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Shure Sound-Isolating Ear Bud Headphones - Black

Model number: SE115-K | SKU: 9233625

Listening to your favorite tunes just got better thanks to these earphones. The sound-isolating design directs sound into your ear canal for deep bass and amazing frequency response.

Average Customer Rating:

4.4 out of 5 (13 Reviews)

11 of 13 (85%) customers would recommend this product to a friend.

Customer Reviews for Shure Sound-Isolating Ear Bud Headphones - Black

Review 1 for Shure Sound-Isolating Ear Bud Headphones - Black

Customer Rating

2.0 5

Bad Design 10/12/2009
By SteveAR from Bentonville, AR

Value for Price

2.0 5

Sound Quality

2.0 5

Comfort

3.0 5

What's great about it: Nothing that I discovered
What's not so great: Short Cord, Heavy Plug,

"I am looking to upgrade from my old Sennheiser CX300's. Based on the good reviews I tried the Shure SE115. The main cord is much to short to be of any use at all, with a big heavy straight 3.5mm plug. With the cord extension the entire cord is so heavy the buds were pulled from my ears. Using the short cord and my Sansa Clip clipped to my shirt collar, the buds would stay in place but the sound was only marginally better than the Sennheiser's, certainly not another $80 worth. I did burn them in for 10 hours before using them."

Would you recommend this product to a friend?: No

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Review 2 for Shure Sound-Isolating Ear Bud Headphones - Black

Customer Rating

5.0 5

excellent headphones 09/28/2009
By soberirish from toledo, ohio

Value for Price

5.0 5

Sound Quality

5.0 5

Comfort

5.0 5

What's great about it: great audio, thick cord, really comfortable
What's not so great: none so far

"I just bought these so i don't know about the durability, but my stock ipod headphones broke so i needed new ones and had spent some time looking for an above average pair. I had pretty much made up my mind on buying the bose in ear headphones.
When I arrived at the store the guy at the mp3 area told me that if I was going to pay 100 bucks for headphones that the Shure 115s would blow the bose ones away. Well, they don't disappoint. I just got done listening to the new three days grace and breaking benjamin cd's and the quality is amazing. I can't hear my t.v. which is on normal volume. Also they are a heck of a lot more comfortable than the apple ones, which would fall out if I tried to do anything more than a slow jog. but these stayed in through my whole workout."

Would you recommend this product to a friend?: Yes

1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

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Review 3 for Shure Sound-Isolating Ear Bud Headphones - Black

Customer Rating

5.0 5

sound is great 08/26/2009
By brad28 from indiana

Value for Price

4.0 5

Sound Quality

5.0 5

Comfort

5.0 5

Durability

5.0 5

What's great about it: sound isolation, stay in my ears, great sound
What's not so great: $

"These things sound great! My first impression i thought they were ok but the more i started listening to my music the more i wanted to listen to it. you will here things you've never noticed in your music. The sound isolation is like wearing ear plugs! They put you in your own world even in loud places. My wife hates them bc i cant ever hear her when she talks to me(but i like it :) ). There is plenty of bass any more would over power the sound. give yourself time to get the hang of the fit and swallow the price tag and you'll love them. Couldn't do with out them now. Wish i caould afford the se 530's. one day!"

Would you recommend this product to a friend?: Yes

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Review 4 for Shure Sound-Isolating Ear Bud Headphones - Black

Customer Rating

5.0 5

Best $100 ever spent 08/08/2009
By musicman1977 from ohio

Value for Price

5.0 5

Sound Quality

5.0 5

Comfort

5.0 5

Durability

5.0 5

What's great about it: Sound quality is just l;ike being at a live concert
What's not so great: nothing

"I have these for 4 years use them daily and never had any problems with them. It comes with different ear pieces in different sizes which was most excellent. They might seem a little pricy but they are worth it. The are light weight and cord goes behind the ears so it does not dang and get in your way when moving your hands."

