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E4CNUD | | Availability:
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| | Features | Highest quality audio experience with your Black ipod Nano or other black MP3 or Sony PSP.Sound Isolating in-ear design provides exception clarity - you hear only what you want to hearDual high-energy micro in-ear speakers with in-line crossover to enhance studio-quality listeningPortable and lightweight design - weighing just over one ouncePersonal fit kit to contour to your ear size - earphones won't fall out while you're exercising.
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| | Description | In sleek black, to go with some of today's newest MP3 and other audio players. The cutting-edge industrial design of the E4c is a breakthrough in sound isolating earphone technology. Ideal for the business traveler and on-the-go audiophile, the High-Definition Driver with Tuned Port Technology delivers brilliant highs and extended bass that enhance your listening experience with your portable MP3, DVD, and CD players as well as all other audio sources. The E4c's in ear design works like an earplug to block background noise naturally. This enables you to listen comfortably at lower volumes-even in loud environments. And unlike bulky headphones utilizing active noise cancellation technology, no artifacts are introduced into your listening experience. Sound isolating earphones are also much smaller and don't require batteries. E4c Sound Isolating Earphones feature High-Definition drivers with Tuned Port Technology for incredible audio reproduction. As the ideal companion to any portable or home audio source, the E4c's Tuned Port design improves airflow around the driver to deliver professional-grade sound with extended bass response. The E4c comes with a stylish, compact carrying case, providing a convenient, tangle-free way to store your earphones. Also included is a level attenuator, to control volume level for comfortable listening from any high-output audio source, such as airplane armrests. | |
| | Product Details | | Product Weight: | 0.07 pounds | | Package Length: | 7.1 inches | | Package Width: | 6.9 inches | | Package Height: | 2.9 inches | | Package Weight: | 0.45 pounds | | Average Customer Rating: |  based on 82 reviews |
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| | Customer Reviews | Average Customer Review: ( 82 customer reviews )
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
48 of 51 found the following review helpful:
 Expensive, but worth it. Aug 17, 2006
By L. Clotman
First, I'm not an audiophile. And my tastes in music are limited to hip hop, jazz and R&B. That being said, I think these earphones are well-suited for listeners looking for an above-average experience.
Cons:
1. These earphones aren't suited for use on the treadmill or any other activity that requires you to be in motion. They must be seated fairly deeply in your ear canal to take advantage of the sound. And motion tends to yank them out.
2. They're kinda expensive. But if high quality sound is important to you, this won't matter too much
Pros:
1. Deeper, fuller bass. The difference between these and the E3c's (which I bought and returned) is pronounced. But the bass isn't so heavy that the lowest range overshadow the higher frequencies with the sloppy, boomy sound that you hear from cars that blast hip hop music. Hip Hop fons and dissatisfied E3c owners will really appreciate this, and should spend the extra cash for the E4c model if powerful, bouncy bass is important to you.
2. Crisp sound at mid and higher freqs. The detail in the mid-range is what blew me away with these. The first day I had these, I spent hours discovering new sonic details in MP3s that I overlooked prior. It was truly like getting a new music collection in addition to new earphones.
3. Sound Isolation. Prior to purchasing the E4cs, I used the white earbuds that came with my Apple iPod. I probably turned them up higher than I should have in order to compensate for ambient noise. The design of these earphones prevents almost all ambient noise from entering the ear canal. So you don't need to crank the volumne to hear your music.
Yeah, they're expensive. But they're worth it. Most of my music collection was ripped at 128Kbps. I thinking about re-ripping all my jazz everything at 256 Variable to see what else I'm missing.
38 of 40 found the following review helpful:
Shure E4 vs. Bose QC2 Dec 08, 2006
By Brian C. Clark
"Engineer"
Shure E4 vs. Bose QC2
After reading many reviews about E4 vs. QC2 I bought the E4. A friend at my office had the QC2 so I borrowed them so I could write this review. I only used the QC2 for about 15 minutes but I think I found out what I need to know.
The first and foremost item that should make you choose between the two is whether or not you can stand to have earplugs in your ears. I sleep with them almost every night so I'm VERY used to them and as such was not worried about this. Before you buy the E4's (or any in ear type) go buy some soft foam ear plugs and use them for a few weeks. If you are ok with this then you will love the Shures. If not, you will hate them. The QC2's have gel soft ear pads and the insides are actually scooped out to accommodate the shape of your ear. They are very comfortable, but for me in ear models won out for these reasons. My office mate who let me borrow the QC2s for comparison said they hurt his ears after a couple of hours. This may be because he has big ears. I have felt this with many other types of over ear headphones as well so I'm glad I chose the Shures.
