Specifications

Orange County IBM PC Users’ Group
April 2004
9
Shure E2c Earphones
by Bruce Pechman, Vice President, Atlanta PC Users’ Group
www.mrbicep.com
You Should Hear What You’re Missing
W
hat I’m about to describe to you may fundamentally change the
manner in which you listen to audio. The
source of the audio is irrelevant—MP3
players, normal radios, computers, etc. Here is the
message: “Any raw means of listening to audio can be
greatly enhanced beyond conviction” by using a twist on
conventional headphone technology called Earphones.
Let me explain exactly what the new Shure E2c
Earphones are and what they represent. Originally
developed and known in the music industry as “isolating
in-ear phones”, they allow the groovy dude with the
slide guitar to hear his tunes despite the deafening
onstage environment. Shure earphones incorporate a
choice of either soft foam or flex type sleeves (I said
flex in a serious sentence— that’s cool) to seal out background noise allowing
high performance speakers to deliver pure and precise sound directly to your ear
canal. Make no mistake—Earphones are a superior technology for delivering
pure distortion-free sound directly to your ear. Now, on to the good stuff.
Shure Sounds Good To Me!
The Shure E2c Earphones simply blew me away. I first hooked them up to
my Dell Inspiron 8100 laptop to listen to a few MP3’s (Toni Braxton’s “Unbreak
My Heart”) and was like “Honey, you’ve got to get over here and listen to this
now.” Keep in mind my sample MP3’s are far from a high quality audio format
(128Kbps Bit Rate) coming from a mediocre at best sound card (ESS Maestro)
from my laptop. Now imagine listening to the Shure E2c Earphones from a good
quality music source! I even plugged them into my Rio MP3 player and couldn’t
believe the superior clarity over the stock headset—no comparison! Let me tell
you why I personally love the Shure E2c Earphones for casual listening. One
word…Safety. This is due to “In-ear Isolation” making it possible to hear
exceptional audio clarity at low listening volumes. It’s a known fact listening at
lower volumes is safer and less fatiguing over extended periods of time. Let’s
sum up the benefits. The Shure E2c Earphones provide incredible audio fidelity,
block out most background frequencies, are significantly safer than conventional
headsets, and include a personalized “Fit Kit” so you get a custom fit for your
own geeky ear. Personally, my preference was to use the medium sized “Foam
Sleeves” over the “Flex Sleeves”. The choice is yours, as the Fit Kit includes S,
M, and L of each sleeve type in the box.
Shure Legendary Quality and Class
If you’ve never heard of Shure you should have. The company has been a
pioneer and world leader in audio electronics since 1925. Their products are used
by professional musicians as well as high profile events such as the Grammys,
the Oscars, and Super Bowl. In fact, even today all of their products are built to
military standards for toughness (they made mics for WWII tanks & planes)!
The Shure E2c Earphones are backed by a 2-year warranty and unconditional
30-day MBG. The class is all in the details. The packaging is very impressive.
Inside the box you get a slick black zippered woven fabric case custom made for
taking your Shure E2c Earphones on the road. Next, you will find your
personalized Fit Kit with 3 pairs (S, M,
L) of re-useable Flex and Foam
sleeves to ensure a custom fit. Then
you see them…the distinctive comet
shaped high performance sound
isolating earphones with a 62 inch
cable and gold-plated stereo mini
jack—Yahoo! Documentation includes
a shrink wrapped Earphone User
Guide (only the first 10 pages are
English), 2-year limited warranty card,
and registration. The Shure E2c
Earphones are only $99 and are
available for purchase direct from
Shure by calling 888-88-SHURE or
visiting their site www.shure.com/
earphones. I highly recommend the
Shure E2c Earphones. In the gym,
they proved
invaluable on the
treadmill due to
the loud gym
environment and
the undesirable
music pumped in
from the
loudspeakers
overhead. Be
Shure to visit the
Shure site for
more info on the Shure E2c Earphones
or any other Shure products where I
can enShure you can request a Shure
broShure (hey, it’s a tongue twister,
OK?)!
There is no restriction against any non-
profit group using this review as long
as it is kept in context, with proper
credit given to the author. This review is
brought to you by the Editorial
Committee of the Association of
Personal Computer User Groups
(APCUG), an international organization
of which this group is a member.
T
o properly remove a
program, go to Control
Panel and double-click on
Add/Remove Programs. Click on
the program’s name in the list of
programs, and click the unin-
stall or remove button to delete
it. — Linda Gonse