Would you recommend this product to a friend?: Yes

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Review 5 for Shure Sound-Isolating Ear Bud Headphones - Black

Customer Rating

5.0 5

Amazing 08/07/2009
By Anonymous from Camden, IN

Value for Price

5.0 5

Sound Quality

5.0 5

Comfort

5.0 5

Durability

5.0 5

What's great about it: Sound Isolation, Comfort, Sound quality, Durability, Performance
What's not so great: Bass performance

"These are by far the most comfortable I have ever used. I listen to a lot of acoustic music with piano and guitar emphasis. Antoine Dufour and Andy McKee mainly with some pop music in there as well. The sound is incredible, but the bass doesn't perform quite as well as I would like, but it is more equally balanced than other headphones. Don't let the smaller frequency range scare you, the noise isolation is so good that these headphones don't need such a big range to make up for what the other companies have to deal with. Bottom line: I will never buy a different brand of headphones again, and I will only upgrade within the Shure line, I'm am actually hearing things within songs that I have never noticed before."

Would you recommend this product to a friend?: Yes

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Review 6 for Shure Sound-Isolating Ear Bud Headphones - Black

Customer Rating

5.0 5

Wowwww 08/05/2009
By Anonymous from Richmond, va

What's great about it: Sound production and noise reduction
What's not so great: nothing

"After reading some reviews here on Best Buy, I decided to go and pick up these ear buds. I have never worn noise cancelling ear buds before, so maybe I don't have much to compare with, but I have tried on endless other kinds that have various issues such as cord noise, and lack of comfort, or even some that wouldn't stay put. I have tiny ears, so finding a good pair of headphones has been a very fruitless search. Until now.

So I went and bought the Shure Sounds during my lunch break an hour ago and promptly went to McDonalds to grab a quick bite. I kept the original foam pieces in since I didn't know how to remove them yet (I figured it out when I got back to the office). There was a whining kid in the booth ahead of me, and his older toddler brother was very chatty.

I put the earbuds in, and ahhhhhh... wonderful silence. I played my music. Ahhhhhhh that's ALL I heard. I could see the kids' mouths moving in front of me, but I couldn't hear a peep. It was just me, my burger, and my music.

I did boost the bass on my iPod Classic, and that provided enough bass for my liking. These things are very comfortable. My co-workers are gonna hate me, because now I will NEVER hear when they yell over the cubicle to get my attention. There is no cord noise. The cord is nice and durable looking/feeling.

I think I'm in love."

Would you recommend this product to a friend?: Yes

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Review 7 for Shure Sound-Isolating Ear Bud Headphones - Black

Customer Rating

5.0 5

Definitely Worth The $$ 07/01/2009
By JakeMG from Monee, IL

Value for Price

5.0 5

Sound Quality

5.0 5

Comfort

5.0 5

Durability

5.0 5

What's great about it: Sound quality, great bass improvement over the SE110 and many other Shure earphones, sound isolation is awesome!
What's not so great: If you lose them or get them stolen, it sucks harder than when you lose your iBuds

"I used to have the Shure SCL3 earphones, which were basically one step up from the SE110, and were comparatively equal to the SE210. (They were tragically stolen.) These 115s are supposed to fall somewhere in between the 110 and the 210. (Hence the "115")

I have to say, having had an equivalent to the 210, I actually like these 115's much better. Most non-audiophile listeners prefer a little more bass punch, and these guys definitely deliver. The mids and highs are also wonderful. The key is to find the right tip to get a total seal. I recommend one of the "olives" foam sizes. You just squish them, put them in, and let them expand for a great seal. Take the 5 or 10 minutes to figure out which tip fits you best: it's definitely worth in the longrun. I personally use the largest size. I use the foam tips mostly, but I will use the gray tips when I need to remove and reinsert the earphones a bunch of times because the foam tips don't just pop in and out. You have to go through a little process to get them in, but get much better isolation/sound quality.

The sound isolation is ridiculous. I am wearing them right now, and I can't even hear myself type. If I have any gripes, I would say that my SCL3 (remember, same as the 210) seemed to have a slight edge on isolation. Other than that, I really like these better, soundwise.

The foam inserts could possibly be a little uncomfortable after time, but that's probably because most people are not used to wearing in-ear-monitor-style earphones. Give them a chance. You'll get used to it.

So, overall, they are fantastic, sound 1000x better than stock iPod buds, and isolate well. If you are considering getting Bose in-ear phones, read the bad reviews on them and buy these.

