Disclaimer: Shure Japan kindly loaned me the SE846 for 46 days. I repaid them by driving over that limit by about half a week. Mike’s Headfonia Store in Jakarta does not currently sell the SE846.
Last year I sat down with a Matt and a Sean from Shure and the Headphone Book team to discuss the yet-unreleased SE846. I had a mere ten to twenty minutes to fasten the earphones into my ears, change filters, and snap some shots. Here is what I initially thought of the SE846.
The Marque
Shure have been in the universal earphone game since the beginning. And like every industry leader, they’ve had their bouts with manufacturers defects. The butt end of the SE500 tended to break apart. Crazy Steve over at CNET had trouble with his E4c. But every new iteration brings new surety to this pioneer earphone maker. The SE846 is a thing of beauty. The transparent shell shows off impeccably clean guts and flashy logos and labels, laser engraving, and an attention to detail that boggles the mind. Inside are four balanced armature drivers, a multi-layer low-pass filter, a screw-drive filter mounting system, and loads more.
The full spec list can be found here.
Shure was the main actor behind standardising earphone connectors behind the modified MMCX connector. Their energies were well spent.
The Cable
There is both lots to love and lots to hate about it. Let’s start with the good. It is strong, well-made, well-labelled. It features an excellent neck cinch and a reinforced y-split. The L-shaped plug has a narrow guide which will fit most phone cases. Finally, its sheathing is strong, flexible, and resistant to corrosion. Its MMCX mount can be rotated 360º and snaps into place. Breaking an MMCX cable is much harder to do than breaking the long-lived UE/Westone connection or even Jerry Harvey’s new fore-pole connector (seen in the Roxanne).
Comfort, however, goes pear-shaped for the glasses wearer, a cohort which I represent. But as bad as my eyes are, my audiophile intentions are strong as ever. I choose glasses based on designs that don’t fight big, heavy circumaural headphones. My specks are John Lennon style. They are headphone glasses. But neither they, nor any glasses I have tried, play nicely with the Shure SE846 cable. (Perhaps it is the other way around.)
The cable’s built-in ear-guides are the culprit. They rat-a-tat-tat against glasses arms, pry up the ear rests, and require one to refit glasses every time the earphones are worn. And, the cable is neither as pliable nor as noise-free as Westone’s or Earsonics’ cables are. Rat-a-tat-tat! Fortunately, microphonic noises aren’t awful; they merely are louder than some of the competition.
But here I am, a day after having returned the SE846, counting my yennies. I want this earphone. I love it. If I scrounge together enough dosh, I’ll nab it in a jiffy. It’s a phenomenal earphone, worth every one its 999$ bones. But the first thing I will do is replace the stock cable with something more comfortable, quiet, and easy to use. Fortunately, someone in town have just what I’m looking for.
The Chassis
Shure didn’t just install a female MMCX connector into a bit of plastic and call it a day. First they anchored it into a strong neck. Then they installed the body around it. I have not seen more thoroughly engineered implementations of the MMCX spec. Similarly, every subsequent step is as well thought-out.
The drivers are secured in strong plastic couches, which keep them from rattling against the earphone walls. Internal wiring is clean, minimal, and impeccably soldered. A metal sheath secures the filter mount and its screw-drive. Viewed from above, the driver array follows a delicate curve and is anchored aft and fore. The outer plastic shell never touches the drivers. As you can guess, light plays around the housing in delicate rises and falls. Again, this is a thing of beauty.
But beauty is nothing without the beast. And that beast is metal. The screw-drive mount for the filter system is robust. Metal mounting hardware is anchored in a moulded plastic chassis. Filters screw into well-matched helicoids. And to avoid slippage whilst wearing, they lock into place. All connections are metal. The plastic filters slip into metal sound tubes, which take the familiar Shure ear pieces, of which, the SE846 comes amply supplied. My favourite? The low-density yellow foam. Why? Because my ears are sensitive; the black olive pieces isolate better, but after a couple of days, cause irritation in my ears. Unfortunately, they last forever, while the yellow foams do not. It’s tit for tat. The final plus for the yellow foam is that it exerts less influence on sound. Through the black olives, sound is thicker, less detailed; through the yellow foams, it is more open, cleaner, and faster.
