Shure SRH440-E Professional Headphones, Accurate Audio Across an Extended Range, Collapsible, Black

I was recently in need of closed headphones with a $100 budget and curious about what the market offers. I thought I might share my findings with someone in a similar situation. The Shure SRH440 turns out to be the most accurate, neutral sounding closed cans among the eight headphone models that I have compared. Below is my review of these headphones.I am a speaker builder with measurement equipment, so I know what is neutral and undistorted sound. Unlike speaker systems, most headphones have no crossover or frequency response correction circuit. So, it is critical to be able to know how much such uneven responses affect perception of their sound with respect to accuracy and neutrality. I have good sense of it since I have been measuring sound. But I do not have proper equipment for headphone measurement, mostly importantly a dummy torso/head, nor am I willing to invest time in making a DIY setup. This is the reason why my search and audition have been limited to headphones for which measurement data exist, with some exceptions (see below). I made use of three different sources for the data: InnerFidelity.com, Headphone.com, and en.GoldenEars.net. While there is consistency within each site's measurements, there is also inconsistency between them, due to different measurement conditions and compensation methods. So, I researched and took those into account.One may say we can use EQ to remedy irregular frequency responses. But EQ has its own limitations. Some minor EQ'ing can help, but headphones that need too extensive correction should be avoided. The foremost reason is the loss of dynamic range. Theoretically, with EQ you can only limit, not increase, dynamic range in a certain frequency band. On the source side, you lose digital bit depth, and on the headphone side, you suppress the driver's efficient response range.Below is the list of headphones that I have auditioned (in the order of their street prices):- Tascam TH-02 ($30; no data available)- Panasonic RP-HTF600-S ($32; semi-open headphones)- Brainwavz HM3 / Incipio F38 ($35; no data available)- Tascam TH-2000 ($50; no data available)- AKG K518LE ($50)- Sennheiser HD 429 ($65)- Creative Aurvana Live! ($70)- KRK KNS 6400 ($85)- Shure SRH440 ($90)My DIY speaker system (it measures very flat) served as a reference with respect to tonal balance. I also own some open headphones like Sony MDR-MA900 and Sennheiser PX100, which also provided a baseline when I evaluated tonal balance of the headphones under comparison. I used a desktop headphone amp that has flat FR and reasonably low output impedance.I will give short, summarized impressions for each pair.Tascam TH-02 (no measurement data available)This is a really nice surprise. There is a little hump in the bass and midbass regions, and some wide, shallow dip in upper mids and lower treble (i.e., slightly polite presentation). Otherwise, these are relatively accurate headphones at a fraction ($30) of cost of headphones of comparable quality. Construction is good for the price. The pad size is between over-ear and on-ear, but comfortable enough.Panasonic RP-HTF600-S (semi-open headphones)Warm tone, deep bass. Treble is there, but upper mids and lower treble are lacking. Comfortable to wear. A good value, but not great for those looking for reasonably accurate sound.Brainwavz HM3 / Incipio F38 (no data available)Mid/upper bass ruins the sound which has otherwise good midrange-treble balance. Very uncomfortable to wear due to non-swivel cups.Tascam TH-2000 (no data available)Simply inferior to its younger brother TH02. Very dull and muddy presentation. The model uses the same ear cups as TH02 but contains different drive units. The driver may have better components but execution must be bad. Not worth the asking price.AKG K518LEYou need to remove the thick foam pad at the driver's front (easily removable) to have better bass-to-mids balance. Even the pad removed, the phones still have bass-oriented sound, but not bad. Mids to treble balance is good. Somewhat similar sound signature to Tascam TH-02's. But the TH-02 sounds a little more natural. The headband can be too small for some people. The clamping force is a bit above a comfortable level.Sennheiser HD 429Anothter pair of headphones with bass emphasis. Not overly bassy, though. But a bigger problem is treble, which is a little too polite to be neutral. I would not consider these headphones a good value.Creative Aurvana Live!Smooth and warm tone. Bass is somewhat loose at times. Treble has sparkles and at the same time sounds smooth. But relative to bass and treble, upper mids and lower treble are somewhat recessed, making the headphones' sound colored. Some people may feel them musical and full, but I prefer the Tascam TH02 at a lower price. The appearance is very good, though, with some feel of high quality. Very comfortable to wear with memory foam pads.KRK KNS 6400It has much more neutral sound than the headphones described above. Mid- and upper bass is somewhat lacking, and treble is a little overly presented. Good monitor-type sound. But there is one problem with these headphones. They are not very efficient, which means their usability is limited---you need a desktop headphone amp or a high-current capable portable amp to make them sound good. A little too bright treble is a weakness, too.Shure SRH440Without doubt, these are the best of the bunch. Perceived dynamic range is unbelievably wide. These are in a different league in terms of clarity as well---perhaps, the KNS 6400 is close but also with weaknesses (see above). Treble is sometimes a little on the bright side, but not as bright as the KNS6400's. Some people may find them bright with bright recordings, but the headphones should not be blamed for that. These produce very neutral and accurate sound. Bass is sufficient and often pleasantly strong in the mid- and upper bass regions, but deeper bass is not covered by these cans. Most music recordings do not contain this deep bass, anyway.I summarize my findings with the following top two picks:1. Shure SRH440: These are the headphones you can safely choose under $100 if what you are looking for is accurate, neutral sound.2. Tascam TH-02: This is a secret gem. At $30, you get really good closed cans. Its overall presentation is not as clear as the SRH440's, but with their price factored in, you cannot complain. They are definitely in the same league as the AKG K518LE (foam pads removed) and the Creative Aurvana Live. It may depend on personal preference, but among the three, my pick is the Tascam. The Creative has a better look and feel, but I'd choose the Tascam for its sound.Another headphone model I wanted to include in my search was the Sennheiser HD 280 Pro ($90-$100), but after I listened to the Shure SRH440, I decided not to. According to HeadRoom's measurements and many people's common impressions, the HD 280 Pro has a little subdued treble compared to the SRH440 which has great mids to treble balance when compared to my reference speakers. The Sennheiser covers the lowest octave much better than the Shure, but that is not my priority.I also considered the Koss ProDJ100 because of good reviews, but ruled them out because of their measurements. Their response might be flat in fundamental tones from most instruments but not with harmonics due to a large dip around 5-6kHz. Some people may think they sound good, but there is no way for them to sound accurate and natural by my standard.

