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Isolation |
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• Very high decibel output without a lot of distortion.
• Great isolation overall.
• Negligible levels of leakage.
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Sound Quality |
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Comfort |
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Maximum Usable Volume (10.00)
What we found:
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.
What is maximum usable volume?
Max usable volume is what we use to describe the loudest a set of headphones can play back low distortion music. Most headphones can attain a high decibel level, but most sacrifice sound quality for volume.
How the test works:
This test is a series of distortion tests at various volume settings. Again, we're looking for 3% distortion, after which your music will sound bad. More learning awaits you at the other end of this link.
Isolation (10.16)
What we found:
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.
How the Shure SE115 compares:
What is isolation?
Isolation refers to your headphones' ability to block out external noise. Isolation is a matter of personal preference. Do you listen at home or in an office? If yes, isolation won't be that important to you. If you plan on commuting using modern day vehicles, isolation will be very, very important.
How the test works:
To test for isolation, we put the headphones on HATS, then we blast both with pink noise. Since we know the amounts and levels of noise we're using, we can compare the original sound file to the recording to figure out exactly what was blocked. If you like interactive works of nonfiction like this one, visit this link.
Leakage (10.00)
What we found:
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.
What is leakage?
Leakage refers to any sound that spills out from the ear-headphone seal. In the case of in-ears, leakage is typically unnoticeable. Keep your volume at a sane level, and we assure you, you'll be fine.
How the test works:
We test leakage by setting HATS up with our test headphones, then playing pink noise through the headphones. Again, since we know the output, we can measure exactly what sounds are escaping the headphones.
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