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jinx20001, I understand where you're coming from, but with all due respect, I disagree with your assumption that a separate tweeter will automatically mean harsh highs.
By having three different drivers as opposed to one, you split that spectrum up into three bits using capacitors which roll-off the FR at certain frequencies for each of the three drivers. What used to come out of one driver is now coming out of three. Provided that the sensitivity of each driver is chosen with care, you should hear the same sound. So you ask, why use multiple drivers instead a single driver if the multi-driver systems are really just reproducing the same sound with minimal alterations?
In practice, single full-range drivers are not ideal. It is physically impossible to get an very good treble extension while delivering a low frequency sound at the same time without distortion. Treble is very high energy and requires the diaphragm to move extremely quickly. The amplitude is generally smaller. For this to be possible, the diaphragm needs to be stiff, very low mass and low mass means small. Therefore, a light, stiff and small-diameter driver will be able to reproduce good highs. Now for decent bass reproduction, the opposite is required. Large displacement of air is necessary for satisfactory bass production. How do we get large displacement? By using large drivers. As you can see, different frequencies demand different driver specifications, hence it is impossible for a single driver to satisfactorily reproduce a wide sound spectrum.
However, I think that we get away with single-driver IEMs and headphones because the energy required to produce a high enough SPL when the drivers are right up against or inside our hears is quite low compared to room-filling speakers. In other words, the energy and diaphragm disparity between reproducing high frequencies and low frequencies is much less significant for headphones than large speakers made to fill large listening rooms. Hence, you do find that 99% of all personal listening equipment, eg headphones only use a single driver for reproduction. On the contrary, we see that most large room filling speakers are not of the single-driver variant due to their volume limitations imposed upon them by driver-size limitations, which in turn are governed by the unavoidable compromise between being able to reproduce both highs and lows to some satisfactory degree.
(What makes multi-driver systems inferior to single driver systems is the additional circuitry required, ie the crossovers. An additional component means an additional route whereby the signal quality may or may not be degraded.)
I'm very confident that Westone know what they're doing. Introducing a three-way, triple driver design may very well clean up the overall congested sound of the UM2 and hopefully help the highs extend more. Ultimately, how the product sounds will be determined by how the chief engineer wants to voice their products. I'm really hoping these will be a big improvement on the UM2 and certainly superior to the E500. These are the only universal IEMs that I'll potentially buy (in the foreseeable future) due to the various drawbacks of the E500 and Triple.fi10Pro.
jinx, you're speculating with what sounds like no substantive basis. some pretty experienced listeners have given very favorable impressions. a while back i suggested doing a post with links to those impressions in this thread, since the thread has become unwieldy. maybe i'll do it yet at some point. in the meantime search this thread for posts by iamoneagain or the headphone forum for ray samuels review of the westone 3s. you'll get some interesting and favorable impressions from folks who've actually listened to the protos and have a lot of iem and headphone experience. (disclaimer: i'm not stating my impressions of these phones since i've not listened to them. undoubtebly there will be those who like 'em and those who don't (like virtually every other device out there with a very few notable exceptions (stax sr-001mk2 and possibly the ue-10 pro)), but from the impressions so far posted it sounds like the former group will far outweigh the latter.)
i think the fact that the um3 has a totally dedicated tweeter is only gonna screem in peoples ears unbearable highs,but they may counter this by toning down the highs and sensitivity,but then what would be the point in having a dedicated tweeter if they will tone the highs down anyway,and if they dont tone the highs down they could be really harsh considering the frequencies tweeters actually deal with,we will soon see tho,im thinking ill stick with my se530 because it has 2 woofers dedicated to lows so that says to me the low end is gonna be better and the high not too harsh,plus have you guys seen the um3,they are not exactly pretty,i may have seen prototypes a while ago but what do you guys think,do excuse me if there have been posts of pictures and reviews i aint scanned through all the replies,so forgive me if i sound a bit in the middle of nowhere
Okay jinx. For anyone who has been around the IEM block, unbearable highs aren't going to cross anyone's mind when Westone is thought of. If anything they are trying to overcome the impression of having rolled off treble.
Millions of speakers systems everywhere have dedicated tweeters. There is no correlation there or that 2 low end drivers are better than one. It's the application that counts. There can be good or bad application of either of the two 3-way designs.
It's okay. Many/most people justify their purchases. It's a common psychological event.
LOL, they're not exactly pretty, there gonna have screeming highs, my 530's have two bass drivers so it's gotta be better!
If they are better just sell your Shures and buy 'em!
There are a few people, which have listen the Westone 3, that quick compare them. I suggest you to search.
I don't think it's a good idea wear both not behind the ear. I tried with the Shure's, but it isn't confortable and you feel they gonna fall off all the time ...
Doesn't Westone already manufacture a 3-way phone? The ES-3 I believe. One would think that they'd simply take the guts out of these and house it in a universal fit mold, or is this too simplistic, i.e., are there other issues to be considered that I'm ignorant of? Dave
Doesn't Westone already manufacture a 3-way phone? The ES-3 I believe. One would think that they'd simply take the guts out of these and house it in a universal fit mold, or is this too simplistic, i.e., are there other issues to be considered that I'm ignorant of? Dave
The ES3's are primarily designed for vocalists for onstage use. They have a severely bumped-up mid-range that makes them unsuitable for music listening.
__________________ Portable: Westone ES2/ Yuin PK2> iBasso D2 Boa/Minibox E+> Custom Cryo/Silver 8-wire cable with cryoed F12 Canare mini plugs/cantsleep silver mini-to-mini> Imod Photo 60gb
Doesn't Westone already manufacture a 3-way phone? The ES-3 I believe. One would think that they'd simply take the guts out of these and house it in a universal fit mold, or is this too simplistic, i.e., are there other issues to be considered that I'm ignorant of? Dave
Additionally, they're also triple driver, not 3-way drivers.
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