Shure True Wireless Adapter (Gen 2) for Sound Isolating Earphones, Secure Over-Ear Fit, Bluetooth 5 Wireless Technology, Long Battery Life with Charging Case, & Fingertip Controls (RMCE-TW2)

The Shure RMCE-TW2 Bluetooth adapter(s) represent the pinnacle of Shure's efforts to create a wireless solution for their SE line of earphones. They address nearly all of the limitations of previous designs, most of which I have owned and used extensively, and add new capabilities which significantly increase the quality of the experience when using them. In fact, I would say that these are finally a Shure Bluetooth adapter worthy of the SE846 earphones to which they are attached.To provide a context for the many improvements made to the TW2, I will be comparing it to Shure’s previous BT1 and BT2 adapters with which I have extensive experience. It’s worth noting that the TW2 is a second generation product that looks identical to the first gen TW1, a product that was so plagued with operational issues and design limitations that I never bothered to test it out. Do not inadvertently purchase the TW1.Shure’s original BT1 Bluetooth adapter was just okay. It didn’t drive the SE846s to particularly high volumes, the battery didn’t last particularly long, and connection strength was weak. I eventually replaced the BT1 with the upgraded BT2, which had a better design and offered better battery life and more output. It was a good product but not perfect. Like the BT1, the BT2 would temporarily drop the connection to my iPhone at particular locations in my home or at my office—walking through the man door of my garage, for example. And if I put my iPhone in my front left pants pocket and twisted my body the opposite direction, the audio would temporarily drop out. This made raking the lawn a particularly annoying experience. I’m happy to report that the TW2s have resolved these issues completely. The Bluetooth connection has remained rock solid from the first time I turned them on; I’ve never experienced a single dropout. In fact, the range is so good that I can set my iPhone down and walk off to other parts of my home without experiencing any deterioration of the connection at all. And the sound output of these adapters is quite good.Much of my time listening to my SE846s occurs while I’m outside working on projects, doing landscaping maintenance, or snowblowing. While both the BT1 and BT2 were far more convenient than using a cord plugged into my iPhone, they both still presented a cord dangling from my neck which would inevitably get caught on something and rip an earphone out of my ear. The lack of cords on the TW2s completely eliminates this issue. Before trying them, I was a little concerned about the comfort of the new design. Would having the weight of two batteries behind my ears be annoying? As it turns out, I can hardly even tell I’m wearing them.A related area of improvement is the ability to operate the TW2s while wearing gloves. With both the BT1 and BT2, the controls dangled from the cord. Locating them while wearing gloves was a challenge. Pressing the tiny buttons was difficult if not impossible. The single large button on each of the TW2s is much easier to locate and press. (Not always easy but always easier.) And because the TW2s have built-in mics, I no longer have to stop what I’m doing, take off my gloves, and remove an earphone when my wife has a quick question. I can simply press the large button on either of the TW2s with my gloved finger and the built-in mics pause what I’m listening to and amplify her voice. This situation was such a pain point with the previous designs that this feature alone justifies the cost of the TW2s for me.The TW2s offer other advantages as well. Shure offers a very useful app that can update the TW2 firmware and load precision, customizable 4-band parametric EQ curves tailored specifically to the capabilities of your particular SE earphone model. (Some users may have noticed that I have yet to mention sound quality. The TW2s do seem to be at least a small step forward in this regard—they certainly aren't a step backward—but any really noticeable difference comes from tweaks to the parametric EQ in Shure’s PLAY app, something that wasn’t possible with the BT2.) The app also permits the customization of controls and prompts, a hugely useful capability that was absent from previous designs. And charging is wireless now. No more fiddling with a USB Micro-B cable—though this does mean that you must carry the somewhat large charging/storage case with you when you want to charge the TW2s.Finally, the phone experience. I don’t spend much time on phone calls but the experience has been excellent. The TW1, the gen 1 version of this product, was widely dinged because phone calls only came to one ear. That limitation is now gone. You can hear your caller in both ears. And my wife tells me the mic quality is excellent.With all of the improvements, there is very little that I feel the TW2 could do better. My only minor complaint relates to the lack of a battery status indicator. To be clear, I have yet to run into a battery life limitation. The TW2s seem to have excellent stamina. But there’s no simple way to tell how close I have come to exhausting them. The older BT1 and BT2 would announce the remaining battery life whenever they were powered up. “Eight hours remaining.” This was great. I always knew how long I had at the beginning of every listening session. That feature is gone. The only real way to know where you are in terms of capacity is to open the app and look at the tiny battery indicator which provides a percentage remaining but does not translate this into listening time.The bottom line is that I am absolutely delighted by my upgrade to the TW2 and recommend them to anyone using compatible Shure earphones. They’re awfully close to perfect and easily worth the price of admission.

I had been hesitant about getting true wireless earphones because of low battery lives that required charging cases, and fear of losing them of course. The Shure BT2 adapter I'd been using broke, and I was forced to look into their newest alternative, this TW2 adapter. The reviews were positive enough, especially with direct comparisons to BT2, that I placed an order despite the fairly high price tag for just an adapter. But I have to say, I've been pleasantly surprised by them so far!Pros:- The battery life is 8 hours (without need of the charging case), the same as BT2, and the case can give three more full charges.- It charges by USB-C rather than micro-USB, which is great for travel as I can use USB-C for everything now.- The charging case has a battery level indicator on the bottom that tells you how many full charges it can provide.- It's less likely that you'll lose them compared to most TWE's, since TW2 retains Shure's around-the-ear clip design, and they stay on my ears even if I need to pull them out to speak to someone.- The new environment mode is a cool feature to have, albeit with somewhat limited use. It mixes in outside audio from the mics on-demand so you can better hear your surroundings. It can be somewhat hard to hear voices over wind or crinkly jackets, so while it could be useful when walking through a busy area where you need to stay alert, you'll still want to take them out to talk.- The degree of customization possible in the app is appreciated. You can completely change the controls, add equalizer settings, adjust environment mode, and more.- Bluetooth signal strength and stability seems good with my Pixel 7. Sound quality is good with my SE425's, but I haven't noticed much of a difference in sound compared to BT2.Cons:- No support for multipoint connections, meaning TW2 can only be connected to one device at a time. Mine frequently connect to my laptop first when I want to use them with my phone, and then I have to manually connect in my phone's Bluetooth menu. BT2 could be connected to both simultaneously. It's a mild inconvenience, but the fact that Shure had this feature earlier & dropped it stings.- There is no way to charge the adapters without the case. If you lose the case, it must be replaced.- There is no way to charge the adapters in-use, which was possible with BT2. If you need to use them for extended lengths of time, like a long travel day, you'll want to use a wired cable.- The charging case is on the larger side, and a little less pocketable than other TWE cases. You should have no problem fitting it into a bag or a roomy jacket pocket.- I wish that the sound prompts were more customizable. The BT2 was more utilitarian with its prompts, using just beeps and voice clips. The TW2 uses musical cues for power on & off that I'm not too fond of. They can be turned off in the app, but then you have no indication at all.