Shure AONIC 215 True Wireless Sound Isolating Earbuds, Premium Audio Sound with Deep Bass, Bluetooth 5, Secure In-Ear Fit, Long Battery Life with Charging Case, Fingertip Controls - White [New Update]

If you are looking for a pair of Bluetooth headphones that are truly hi-fi and offer a smooth, accurate reproduction of the original sound, then these are the headphones for you.Are they perfect? No, but if you want the best 'true wireless' Bluetooth headphones then you will look over any of their faults.First, here's what's good:aptX (for many android phones) and AAC (for iPhones). I consider aptX and AAC equivalent formats. Both have enough bandwidth to pass a near CD quality MP3 (yes, MP3s are actually near reference quality these days thanks to amazing new compression algorithms despite audiophiles who say they sound bad. I challenge you to take the blind 'NPR WAV vs. MP3' challenge!). Bluetooth 4, 5, etc doesn't matter- it's aptX and AAC that counts. Bluetooth 3, 4, 5 etc is the protocol over which aptX, AAC or SBC (Standard Bluetooth Connection) is transmitted. For those of you with phones that only do SBC, SBC will sound incredible to most people, but the bass isn't quite as good as aptX or AAC.Bass: *****Bass is deep and tight. You will hear every bass note. Many inferior headphones boost and exaggerate the bass and make every note sound the same (boom, boom, boom instead of different notes).Midrange: *****Voices sound realistic and true. Inferior headphones have a 'midrange suck out' or 'U shaped' sound reproduction (exaggerated bass and treble with lowered midrange).Treble: ****Treble sounds realistic and 'non-fatiguing', meaning that it's not tinny or harsh. My home stereo costs more than 20x the price of these Shure headphones and I would say the treble on the Shure is lowered by maybe 2db from the true recording, but the treble is still there and doesn't sound 'cooked' or 'overprocessed'.Dynamics: ****This is the ability of the sound to go very low to very high instantly.Sounds stage: *****This is how 'wide' the sound is reproduced. The wider the more realistic it sounds.Bluetooth connection: *****It's rock solid with my mid-grade phone. Other reviewers who have dropouts probably have cheap phones that don't fully comply with the Bluetooth standard.Comfort: *****These will stay comfortably in your ears even if there's a nearby nuclear blast.Environment mode: *****With 2 taps on the button you can hear the outside world, which is great if you're crossing the street or in a dodgy neighborhood. You must use the Shure app to change the sensitivity of this feature.Case:****You can sit on this case and your headphones will not break. The zipper is more difficult to open than latch, but at least the zipper won't break like a latch.Ear tips: *****You get 6 different tips. 3 silicone and 3 memory foam. You MUST choose a set of tips that are VERY TIGHT in your ears. If you don't the bass will leak out the sides and they will sound bad. You can also buy replacement tips easily by searching 'shure 215 tips'. Sound isolation is amazing. You won't need noise cancelling unless your are in an airplane.Ok, so here's the bad:You can only change the volume on your phone. Maybe this will be updated with a firmware update?Sound only comes out the right channel when talking on the phone. Again, maybe this will change with a firmware update.You can only skip or rewind with your phone. Once again, maybe a firmware update will change how this works. But you can pause your music with these headphones.You have to power up each headphone. This is a minor problem as only one headphone press is needed to turn both headphones OFF.EQ only works with music that's stored on your phone. EQ changes do NOT work when streaming music. But this isn't a problem as you don't need to change the EQ.Each time you place the headphones in the case they get charged, which isn't good for lithium ion batteries. It's best to let them run down completely before recharging to increase the life of the battery. My fix for this is to flip the headphones upside down in the case so they don't recharge each time.Etched sound: if you haven't heard of 'etched sound', then please ignore this comment. I love etched sound over a 'cohesive' sound, but it's a personal preference. My Benchmark DAC1 USB for my home stereo gets ***** for etched sound. The Shures get maybe ***. Again, this is personal preference.In short, these are some of the most accurate and best sounding headphones you can buy if that's what you want. If you want more features and poor sound, please choose something else.

It works when it works. New to BT audio so I gave it the benefiit of a doubt for weeks when it went all static on me, if not burpy. But I have BT cans half the price of the adapter and it never went static. I tried it wired with my more than 10 year old 3.5mm wires and it worked without any issue so the problem is really the adapters. I sent for a replacement and it has the same if not worse of an issue in terms of connectivity. Maybe it has weak signals compared to other BT tech which I know I'm situated in places where it could have multiple interference as sometimes it's extremely smooth and crisp and sometimes totally mute. So ​in the end I had to refund the second one. I still have hopes for Shure quality so I got BT2 adapter (where this one is TW1) but ran into the same issues! Although thankfully a lot less where it's bearable. I don't use BT for a long period as I prefer wired for audio reasons so for me personally I can compromise like this but even then it's not looking great.It's disappointing with the fact that the TW1 cost £160+ on it's own yet I know probably a £20 BT headphones can beat it on reliability.I guess we need to wait a few more years for Shure to perfect BT pairing. It seems they make reliability suffer so it can be "truly wireless" and compact. But it ain't right man. Or could they do a collab and give us our hopes and dreams?Pros- Shure audio (that's 90% an advantage already)- Compact but secure size (never like too small of things which can get lost or broken easily by mistake)- Power On/Off announcement uniformity as oppose to BT2's "goodbye!" but "power on" which is funny but mildly frustrating. Generally intuitive sound indicators that showed it's a successor to BT2, small but comparatively a needed detail.- Great NC as per Shure- App equaliserCons- Unreliable BT connection that may be because of interference (strength/realiability) than faulty unit (cheap/bad materials). Although it can mean the same thing I guess. Can't experience the shure audio if it ain't there or choking at me.- The one and only singular button on the tail is awkward to handle comfortably as you might need to press down the rest of the adapter for balance or risk misaligning the buds just short of dropping. Or I just have small ears. I have no issues with it being the singular button unlike some, and actually like that difference. But that said the overall design arching size and placement isn't a great fit for me. In fact I felt more at ease with BT2's wires overear and the adapter as an unfashionable necklace than the bulge of TW1.- Right ear only calls. What happened?- App is atrociously simple. I'm not looking for extras but customisability. I do NOT want a music store, discovery tab or whatnot. More settings. Manual config? (since it's one stinking button) Presets? Surely it can be better.Honestly if the adapter has a decent stable connection and the buds is working I'd consider this a win because that's all I ever want with my BLUETOOTH earphones. But no... not this TW1. I cannot recommend enough to simply avoid TW1 (to compare I wouldn't even recommend BT2 unless you got it for free then go ahead and enjoy), but since this is both the buds and adapter, and it's price is basically the adapter with a free SE215, it is 2 stars.Can it be I have had 3 faulty units of 2 different BT adapters? I kinda wish it so.

This bluetooth adapter is excellent and fits very well. It works simply and easily. But...the ear buds aren't really that good. You could just buy the adaptor, but that's not much less than with the buds. So you could take the view that the buds are being thrown in for about £15-£20. On that basis they are ok, and as they cost about £60-£70 on their own, then it's value. But I just don't think the buds sound that good - there are many better buds that cost less, or the same. So, if you want a good adaptor then this is great - just get better buds and use them!