Shure Aonic 3 Review – Updated classics — Audiophile ON

Shure has a reputation for well-made, durable earphones. This reputation comes down to their primary use as monitors for professional musicians. With the Aonic 3 being a consumer-targeted earphone, I was worried they might sacrifice some of the build quality, but they far exceeded the previous generations in reality.

The Aonic 3 has an all-metal chassis, but instead of a straight barrel design like the Etymotic ER4 line, they have a slight bend to aid with ergonomics. The bend is at the nozzle and perfectly affects comfort and ease of insertion into your ear canal.

The grills are mesh-protected against dirt ingress, and these accommodate a custom size of Shure’s well-loved ear tips, of which you get plenty of options in the box.

The cable is very nice. It’s softer and more flexible than previous generations of Shure cables, which were prone to deterioration and cracking in the past. It is also far more resistant to tangles and shows less disruption to my listening through microphonic interference.

They attach to the earphones via downward-facing MMCX connectors, and the cable features a thick splitter section and straight 3.5mm termination.

Comfort and Isolation

The Shure Aoinic 3 are suitable isolators when used with the right tips. Insertion depth is best at a medium, but you can get them to sit further in the ears without affecting sound quality.

They are very comfortable earphones due to their low weight and small size. In a traditional stage monitor fashion, you wear these with the cable over the ear. The cables have built-in wire guides, so you can adjust them for a secure fit.

Shure Aonic 3 Sound Quality