Shure’s earlier flagship Bluetooth headphones are way more interesting, due to a beneficiant value aid.
Ranking Breakdown
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- Outstanding construct with signature Shure design
- Excellent noise cancellation efficiency
- Excellent mic high quality
- Excellent software separation and level width
- Audio passthrough by way of USB-C
- {Hardware} barriers don’t permit EQ with LDAC on
- Max ANC isn’t imaginable with EQ on
- PEQ within the device is a bulky affair
- Tizzy highs in LDAC mode
- Decrease-mids lack fullness
Unboxing and First Affect
The place to Purchase
Advent
I essentially affiliate Shure with studio and level apparatus. The microphones are mythical, whilst the Shure SRH-1540 headphones were a mainstay in lots of recording studios for over a decade.
On the other hand, the similar can’t be mentioned for his or her wi-fi headphones, and the Aonic lineup has most commonly flown below the radar. The former flagship Aonic 50 endure the unenviable process of status out amidst stiff festival.
It’s make-or-break time for Shure, and it’s time to look if the unique Aonic 50 ship upon the guarantees or fall via the wayside.
Battery ⓘ
- Battery Lifestyles: 20hrs (with ANC on)
- Fee Time (15 minutes): as much as 240 minutes playback time
At solely round 20 hours (with ANC on), the battery lifetime of the Shure Aonic 50 is underneath moderate, given the contest is pushing 80 hours of playback. I wish to fee the headphones as soon as each week, with reasonable utilization.
15 minutes of fee can stand up to 4 hours of playback, supplied you utilize an appropriate fast-charging cable and charger.
The short fee serve as is at hand however now not class-leading. The headphones will flip off after quarter-hour of being in an “unpaired” state.
UX ⓘ
- Keep watch over Mechanism: Mechanical
- Contact Accuracy: N/A
- Keep watch over Symmetry on each ear-cups: No
- No put on detection.
There’s a devoted energy/Bluetooth pairing button at the proper earcup. Subsequent to this is a cluster of 3 buttons, the place the middle button acts as play/pause button, and the opposite two are quantity up and down.
Essentially the most thrilling bit is the ANC keep watch over slider.
A guide slider switches between ANC off, ANC on, and Transparency Mode, so that you right away know which mode is energetic.
The left earcup hosts solely the analog enter jack. There aren’t any further controls right here.
The Shure Aonic 50 lack any contact controls.
With out a contact controls, the keep watch over scheme is simplified at the price of flexibility – what you spot is what you get.
Design ⓘ
- Profile: Over-ear
- Subject matter: Plastic, aluminum, leather-based
- Have compatibility and Convenience: Exceptional
Shure Aonic 50 have a top rate construct that befits their excessive price ticket.
The hinges and the headscarf are all steel, with a stitched leather-based headscarf and cushy reminiscence foam padding to help in convenience. The texture in hand is superb and alludes to their TOTL standing.
The adjustment mechanism is superb, with distinct steps laser-etched onto the headscarf. The hinge additionally rotates easily with out showing any creaks or wobbliness.
The pads will also be indifferent simply by way of “unscrewing” them from the earcups. I believe it’s a nifty characteristic and a greater implementation than Airpods Max’s magnetically fixed pads. The Beoplay HX additionally employs a equivalent way, so the Aonic 50 is in excellent corporate.
The earpads are comprised of leather-based and feature reminiscence foam beneath. Convenience is superb, and the perforation beneath is helping cool off the ears on summer time days.
The clamp is easiest for me: robust sufficient to shape a excellent seal whilst now not being overbearing at the jaws or the temple.
General, the Aonic 50 have superb construct high quality and top-notch convenience.
Mic ⓘ
- Noise Cancellation: Comfortable noise
- Voice Pick out-up: Transparent and no breakup
Shure makes use of six microphones and feed-forward noise cancellation at the Aonic 50 to help voice pickup. The microphone efficiency is superb in slightly quiet prerequisites, however slightly environmental noise seeps in when utilized in noisy spaces.
My voice does now not get a divorce or lose readability, even within the subway or windy prerequisites.
Background noise is suppressed smartly, despite the fact that sure high-frequency noises can pop up now and again. Most commonly, it’s a non-issue, however this is a step underneath the most efficient in school.
Mic demo
Sound ⓘ
- Driving force: 50mm.
- Sound Signature: Gentle V-shape
- Bass: Excellent
- Mids: Moderate
- Treble: Moderate
- Soundstage: Excellent
- Imaging: Moderate
- Dynamics: Excellent
The Shure Aonic 50 have moderate technicalities and a gentle V-shaped tuning with some emphasis within the treble area.
Bass
The bass emphasizes the sub-bass area, however not anything that is going overboard. Mid-bass is at the leaner aspect, leading to snare hits and grand pianos missing one of the vital bottom-end “fullness.”
Bass texture and pace are reasonably excellent, with instant basslines now not being totally blurred. The likes of Stax Spirit S3 do higher on this regard, however they’re a distinct beast altogether. Bass slam isn’t essentially the most outstanding both.
General, Shure opted for extra managed bass reasonably than the sheer amount.
