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Comfort (5.00)
First of all, we have to give our standard caveat: the people in our office who tried out these headphones, in all liklihood, have heads and ears shaped far differently than yours. We highly recommend you try on these or any headphones for at least a few hours before you decide to keep them.
We're not huge fans of Shure's in-ear headphone design. If you wear them the correct way, the cord has to loop around your ears, which we don't find particularly comfortable. If you invery them 180 degrees so the cord hangs downward, they jut out and away from your ears. Not only does this look a bit silly, but it just felt a bit odd since the cord was falling away from the ear buds at an odd angle. Also, the sleeves aren't particularly comfortable. Other soft plastic sleeves are made out of a thinner material and therefore don't put as much pressure on our ear canals.
Extended Use (4.50)
Once we wore the headphones for a bit, we didn't mind the weird fit quite as much. This increase in overall comfort was diminished somewhat by the thick sleeves causing slight discomfort over time. Overall, they're of average comfort, but if you don't like in-ears you won't like these headphones.
Cable Connectivity (6.12)
The Shure SE420s have a short cord, which is just long enough to reach the media player in your athletic/trendy arm band. With the extension cord, the headphones stretch to almost 5 feet in length, which is above average for in-ear headphones. We like the extra inches, but the SE420s aren't stretching across the room any time soon.
Without this cord your SE420s will just be a few feet long.
You'll use this cord more often than not.
The Shure SE420s also come with two adapters: 1/4-inch and airplane. The 1/4-inch adapter is to make your headphones compatible with a wider range of stereos and amps.
The 1/4-inch and airplane adapters are a standard
inclusion for most mid-to-high-range headphones.
Portability (9.50)
The Shure SE420s are very portable, despite the thickness of their cord. The reason for this, of course, is due to their ridiculously short length. Since they're just over two feet in length without their extension cord, they have the potential to be more portable than typical in-ear headphones. If you're not using an arm band, then they're slightly less portable compared to other in-ears (the cord is a thicker and longer than average). The headphones do come with a carrying case, but it's not particularly fancy. It doesn't have any pockets or anything inside, which is unfortunate; many in-ear headphones, like the Etymotic Research 6isolators or Audio-Technica ATH-ANC3, have several pouches in their carrying cases for corralling all their sleeves. With the Shures you'll have to be careful, lest you comically spill all 24 individual sleeves every time you open the case.
Customizability (7.75)
The Shure SE420s have a fair bit of customability inherent in the packed-in selection of sleeves. There are three types to choose from: foam, soft plastic, or triple flange. There are two pairs of small-sized foam sleeves, two mediums, and one large. There are small, medium, and large offerings for the soft plastic sleeves, one pair per size. Alas, there's only one pair of triple-flanged sleeves.
Pictured above: foam sleeves, soft plastic sleeves,
triple-flanged sleeves, and the cleaning tool.
There's also an included accessory, the volume dial attachment. This customization option (obviously) gives you an easier way to control your playback volume. This functionality isn't remarkable, but it's a great inclusion we typically don't see offered.
The volume dial can be attached before or after the extension cord,
depending on your preference. It can also be used to add a few
inches to cord length.
Maintenance (4.00)
Like other in-ear headphones, there isn't a lot you can do in terms of taking the headphones apart to fix issues. The SE420s will let you take off the sleeves for better cleaning. They also come with a cleaning tool, which is basically a loop of metal in a plastic stick. This is a great inclusion, but the reason it's included is because the headphones' nozzles are totally open to the air. That means that the inside of the nozzle is in constant peril from all the gross stuff in your ears as well as external dust, grime, or tiny insects (in particular look out for ear wigs or the terrifying miniature ear-eating scorpion). Though we realize the open nozzles are why the tool was included, we think the open nozzles themselves create a bit of a maintenance issue where there might not have been one previously. The tool also doesn't reach particularly far down the nozzle because Shure obviously doesn't want you poking anything vital. This does mean, however, that stuff will get buried at the bottom of the nozzle, then laugh at you as your tiny cleaning tool fails to exhume it.
Other Features (5.00)
Battery Dependence
The Shure SE420s dont' require any batteries. Since fancier headphones can sometimes need batteries, we think those than don't deserve some points. Batteries are a pain to maintain, especially when dead batteries mean you can't listen to your freshly-charged media player. Really, when you're listening to music, the only battery you should have to worry about is that of your media player.
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