I have used foam ear plugs on planes for years so I know how well they worked. The E4's essentially act like ear plugs and so attenuate outside noise about the same. I never tried the QC2 on a plane, but I did try them here in my office and this is what I found. With the QC2 as long as the volume of the music was low enough I could here everyone around me fine. With the E4's I could here nothing even when off. This means you can listen to whatever at a lower level and still have the outside noise completely blocked.
While on planes the one thing I like to do most is sleep. With the in ear design you can toss and turn any way you like and they don't get in the way. I used my E4s on a trip to Australia from the US and they were great. I would put them in, plug them into the airline socket, tune some Jazz or Classical, adjust the volume to an almost imperceptible level and fall asleep. With the QC2, they would always be in the way. This small form factor also means they spool up into a very small case. The E4's have a small round case about two inches in diameter and 1 inch think. The QC2's is about 6 inches by 8 inches by 3 inches thick. This is important to me since every bit of stuff I have to haul around adds up. Additionally the QC2's require batteries to operate under any condition. If the batteries die you can't even listen to music so you must carry extra batteries or risk failure mid flight. No batteries in the E4's. All this leads to a smaller and lighter form factor.
This small form factor has one additional added benefit to me. Discreteness. When you are wearing the Bose, you are basically advertising that you spent $300 on a pair of headphones. Everyone knows what they are. With the Shure you get all the benefits and no one has to know what you have. You just look like another walkman junkie. I bought the ones in black because I didn't even want the iPodish bling. That's just me, but since I travel internationally to many smaller countries, discreteness is important.
When it comes to sound though they are very close. The E4's seem better at mids and highs while the QC2s are slightly better at lows. They are very close though. Maybe to an audiophile there is a big difference, but I can hardly tell. I compared DJ Magic Mike, Romeo and Juliet sound track, and Beethoven's 9th with the same results. I wouldn't say one is hugely better at any one. If you are looking for big bass, these are not for you, but if you are looking for clean crisp sound they both will do well. If you want that clean crisp sound at whisper levels the E4s are the winner in my book due to the better sound blocking.
One thing to note about volume. The E4s seem to be much louder at the same volume setting as the QC2s. The E4s come with an inline volume control so you will probably find you need it all the time. They seem to take much less to amplify them to an almost dangerous level.
Now all that said the E4s do have a down side. Since they are in ear they amplify any movements you make. You get used to this quickly, but it's there. Also, since they block sound so well you really can not hear anyone while you have them in unless they talk right in your ear. This means you have to take them out to talk to the stewardess. Not that this is hard, but you have to do it.
Lastly I can say if I had to do it over again I would buy the E3s. I don't think I could tell the difference and I could have used to save $100. Not that I am disappointed in my E4s, but $300 is a lot of money.
I provided all this detail for those who are data collectors like myself, but when it comes down to it you can't go wrong with either. If you can stand having something in your ear then I think the Shures are the right choice. If you can't, then the Bose are for you.
27 of 29 found the following review helpful:
 Pretty darn good... May 01, 2006
By M. McGrath
Before I start I feel I should mention that, while i don't consider myself an audiophile, I am a professional recording/mixing engineer. I take audio fidelity pretty seriously, but I'm not critical to a ridiculous extent.
I use these IEMs playing live with my band through an Aviom monitor mixer. The aviom samples everything down to 16-bit so i've never really gotten a chance to hear them at their best until today.
In the green room i hooked them up to my iPod between shows, and I was blown away. The sensitivity was amazing; i heard minute details that get lost on other systems. Anyone worried about bass output (or ahem, "base", as some call it) need not worry. While its not gonna thump (not many microdrivers do), its got tight and controlled bass to very low registers. My only complaint is that the midrange seemed slightly veiled to me...but the ipod isn't really known for its stunning audio fidelity, so it might not be the earpieces. The upper range reproduction is excellent, and I was very pleased with their performance.
Reguardless of frequency quibbles, I find these well worth the asking price. They are comfortable, accurate, and sound great.
-Matt McGrath
23 of 26 found the following review helpful:
Shure = Quality Feb 23, 2007
By Wagnbat
I picked up the IC3 headset from Fry's in California, but returned it not sure I would really use the mobile phone/pda function, and after reading reviews that the set was way larger than comfortable for travellers. The I series seems more oriented for the business geek, or people constantly on their mobile phones, which is definitely not me.