You can read about how it sounds on the next page
L.
Awesome review Nathan. Too bad there are only 3 pics…they are absolutely stunning and the pics are extremely good.
ohm image
I’m sorry, I didn’t have time to take more/better pictures. But I loved my time with the SE846. Loved it. And I had overlap with a couple of other great earphones… just to clinch the deal. The truth is that the SE846 is my favourite multi-balanced armature univesal earphone by quite a distance.
Mulyono Sastradipura
Nathan..ur pictures are amazing ! Nice review as well. Make me want to re-try se846. 🙂 have u tried the inEar Stage Driver SD3 iem? Which one u prefer between the two? Tx. 🙂
ohm image
I have tried both, yes. Actually, I wrote brief impressions of the SD-3 at ohm image. I prefer the Shure by far. I do not, however, like the cable (which I think is quite obvious). Fit and comfort of the SD-3 is best of universal-cum-custom breed. The Shure, when fitted right, is far far better a revealer of sound depth and width, and has incredible resolution up top that I didn’t expect at first.
The SD-3 is maybe a funner earphone. Both are awesome, but if I had all the money in the world and was told to put it behind an earphone I really really want, it would be the Shure… and a new cable!
Mulyono Sastradipura
Thanks for the reply. I think i need to listen again the shure se846. 🙂
ohm image
And and me, both, mate.
K.
” Where it excels past Parterre is in spatial
positioning. The SE846 places instruments perfectly. Never do hi-end
details bleed together, and always they are presented wide.” Sorry I did not mean to summarise this fantastic review / literary piece with such a short extract, but I am now wondering if I should betray my favorite IEMs. I was and am still impressed with the Parterre, which I guess suit the music I am listening to these days…And yes, the pictures are beautiful, and yes I have to make a note to myself about understanding the art of finding the right tip, and the right cable, and…
ohm image
I also love the Parterre. It is one of the perfect non-fiddly, good-sounding, tough-ass earphones out there. But it doesn’t fit quite as well, and doesn’t have the same amazing resolution in the bass nor the same wide positioning. It’s a voicing thing, I’ll admit, but my vote is for the Shure, and by a wide margin.
K.
It is true that there are times when I want a bit more of resolution in the bass, and feel that the positioning is lacking. You are spelling this out so clearly for me. (Many thanks) I might follow-up on the cable once I get to try the SE846 in a nice store. (There is – at least to me – a disconnect between how these IEMs are sold – and their apparent quality). Cheers, K.
ohm image
I got to try a number of Whiplash cables recently, but not for long enough and not on the SE846. I borrowed them from Musica Acoustics. I may go back and see how the MMCX works with the SE846 and see about purchasing one.
Alok Juyal
Good review! have auditioned the 846 and they sounded great with my CLAS+Cont V3. Question now is 846 or the universal fit Roxanne at almost 2X the $$s? I liked both, 846 is closer to my se535 sound, also better put together. Roxannes have an edge on detail and … something! Too many issues with custom fit Roxannes at the moment so uni-fit only being considered although worry about the frequency with which tips come off in my ears during auditioning.
roxanneuniversal
Why is the universal roxanne $2,000 where you live?!
The tips don’t keep the roxanne in your ear. What keeps them in place is the memory wire around the top of your ear so if you used that correctly they will never fall out. No difference in fit between the SE535 and roxanne universal in my experience.
I forced my SE535 tips onto the roxanne http://imgur.com/jAjoyOy You just have to apply a little force and twist.
ohm image
Sometimes, import duties plus middleman and other cuts cost a lot. Here in Japan, I pay double for most of the stuff I purchase (outside of earphones, which often cost just 10%-60% more than they cost in the USA).