Finally, you may notice that the pink and blue versions are $20 more. There is no difference in sound quality; they are the same earphones. You're just paying $20 for a fancy color. I say just get the black ones and spend the $20 putting a few albums on your MP3 player."

Would you recommend this product to a friend?: Yes

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Review 8 for Shure Sound-Isolating Ear Bud Headphones - Black

Customer Rating

4.0 5

Great earphones for starting professional earphone 06/20/2009
By 320Paul from Miami, FL

Value for Price

4.0 5

Sound Quality

4.0 5

Comfort

4.0 5

Durability

5.0 5

What's great about it: Thick wires, multiple ways to put it on, pretty stylish, produces better than average sound, good bass.
What's not so great: foam hurts ears after having it on for an amount of time, voice quality seems to be missing something. . .

"The Shure 115-K headphone package includes a registration paper, manual in a lot of languages, the headphones, a bunch of buds (both foam and plastics), a Shure bag, and a 3m extension cord.

The headphones audio quality is definitely better then your average $20-30 dollar iPod headphones or the Skullcandy's $30-40 dollar range, but that's to be expected since you paid nearly $100 or above $100 dollars for these pairs.

I'm a Carrie Underwood fan so I immediately tested these earphones on her songs, vocals are just slightly more details, but as soon as the violin or guitars kick in, there is definitely a immediate difference, the string instruments seem to be much more clearer and it sounds more life-like. However, the voice doesn't sound as life-like as the instruments, I'm strictly reviewing this with the Mark Levison sound system that's on the Lexus ES350, those speakers bring out her voice to truly life-like feelings while the Shure 115-K earphones seem to lack in that department.

The earphones do great with songs with more bass, as the songs that I've tested weren't so heavily dependent on bass. I moved onto instrumental groups such as Liquid Tension Experiment with their drums, electric guitars, and electric piano combo, the beat and the quality was amazing, the bass was there, the songs were able to give me goosebumps back which not many earphones are able to do. So these earphones are perfect for music lovers who play a lot of bass intensive songs, however, not everyone may believe the bass is enough, but for me it definitely is.

There is one minor flaw to the design of the cables, since its attached to a 3m extension, whenever I would pause or try to call someone on the iPhone it sounds like it was skidding on the song, I believe this is due to the extension sending signals that the earphones don't immediately pick up, but its just a minor remark, I find nothing bad about it.

The cables are thick, which basically states "I'm good with you for 2 years of regular use", its nice to have that feeling that Shure has you covered for 2 years once you buy these expensive pair of earphones.

I also want to state that the blocking of sound is top notch, at least with the foam tips. I was in the car riding in the backseat, driving on the highway with people talking makes it a fairly noisy environment, I could say for myself with these foam tips, they blocked out the sound excellently, I even fell asleep on the car on the way to the restaurant.

Conclusion: Its all about preference, but these are definitely good starters for a professional-entry earphones, I'm a pretty fair critic when it came to the ratings, the price is a bit expensive, sound quality is great but I feel like there's something missing, the voices sound just a tab little bit artificial, comfort is good for the most part, and as for durability goes, I gave that a 5/5 just because of the thick cables."

Would you recommend this product to a friend?: Yes

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Review 9 for Shure Sound-Isolating Ear Bud Headphones - Black

Customer Rating

4.0 5

Amazing at blocking sound 06/04/2009
By ordinaryguy from Central Texas

Value for Price

3.0 5

Sound Quality

4.0 5

Comfort

4.0 5

Durability

5.0 5

What's great about it: Makes outside noise disappear
What's not so great: Makes outside noise disappear

"I bought these some time ago for my iPod, and was somewhat disappointed in the playback sound. The bass is lacking on some tunes, but yet on others it's there, but not emphasized. I bought some Bose in-ear for better sound reproduction, but they don't always stay in my ears. Then recently I thought to try these while mowing the lawn - how could I not have thought of this earlier?? They stay in even when I'm ducking through overgrown bushes, the sound is definitely good enough, and I can barely hear the mower running - if it was about to blow a piston, I would have no clue! You definitely can't hear anyone talk to you while you have these on. Due to the noise suppression, I can listen at a "reasonable volume" while doing quite noisy chores. The connector I either tuck into the collar of my shirt, or behind the sternum strap of my Camelbak, and it doesn't bother me at all, The fit kit had a size that is comfortable for me for at least 90 minutes, and that's pretty good!"

