Shure SE425 In Ear Headphones Review

Shure SE425 Pros&Cons

Pros

  • Comfortable
  • Good isolation
  • Many eartips included
  • Very little if any sibilance

Cons

  • Very small nozzles
  • Doesn’t match well with a wide variety of genres
  • Included eartips aren’t great


Shure SE425 Specs

  • Impedance: 22-ohm
  • Drivers: 2x Balanced Armatures
  • Frequency response: 20-19,000 Hz
  • Sensitivity: 109dB / mW
  • Cable length: 162cm
  • Cable connections: MMCX

Packaging

Shure does a very decent job with their packaging. The SE425 comes in a square-shaped box, featuring a clear window which displays the IEMs. The front also has a flip-cover which reveals an exploded view of the SE425, as well as some text highlighting the use of dual BA drivers, the detachable cable, as well as the ergonomic design of the housing. The rear of the box showcases the included accessories, as well as some technical specifications.

 What’s in the box?

  • SE425
  • Storage / carrying case
  • 1x Pairs yellow foam eartips
  • 4x Pairs Shure Olive eartips
  • 3x Pairs silicon eartips
  • 1x Pairs triple flange eartips
  • Cleaning tool
  • 1/4″ adapter
  • User guide
  • Warning leaflet
  • Warranty leaflet
  • Registration leaflet

 Accessories

There isn’t a great deal of accessories included with the SE425, other than an above average number of eartips; a total of 9 pairs of various styles and sizes to be exact (although that does include 2 pairs of medium-sized Shure Olives).

Also bundled in the package is a semi-hard protection case, as well as a little tool to aid in removing earwax.

 Read: Unique Melody Mentor V2 In Ear Headphones Review

Design

Stepping up from the SE315, Shure have bumped up the BA driver-count to 2, instead of a single BA driver, which (theoretically speaking) should result in a more refined sound signature. The SE425 shares much of its housing design with that of Shure’s other line of SE IEMs. Really, why should they change? It’s a tried and tested method which works great for Shure, both in the fit and comfort department. Relative to many other IEMs on the market, Shure’s SE line are on the smaller side. Most notable are perhaps their negative profiles. This allows a user to wear them while resting their head on a pillow.

Interestingly, the SE425 seems to have 2 different housings (as does the SE535). The inside “layer” looks to be of a gun-metal finish, which is then encapsulated by a secondary clear plastic external housing. Perhaps this makes serviceability easier, but a seamless housing would just look and feel so much more refined. As per usual, the SE425 utilises MMCX connectors, which makes cable replacement and connecting aftermarket cables a breeze. The included cable is rather hefty, and does feature memory wire within the earhooks.
The only real downside to the SE425’s design is the very small diameter of the nozzle. So, if you’ve got a favourite pair of eartips, be sure to double-check if they’d fit the SE425.

 

Sound

Test Setup
Source: Hidizs AP60
DAC/Amp: IFI Micro iDSD Black Label

 

Following on from the SE215 and SE315, Shure continues to make incremental changes and improvement to the sound signature, whilst remaining faithful to their overall house sound. As such, if you’re a fan of the lower-end models, you’ll surely appreciate the refinement offered by the SE425.

The SE425’s sound (as all IEMs) is going to depend greatly on the eartips used with them. As mentioned in the Design portion of the review, tip selection is limited due to the narrow nozzle diameter. My personal preference is for JVC SpiralDot tips, but their bore size is a lot bigger than the SE425’s nozzle. As such, I had to stick with the included tips.
My initial impressions of the SE425 were rather unfavourably with the Shure Olive foam tips. The Olives just made the sound character too dark, with too much emphasis on the bass region, and a very closed-in sound stage, along with suppressing the higher registers. This usually seems to be the case with foam eartips. Of course, isolation was noticeably better with the Olives than with the silicon tips.
However, the silicon tips simply made the SE425 come to life. Bore-diameter is very small for the silicone tips, which means that the bass region is still favoured (especially compared to more neutral IEMs), but not nearly as much as with the Olives, despite a much larger bore on the Olives.
Overall, the SE425 does have more of a warmer sound signature, whilst still delivering a respectable amount of detail. It’s only really the micro details that don’t come across quite as clearly.