Amazing work you did to get those tips on the Roxanne.
roxanneuniversal
I’m not sure they’re worth $2,000 if you can get an SE846 for $1,000.
ohm image
But you can’t. Some countries don’t have them for cheaper, and if you import, you pay 20,30,40,50% import fees, plus handling and then you lose local support. That’s the problem for many of us.
roxanneuniversal
out of curiosity, what if you travel to the united states, buy one and bring it in? Do they inspect your luggage or is not that rigorously enforced?
ohm image
Open it and use it. Hide the box. I always keep new purchases on my person. A new lens is on my camera. But the trip to the USA… very expensive. It’s cheaper for some people to bite the bullet, or pray a friend goes somewhere, gets them the awesome thing, and imports it directly. But not all of us have the same luck.
roxanneuniversal
What country is this? I thought GATT implemented anti-tariff laws across the world.
ohm image
There are loads of countries where you pay through the nose. Brazil is probably the most expensive I know. Europe typically is 30-50% more expensive for the same stuff as the USA. Japanese stuff sells cheaper abroad than at home.
Even Canada will put it on you, but Canadian prices are much more in line with the USA, and therefore, inexpensive.
Dave Ulrich
Plus, Canada has Resonessence Labs, so they must be awesome.
Alok Juyal
I order my head gear from the US and have it shipped directly to me in Singapore, usually is the best and cheapest. However Jaben in Singapore usually offers prices very close to the US, maybe 10%-20% more sometimes. So recent purchases have been from them. Planning to get the 846 or Roxanne from them once I can make up my mind. My heart says Roxanne but head says 846 (SGD999 here)
ohm image
I hope you make the right decision.
Alok Juyal
I hope so too, for price Shure seems like the easy choice. I am sure I will be happy with either 🙂 then maybe the Theorem or Rx Mk3B+ to supplement my CLAS+Continental V3 😉 there is no end
roxanneuniversal
They’re both good. I would decide based on whether you like warm sound. if so get the roxanne. otherwise get the se846 which is more neutral, with the white filter.
Alok Juyal
Thank you. Appreciate the advice and the reason all my gear has been got after similar discussions on headfonia
Alok Juyal
SGD 1,880 sticker price here in Singapore although think could get slightly lower. Apologies for not being clear. I meant the silicone tips often come off when I pull the Roxanne out, possibly because not the right size tip or because of the absence of a lip to hold the silicone tip in place. The 846 have one so the foam/silicone tips dont come off easily. Twice had to have the Jaben guys get tweezers to pull the tip out after auditioning the Roxanne:-) From Comply, the 846 i think take the TS/TSx100 while Roaxannes take TS/TSx400.
ohm image
The Roxannes have the best midrange detail and feel I’ve experienced in an earphone, bar none. But overall presentation is something, that while I love, required me to prefer one music over another. The SE846 exerts no such push.
As for fit, the Roxanne were too large and uncomfortable for my small ears. Had they been smaller they would be an easy recommendation.
roxanneuniversal
I tried the SE846 for a while and found them too punchy and thus fatiguing relative to the roxanne universals. They are more exciting though.
ohm image
I found the same at first. My first impression was: ‘too much bass slam’, but after going through all the tips and finding the one that induced the least boom and rattle in my tiny canals, I discovered a sound that was pure, wide, and totally impressive.
roxanneuniversal
Yes I don’t mean to undermine the SE846 they’re outstanding first class headphones.
ohm image
Not at all. And it’s your freedom to do that even if you were to. The Roxanne earphones also are awesome. I think their size and proprietary cable is probably putting a few people off. But they are amazing, too.
Steven
Great review! Read widely prior to Tokyo holiday purchase and this is the first decent outline of the engineering behind the design
Use white filter myself. Bit more treble emphasis without that much detriment to bass.best trade-off for personal tastes
Very non-fatiguing iem, best of collection
ohm image
Steven, we seem to be on the same page, which is great. As I said in the review, the first few times I wore the SE846, I got a LOAD of bass, more in fact, than I wanted. Changing the filters brought out a much friendlier, pure sounding earphone.