So to buy time while I pondered buying the E series, I picked up a set of Panasonic active noise-cancelling earphones for a flight I was taking. Like the Shure earbuds, they fit in the ear, but in addition have active noise cancelling via use of an both an amp and noise cancelling, which are powered by a single battery. I was amazed at how well the combo worked, and was thusly hesitant to buy the Shure earbuds which are 10x more wallet paper.
Amazon had a good price through a 3rd party vendor, so I splurged and got them. I'm not a music afficianado, but I do have 300+ CD's of music I like, and I go through a lot of it semi-often. And after many years of resisting, I also bought myself an Ipod as an upgrade to an MP3 Spinner (portable cd walkman that plays mp3 discs).
Well, I think they're worth it. They have a sound that the $30 Panasonic's can't match. They don't actively cancel noise... But I conducted a quick series of tests to see how good the dampening (sound isolation) is.
I have a home-built computer rig, that makes about the same amount of fan noise as an xbox 360. Not loud, but loud enough to where you'll always know when it's on and when it's not. With the Shure's in, I heard no fan noise. I tapped on my desk with my fingernails, and I could hear the that fairly clearly. I tested the volume on my phone at loudest, and was still able to hear quite clearly.
Then I plugged them into my Ipod. At 1/3 volume, I could not heard my fingernails tapping, so I hit the desk a couple times with my fist... I tapped the printer to my right with my palm. I picked up a bottle and started hitting nearby objects with it. I then grabbed the phone, and 3" from my face tested it. I then put the phone right next to my ear, and 4 times tested the ringer at loudest, and still could not hear it.
I can't say the same about Panasonics, because I already sent them off to my wife... But the dampening from the Shure's is incredible. As a military guy, I've worn my fair share of earplugs... But these are definitely a step beyond. I believe I was hearing the sounds with no sound input before, because they were entering through the sound cavity in the headphones, through which music travels. When music (or other sound) is present, it easily overpowers and thus drowns out ambient noise.
The base is deep. It won't vibrate your ears, but you'll hear EVERY base not. Something the Pannys for sure did not do. The highs are high, the lows are low, and the mids are tight like they should be.
The only negative thing I have found so far, is that when set to very loud on my Ipod, there is some white noise in the background. But on the flipside, I was able to comfortably listen and not hear anything else in the room at 1/3 volume, so listening at 2/3 or higher is something I most likely won't do, and shouldn't be affected much by the white noise.
If you wanna save some green, or you don't need extremely high fidelity (only use when jogging, or with your gameboy) then go for the Panny's. They do a good job. As for the Shure EC4's, these things are quality. And if you don't mind paying for quality, then these are for you.
12 of 12 found the following review helpful:
Some Gotcha's Jan 14, 2007
By Hironaga Ino
"Hiro"
I was originally planning to buy the Bose QuietComfort 3, but after reading many reviews about earphones, I switched over to the Shure E4 without demo'ing them. I travel extensively on planes, so I didn't care for the bulk of QC3. I've had the E4 earphones for a couple of days now using them extensively to break them in.
1) Overall Sound Quality and Bass Response
The sound is clear and well defined. No complaints there. Bass is definitely present and the drivers do a good job in keeping it clear and well defined. That said, I feel it somewhat lacks the 'punch' of over-the-ear phones. Perhaps inevitable, but I am frankly a bit disappointed.
The earphones have noticeable improvement in bass response after some time of use. Amazing how a week's use can make a difference.
2) Noise Isolation
It sure does reduce environmental noise. I hardly hear anything around me when I'm listening to music. BUT, I am surprised how much noise it generates itself. It's not the noise of the drivers; it's actually the earbuds amplifying the wires hitting and scratching against your body. Every time I move my head, I hear the wires. This distracts me from the music and gets annoying after a while. The yellow-foam earbuds seem to reduce this artifact a bit.
The noise coming from the wires are not as bothersome while flying.
3) Comfort
I typically use the yellow-foam earplugs on international flights when I sleep, so I figured I had already built up a tolerance on having something inside my ear. I was wrong. It does require some getting used to since you need to seat the earphones firmly adding more pressure inside your ear canals. Again, the yellow-foam appears to be better in this regard (at least for my ears).
So, I think the sound of these earphones are great, but there were some gotcha's in user experience that I didn't realize until I started using them. Like anything in life, there are trade-offs to be made here. Now, I'm debating whether to get noise-canceling headphones (as opposed to earphones).
See all 82 customer reviews on Amazon.com
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