Vocals do sound slightly veiled, and there’s a definite favour towards male vocals, but by no means do vocals feel outright lacking or distant enough to feel unpleasant.

Sibilance is pretty much non-existent, thanks to a rolled off upper end. However, this rolled-off treble also proved to be quite useful. The IFI Micro iDSD Black Label has a 3D+ filter which expands the sound stage considerably. A downside to this function is that it can also make the upper end pretty bright on neutral headphones/IEMs. But this wasn’t a problem with the SE425, as the roll off just meant that the highs weren’t bright enough to become fatiguing, allowing me to fully enjoy the 3D+ experience.

Overall, the SE425 does have a very pleasing tonality. But due to the warmer signature it does seem picky with music genres. Classical, for example, just doesn’t sound quite as dynamic and immersive as it does on brighter IEMs.
As such, the SE425 is well-suited for more modern pop music, but especially rock. That warmth really does help to bring out the distortion in electric guitars, while the elevated bass region favours drums rather well.


Value

Well now, like most of Shure IEMs, the SE425 is a good product. It’s well-made and sounds respectable. But there’s also a reason why Shure is so popular. It’s not so much the quality as it is their market campaigns. Marketing costs money, and in the end that cost is passed on to the customer. This is something important to remember when considering the final cost of any product. We’ve seen this happen with the ludicrously over-priced Beats lines of headphones and IEMs. Thankfully, though, Shure’s quality is way beyond anything Beats could hope to offer.
So, at an MSRP of $300 (or around $270 online), how does it stack up to the competition in terms of sonic performance alone?
The SE425 certainly is good by any measure, but it’s warmth and bass emphasis won’t be for everyone. If you’re mostly into rock, or even EDM, the SE425 is certainly a strong contender and well worth your consideration. However, there are cheaper options from lesser-known brands such as MEE Audio or Audio-Technica which would be better suited to a wider variety of music styles.
But as a total package, when taking fit, comfort, isolation, and sonic performance into consideration, Shure’s SE425 offers some good value.

 

Rating

The TECH MERIT rating system is designed to take as many aspects of the device into account as possible. As such, we have a basic rating, as well as a final rating. The basic rating rates the product purely as a high quality portable audio device, and is generally a good indicator of how it stacks up to its rivals in terms of standard features and specs. The final rating, however, grants bonus points for any extra features and specs that aren’t quite as common, and is a great way to judge the product as a complete package.

Packaging
Look and feel: 8 / 10

Included Accessories
More than 3 pairs of eartips included: YES
Protective case: YES

Build
Quality control: 10 / 10
Seems durable: YES
Microphonics: 8 / 10
Comfort: 9 / 10

Sound
Relatively balanced signature: –
Soundstage: 8 / 10
Detail retrieval: 7 / 10
Sibilance: 9 / 10
Instrument separation: 7 / 10
Isolation: 8 / 10
Hiss: 8 / 10


Portability

Small size: 9 / 10
Relatively low power required: 9 / 10
Weight: 9 / 10

Value
Competitive price-point: YES
Relative value: 7 / 10

Basic Rating: 8.5

Bonus points
Removable cables: YES
Number of cables included: 1
Premium cables:
Pairs of eartips above 3 pairs: 5
How premium the case looks and feels: 6 / 10
Battery life above 8 hours: –
Bluetooth: –
Apt-X: –
Volume/remote controls: –
Metal body: –
Tuning system:
Premium look and feel:
Use of exotic materials: –
Bluetooth connection quality: –
1/4” adapter included: YES
Cable management:
Aircraft adapter: 

Final Rating: 8.7

 

Many thanks to Shure for sending us the SE425 for review!

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