My first set of Shures (E3C) died after just over a year, losing sound from one ear. The warranty replacement (SE210) has just done the same, just over the 2yrs from the original purchase. These things only get a hanful of hours use a week when I want to listen to music during work at my desk.

Has anyone else had issues?

Shure have refused to replace the 2nd faulty set, so I'll be spending my money elsewhere next time. Shame really, as the sound quality was good, but reliability and customer service is crap.

shu :Pre ones are utter crap , i used them for running lasted me 3 months, and they argued and wouldnt replace. go for bose ,inner ear there £70 quid,ensuring u get them direct from bose,as they will cover any warrantee. also u can test them for 30 days for free

it's common issue on that manufacturer and your not the first person i've seen that has had their 2nd set refused.. the wire breaks inside the plug connector always the same side too.

i got some of these bad boys i also have some reference headphones from them to, excellent quality in manufacture and sound.
http://store.apple.com/uk/product/TR313LL/A?mco=MTExODk4MjM

but as above my GF swears by the bose ones
http://store.apple.com/uk/product/TQ117VC/A?fnode=MTY1NDA0Ng&mco=MTA4NTA3MzU

FYi you can find those earphones cheaper specially the Etymotic hf2 but i knew where to find them on itunes easy.

Never used Shure but was tempted a few years back, i have been using these for a few years now and think they are pretty awesome:

http://www.sennheiser.co.uk/uk/home_en.nsf/root/private_headphones_classic-line_cxseries_500939

Etymotic for me, with custom earmolds , not cheap but far better than the same price in noise cancelling ones.
I didn't get on with the bose in-ear ones, one ear was fine but could never get them to fit comfortably in the right ear, a problem I've had with a lot of earphones, hence the custom mould approach

custom moulded are the best but thought says £100 was pushing it for the extra £90 for the custom mold
http://store.apple.com/uk/product/TV692ZM/A?mco=MTIzNDc5OTc

Just get some cheap sennheiser CX 300 from Amazon and replace as required.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sennheiser-CX-300-II-Precision-Noise-Isolating/dp/B001EZYMTK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1254328988&sr=1-1

Be careful with the Amazon Sennheisers, there was heaps of fake ones being punted by their sellers, google Fake Senheisser to see what i mean.

yup, i've been stung.

I had some E2c's die within a year.

Flogged the replacement as I thought the sound was harsh and compressed. Happier with CX300s.

I had some E4's a couple of years back that I bought from a US e-tailer. They sounded great and I loved em. They got damaged when I was in Pakistan, so I sent them back, a year after purchase, for a warranty replacement.
…which sounded great, and I loved 'em… until the sound stopped in one ear. So I sent them back and got a warranty replacement (although it was over the original warranty period).
You know the story – a year later (a couple of months ago), these stopped functioning in one ear too. So I sent them back a final time (I was told that there would be no more replacements) and got one final warranty replacement
…and sold it on ebay. I can't be doing with something worth £150 breaking every 12 months, so have switched to Ety hf5s for now. So far, so good, and they sound as good to me as the Shures, which cost twice as much.

Thanks for the comments. I almost went for Etymotic's when I was originally shopping, so I'll have another look at them. Their HF5's look good. I'll check out the Bose too.

Hopefully the reliability of the other brands is better that Shure's rubbish!

I had 2 sets of 210's go exactly the same, replaced under warranty
last time it happened I said that i was a little disappointed so the upgraded me to 310's 8)

Which touch wood have been great so far, nearly a year now.

Thay were always great when they worked but shouldn't have failed
warranty/service though is 1st class when somthing does go wrong

Just sounds like they're going wrong for to many people just too often which is a real shame IMO

HF5 are great headphones just the same as above with no mic!

My se530's (£300) have just lost the sound on one side…

Oh joy.

Hope they're in warranty MTT!

Is it the left ear by any chance?

Is this why they cost so much, they have to factor in giving away a replacement set for every purchase?

How long have you had your Etymotic's Fozzy?

Yep, the guarantee thing says two years, i have just trawled through my papers and found the original purchase receipt dated Aug-2008. Phew!

Its the right earphone, i had a set of e4c's before the 530's, the wire gave up on those. I shall report back!

I tell a lie, they were e2c's and now SE530's. Both dead, it's like an earphone grave yard;

My one pair is over 5 years (an early ER6i) and the others.. hmm 3-4 years.. they get used a LOT get the 3 flange ones though they are more comfy in your ear.

the only issue i personally have is the sound deadening it's TOO good.
with me ER6i you could hear the cable catching on stuff (only a double flange bud) and when listening to quieter stuff you could hear the cable noise.
the others are fine with the 3 flange system. only "issue" is if you catch them and yank em out!! JESUS!! it's like pulling out swimming ear plugs very fast…

How do you rate the ER6i to the HF2, since they are similarly priced?

The Ety's are pretty bad for cable microphonics (ie hearing the cable rustle), so you kinda have to use the shirt clip that's included. The hf5 (from what I've read) has a similarly clean sound to the er6i but with more bass presence, to make it more even. The reviews I read said it was still light on bass, but I don't think it's much lighter than the EC4 I had (to my ear).
I've actually seen dismantle/cable repair instructions for the ER6i which nearly swayed me to go for them, but I went for blue HF5s and stuck the Shure semi-soft grey silicone bud on them. So far so good

A mate bought the Shures when he bought his first iPod. He went through three sets, each with the same problem. In the end I suggested the Denon AH-C525's, which had just come out. Two years on, still going fine, chuffed to bits with them. I had some cheap CX300's, which were ok, got some ER6i's with custom eartips, which are fine, but a phaff to put in and take out, which is an issue at work, 'cos I use them as ear protection when I'm running noisy machines, so I got some Ultimate Ears which lasted six months before a wire broke, now got a pair of Denon AH-C252's, which cost me £25, and I can't say enough good things about. Perhaps not quite as finely detailed as the more expensive phones, but still a nice clean sound, great bass, really comfortable when worn all day, and they're cheap. Can't recommend them highly enough.

the ER6i are the best headphones but only 2 flange ear bud's i would love 3 flange ones for them as they are far more comfortable.

as i said on the other thread the Denon AH-551s are the best i've used in their price bracket, build quality is great and i guess this would be the same in the lower price ranges

I've got SE310's and I think they're great. I'm using a Walkman X to play 320k MP3.

Put it into perspective at home I've Sennheiser 595 and a valve amp.

I've not had a problem with the sleeve spliting.

My E2Cs died in one ear, second set are still going strong a couple of years on mind, although don't get that much use.

Best for reliability are my ue super fi 5 pro's but for sounds it has to be my sleek customs, cables do fail on them after a while but are cheap and easily replaceable and they sound fantastic.

Sleek are meant to have the sa9's in the future, they'll be worth watching.