Shure SE215 Pro K

I'll describe the positive points first. These IEMs have exceptionally good build quality, with a thick cable that feels very sturdy and well made housings. The noise cancelling is likewise outstanding, particularly with the foam tips. The selection of accessories is excellent, with a range of tips and a sturdy soft-shell case.

Unfortunately, the product is compromised by two major flaws.

Firstly, the sound simply isn't what I'd consider acceptable for monitoring purposes. The bass is significantly boosted, bringing with it a resonant muddiness throughout the bass and lower mids. There is a real lack of clarity in the lower octaves, with sharp transients blurring into a boomy mess. Treble response rolls off significantly, giving a warm but slightly boxy character with a lack of air and presence.

Secondly, I just couldn't get a comfortable fit, for several reasons. The large housings were too big for my ears, with a sharp edge pressing into my outer ear. The angle of the nozzle compounded this issue. The memory metal sections of the cable do an excellent job of isolating cable noise, but interfered uncomfortably with the arms of my eyeglasses.

I don't wish to be too negative, as these IEMs may be a perfectly good choice for other users. The hyped sounic character may suit the preferences of some listeners who are less concerned with accuracy and detail. IEM fit is a personal matter, and what is painful for me may be perfectly comfortable for someone with larger or differently shaped ears.

After testing many in-ear phones in this price category I finally found a good counterpart for my money.

The sound quality is great for this price category. I really like a warm kind of flat sound with a decent bass response. The bass response could be better but hey, it's less than a hundred euros so what can you expect from a single driver earphone. No irritating frequencies stick out and no frequencies are lost. Of course when volume is turned way up the sound does distort a bit but does anyone actually listen to music with volume on maxium...

They are a bit uncomfortable in a long run and don't stay in the ear as I would like. I have to fix their position pretty much all the time. The cable is also a bit short for an iPod use but for monitor set-up it's great. It's not too long and it reaches the belt pack just fine.

The cable itself isn't very durable. I have my third cable at the moment in two years. It usually breaks from the ends. The iron wire stuck out from both wires close to ear so I had to put some heat shrink to cover them up and it worked fine but it's still a minor problem.

If you want good quality sound for low budget you should definetly look into these phones, but if you want also durability Shure isn't your choice.

Use: IEM - I play bass in a covers band, which is pretty loud on stage due to guitarist always turning up his amp (annoys the sound engineer a lot). I have a low cost wireless IEM system and the in ear phones provided are OK, but not sound isolating and lacked sufficient bass response for my liking. These 'cheap' Shure phones are a significant upgrade. The drums and my bass are crystal clear now.
Pros: excellent fit when you have found the correct tips. Very impressive noise suppression and excellent audio quality. Clearly labelled left and right. They can be very loud, I have my receiver set with the volume gain barely on.
Cons: the cable looks fragile, so I ordered a spare just in case. The connection of the cable to the ear phones is by a cylindrical plug which means that the ear phones can rotate on the cable, making it at times a bit fiddly to insert them. After 3 hours they become slightly uncomfortable, but in my experience this is just what happens when you have something close fitting in your ears for a long time.
Conclusion: a massive improvement over the OEM ear phones that came with my low cost system. Thoroughly recommend them. 4 stars for quality because I am not convinced the cable will last.