And not fatiguing at all. But sometimes, non-fatiguing is headphile longhand for ‘dull’ or ‘veiled’. These are not at all dull or veiled. Just not scratchy, which is something I very much appreciate.
Rick
Shigzeo San,
Fan of you here.
I have the Shures in my possession now, and had earsonics SM3 and SM64. Just wondering how you would compare them.
Thanks!
ohm image
The SM64 are a favourite of mine, but I don’t think they stack up in sound or in build quality with the Shure. I think for the price the SM64 is going, you can’t really go wrong at all.
Thanks for your encouragement.
sindri1980
Hi there!
Great review.
Did you try the grey soft sleeves with the Shure? How do they compare to the yellow foams?
Cheers,
R.
ohm image
Hello Sindri,
I’m sorry to be late in my reply. I did try the grey sleeves. Unfortunately for me, the grey sleeves rub my ears the wrong way and are uncomfortable for me. I have sensitive ears and thus have found foams to work best, and if silicon ear pieces, the ortofon or spin-fit pieces.
The Grey sleeves aren’t quite as sound neutral as the yellow foams but don’t exude too much influence on the sound.
Nguyễn Công Bằng
Hi Mike, will you do a review about Noble K10 soon ? love to see how they compare against each other 🙂
ohm image
Hey Nguyễn, we will be doing the K10 soon. Unfortunately, the SE846 is back at Shure. The K10 should be in office some time in the next month or two. Very much looking forward to reviewing it.
Nguyễn Công Bằng
Great !!!, will check back frequently for it 🙂
ohm image
Got an update: should be getting the review up on a month or so from now.
Naptunian
My right SE215s are starting to have problems… I’m dreaming of upgrading to these.
ohm image
You and me, both, Naptunian.
Naptunian
LOL
SallyMaeSusan
I have 425’s and they’re great; buying them in Australia, they’re the best value in the line-up. Check out the review on ‘What HiFi’.
ohm image
Great to hear you joining the Shure crew. (Actually I’m not part of it; I just want to be.) How are Australian prices?
Joe
How do these compare to the VE6 from Vision ears? Thanks
Eagle1776
I’m really trying to get a sense of the SE846. When I read about it, I think “Maybe this is kind of neutral.” But when I look at the graph at Headroom, I think, “Wow. It looks really bassy.” And yet, I love Shure’s warranty program, which is important to me when even considering such an expensive iem. So…Is there any sense this is a neutral iem? What universal would you recommend for someone trying to fall between a UERM and JH13 FP? It doesn’t have to be ruler flat, a little warmth is fine, but I’d prefer no ungainly midbass hump. Thanks!
ohm image
If you use the included Olives, you will get bass and nothing but, especially if your ears canals are narrow. I changed to the yellow foamies for all of the above reasons. Those have a rigid sound tube, bunch less in the ear, and allow small amounts of bass to vent against the ear canal itself, rather than straight out.
They come with the SE846, which is great. Together, wow. Yes, bass will always be warm and big with the SE846, but the yellow foamies were night and day for me.
Noel
Nice review Nathan. I’ve had the 846 since last year and found it a major upgrade to the SE535 which I used for years. Can’t agree more on the level of unique engineering that comes with the 846. You mentioned you felt the Portaphile Micro and Shure 846 makes a good match, do you feel this sonic synergy will equally extend to the bigger 627X. While I am don’t mind getting the micro, I prefer to have the longer battery life of the bigger amp.
ohm image
Noel, the Portaphile Micro and the 627x have essentially the same signature and the same power for IEMs. So yes. They are wonderful together. The 627x also has a big more voltage to power higher volume requirements of full-size headphones. You can’t go wrong with either one, though.
