Shure Aonic 215 - Review 2022

Shure's first true wireless earphones, the Aonic 215, are zippo if not unique. The earpieces have ear hooks for added stability, the charging case looks more similar a nada-up pouch, and the accessories include multiple in-ear fit options and a cleaning tool. What really stands out, however, is the detachable design that allows for wired playback in addition to true wireless streaming. Sonically, the drivers evangelize accurate, rich, detailed audio, and a companion app allows you to dial in the EQ settings to your taste. Just ultimately, for $279, the earphones offering a less graceful user feel than the Apple AirPods Pro, which deliver stiff active noise cancellation and better on-ear controls for less money.

Design

Available in black, blue, clear, or white models, the earphones apply an over-ear, hook-similar design to ensure a secure fit. The earpieces are on the beefy side, and look more like on-stage in-ear monitors than typical true wireless earpieces. Internally, each earpiece employs a single, high-definition micro driver delivering a frequency range of 21Hz to 17.5kHz.

The fit is exceptionally secure, with the supplied foam eartips doing double duty in terms of keeping the in-ear seal strong and as well blocking out ambient dissonance passively. Putting the earpieces in can be a little tricky at first—you lot have to do slightly more maneuvering than with a non-hook earpiece. Simply the terminate result is an uncommonly secure fit that's comfortable, and doesn't interfere in the slightest with my somewhat chunky glasses frames, which isn't always the case.

The on-ear controls are fairly straightforward, except that the placement of the buttons—on the hooks that residuum behind the ear and not on the earpieces themselves—can exist abrasive. Ane printing of either will play or interruption music, or respond or end calls. Pressing twice rapidly on either ear activates or disables Environmental Mode, which allows you to hear your surroundings and converse easily without removing the earphones. A triple press summons your device'due south voice assistant. Merely surprisingly, at that place are no rail navigation buttons or volume controls. For this price, there should be at to the lowest degree ane or the other, and the lack of both is hard to accept.

The zip-up, circular charging case looks more like a carrying pouch than a battery example. The earphones snap into cradles inside, and a battery status button on the bottom console shows you how much accuse the case is carrying. The USB-C port for the included charging cable is also located on the bottom of the case.

The most unique aspect of the Aonic 215'due south pattern is the power for the earpieces to detach from the connections that receive the Bluetooth stream, allowing for them to exist used with a cable, like regular, wired in-ears. That is a fantastic pattern move, merely the decision not to include the necessary cable is a letdown. The cable is priced at $29, then if yous want to brand use of this feature, the full price increases to $310.

In addition to the charging instance, the earphones send with a generous array of eartips, including three foam pairs and iii silicone pairs in small, medium, and large sizes, as well as a cleaning tool for the earpieces and eartips.

The ShurePlus Play app (for Android and iOS) is free, and offers some solid features, including the ability to conform the volume of the outside world when listening in Environmental manner. There are multiple EQ presets, including flat, and y'all tin can create and salve your own. We'll discuss those more than in the side by side section, including a strange limitation that makes the EQ far less useful. The app as well accesses your music library for bones playback controls, and gives you typical info like how much bombardment life each earpiece has remaining. The earphones are connect via Bluetooth 5.0, and support both AAC and AptX Bluetooth codecs, in add-on to SBC.

Shure estimates battery life to exist upwards to 8 hours, with the charging case conveying 32 hours of accuse on its own. Your results will vary, however, with your volume levels.

Performance

We kept the EQ at out-of-box neutral settings for testing audio performance. On tracks with intense sub-bass content, similar the Knife'due south "Silent Shout," the earphones deliver an impressive low-frequency thump, but it'due south not overdone, and is well matched with the high-mids and highs. At top, unwise listening levels, there's no distortion, and at more moderate levels, the lows still pack a dial.