These are pro quality headphones and delivery exceptional linear flawless 'true' sound.The bass, mids and top are perfect!I've had mine a few days and haven't burned them in yet, but boy are they good!They look good, comfortable, sound isolating cans, easily transportable as they fold away.They come with a removable coiled cable, cleverly locks into place, and the gold plated screw in 1/4 " adaptor plus a padded carry bag.Most importantly, the sound - plugged into an iphone 4 - simply wow, into a Sony Walkman - even better, and through my iMac with Cakewalk UA1G external Audio interface - sublime - but this also means you get to hear the flaws and compression defects!!All in all, whether you're a pro, a sound engineer, audiophile, or just want a pair of exceptional quality headphones to listen to your MP3 player - for the price, I cannot think of anything better! They're not pretentious, nor are they a marketing gimmick (unlike the crass 'Beats by Dr Dre', they're simply a quality product beautifully designed with sturdy build quality.I'll update my review in time.The SRH880's are superior but they're also £60 more!And as I've since learnt, one can replace the excellent pads with the superior pads from the SRH840 which are more comfortable, better sound isolation and better bass response.

These headphones are excellent for the price. The sound is excellent across all frequencies. They are not bass-heavy as is the case with a lot of headphones at this price. The detachable coiled cable is a nice feature. Took a star away because I am concerned with the exposed cable that runs from the left cup to the right. It is very easy to catch with a thumb or to get caught in an object when moving the headphones. It is only a matter of time before the cable snaps by getting caught. When that happens they will be useless without rewiring or taking the headphones apart to repair.But overall I'm very happy

Just my third pair of moderately priced headphones in 35 years, I felt so cool at 18 wearing my first set of cans thanks to my parents, both pairs were excellent and seemingly lasted forever so these new Shure SRH440 have a lot to live up to!Go into a shoe shop and try on many new pairs of shoes, they always feel stiff and awkward. Find that rare pair that feel soft and supple and fit snugly (and don't cost an arm and a leg!) and that is the pair you buy. The SRH 440 felt like that straight out of the box. Have had them on for hours today, don't even notice them. Firm but soft.The quality is immediately noticeable. Every CD that I play, every MP3 track on my laptop, I can hear new things that were never there before. I actually turn the volume down, not up. The sound is richer and deeper and I am going to enjoy the next few months listening to all my CD's and MP3 tracks. I don't like too much bass and the SRH440 scores well for me on this.On the all-important domestic side the SRH440 has gained my wife's approval. She says that she cannot hear any annoying sound leaking out of the cans, she no longer has to put up with my tuneless ambient music or my raucus Viking orchestral metal. And on the same note when I have them on I cannot hear a sound of her 'Coronation Street' soap opera on the tv and trust me that is a very big plus factor!I paid £69.50 for these which also covered P&P.Five stars - easy!

