I did a lot of research leading up to my purchase of the Shure SE310's. I had high hopes when I listened to them for the first time. But they seemed to be lacking in the bass department. Other than that they had really clean audio and sounded spectacular. Upon researching why they lacked bass, I discovered many peoples' claim of a break in period before the earbuds got loosened up and provided more bass. And over time I have noticed this to be true to a certain extent. I had an old pair of $40 Sony sound isolating earbuds which had a ton of bass, and when I first listened to the Shure's I thought they sounded weak, but now after listening to the SE310's for about a month, I can say they definitely sound better than the Sony's. Though the cheaper Sony's have a little more bass, it sounds boomy and tends to cover over the detail of other instruments, whereas the Shure's are crystal clear and the bass is very defined. One of the best things about the SE310's is their ability to block out external sound. I'm a college student and at one of our basketball games I decided to take my earbuds and see how well they blocked out sound. It was just before the game with the entire gymnasium going nuts and the band playing very loudly. I put the earbuds in and I could still comfortably listen at the levels I normally listen to, which isn't very loud by any means (I value my hearing. I have my Creative Zen Vision:M volume at 10 out of 25). They also work great when I'm trying to get work done and lots of things are going on around me. Very often I can be in my room with these things in my ears and people will come in and talk to me and I won't hear them at all. That's how good they work. Obviously it is very important that you find the right earpieces that give a good seal in your ear. I would recommend these to anyone who wants very high audio clarity. Though I would prefer a little bit more bass at lower volumes, when you turn them up they really produce. And I can't complain too much because they are meant to have a flat frequency response, so your best bet is to raise your EQ's lower frequencies a little bit and turn on the bass boost (assuming your mp3 player or sound source has these options). They come with a semi-hard zipper case to store them in as well as multiple sets of ear pieces and a wax cleaning tool. They are well worth the price tag, and I would gladly recommend them to anyone.
