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"  On Sale Date: Now Price: $999 I listen to music seriously. Most of my albums are 256-bit encoded. My daily in-ears are custom-molded Ultimate Ears Personal Reference Monitors, an expensive piece of tech at $2000. So I&amp;#039;m used to quality audio at a premium price.  The SE846s, this new pair of earbuds from Shure, clearly fall within this category. Yes, the thousand-dollar price tag may be too steep for the casual listener. But for the serious audiophile, these buds deliver clear and natural sound quality. If the colossal cost of the SE846s hasn&amp;#039;t made you run screaming yet, here&amp;#039;s why these earphones just might be worth it. Design Shure&amp;#039;s flagship earphones have a futuristic design: A 46-inch, Kevlar-reinforced detachable cable leads to the transparent housings showing off a sleek, high-tech interior. They also come with plenty of accessories: two cases (one for storage and one for travel), a cleaning cloth, an extra 60-inch long cable, nine different types of earbuds, a detachable volume control, a 3.5mm to quarter-inch jack converter, and an airline adaptor. Hardware and Sound Instead of adding incremental improvements to a previous model, Shure decided to build the SE846s from scratch. The earbuds run on quad micro drivers (standard earphones have only one) and feature a low-pass filter that reproduces deep bass, essentially creating a miniature subwoofer. Shure calls this technology &amp;quot;True Subwoofer,&amp;quot; claiming that the SE846s reproduce deep bass without affecting any details in the mid and highs. The effect is almost like audio sorcery, creating powerful sound in a diminutive device. Shure also introduces an interchangeable nozzle filter system in the SE846s, which further customizes the frequency response for a more personalized listening experience. Basically, changing little tubes refines the sound. Using the provided key, you can pry open the earbuds and switch in the specific nozzles to make your earphones sound like one of three audio profiles: balanced, warm, and bright. The SE846 shipped pre-installed with the balanced (blue) nozzle, which aims to depict true neutral performance. The warm (black) nozzle slightly decreases the frequency, while the bright (white) nozzle does the opposite.  The nozzle system works in a subtle way that doesn&amp;#039;t harm the soundstage, nor sound at all artificial. For a few days, I rotated among all three, then eventually decided to stick with the bright nozzle. Upon first listen, its increase (+2.5dB) was not that apparent; but on tracks such as Skrillex&amp;#039;s &amp;quot;Promises&amp;quot; and Led Zeppelin&amp;#039;s &amp;quot;Black Dog,&amp;quot; the sound unmistakably opened up. Bottom Line While reviewing the SE846s, I listened to a wide variety of genres: classic rock, 80s hip-hop, dubstep, rap, and top 40. The ability to switch among genres and still enjoy your music without losing quality is no small task. The difference here is the True Subwoofer, a hidden feature that kicks in at the right moment. The SE846s will also satisfy those whose ears can withstand blasting music at a deafening volume: They are loud, even more so than my costly UEs. At $1000, these high-priced earbuds are an investment. But with detachable cables, interchangeable nozzles, and plenty of replacement ear pieces, they will stay in pristine condition for years. The Shure SE846 deliver a clean, rich soundstage and smooth vocals with the best bass reproduction I&amp;#039;ve ever heard in an in-ear universal. Everyone should hear music like this\u2014that is, if you have the cash. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/gadgets/reviews/a9794/shure-se846-earphones-hands-on-review-16248453/>