Shure Aonic 50

Once huge in hi-fi, now a new name in noise-cancelling, Shure shows it has the headphone design skills to compete.

Shure was once the biggest name in hi-fi, by virtue of selling more phono cartridges than everyone else put together, and the biggest name in microphones too. Perhaps it was the closure of its phono division in 2018 that prompted its surprise entry into the consumer headphone market in 2020, and in the highly competitive wireless noise-cancelling arena at that, with the recommended price of $599 placing them amid plenty of strong competition.

Shure’s Aonic 50s certainly look every bit the modern up-market noise-cancelling over-ear headphones, with easily detachable leather-and-memory-foam ear-pads, a leathercovered headband, and aluminium arms that articulate through 90 degrees to allow the headphones to lie flat. Though wireless, with an excellent selection of Bluetooth codecs, they can be cabled for in-flight connection as well as a back-up when low on battery power. They are also quite the rare pair in being able to play digitally via USB-C when plugged into a computer.

The right ear-cup has control buttons plus a three-position slider to switch between active noise-cancelling, ‘Off’, and an ‘Environment’ transparency mode that that feeds through outside noise.

Shure’s active noise-cancelling circuitry has two levels of ‘normal’ and ‘max’, while you can also adjust the intensity of the Environment mode through 10 levels, although you need the ‘ShurePlus Play’ app to make these adjustments. This app is a free download and provides more than simply control, being a high-res music player serving up to 24-bit/352kHz where WAV and FLAC files are concerned. The app (below) also offers impressive EQ settings — there are a few presets and the facility to save quite a number of custom settings too. But EQ adjustment is only available through the app, so that music arriving via streaming services is delivered with the Shures’ default sound.

Shure claims a battery life of around 20 hours with noise-cancelling and Bluetooth — similar to most, less than some, but more than sufficient for most trips.

The drivers are large — 50mm — backed by neodymium magnets. That helps the sound, extracting the musical fundamentals whether from Claude Debussy or Kamasi Washington, sounding highly natural, expressive and detailed, and wonderfully open in the highest frequencies, the soundstage spacious, wide and coherently laid out. Switching to direct cable playback is quite a shift up in quality — a slight sibilance on vocals disappearing entirely, and the soundstage solidified with significantly better clarity for individual instruments. You can invoke ANC on the cable, though it does remove some warmth from the tonal balance. USB-C playback was best of all, and our Mac could play to them at anything up to 32-bit/352kHz.

One drawback: their hinges lack an upward fold, requiring a 250mm-diameter circular carry case — very large for travel purposes.

But Shure proves its sonic prowess, and its ability to include app smarts and some handy bonuses. A new contender, then, and one worthy of the brands’s heritage.