I use these about once a week to do some editing, it's not heavy usage. They are not up to the task... they break easily. The first pair lasted 11 months and broke in the same way. Amazon replaced them and this pair has lasted 17 months and failed in the same way.I cannot recommend these as my experience has not been good. I now need to find a new set and will be avoiding Shure as I've lost faith in them as a brand.

Soy un usuario sin experiencia en los audífonos y llevo 3 meses con estos audífonos.Los compré para escuchar musica ya que yo prefiero el sonido plano y para aquellos que prefieren algo mas divertido esta no es la opción, los audiotechnica mx40 serian una mejor opción.El sonido tiene buena nitidez a secas pero tampoco muy sobresaliente.El sonido lo describiría de la siguiente manera:Agudos un poco apagados, no muy brillantes para molestar pero tampoco tapados, estan muy bien.Los medios son muy planos, no hay algun tipo de ecualizador, es como escuchar los instrumentos desde el estudio de grabaciónLos graves tienen presencia, no mucha pero si suficiente para complementar todo, no tienen ese punch de unos bose o beats lo cual para mi esta bien, es lo que buscabaEl material es todo de plástico y vi reseñas de que se rompian fácilmente.El plástico es solido y se sienten firmes.La diadema tiene un plástico acolchado y es comodo pero después de 3 horas se siente incomodo.Las orejeras cobren toda la oreja y las almohadillas son faciles de intercambiar, son muy comodas.El cable es tipo teléfono y viene con un adaptador jack tipo guitarra. El cable al estirarlo es suave, no es duro.En conclusión unos audífonos para alguien que quiere escuchar su guitarra o instrumentos, también para escuchar musica que prefiera el sonido plano y sobrio.

En remplacement d'un casque Philips que je croyais bon. A la première écoute, très surprenant, presque décevant. Au bout de quelques minutes d'écoute et de quelques essais, je me rends compte à quel point ce casque est meilleur. Clarté, neutralité, pas trop de basses comme souvent malheureusement, pas trop d'aigus, juste un bon équilibre et une bien meilleure définition, j'ai l'impression de redécouvrir la musique que j'écoute habituellement. Très confortable mais le câble me dérange: un peu lourd (sans doute de meilleure qualité) et laissant trop passer les bruits de frottement sur les vêtements, dommage. Définitivement un incroyable rapport qualité/prix.

Got the headphone today, burned them with white and pink noise for over 4hours with 30 min intervals.Output: 7star. Completely neutral sounding headphones. They play the sounds as they were recorded. Perfect for vocals and instrumentals. I usually amp my output using a FiiO amp on FLAC format, and the output was just perfect. For the price it's more than worth every penny spent.Compared to AKG,Audiotechnica,Sennheiser, and Westone these fare way better for models in the similar price range and with similar driver sizes. The bass, mid tones and treble follow almost a flat line graph, which is very impressive.Will upgrade to a better cable to get more juice out of these. I would recommend this to anyone looking for a perfect audio experience. For best output listen to 24bit FLAC with an amp. 128to 320kbps somewhat sound shrill or muddy. Overall a great sounding can with simplicity :)Bass hunters and phone listners stay away from these headphones and find some peace in Bose, Dr. Dre, skullcandy etc...

Was originally going to rate this a 4 because they are quite uncomfortable for long periods of time.They sound is excellent at this price - but I found them to be squeezing my head too much for more than 10 - 15 minutes at a time. I was about to leave a 4 star rating because of just how uncomfortable I found them for extended periods but then realized as STUDIO headphones, you need the tight / snappy fit to give you some isolation and may not be wearing them very long while tracking.Do not get these for long period of listening, gaming, etc. Sound is great - nice crisp bass especially for the price - and they do a decent job isolating sound (I forgot how loud my computer / the world was after wearing them for an hour) and when I was recording vocals I hardly noticed them being uncomfortable since I'd track a bit, take them off, etc.Good entry level studio headphones. Really only for studio though as wearing them for a long time can get very uncomfortable if you have a big head / long hair like me. BY THE WAY CHECK OUT MY BAND AT www...... just kidding.

