Shure SRH145 Portable Headphones

I bought these when the last of my sennheiser px-100's bit the dust, and I found that its successor (and, indeed, most modern phones) boosted the midbass so artificially as render most music practically unlistenable. That is why I got these instead of the SRH 145's, which are reputed to have more bass. My purpose is to use them at my desk, plugged into my desktop computer via an audioquest dragonfly. I eventually settled on the Grado SR60e's as my main listening phones, although compared to their progenitor, the original SR60's, the "e"'s had a shrillness at the top end that never went away, despite reassurances from Grado. Anyhow, those phones developed a mechanical fault, and I went back to the Shures and you know what, they are really good. Compared to the Grado's, they lack a little punch deep, and their top end is a little veiled. But I can, and literally have, listened to them all day, hours on end. They hold up well on all kinds of music. At work I tend to listen mostly to instrumentals, from classical (meaning mozart and chamber music), jazz (the contemporary Pandora channel has some good stuff) to celtic folk. Listening to Lunasa right now and they are doing a fine job propelling the music without any of the things that annoy me about audio in general and headphones in particular: no boomy midbass, ever; no undue accent in any particular area of the spectrum; never a shrill or harsh note at the top end but neither does it lack energy there. And they are easy to wear -- light weight, almost no sound bleeding out despite their open design. They are easy to drive, and they fold up. I've listened to lots of headphones in my time -- including Stax, Senns both low and high end, Grado, Koss, Sony, Audio Technica (the ATH M50 makes an excellent match for the Audioengine D1), and the Shure hold their end up well against some stiff competition. And for the price, they are a true audiophile bargain.

Update after 4 monthsThey have got more comfortable. I don't use them often so I don't think it's my ears that have got used to them I think the material has gotten softer with use and maybe the band has stretched out a bit.I'll add to my review that while these are not hard to drive they are not easy to drive either. They are near the top of easy to drive. They are 32 ohms and sensitivity is 96db. What does that mean? I use these mostly with my computer that has a pretty good sound chip and I find that I have to have the computer sound (windows 7) and the music app (foobar 2000) volume all the way up to get these to where they open up and sound best. In general, they need to be a little louder than I would like to sound their best.Sound wise I find myself punching up the bass a bit. They need a little bit more hit and a touch of bloom for things like the bass guitar and kik drum to sound about right. Not a lot, just a 3db boost from about 80 to 200hz. I also find they need a bit of a push at 10K and up to put a little more air around the instruments. With more listening, I'm not quite as thrilled with the sound as I was, but I still like them. Hours of listing do not leave me with ear fatigue and they do not punish poorly recorded music.Update after a month:These have not got more comfortable and I kinda wish I had returned them but for $32 it's not really worth it given I'd get charged $5 for the return. These hurt after a couple of hours and no amount of moving them around relieves it. The material is soft enough but I think it is too soft and packs down. Also clamping pressure is pretty high on my melon so now that I'm keeping them I may try to stretch them out a bit================================================================I am FUSSY about sound! I want natural neutral sound. That's what you get with these. The bass is natural, drums sound pretty good. Sibilance is there but not annoying. They are accurate without being clinical or fatiguing. They are musical without being over warm or polite. They do not punish poorly recorded music like some more HiFi headphones do. There is a nice amount of 'air' around the instruments but not much of a sound stage beyond that. They are a nice middle of the road set of headphone, not too bright, but bright enough, a good mid-range, pretty well-controlled bass without much bleed and some bass extension. They could use a touch more bloom to suit my tastes but what is there suits me fine. If I thought they were bass shy I would tell you.I use a 15 band equalizer on my computer and I end up putting some EQ on most headphones I use, but I found with these I liked them best with no EQ. They do not go super loud with my phone. Loud enough for me, but not might be loud enough if you like your music really loud.They need a little volume to sound there best but that's pretty typical and I have had headphones that needed to be louder to sound their best.They have one big problem. They are not very comfortable. I would not get these if wearing them all day at work is your thing of if comfort is really important to you because you get annoyed if they are not comfortable. In comparison, the Sennheiser HD 2.20 is WAY more comfortable. The foam is too thin and you almost feel like the plastic is pressed against your ears. They 2nd day they felt a little better. My ears getting used to them, or maybe the foam adapting to the shape of my ears or a little bit of both.The headband cushion is also really thin but did not bother me as much as the earpieces.They have almost no isolation. My old open back Sennheiser 239 had more isolation. I'm also not a fan of how round that headband is but I guess they did that so they would fold up smaller? I don't know but I wish the fit a little closer to the head on the sides.The cable is kind of weird in that the right and left cords are side by side like lamp cord and a little thicker than on other budget headphones.Between my old Senn 239, and the Senn 2.20 and the Jabra Move (I think it was the Move) I like the sound of these Shure the best by far. If these cost $50 or even $60 I'd be really happy with these, at least for sound. For $30 dollars I'm REALLY happy with them.I'd be tempted to knock a star off for comfort but for me, the sound is everything so the 5 stars are for the sound.

A wise buy....was concerned about the sound quality for the price, but I am very pleased.Low, high and mid ranges are all more than acceptable.I feel there should be no concernabout the bass being dominant.A bit deceiving when you first hold them being so light, they appear to be fragile but theconstruction is of "sound" quality. The side phone adjustments work well and even during avigorous walk there is no slippage. The phones are very comfortable, but I find them slightlyon the small side.It takes very little time to adjust to them, after an hour or two they are hardlynoticeable.When folded they compact nicely but beware of the cord. They're good looking too.I've had them for a month now and the polished finish seems durable..in and out of my backpackevery day and there's not a scratch om them.Cons: The cushions could be slightly larger and the 5 foot cord is too long. Not much to complain about.Shure's name, good sound, the quality of construction and the price make this an easy choice....Buy them !.

I love these headphones. I have bought a total of 5 pair and even gave mine away, so I needed to purchase again. The sizing is adj6stable. I purchased an adapter so I could use it on my laptop and cellphone. The sound is crisp and the base is good but not overwhelming. Will keep on buying as long as SHURE continues to make them.