Noel
As the 846 is voiced slightly on the warm side of neutral, and I understand the 627X is also voiced similarly, you don’t think the pairing will be overly warm? I would probably use the rig with headphone in future maybe an Audeze so the extra power of the bigger amp will come handy.
ohm image
Hello again Noel,
The 846 isn’t warm per se, it has a drier, fuller bass than a number of other earphones. That dryness contributes to a great sense of detail especially in the low end. Incredible detail. The 627x has a slightly silky, warmish sound that fits a number of great earphones, but both trend closer to neutral at the ear.
They are a great pairing. If you wanted something more stark, the Headamp Pico Slim is another great amp, though it won’t exactly drive your Audeze that well.
Noel
Thanks Nathan, that helps. Other option for me is the Pure II which I already heard with the 846, loved it, but thought the bass was a bit lacking. Also thought the treble was a tiny bit emphasized but could live with that.
SoundEskimoo
if I may ask, between 846 and JH16 (same price tag), which one better?
ohm image
I have no idea about JH16 as I’ve heard only a demo. But comparing universal and custom is problematic: to a large degree, fit determines sound. I can’t say which is better for you, nor would I attempt to do so.
I’ve never been as impressed with a universal as I was by the SE846.
SoundEskimoo
thank you, i will focused more on custom
Patrick
Was always curios how a ba in ear with 4 driver would sound and the advanteges to a 3 and 2 driver system. And I must say after listen to them for few hours (local store and not enough money..) it is stunning and absolutly lovely if you prefer a warm setup. But I think I will upgrade my sennheiser in ears to shure se425 for beginning, maybe later CIEMs.
ohm image
Glad to hear you like them. I’m still waffling about whether to purchase one or not. I LOVED them so much. I don’t have the free dosh right now, but am thinking to sell an IQ. Maybe.
Patrick
Maybe – isn’t it hard to choose? We who love quality, but don’t have the cash… The struggle is real :S
Phuoc Thinh
Hi Nathan, I just stumbled across your article oine. I recently purchased the Shure SE846 earphones and it is on its way. In the meantime of waiting, I would like to know if a headphone amp is needed in order to take full advantage of the sound quality of this earphones? I mostly listen music on my iPhone with my westone 4 earphone but decided to upgrade to the SE846. Looking forward to your response. Thank you so much.
ohm image
Phuoc, I’m sorry this is late. You probably already have your SE846. Which iPhone do you have? I do not own the SE846, so I cannot go back and test new combinations. I have only the impressions I wrote, good memories, and a few hardware benchmarks to suggest.
That said, iPhone output seems to be pretty good. Some amps won’t be as good as it. But if your phone wasn’t up to task, you’d want an amp with GREAT L/R balance, low hiss, and high current. Vorzuge’s amps, Portaphile’s amps, and more are good. But make sure you got those things covered.
Headfonia_L.
Picollo and maybe even Duet
Nino
I tried 846 with iPhone 4, the sound was thin, made me wondering where was the patented low pass filter. The magic came back when I paired the 846 with Fostex DAC and HM-601
Stephen
Hi Nathan, I have a pair of SE846 with AK120.
I wonder if I am getting the best out of the two items at the moment in this combination.
Will I benefit much from getting a MSAK120 modification?
i.e. eliminating the impedance match issues..etc
Is it worth the modification?
Thank you very much.
ohm image
That is an excellent question. And, this answer is late. Apologies all around.
First, I did not test the MSAK120 with the SE846. The SE846 wasn’t with me by the time I had my AK100 modded, or when I borrowed the AK120 MSA mod.
But, I stand by my endorsement of the MSAK100 as the best-bet for overall performance and sound as long as the signature is to your liking. The MSAK120 will remove all headphone output noise and bring performance to a higher plane. But, it will not rival the MSAK100 for overall output performance. I don’t know why it is, but the MSAK120 isn’t able to hold a candle to the MSAK100 for earphones. Certainly it will be better than stock, but not perfect.
