I’ve encountered a number of products that has obvious pride in their craftsmanship. This pride is evident in many aspects of the product, but of course the very first thing for consumers to see is the packaging that it comes in. Only a company confident in their product will be able to splurge on prettying up the packaging to the point that it in itself becomes a work of art.

                                             A Rolex box pampers a Rolex watch.

Now just a bit of clarification: packaging in this case can mean the actual box / carton or the way the product itself is made. Some notable examples would be the high end watches like Rolex, Cartier or Omega. These come in felt-lined boxes that contain leather-bound volumes with separate compartments for the watch itself and the paraphernalia included such as warranty cards, extra links, and the manual. A few other high-value products get the packaging treatment – such as high end electronics and gear.

                                             The aluminum box is a taste of the quality to come...

What I didn’t expect to see though was a pair of earphones getting the same treatment. All of the earphones I‘ve owned so far came in shrink wrap plastic, or at the most molded plastic containers that you could cut open. The Shure E500PTH has none of that. It came in a black carton box half the volume of a typical PSU, and when opened, revealed a black and silver hunk of aluminum with the Shure brand logo stamped onto it. I know of no other pair of earphones to be presented in this way, but then again no other pair of earphones come close to its P25k asking price – whew.

Now if I were to let my cynical nature take over at this point, I’d be saying that all that moolah must have gone to making the packaging look good, but I would be mistaken in that the product itself performs wonderfully. I actually had already decided to get me one of these when I tested them out – this was before I knew its suggested retail price of course. For now I’m content to have been able to test it – at the same time have it shatter my formerly low-level expectations for a portable audio device.

                                             This is as much as we usually expect from earphones...

The box contains the earphones plus a whole passel of connectors and extension pieces, plus different types of plugs / attachments for different ear sizes. The package also includes a hard case for bringing everything along, plus the PTH device – “push to hear” thingamajig that enables you to hear through a microphone once you push a button – this obviates the need to remove your ear buds to hear a conversation, for example – and finally the associated manuals, warranties, and warnings. It’s a hefty piece of equipment all in all.

                                             ...But that's not all folks!!

The Shure E500 PTH has the marks of craftsmanship all over – the aforementioned packaging is excellent and promotes an exceptional start-to-finish experience for the buyer, while the product gives the best results I’ve ever experienced from a humble pair of earphones. Admittedly, my basis of comparison may be a bit limited, but I can recognize good sound when compared to the simply adequate. With booming bass that didn’t bottom out, and highs that were crystal clear – I took note of background ambiance in my MP3’s that I hadn’t noticed before – This pair of ear buds either made my MP3’s sound terrible – the ones with low bit rates, or made them sound like brand new pieces – compared to the mashed up muddle of MP3’s I used to listen to using my old pair of ear buds.

                                              Need to weed out your bad MP3's? The Shure E500 will help a lot.

In other words, this product made the bad sound worse and the good sound wonderful, and came in a package that declared quality from the get-go. Frankly, I’m very disappointed. If only this product performed a little bit worse and the price was correspondingly many times lower than it is now, I would have been able to buy myself one of these. As it stands…. well, excuse me while I plan out which banks I need to liberate my funds from…