Shure SE115

Design

Again, the Shure SE115s prove to be utter tanks that aren’t really pretty. The CX 300-IIs have a nice splash of red in addition to the simple, but good design inherent in the MM 50 iPs. They aren’t as durable as the SE115s, however they do have a better plug than the MM 50 iPs do.

Shure SE115	Sennheiser CX 300-II

Frequency Response

Again, a quick, painful loss for the SE115s. The CX 300-IIs have a much more even frequency response and barely stray outside our limits at all.

Shure SE115	Sennheiser CX 300-II

Distortion

The CX 300-IIs have very little distortion. To most people, the headphones will sound about the same here. To discerning audiophiles they will also probably sound similar. The CX 300-IIs do have an advantage here, though.

Shure SE115	Sennheiser CX 300-II

Tracking

Believe it or not, the CX 300-IIs got a worse tracking score. This might not immediately be apparent just by looking at the graphs, but if you’ll notice, just before the 10kHz mark the CX 300-II takes a bit of a dip.

Shure SE115	Sennheiser CX 300-II

Isolation

The SE115s are far, far better at isolating users from external sound. Look at that graph!

Shure SE115	Sennheiser CX 300-II

Comfort

The CX 300-IIs and their thin sleeves are really comfortable, especially for in-ears. Even though the SE115s come with myriad sleeve options, chances are the CX 300-IIs will still manage to provide a better wear experience.

Wear
Shure SE115	Sennheiser CX 300-II

Verdict

Like the SE420 match-up, the CX 300-IIs are a higher-end set of headphones. The downside: the CX 300-IIs are the same price as the SE115s. The CX 300-IIs break a lot of the current price conventions, actually, outscoring tons of headphones that provide better sound quality. In this match-up, unless you really value isolation, the Sennheisers are the better bet. If you like isolation first and foremost, the CX 300-IIs can’t hold a candle to the SE115s (we realize this is a poor metaphor because headphones are not sentient and have no hand-like appendage to grab a candle, but we stick by it nonetheless – UPDATE: maybe it could wrap its cord around the candle?).