PRE ORDERMission:I bought these looking for a replacement for another pair of headphones for monitoring purposes.Attractions:The first thing that attracted me to the Shures was the claim of flat response obviously intended for the professional studio (as labeled). The second thing that attracted me to these headphones was the low price. Another thing that REALLY attracted me to these was the REMOVABLE locking cable. I've had trouble with previous headphone jacks that ended up with me having to go buy a new jack and stripping the cable to solder it on, so it seemed like a pretty sweet feature to save future trouble.Picking the Right Set of Cans:I was doing some research on good studio oriented headphones below(or at) the $100 price point. I came up finding these(Shure SRH440), the Sennheiser HD280 Pros, and the Sony MDR-v6's and/or 7506's. And obviously I came to choosing these. POST ORDERFirst Impressions:I had watched a few unboxing and review videos of the Shures just to see what I'd be getting, so nothing out of the box VISUALLY surprised me as I had seen it all already, but when I took them out of the plastic bag and actually held them in my hand myself, I was lovestruck. They are nice and heavy(in a good way) and VERY solidly built.Build:Like I said before, these are quite hefty in weight, but also in size. (Which I like a lot, but for those looking for smaller, lighter cans, I don't think this is where you want to go) The plastics used on the headphones are very solid and of high quality. I guess I had taken the build of the previous set of headphones I was using as fair, so when I just grabbed the earcups and pulled them apart I was blown away with just how well these things were made.The headband is made of some flexible material covered in a synthetic leatherette, and feels sturdy yet moldable. It sits nicely atop the head.From what gathered from the few moments the stock earPADS were one the headphones before I took them off to replace them with some upgraded SRH840 pads I had bought at the same time as these, they were okay in quality. A tad stiff though.The cable is a nice, thick coiled one around 10 feet long that starts up on a SINGLE side of the headphones rather than a Y-cable, and terminates to a 3.5 mm/ 1/8 in gold plated jack.The jack itself has a threaded end to screw on the included 1/4 in (whatever the equivalent is in millimeters) adapter. The rubber/plastic on the end of it has a nice grippy part to it that makes it easy to hold and plug in to whatever you need to. A small detail, but I found it quite nice.Comfort:Like I said a short ways up in the previous paragraph, I bought a set of replacement earpads that normally go on the big brother of this product, the SRH840, on suggestions of other peoples experiences with these headphones. I tried them on with the stock pads before I swapped them and like people said, the pads were fairly stiff and shallow. Immediately thereafter I put on the other pads. They were thicker, softer, and more comfortable. The most noticeably difference I would have to say though is the padding on the INSIDE of the pads that cover the driver. It is much thicker and of better quality. So during long wearing sessions I can see these being much more bearable. I've also heard claims of the pads improving sound quality, but I didn't actually listen to them before I swapped the pads so I can't confirm them. ** I also have pretty prominent(sticky-outy) ears that usually become discomforted quite soon after putting on headphones, but these are (now anyways) deep enough with thick enough inner padding that it's not much of a problem.The headband is quite "cushy" and forms rather nicely to the head. But sometims, when wearing them for a long time, the top of my head begins to get sore where it rests upon my head.These headphones are actually pretty tight gripping on my (seemingly) normal sized head. I like that A LOT, but I'm sure it bothers the hell of some people. I've heard people calling them loose, but they aren't to me.Overall, they feel very nice to me sitting on my head.Now with what was my greatest fear about ordering headphones,Sound/Sound Quality:I have previously listened to studio oriented headphone and they seemed "canny" and fit the closed back headphone STEREOtype(pun), and I hate having to wait unnecessarily for things, so I was afraid of ordering these before actually listening to them under the cause that they would sound crappy. I'll tell you right now, my fears were misplaced. The SRH440's sounded pretty darn good on the first listen. I still haven't burnt them in the full 100 or so hours suggested by many, but they sound great already. The highs are nice and crisp, the mids are warm and smooth, and the bass is lush and extended. I am currently playing pink noise and assorted sounds through them, and after a few of days(with breaks, don't worry) hey, maybe they'll sound even better.As far as isolation of outside noise goes, the Shures do it quite well. I'll give you an example of how well they do it:I've had really loud music been playing through speakers in the other room, and I put these on as earmuffs to block out the sound. Obviously it didn't completely shut out the sound, but made it quiet enough that it wasn't unbearable to hear.The soundstage with these is actually pretty wide and spacey. Things panned hard left or right sound more spread apart than other closed back headphones. Now I haven't heard a lot to compare to them (especially not open backed/open-air headphones which are supposed to have the broadest soundstage), but these headphones give me such an awesome stereo image when listening to music.If I had to describe these headphones in two words, it would be these:SUPERIOR VALUE.Well there's my two cents. Haha, I hope I didn't miss anything.Awesome headphones.