Shure Earbuds, Black, Aonic 4

Product Information

I enjoyed the Aonic’s sense of personalization and versatility. Shure has shown that one earphone can try to do it all, and for the most part, the Aonic 5 succeeded. However, accessibility can be an issue, and this IEM can be a hard sell for some. I found that the more you put into the Aonic 5, the more it delivers. Some may just need an IEM that has a flat, neutral response for monitoring, and the Aonic 5 does that very well, but for a more textured, satisfying sound signature, it definitely benefits from outboard gear. A svelte but durable hard-shell case with a useful strap. (Image credit: Future) Shure Aonic 50 Gen 2 review: Sound quality Up to a point, it’s Shure in-ear business as usual here. The company’s long favoured a monitor-style ‘twist to fit’ design for its in-ear models and the Aonic 215s are no exception. There is quite a wide selection of ear-tips included in the big circular box the Shures come in, and once you’ve identified the ones that suit you best then the 215s fit snugly and comfortably. An understated build, but a quality one, to be sure. (Image credit: Future) Shure Aonic 50 Gen 2 review: Price & release date

If you’re not planning on going wireless any time soon and your set-up justifies premium earbuds, you’re not going to be disappointed by the Aonic 5. We start listing with the slider in the default neutral position, which means no sound mode is engaged. The Shures get off to a strong start, thanks to their clean and transparent presentation. They are nicely balanced with crisp highs and pinpoint, precise lows either side of a solid midrange.It's a relatively minor issue and one only noticeable in direct comparison against the likes of the Focal Bathys and Edifier Stax Spirit S3, but it's our job to notice. Otherwise, we're treated to a detailed mix with plenty of dynamic rise and fall through the mids and a decent serving of snappy bass weight. The mic offers solid intelligibility. Using the Voice Memos app on an iPhone, we could understand every word we recorded. The mic’s signal is bright, and though typical Bluetooth audio artifacts are present, callers should have no issues understanding you on a clear mobile connection. Wire-Free Sound for Audiophiles Some might find the maximum setting more useful in particularly noisy environments where you might benefit from a slightly fuller, weightier sound, but we prefer the noise-cancelling on its standard setting. Verdict

They’re at the upper end of the market in terms of price, but Shure has given the established class leaders something to worry about at its very first attempt. puts you in control of your audio experience. Select balanced, warm or bright audio through removable nozzles for three unique sound signatures. While using the Aonic 5 with the iFi Zen DAC, and turning on true bass mode, the lows gain a needed amount of weight that’s missing from the more flat response, and when implementing the warm nozzles, the timbre of the bass changes drastically. While the tonality does warm-up, the sound just appears way more growly than before. This greatly increases the enjoyability of some dark synth or emocore ballads. Whether you want that flat, neutral bass timbre, or a punchier, booming feel, the Aonic 5 finds a way to do both.

Can you use the Shure AONIC 50 (Gen 2) for phone calls?

What I like about listening to Aonic 5 is that it gives equal prominence to all frequency ranges. It’s not about strong bass, nor about super clear treble. It’s about respecting the music. Shure claims a battery life of around 20 hours with noise-cancelling and Bluetooth both enabled. This isn’t quite as high as some of the class-leaders, but you should have enough in the tank for most trips before they require an injection of power. Because it’s simple to fit the 215s snugly yet comfortably in the ear, Shure describes them (as it does the bulk of its wired ‘SE’ models) as a ‘Sound Isolating’ design. And it’s certainly true to say that extraneous sound is much diminished when the 215s are correctly in place – even without music playing.

A TIDAL Masters file of The Raconteurs’ version of Donovan’s Hey Gyp (Dig the Slowness) sounds entirely fulfilling and does enough to demonstrate every aspect of the 215s’ talents. In summary, the Shure Aonic 50 Gen 2 are a handsome, sleek – if marginally heavy, at 340g – set of over-ears. They're not winning any design awards for originality, but the branding on each earcup is classy and if you prefer physical controls and sliders over touch capacitive functions (I do) you'll enjoy them. Shure’s wired in-ear models route their cables over and behind the wearer’s ears. The Aonic 215s feature substantial wireless antennae (Shure refers to these as the ‘True Wireless Secure Fit Adapter’), and they follow the same route: over the ear and behind, where each terminates in an unpleasantly bulbous control button.

Slightly recessed on the warm nozzle, detailed and sparkly on the neutral, and an acquired taste on the bright nozzle. Although I am a fan of some brighter textures, the Aonic 5 really emphasizes them, and that may put some people off. The big imaging works on the low and mid bands, but the size of the highs on both the neutral and bright setting is very heavy.