Customer Reviews

Shure PA755 Triple-Flange Sleeves for Shure Sound-Isolating Earphones (1 Pair)

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I love my Shure E3C earphones and up until recently was pretty happy with the foam sleeves. However, I was constantly having to reset them in my ears when engaged in strenuous activities.

The first time I tried these triple flange sleeves I thought I had wasted my money. Later I pulled my ear up and they slid in a lot further... and suddenly I was in heaven. I get the full sound that I love so much complete with throbbing bass line AND the things stay in my ears until I pop them out!! These are the perfect complement to a wonderful headset :)

You can make these by hacking up a cheap pair of earplugs from your local sporting goods store. This is the description/review I have posted elsewhere describing the process (initially posted for the E2Cs):

I love these headphones. They sound great, they have great isolation, and they are very durable. BUT, I had almost resigned myself to an unneccessarily painful fit: I have normal sized ears, but I couldn't get either the smallest plastic or foam inserts to be comfortable for more than an hour before I felt like my ears were going to bleed from the outward pressure of these buds . . . until I had a thought: "Why doesn't Shure sell these phones with the small-ish inserts like Etymotics uses.

I had remembered the earplugs that I had used to take all of my biggest exams with, so I went down to my local sporting goods store, browsed the hunting and shooting section and found $2 rubber earplugs with three "fins" on them like the Etymotics. These plugs are hollow, so all you have to do is carefully cut a small hole on the end, cut off the bulk of the back of them (the opposite end of what you put in your ear), stick them on the bare tubes of the Shures, and eureka! My EC2s fit perfectly and sooooo much more comfortably.

I have since learned that Shure sells inserts like these for an extortive price, but why buy when you can make them for 1/5 the price. I reccommend buying 2 or 3 pairs of the earplugs your first go-around, just in case you butcher the first pair like I did.

I ordered the triple flange sleeves because the Etymotic earbuds had such great reviews for comfort, but it seemed like the Shure E3Cs had better reviews for quality. So I figured, why not get the best of both worlds! And I was right!

The wide variety of sleeves that comes with the E3Cs will probably satisfy most people. I found the smallest thin-rubber (grey) ones to be the most comfortable. But even then, it wasn't an absurd amount of comfort, or something I could forget about. With the Triple Flange sleeves, it was perfect comfort. I've worn them for hours at a time on several trans-pacific flights, and they are good for just laying back, blocking out the noise of the jets, and listening to good music.

So all in all, a great addition to the E3Cs.

As nice as the E3c's are, how they sound is highly dependent on the seal you get. The triple-flange sleeves are designed to get you a better seal in your ear, and they do accomplish that (in comparison with the other plastic sleeves originally included with the earphones).

Nevertheless, these sleeves have a big drawback: they're extremely uncomfortable. They are very long and often feel like they're putting pressure on my inner ear, pressure that extends almost into the throat area. If I were to do it all over again, I would buy a pack of replacement foam sleeves instead. I believe you can get a 10-pair pack of the foam replacements for $20. The foam inserts are simply more comfortable (more like a soft earplug) and, if replaced often enough, create a seal with relative ease.

I got these on Friday. After five minutes i was ready to kill Shure - $15 for pain! I probably injured my ears on these things trying to get them to fit normally. I would follow the normal instructions, putting my ear back and inserting them - they would cut through the backs of my ears, causing a sharp searing pain. Finally I read the amazon.com review (thanks!) and it said just to pull my ears UP: not any to the side- WOW THESE ARE AMAZING! GO SHURE!(but the instructions are still bad as ever)

Firt off I want to say that I love the triple-flanges in terms of sound and comfort. The Foam inserts are a little more comfortable and isolate a little better (note better as in 10% better not twice as good or anything). However I'm sick of having to replace the foams every 2 weeks or so esp. since they cost like 2-3 bucks a pair! After a week they start to get stiff and yucky and completely loose the awesome fit and isolation. Trading away 10% of the comfort and 5-10% of the isolation is totally worth the hassle and cost of replacing the foams (if Shure or someone else sold the foams for a reasonable price things would be different). The sound quality is excellent with the triple-flanges since they isolate so much better than the grey inserts that come with the e3cs. The bass especially is excellent due to the nice tight fit. TIP: I shortened these long sleeves by cutting off the tube from the end end that goes on the e3c earphone's nozzle. I cut them off uptil the botton of the last (biggest) flange. I found the bass to be improved a little when I did this probably due to the reduced distance from drivers to ear-drums and now I can wear my ear warmers again without feeling like q-tips were being driven into my ear! :) Recommend it if youre sick of the foam's cost and durability.

I bought this replacement set recently and haven't regretted the purchase one bit.

The comfort of theses sleeves will depend on your ear type and size - for me, it was a perfect fit. They don't need to be pushed all the way in, but the triple-flange really does help 'seal' the music and keep the noise out.

As other reviews have noted, these WILL work with e2c's also - I am using them on my e2c's and it's working great.

A point about the sound: For those that like bass, this is a must have. The e2c headphones are excellent, but some people have noted that while it is crystal clear sound, the bass is lacking. These sleeves fix that up...you will notice more bass, for sure. There is a slight trade-off with reduced treble, but I actually prefer that. Bear that in mind as you purchase these. For working out / dance music, it's perfect.

These will take a bit of getting used to - much like when you first got your Shure earphones. But perservere and these will work like a charm. I felt some minor discomfort when first trying to position them, but now I seem to have figured out how far to put them in, the angle, and how to remove them (note the 'lift your ear up' tip for removing - it really does work).

I purchased these for my Shure E2Cs (yes, they can be made to fit, even though not designed for the E2Cs--you just need to be determined and place pressure on the posts of the phones, to fit the larger posts into the smaller sleeve holes). I find them good at cancelling noise, such that I use these when I fly--they do a slightly better job than my Sony noise-cancelling earbuds.

Having said that, I find the sound with these a bit muddier than with the regular phone sleeves. Also, I sometimes can get a head-shaking inner ear tickle from these, which I assume is due to the flanges reaching so far inside my ears (at times, putting these on and in seems akin to a Star Trek alien torture scene).

In the end, they are worth the $10 investment (and note that they are returnable to Amazon if you don't like them), but are not quite the "total solution" (is there one?!?) I thought they might be.

I'm using these triple-flange sleeves with the e2c's, even though officially they are not compatible (according to Shure). They fit tightly onto the nozzles of the e2c's buds, but they do fit if you carefully slip them on, and make sure they don't tear.

Quality-wise, these sleeves work well, and are definitely easier to put in and are more comfortable than the foam sleeves or rubber tips, though I feel that the foams give better isolation. The foams are reusable only to a certain extent, however (they start to deform and harden within weeks), while these triple-flanges should last as long as you keep them clean and prevent them from ripping (latex is durable enough). I've been using them for about 2 weeks now without any problems, and am definitely glad I ordered a pair. I do have one complaint, though, and that is that (like another customer mentioned) these are a bit overpriced for a single pair of small likely mass-produced latex sleeves. I'll consider it worth it, though, if they last through the year.

Cliffs: An excellent replacement for the sleeves that come with Shure canalphones, but they should be cheaper.

These tips help the headphones stay in the ear much better than the tips the Shures come with. they are fairly soft and comfortable to wear and provide a better seal resulting in better sound. They will work with the e2c's it just takes a little work to get them on the headphone nozzle. These tips a must have if you use your headphones during physical exercise. they actually stay in.