I’m a passenger in a very small plane above a very big Alaska landscape in whiteout conditions and turbulence. I have my Shure E500PTH earphones on in a vain attempt to suppress my rising panic. The pilot turns to me, and I’m thinking, sweet Jesus’ ass, we’re all gonna die.
To hear it from the man himself I push a button and immediately hear him clear as day over the whining turboprops: "We’re on final, be on the ground in no time." I live to blog another day!
Two things make the E500s worth the eye-popping price tag: ginormous sound and push-to-hear (PTH) technology. The sound is courtesy of triple hi-definition drivers, including a tweeter and two woofers for simply amazing sound reproduction across the spectrum. Even better is the PTH: push a button to mute the music and switch on an external mic that amplifies ambient sound.
It’s hard to overstate the usefulness of this feature for adventure use. Rather than ripping out your earphones every time you think you hear something going wrong outside your tent, in the aircraft or on the trail, you simply push the button for immediate audio input from your environment. You just have to hear to believe, or click the link below and read more reviews.