Bill Callahan'south "Drover," a runway with far less deep bass in the mix, gives u.s.a. a amend sense of the Aonic 215'south general sound signature. The drums on this track become a lovely, natural depression-mid richness that lends them a piffling more thump than usual, just nothing that's over the pinnacle. Callahan's baritone vocals also get a prissy richness, and some added treble border and so that things retain clarity and contour. The acoustic strums and higher-register percussive hits are delivered with clarity, but not the overly sculpted high-mid presence nosotros often hear. The mid-range doesn't feel as scooped out here every bit a result—this is a sound signature with plenty of low-finish, just the mids and highs are besides dutifully represented. I wouldn't go as far equally to say this is a perfectly flat response, but it'due south far more authentic than the overly bass-boosted sound signatures we ofttimes hear.

On Jay-Z and Kanye West's "No Church building in the Wild," the kick drum loop receives plenty loftier-mid presence for its attack to retain its punchiness, while the vinyl crackle and hiss in the background go perhaps a lilliputian actress high-frequency presence, only nothing that pushes them also far frontwards in the mix. The sub-bass synth hits that punctuate the crush are delivered with solid, accurate bass depth. That may not be practiced news for bass fiends—we've heard these ominous synth hits sounds like they're coming through a massive subwoofer, whereas through the Aonic 215, we go a sense of their sub-bass depth, but information technology doesn't overwhelm the mix in any way. The vocals on this track are delivered with superb clarity—there's no added sibilance, just perfect high-mid and high-frequency joint. The vocals never audio like they're doing battle with the bass, and the bass never sounds similar it's dialed dorsum to a weak level—the mix has some depth to it, but the lows aren't boosted wildly.

Orchestral tracks, like the opening scene from John Adams' The Gospel According to the Other Mary, take a marvelous rest to them through the Aonic 215. The lower-register instrumentation sits in an ideal spot in the mix—there's depth and some richness, merely it mostly plays an anchoring role to the higher-register brass, strings,and vocals. The mix doesn't sound overly crisp, and never sounds muddy.

Of form, y'all can change the Aonic 215's audio signature notably—the app has some of the all-time EQ we've seen thus far, with presets and customizable, saveable user settings. You can select various frequencies, and adjust non but the gain of the frequency only besides the bandwidth.

Unfortunately, the EQ comes with a puzzling limitation—you can only hear the changes if yous're playing music through the Shure app itself. If you're playing music from Spotify, for instance, the EQ doesn't work. This isn't normal—most EQs will work on audio beingness played outside of the app, so this is a thwarting, particularly at this price.

The mic offers average intelligibility. Using the Voice Memos app on an iPhone 8, nosotros could empathise every word we recorded clearly, but there was some typical Bluetooth baloney fuzzing up the sound. The master issue is the mic's faint indicate, a common problem with true wireless in-ears. The mic is still fine for nearly phone calls, but it's non a selling signal.

Conclusions

Shure's Aonic 215 earphones are a cablevision-free model for those who desire to preserve as much sonic quality and liberty as possible, as evidenced past the support for both AptX and AAC, as well equally the detachable earpieces that can be used in wired mode. The disappointments come up primarily in the form of perplexing decisions on Shure'southward part, similar the lack of a cablevision for wired listening, no concrete volume or rail navigation controls, and EQ that but works if yous play music though the Shure app itself. These may not be bargain breakers if you lot're looking for audiophile-friendly true wireless in-ears, but for $250, Apple's AirPods Pro add together solid agile noise counterfoil to the mix, every bit do the $300 Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless 2. For far less money, meanwhile, consider the $200 Jabra Elite Agile 75t, a sporty cable-complimentary pair that too work with an excellent app.

Shure Aonic 215 Specs

Type	In-Canal
Wireless	Yes
Wire-Costless	Yes
Telephone Controls	Yes
Connection Type	Bluetooth
Water/Sweat-Resistant	No
Removable Cable	No
Active Noise Cancellation	No
Boom Mic	No

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Source: https://sea.pcmag.com/satellite-radio-products/36753/shure-aonic-215

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