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Zippered Hard Storage Case. Very functional, and holds all the goodies. Certainly one of the better included cases, though I would’ve liked a handle. The 1540’s midrange is recessed relative to the bass and treble. I’m not completely bothered by this, as I was a v-shaped fan for years, though my tastes have evolved to become more of a bass and midrange first/second kind of person. The product is returned in original condition (with brand’s/manufacturer's box, MRP tag intact, user
Perhaps the only two Achilles heels of this headphone are listening levels and the deepest bass notes. First up, yeah they sound alright at 80db ish but they just sound way more clean/natural at 70db ish. Once in a while I crank my volume up a little only to push them down again because if sounds natural that way. The bass on these are wonderfully textured and clean for everything till bass violins. The only thing they miss out on is deep tuba notes - I don't feel the texture on those as much as I do on my gr07. Much, much better, than the srh940. Clearly among the best. The most comfy headphones I know, are still the hd595 though. The srh1540 are incredibly lightweight, they just weight nothing ! vsKEF M500: Not a match here. M500 are great portables. Nonetheless, nothing is really comparable here. SRH1540 is better in almost all aspects, besides neutrality. M500 are more flat, but sounds muffled and harsh when compared to SRH1540.Candy Dulfer - Lily Was Here (Jazz): Narrow soundstage, but excellent detailed instrumental tone. The SRH1540 gives this a reasonable sense of space, but in spite of being a modern recording, the net effect is only slightly better than enhanced mono. The other units I tried were of similar price or much more expensive. First build quality. You can’t find fault with the Shure phones they are superbly constructed and look and feel top draw. This reaction is not normal, especially for an audiophile headphone. With real carbon fibre, silver aluminum, and design from SRH1840, SRH1540 has one of the best designs I've seen. As another one of my friends put it, it looks premium. So all in all, if you are a fan of Shure, enjoyed their SRH840, love comfortable headphones and ear pads, don't care about leakage and prefer a bassier signature with even mids and highs, these should be a good buy for the RIGHT price. As always, just be sure of what you really want and make your selection based on your tastes and gear. I edited this review on 2/28/14 to include some new thoughts. I placed the edits at the bottom of this review**
These headphones have the audio qualities you hear when listening to recordings made by ribbon microphones. That's it. There it is. It's a very nice sound signature and even has a hint of vintage audio to it. The frequency curve looks like one you'd expect from a ribbon microphone. Also, these are some smooth headphones and have absolutely no grain. None. In fact, they make the HD600 sound like they have grain. Dynamic drivers or balanced armature are most common in earphones. Balanced armature drivers are notable for how tiny and lightweight they can be; these qualities allow manufacturers to include multiple balanced armature drivers in a single earpiece that cover different frequency ranges. Like two-way or three-way stereo speaker setups, this tends to lead to a more accurate sound signature, but it all depends on the driver tuning. gold plated screw on adapter. You can never have enough of these. Better to have spares than none at all.Bonus: The ear pads on all Shure headphones are interchangeable. Hence, I tried velour pads from SRH940 and put them on the SRH1540. The bass was tamed a bit, and treble gained bit more presence, making the SRH1540 a more flat sounding headphone. Definitely worth a try if you want a flatter sound. SRH1540 pads on SRH940 increases bass and tames the treble, making SRH940 a more balanced headphone as well. What you will get is some pretty serious audio technology including a set of 40mm neodymium drivers, a diaphragm developed with APTIV film for what Shure describes as “improved linearity and lower THD - total harmonic distortion”, along with a steel driver frame with a vented centre pole piece. According to the manufacturer, this last bit of kit “eliminates internal resonance for consistent performance at all listening levels”– but, as ever, I'll put that claim to the test in the following section. Shure SRH1540 review: Sound Mids: Shure mids! Love them from the bottom of my heart. Shure, as a mic manufacturer, knows how to get the vocal right. Every one of their headphones had smooth and rich vocals, and these are no exception. Mids are rich and present. Detail and transparency is also very good. Overall very realistic and enjoyable vocals. Also, these are superb when dealing with sibilance. These are one of the least sibilant headphone that I've owned(and I've owned lots!) Some say bass intrudes the lower mids, but I don't notice that. The 1540’s treble range is generally smooth with good extension and air. At about 8khz, it ramps up to a non-fatiguing, 10khz treble peak, which softens up while continuing to extend to about 13khz, before smoothing over and becoming non-distinct.
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