Shure's latest pair of earphones, the SE215, manages to walk the line between bass-boosted beasts and strictly flat response pairs. While audiophiles seeking the latter might want to stop reading now, those who prefer more low-end than you get from a pair like the Etymotic ER-4PT ($299, 4.5 stars) but don't want to trek into bass overload territory, the SE215, at only $119 list, is a great deal. Simply put, these earphones sound like a more expensive pair, but manage to avoid too much exaggeration in any frequency realm, the typical trademark of affordable earphones. The cable—always the first thing to go on an earphone pair—is replaceable, which is also rare on affordable earphones. The SE215 isn't perfect—there are some fit issues to be aware of—but it's a bargain for aspiring audiophiles, and it's our latest Editors' Choice.

Design
The Shure SE215 features either clear or translucent black plastic housing for the earpieces, emblazoned with the Shure logo and the name SE215. The 64-inch removable cable is thicker than average earphone cords and connects at the base of each earpiece. As mentioned above, the cable being replaceable is a huge advantage: it allows you to use the SE215 for the life of the drivers or until you misplace the pair, without worrying about the cable going bad, which often happens before the drivers go.

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A stiff rubber coating makes the cable rigid enough to bend and stay in position. This is a must for earphones that are worn with the cable pointing up and then tucked behind the ear, but unless I really pressed the cable's stiff wire near the ear into a rigid shape, the earphones still easily fell out. I found the cable less likely to stay in place than, say, the removable cables that come with the extremely expensive JH Audio JH16 Pro ($1,149, 5 stars). Until I realized that I basically had to bend the cable at a near-sharp angle over my ear, the earphones came loose pretty often. That is a significant gripe, but also the only bad thing I have to say about an otherwise fantastic pair of earphones.

Included with the SE215: a zip-up carrying case, six different sizes of foam and silicon ear tips, an earwax cleaning tool (gross, but necessary), and a ¼-inch adapter for larger headphone jacks.

For $120 list—and cheaper on some retail sites—the SE215 has no business sounding this good. Shure traditionally holds back on bass-boosting frequency response, but the SE215 has a little more low-end presence than its older sibling, the more expensive Shure SE425 ($349, 4 stars). On the other hand, our HEAD Acoustics frequency response tests show how much less low frequency push the SE215 has next to notoriously heavy-bass pairs, like the Monster Beats Tour by Dr. Dre ($149.95, 4 stars) and the Bose IE2 ($99.95, 4 stars). The SE215 manages to more or less split the difference between booming low-end offered by these earphones and the flat-response, almost clinical accuracy of the Etymotic ER-4PT.

The result is a pleasant listening experience that lets the music—not the production—steal the show. The percussion on Bill Callahan's Apocalypse resounds with clarity and depth, but nothing so deep it distracts; his baritone voice is balanced and articulate through the SE215's drivers. The deep bass hits at the start of The Knife's "Silent Shout" are not lacking in depth, but more importantly, they do not distort. And John Adams' "The Chairman Dances" is reproduced with a clarity in the mids and highs not often found in earphones at this price level.

Basically, the Shure SE215 is a steal, but you'll likely have to mess with them a bit in order to properly nail down the fit. Again, the cable eventually seems to break in and the earphones become secure, but don't say I didn't warn you about the first few times you wear them. This issue is annoying, but not nearly enough to prevent the Shure SE215 from receiving our Editors' Choice award for affordable earphones.

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