I had a pair of the old Shure E2s forever ago and loved them. After about 3 years one ear quit working. I was really hard on them and felt they held up fine considering. After that I decided to not buy another pair. At the time they were over 0 and I was low on funds. I heard good things about so many other cheaper pairs. For the last four years I have been through countless pairs of earphones and earbuds. I have had 3 pairs of skullcandy ink's 1 pair of skullcandy fmj's, 1 pair of JVC marshmallows, 1 pair of Motorola bluetooth wireless over the ears, and two pairs of Plantronics Voyager 855's. Over that time the ink'd were my workhorses. I had gotten quite used to them and had, I guess, talked myself into thinking they were almost as good as my old e2's. Two of the three ink'd ones quite working but for the price tag I wasn't crying. The fmj's started having major issues within about three months (one ear got much quieter than the other). The Motorola' were never really in the quality mix but the wireless made me look past it for audiobooks and sports. The JVC's were ok, about the same as the ink's at about the same price. The Plantronics were by far the best bluetooth earbuds I have ever used but they have quality issues and are no better than the ink'd or jvc ones either.

So, Down to one pair of ink'd and the jvc ones still working I decided to re investigate earbuds. I have to have at least two pairs (One I leave at the office, One I use as my everyday/laptop/phone pair). I think the ink'd won't last that much longer and I hate the JVC's when I have my head on a pillow. I thought I'd check on Bose, Dre's buds and maybe look back at Shure. I was prepared to spend around 0 again but was going to do my homework. My local big box had listing stations for bose and dre's. I think Dre's where better by a good bit. However, they are much more expensive than I wanted to spend. Looking online I found that the E2's were old news but these sl2's were the logical replacement. After finding them at AMS for about I decided to go that route.

Now, the long journey to get back to a premiumish earbud had made me a bit numb. I was expecting them to fit a bit better and sound a bit better. I was looking forward to the nicer cables and the easy way to find l vs R ear even if it's almost dark. However, I realized I had been lying to myself. These Shure SL2's are so much better than any of the low quality, cheap (Although for I would almost call these cheap for what you get) and inferior earphones I have used in the last 4 years. I am as much of an audiophile as one can be with my budget and it's like music is my friend again. I listen to more music just because of these earbuds. The sound isolation is better, the sound is better, the fit is better and a little thing like a nice case even makes a difference. The over the ear design eliminates cord bounce noises. I wrapped all the others over my ear but they are much less comfortable there because they are not designed specifically for that.

I have probably written to much for a simple headphone review but I can't believe I thought any of those bad headphones could replace a solid pair like these Shure SL2's and I won't go back. I am planning to get a second pair by the end of the year and I'll probably give away or throw out my others.

These TRS/TRS patch cables are very well made and are priced very fairly. Connectors are strong, solid and fully shielded. I opened each connector to inspect them and found that they are completely hand soldered (no crimped connections). wiring is neatly dressed and the soldered connections are very clean (no flux residue). Each connector shell has a proper insulated sleeve correctly installed. The cable jackets are brightly colored, are quite flexible, feel nice to the touch, and mine measured a generous 75 inches from TRS plug flange to flange. I usually make up all of my own mic and patch cables, but will certainly be buying more of these in the future. The cables are made in China, but are constructed to a very high standard.

Have no idea why Amazon uses the word "snake"in the description of these patch cables. These are six independent cables and are not connected together in a common jacket ( the usual configuration of a "snake").

I was really pleased with my purchase. As stated, these are great quality cables at a great price. One of my favorite things about these cables is that they are colored. It makes it really easy to know which mic corresponds to which input on my mixer. They also come with two Velcro pieces on each cable so that they can be wrapped easily. I couldn't have been happier with these cables.