Would you recommend this product to a friend?: Yes

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Review 10 for Shure Sound-Isolating Ear Bud Headphones - Black

Customer Rating

3.0 5

Amazing sound, cumbersome design 05/24/2009
By kyle77 from Huntington Beach, CA

What's great about it: The sound quality
What's not so great: The ear bud to extension cable connector

"I bought these ear buds to replace those that came with my iPOD and could not be more impressed with the increase in sound quality. However, I only use headphones while at the gym and if that is your purpose, these are not the headphones for you. The reason is that the design requires the ear buds to plug into a separate extension cable that then plugs into your iPOD. This causes a bulky connection that hangs at your sternum (if your iPOD is around your arm) that then bounces around while your doing cardio. The weight differential creates a "bumping" sound as the connector pulls on the ear buds. The only thing I can think of to do is clip the connector to my shirt and if that doesn't work I'll be returning them and trying something different. So, I would NOT recommend these for use during any physical activity (biking, hiking, gym, etc...). However, if you're just looking for some great sounding headphones, you would probably love these."

Would you recommend this product to a friend?: No

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Review 11 for Shure Sound-Isolating Ear Bud Headphones - Black

Customer Rating

4.0 5

Great Headphones 05/01/2009
By shamowfski from Carmel, IN

What's great about it: Fit, Comfort, Sound, Accessories
What's not so great: Can be Muddy at High Volumes

"I am fairly impressed with these headphones. First of all they are fairly comfortable. I have had trouble in the past with in ear phones, but the smaller set of foam tips on these fit me well. Another issue with in ear phones is the sound from the wires being touched; that is almost nonexistent with these (in my environment, I'm not exercising with them). Wires seem like they will hold up well. Sound quality is excellent at lower to mid volumes. These isolate sound so well that you will rarely need to go above these levels to drown out annoying co-workers. However when I first tried them out, I had my ipod set to a higher volume and the bass muddied up the mids and highs a little more than I was expecting from $100 headphones. But since I lowered the volume a little bit, the sound has been excellent (and it's better for my hearing ). They don't get 5 stars because 5 stars is perfect, and every product has room for improvement. But overall I highly recommend these."

Would you recommend this product to a friend?: Yes

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Review 12 for Shure Sound-Isolating Ear Bud Headphones - Black

Customer Rating

5.0 5

Excellent Value 04/29/2009
By RichieTheC from Orange County, CA

"I just returned the Shure SE110, mainly for lack of decent bass response (as many reviewers had commented, but I tried them anyway). I saw these SE115s as the newer version, specifically addressing the poor bass in the 110s, and boy, did they ever correct the problem! Excellent bass! And, they seem to fit better for some reason. Also seems to be less noise when touching the cables. So, I think they're a great value for $99."

Would you recommend this product to a friend?: Yes

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Review 13 for Shure Sound-Isolating Ear Bud Headphones - Black

Customer Rating

5.0 5

Absolutley Amazing!!! Bose Killers! 04/25/2009
By walkdogg from Idaho Falls, ID

What's great about it: Sound Insolation, Thick wires, carry case w/ metal clip, detachable extension
What's not so great: Makes all other headphones sound sub-par in comparison!

"Great sound...thats a given, right? Drivers are crystal clear on Highs, mids and super bass response too! Each Driver has its own dedicated wire...they meet about mid chest and there is a female 3.5 connection.

Comes with extra thick extension cord to allow Mp3 player to comfortably rest in your pocket. The Wires transmit ZERO noise or static to the ears. Design allows for wires to loop around back of ears...a adjustable slide allows you to create tension behind the head keeping the drivers neatly and securely and comfortably in place.

Durable zipper bag is included. It has a nice metal carabiner to connect to bag or belt loop. Each pair comes with its own serial number. Also several different size and style rubber and foam tips are included. So far these are the best headphones I've owned. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!!!"

Would you recommend this product to a friend?: Yes

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