-focused designs. But Shure's SE215 Wireless earphones are one of our favorite Bluetooth options we've tested, and earn our Editors' Choice award, just as the original wired version did.

All-time Headphone Picks

Cheap AirPod Alternatives: The Best Truthful Wireless Earbuds Nether $130
The Best Gaming Headphones for 2022
The Best Audiophile Headphones for 2022
The Best Studio Headphones for 2022
More Headphone Reviews
More than from JBL

Headphone Product Comparisons

Dampen the Din: Bose Noise Cancelling Headphones 700 vs. QuietComfort 35 Ii
AirPods 2 vs. Beats Powerbeats Pro: Which True Wireless Earbuds Are the All-time?