Shure SE530

Design

The SE530s and SE420s are essentially the same in terms of design. The SE420s go for a straight gray color palette while the SE530s use a bronze motif. Other than this minor change, both sets of headphones are essentially the same.

Shure SE530	Shure SE420

Frequency Response

Interestingly enough, they both have incredibly similar frequency responses as well. The SE530s had a slightly better bass response and a slightly weaker one for mid-range frequencies.

Shure SE530	Shure SE420

Distortion

The SE530s have slightly less distortion than the SE420s, but the difference would likely be hard to hear.

Shure SE530	Shure SE420

Tracking

The SE530s did much better on our tracking test than the SE420s.

Shure SE530	Shure SE420

Isolation

We thought this was strange. The SE420s had a significantly better isolation result than the SE530s. This could be due to many different factors, such as small differences in the compositions of the foam sleeves, or a slightly different positioning.

Shure SE530	Shure SE420

Comfort

Both headphones feel about the same in terms of comfort. They both have very, very similar designs and all the same sleeve options.

Verdict

The SE530s are basically the same headphones as the SE420s, but come with better extras. We would probably recommend the SE420s over the SE530s because of their improved isolation. The SE530s’ remote and mic adapter is really useful, however.