Mids
The decrease midrange sounds reasonably lean, particularly with the LDAC codec. This leanness is additional exacerbated via the slightly outstanding upper-mids upward thrust that creates a noticeable distinction.
Consequently, feminine vocals are driven to the vanguard, with guitar riffs and strings additionally outstanding. Baritone vocals, in the meantime, lack the density I be expecting, as will also be heard on Colin Hay’s I Simply Don’t Assume I’ll Ever Get Over You.
Given male vocals dominate my song library, the total midrange tuning of the Aonic 50 leaves me short of.
Treble
There are noticeable peaks round 5.5kHz for me the use of the LDAC codec, however this has a tendency to easy out when the use of AptX or AAC/SBC, which is an engaging phenomenon. Treble has respectable extension, as cymbal hits and hi-hats don’t swiftly disappear; reasonably, they’ve a noticeable decay.
Treble timbre isn’t the most efficient, as slight steel sheen will also be heard all the way through.
Additionally, highs can get “tizzy” when the use of the LDAC codec. The opposite (slightly) lossy formats steer clear of this pitfall at the price of added grain within the highs. It’s a question of trade-off in regards to the Aonic 50’s treble.
Dynamics
Macrodynamic punch (unexpected quantity exchange) is strangely excellent, with unexpected bass drops having a dramatic impact.
Microdynamics (refined shifts in quantity) are much less noticeable. As an example, in Counting Crow’s Miami, the vocals and the software have a regularly various quantity degree, which the Aonic 50 fail to duplicate faithfully.
Soundstage
The soundstage feels reasonably large and tall regardless of the prominence of the upper-mids. The Shure Aonic 50 don’t sound closed-in or slim, which is the case for many Bluetooth headphones.
Imaging
Imaging is not anything to jot down house about, with the tools most commonly positioned left and proper. Tools lose the sense of ordinal orientation, leading to simply moderate spatial cues.
Lively noise cancellation
With the ANC became on, the sound signature of the Shrue Aonic 50 does now not exchange noticeably.
I like to recommend holding ANC on normally, as that’s the characteristic you might be paying for.
ANC efficiency is excellent, falling somewhat in the back of the category chief Sony WH-1000XM5 on the subject of high-frequency noise attenuation.
The app gives granular keep watch over of the transparency mode, the place you’ll dial within the precise quantity of sound “leakage” you need.
Connectivity ⓘ
- Audio Codec: LDAC, SBC, AAC, AptX Adaptive
- Bluetooth Model: 5.0
- Auto-connect when: Close to paired gadgets
- Moderate drop-outs in an hour: 0 – 2 instances
- Multi-point connection: Sure
The relationship is rock-solid, and pairing is beautiful easy as soon as the headphones are in pairing mode (urgent the facility button for a couple of seconds).
Multipoint beef up works seamlessly for 2 gadgets. General, the Shure Aonic 50 have seamless connectivity, with the loss of instant pairing as the one omission.
Water-proof ⓘ
- IP Score: N/A
The Shure Aonic 50 would not have an legitimate IP ranking, so it’s easiest to steer clear of grime, water sprays, or rain when dressed in them outdoor.
Tool ⓘ
- Granular ANC keep watch over, together with Adaptive ANC
- Parametric EQ beef up (4-band)
- No remapping of controls or buttons.
- Auto Pause: No.
- Cell apps
The ShurePlus Play app seems to be blank and provides some significant customization choices. There are granular controls for ANC and Transparency mode, whilst different PEQ presets are welcome.
There’s a loss of keep watch over customization, so you might be caught with the manufacturing unit presets. Additionally, sure options are locked out for those who use LDAC codec, e.g., PEQ – a irritating and unwelcome compromise.
Who Must Purchase This?
The ones on the lookout for a graceful, relaxed pair of Bluetooth headphones that focal point extra on readability than bombastic bass, at the price of some lower-midrange thinness.
Ultimate Ideas
Shure Aonic 50 have a definite design. The construct is unbelievable, the relief is very good, and the sound signature is impartial sufficient to face out in a crowded marketplace.
The battery existence is some distance from class-leading, and competition be offering higher ANC, Transparency mode, and awesome microphones.
The saving grace for the unique Aonic 50 is the hot value lower after the coming of the more recent Aonic 50 Gen 2 style.
The just about 50% value aid makes the Aonic 50 possibly the most efficient worth available in the market, for the reason that not one of the “established” competition within the below USD$200 vary be offering any such complete characteristic set and sound high quality.
So, now’s the most efficient time to get a couple of ‘gen 1’ Aonic 50, a minimum of so long as inventory lasts, and for those who don’t thoughts their somewhat skinny mids and middling battery existence.
What’s within the Field?
- Shure Aonic 50 headphones
- USB-A to type-C charging cable
- Manuals
- Lift case
- 3.5mm analog enter cable
Technical Specs
- FORM: Closed, Over-Ear
- DRIVER: Dynamic
- BATTERY LIFE: 20 hours
- BLUETOOTH VERSION: 5.0
- WEIGHT: 334 grams
Allow 48h for review and removal.