Shure SE115

Isolation (10.16)

The SE115s, true to their legacy, had great isolation with the foam ear buds. They blocked out about as much sound as the SE420s. One interesting thing to note is how the other SE headphones had slightly poorer isolation scores. We’re not entirely sure why this is, since we used different sleeves during each battery of tests.

Compelling mysteries aside, the SE115s shouldn’t give you any problems with isolation. They’ll make a great set of headphones for a commuter.

Comparisons

See how the Shure SE115 compares:

Shure SE420 Compare

Sennheiser MM50 iP Compare

Apple In-ear Headphones with Remote & Mic Compare

Sennheiser CX 300-II Compare

Click here for more information on our isolation test.

Leakage (10.00)

Like a lot of in-ears, the Shure SE115s don’t have much leakage at all. In fact, we could barely hear a whisper about six inches away from the headphones when they were playing at a relatively loud decibel level. Feel free to bring the SE115s to the library.

Click here for more information on our leakage test.

Maximum Usable Volume (10.00)

The SE115s were capable of a very high decibel output without succumbing to distortion: 123.07dB. We give 10 points to any headphones capable of 120dB or more, because anything more than 120dB is a bit superfluous and can hurt your hearing. Increasing the volume output on some headphones will also drastically increase the volume. Chances are you’ve heard a pair of headphones that have started to sound blown out when you boost the volume too high. Unless you’re listening to the SE115s at crazy-unsafe levels, you shouldn’t run into this.