WESTONE 3 vs SHURE530 COMPARISON - Page 7

hockeyb, glad u received W3.

Now for 3 corners triple drivers battle!

hahahahaha will be something to see "The 3 driver royal rumble"

There's nothing wrong with a dissenting opinion. Back before the E500's were released, a number of Head-Fier's touted them as UE-10 killers, LOL. I received the E500 soon after release, and I preferred the UM2. It's all different strokes for different folks around here, and to pronounce one headphone "better" than another is virtually meaningless except to the individual making the pronouncement.

X3

x13

And i never understood people who get offended....about earphones....
(except for ones that made them or promote them of course)

Having listened to both IEMs, I come to the same conclusion.

I disagree, and quite strongly at that. What you're talking about is audio relativism - i.e. that there are no objective standards in audio and it is all a matter of preference.

I think this is wrong, and dangerous. This kind of thinking allows unscrupulous vendors and manufacturers to make gear to a lower standard and then pass it off as subjective preference.

I think that, because headphones and especially IEMs ignore HRTFs, there are always bound to be differences in frequency response that are hard-wired into whoever is doing the listening. However, in other respects, objective standards have to exist, and have to rule. In order to be high-end, a headphone has to be resolving. It has to be as linear as differences in perception will allow. It has to have a certain quickness of impulse response, a certain extension at both ends, soundstage, imaging, tactile impact, dynamic range, tone, texture, and so on. These things aren't a matter of preference but a matter of necessity when you're dealing with the high end. Otherwise, if a headphone simply doesn't meet enough of these criteria, it's not high end, and preferences have nothing to do with it.

In the speaker world, this is easy, since we can simply accurately measure the FR of a speaker, and that, as they say, is that. There are other measurements that we can make too, all of which can give a very good idea as to the speaker's performance. But when it comes to headphones, FR measurements are much more difficult if not impossible to accurately make for every set of ears that will be listening. That, unfortunately, gives a lot of manufacturers a lot of room to basically slack off and underperform.

The O2 Mk2 is a perfect example. A lot of people that own just the Mk2 and don't want to chance it with getting a used Mk1 will make the excuse that it's only a matter of preference. It isn't. The vast majority of people that have owned both and compared them back-to-back feel that the Mk1 is superior, including Yours Truly that's been yelling about this across several forums and has taken a lot of flak from people that haven't compared both. In fact, from what I've read, a few German Stax retailers have gone so far as to stop selling the O2 Mk2 altogether until Stax gets their act straight. Now, the O2 Mk2 is still a very good headphone, but IMO taking a definite step backwards and then passing it off as subjective preference is unethical.

This isn't meant to be an "I'm right and you're all wrong" kind of post even if it comes off that way. This is just my opinion and I always admit the possibility of being wrong. There may very well be something wrong with my W3, and I will be sending it off to Westone themselves to have it checked.

Since I've agreed with Pete7's post I'll post my opinion on yours.

I don't think that you're wrong too, just misunderstood IMO. Experienced user will most likely notice if the audio equipment is high-end or not (or do some testing if he doesn't believe his ears enough), but that doesn't mean that he'll automatically like it. There are high-end speakers and headphones all over the place but again that doesn't mean that we all like them on the same level, or at all.

At least i understood it that way.

EDIT: Very good point of yours too

Well said.

I think it had to be defective, or a bad fit - even the people who don't like the W3 very much say it isn't half bad but just doesn't blow away the SE530 or Triple.fi or ER4. I can understand that from some people, but to sound as bad as you describe just doesn't make any sense. I have have $30 earbuds that sound decent, but they still can't even come close to sounding as good as my Westone 3. I'm not trying to be a W3 fan boy, but it is impossible for me to make mine sound like $10-20 earbuds unless I put them in with small tips and no seal. If yours have a good seal they must be defective to sound as bad as you describe.

Could it be possible that the OP is describing music that is recorded badly on the W3s? The Shures have the benefit of rolling off the highs, so that music with harsh highs are pretty much dealt with.

Ety's sound like cheap earbuds on badly mastered heavy metal with nasty highs too. Hell, my K-1000s and GS-1000s both can sound disasterous with thin sounding music, while the HD600s/650 sound just fine with those kinds of recordings. But put on well recorded music and the K-1000s/GS-1000s become top tier headphones again.



Just wondering if this has anything to do with it...

Funny but I completely understand this.

Sounds like the W3s maybe sound like the K701s, maybe analytical but more detailed and accurate (although fake sounding in a way)

While the Shure E500/530s sound like the HD650, more lush, edges not so defined

If you will

????????

Rob, why don't you get a pair and decide for yourself? I know many of us don't have your depth of knowledge and appreciation for "top" phones, so it seems you owe it to yourself and Head-Fi'ers "on the fence" to try the W3s so you can post your informed view. It could be very helpful.