I bought the Shure E4C which is an excellent piece of equipment after contemplating for about a year and I must say it is well worth. I am a self proclaimed audiophile and usually try to find the best within my means.(this was a bit beyond my means!!). Before I had these headphones I had many cheap ones and had finally settled for Sennheiser MX-500. They were, I must say very good especially the bass.
When the SHURE E4C package arrived I excitedly opened and tried them on. To my surprise there was no bass at all! I was dismayed. After fiddling with the different ear pieces and found that the sponge fitted the best......and then the sound blew me away simply. The bass appeared and stayed over like a web. 'Hotel California' was mind blowing. I tried a classical number and realised that it is worth its price. At such a small size such excellent sound was unthinkable. You can distinguish various instruments clearly at the same time the sound is not harsh at all.
The best response can be achieved by disabling the equalizer in the player and allowing the headphones to play the actual song. Especially one should turn off the bass boost as it may cause distorted sound to be played.
Since then I have tried the headphones at home, on the way, at work and in the tube. Because of the noise isolation one can hear the music very clearly and at a lower volume. The supplied volume attenuator is also of great help if you want to hear music from your laptop.
Another important thing to remember is that as these speakers are so sensitive one has to listen to audio in lossless format or MP3 with a high bitrate to appreciate quality sound. One can actually feel the difference between the lossless and the compressed formats.
Overall though pricey I am extremely satisfied with the headphones. The sponge gives he best fit and needs replacement but I think it is worth it.
Their customer care is excellent and I had a response to my query immediately via e-mail.
I would recommend this excellent equipment to all those who take their music seriously and are willing to pay the extra bit for it.