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Posted 20 hours ago

Shure Earbuds, Black, Aonic 4

£159.5£319.00Clearance
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At the same time, the Shures look a little unrefined compared to the simpler and more discreet hinge mechanisms used by some rivals. Low frequencies are deep, textured and alive with fine harmonic detail - they start and stop with absolute control, and modulate seamlessly into the frequency information above them. In the midrange, the Shures have complete command of timbre and, again, even the finest of details – Marvin Gaye’s vocal is as characterful via the AONIC 50 as you’ve ever heard it. 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. Power up by pressing the right control button, and then put into pairing mode by continuing to press. Once the right earbud announces it’s paired, press the left control button to bring that ear into play. And then it’s sonic satisfaction all the way.

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 Adding to the versatility of the Aonic 5 is a low impedance of 36 Ohms. Perfect for satisfying output on laptops and smartphones. I do prefer a DAC with these earphones, as they help to even out some of the powerful signal information the Aonic 5 will produce. If you’re using a laptop or smartphone, be careful and watch your input gain. So once you get the balance right they’re as described in the review, but whatever you do don’t A/B them against the SE846. They don’t hold a candle to the SE846 in any respect, and just confirm to me that the SE846 are brilliant and still worth every penny after all these years. Both ‘environment mode’ and ‘active noise-cancellation’ are adjustable in the ShurePlus PLAY app. There are 10 stages of ‘environment mode’ amplification (the maximum setting is vigorous enough to make your own hand-claps painfully loud), but ‘noise-cancellation’(once it’s turned on at the earcup) is either ‘normal’ or ‘max’. Noise-cancellation is effective enough to deal with the noise of any kind of transportation, but turning it on does give a noticeable boost to your music’s volume level too.

The app is more than simply for control, though. In fact, it’s fundamentally a hi-res music player - all major file types catered for, up to a maximum 24bit/352kHz where WAV and FLAC files are concerned. Any locally stored music can be arranged into playlists and so on, and can be run through the app’s EQ settings – there are a few presets and the facility to save quite a number of custom settings too. A device like the AudioQuest DragonFly Red would be a good starting place. Provided you’ve got the appropriate cable, it’s a DAC that can also be used with iOS or Android devices too. 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. If you’re happy with the price tag and can resist the bells and whistles promised by wireless earbuds, you'd be crazy not to give the Shure Aonic 3 a chance. After 18 months of working together, we're confident we've found the right partner in Aonic. This is the right moment to welcome their support to strengthen our position even further, and seize this critical moment for VR and MR."

What is a little strange is the location of the cable ports, with one on each earpiece – but this is a relatively small issue.Note the 3.5mm to 3.5mm cable for optional wired listening and USB-A to USB-C, for both charging and audio. (Image credit: Future) Shure Aonic 50 Gen 2 review: Features The padding on both the earcups and headband is ample and personally, I love that the physical buttons are all one earcup, since I'm right-handed, although those with larger fingers (or lefties) may find this a little fiddly. An understated build, but a quality one, to be sure. (Image credit: Future) Shure Aonic 50 Gen 2 review: Price & release date Pairing the Shure AONIC 50 (Gen 2) over Bluetooth is a bit of a pain, depending on whether the headphones are trying to find their last paired device. We had some issues in the lab where we needed to pair to a new device, but we had to void the list of paired devices first. Assuming you’re pairing to your phone for the first time, the process should look something like this: Battery life is very acceptable at eight hours from a single charge. And there’s a further three full charges contained in the carrying/charging case – this is a hard, zip-fastening case that’s plenty robust enough to keep your headphones safe even if they’re in the bottom of a bag with stuff piled on top. Charging the headphones while they’re in the case happens via USB-C. Sound quality

A flawless debut would have been something quite special and, as it stands, some elements of their design and sonic execution need tweaking before we could consider full marks. Aonic CEO Paul Schempp added: "NDreams has done an unparalleled job bringing some of the biggest VR titles to market, and it was a natural fit for us to welcome them to the Aonic family and provide our studios with the best team when it comes to the VR/MR gaming space. The smooth metal arms that attach to each earcup feel especially solid. They twist just above the earcups, which allows them to fold flat, but there’s also just enough freedom so they can twist in the other direction and help angle the earpads on the side of your head and over your ears properly. Aonic is a diversified video gaming group with the ambition to become the next gaming powerhouse. From the outset, Aonic was created to fill a clear gap in our industry: to build a truly supportive home for high quality, mid-sized teams. Video gaming is one of the largest and fastest growing segments of entertainment and full of opportunities. We stay away from unproven business models or large incumbent teams – our footprint rests on proven, yet highly dynamic entrepreneurs and creative innovators. Our end goal is to craft fantastic games and ever improving services. This translates into high organic growth and superior return in invested capital.This acquisition is yet another example of Aonic's commitment to championing mid-sized studios and creating an environment where teams can create fantastic games."

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