Joe
How do these compare to the VE6 from Vision Ears?
ohm image
Sorry this is late. Well, it is quite different. If you want a custom, only the VE6 will do. If you are keen on a universal, only the SE846 will do. But they sound very different: the SE846 warmer and more inviting, the VE6 more detailed and wide.
For trance, classical, and IDM: VE6
For jazz and rock: VE6
vick_85
Will these work well with the DX90??
OR
Should I save more & go for HM 901 or one of the AK players.
I will use my DAP with SE846 only.
Headfonia_L.
The DX is one of the quietest players on the market, even more so than the AK240. These will certainly work with the DX90 and can be driven without issue. My personal opinion however is to use an external amp with it to get the very best out, the SE846 deserves it
ohm image
As L said, they work wonderfully with the DX90.
linuxprophet
I own an iPhone 6, Shure SE846, Oppo HA-2, FiiO X5/E12 and a whole boat load of DSDs/FLACs and DXD files.
For about 6 months I used the black olives pads which were great at almost total sound isolation and tight bass, but they make one’s ears ache.
I thought to try the yellow foams for a change yesterday and they are much more comfortable but less detailed.
Although this is probably better discussed under DACs, I found the E12 a more robust sound amp than the Oppo HA-2s with the SE846.
ohm image
Sound really depends on many things. My ear canals are tiny. Olives isolate very well, but bunch up the sound, thickening it and top end detail is lost and bass tends to boom. Yellow foamies are best _for my ears_. Everyone’s mileage will vary.
Joe LaMonica
Hey I just at a concert and I was giving a pair of head phones that allow you to hear the music and block out the noise around you. http://sni.ps/GG0
Jake Wong
I am looking for a earphone under $200 with great isolation on the go, any suggesttions?
Jake Wong
Also for listening on the plane. thx
Gregory Wodark
I own these, and have enjoyed them immensely. I also had the custom silicon sleeves made ( after visiting an audiologist). There is a company that can be found on Shure’s website, that will make them(Sensaphonics). These have the effect of transforming the universal fit SE846, into an a close approximation of a custom IEM. The sleeves are not perfect. They add bulk and can slide off the earphone sometimes.
However, they dramatically improve the seal within my ear canal. This increased sound isolation a great deal. It also made the earphones sound significantly better! They sound was richer, more all encompassing, the sense of immersion in the music much greater. It made the qualities of these IEMs standout much more.
My question is why are these not on your list? I also own the iSine 20 from Audeze (which are on the list).They are almost the polar opposite of the SE 846! Extremely open, with no isolation to speak of. While I concur that in quiet environments, they are indeed excellent, the Shure SE 846, which have a very different sound signature, are also more than worthy of being on the list.
For critical listening paired with Tidal on my iPhone X( 256GB), I often use the Oppo HA2, which is a wonderful complement, I have found ( more power and the smooth, rich DAC, make for greater pleasure). However, when I might need to answer phone calls, I found a great replacement cable/DAC ( 96Kz), with a microphone for calls. Shure makes a similar one, that only can handle 48Kz. For $69, Null Audio makes the “ Capri Balanced Digital Hi Res IEM Cable with DAC“, is a much better solution. It handles calls, along with reasonable High Resolution sound ( better than the SHURE version, not as good as the Oppo HA2). The Oppo does not allow phone calls. Hence, the need for the Capri!
Spie
Hi GREGORY WODARK,
I’m intrigued by what you wrote about the Shure’s.
Due to my tiny ears, the max custom size I could chose out of Westone’s Custom Lineup is an ES 30.
As such I was wondering about the cable?
I’ve never used my Andromeda’s for call sbecause they hiss heavily with my Samsung Galaxy s9+.
Is there a cable with mic that can prevent that from happening? Having calls with the hiss in the background is very frustrating.
Also how large / deep are these?
Does the shell hurt your ears after many hours?
For example the Andromeda’s are way too large for me personally 🙂