Your favorite W3 Tips

this may well be a westone 3 tips discussion thread..what tips give what signature etc..

Etymotic Grey Foam

tried all tips:

gray silicon: little isolation
white flex: uncomf
comply: crap
olives: best tip, but they are hard to take off, and i dnt wanna risk breaking the nozzle

comfort wise its great, sq wise, havnt experimented enough to comment

I agree that the olives are rather difficult to take off. Its been fairly difficult the 3 times I've taken them off to try between various different tips. However I chose the olives as my primary tips because they offer the most comfort and best fit for my ears. They also last quite awhile so it'll probably be a few months before I have to change them for a fresh pair.

I can hardly believe FMT's comments. The W3 sounds amazing with Comply tips, maybe not as good as full size cans, but definitely getting there. The Complys are the preferred tip for the UM2 so I think Westone also tuned the W3 to work best with that tip. The UM56 does not seem to work at all well with the W3, sadly

Jim Barry, my comments were not based on SQ.

In regards to my dislike for Comply's, here is why:

7.30am: put complys on, and use for 1hr till 8.30 am - sound great, very comfy, isolate fantastically. This was my first use of the comply tips

8.30am: take out complys and put in bag, put grey plastic tips and use until 5pm.

5pm: put comply tips on.

5.05am: put earphones in ear - comply flimsy, did not isolate, did not seal well, because of crap seal, sq just went down the drain. Took earphones out, let complys relax, compressed again, put in ear, waited around 2minuts again, tried music. Still failed.

The comply were just crap quality, I expected them to last longer than 1 day!

Ahhh, OK. Well, Comply tips generally last me for at least a couple of weeks of daily use. I would say it's worth persevering with them, though of course you only get one pair of each size in the fit kit. The problem I have now is that the slim fit Comply tips don't go quite far enough into my ear canal because of the W3's shorter tube compared to the UM2, but the full size tips are way too big for me.

image x10 medium single flange tip

It provides great isolation and comfort.

My vote goes to the grey silicone tips that come with the W3's.

Here are my opinions on the different tips: -
Grey silicone - I like the overall sound signature of these tips. Bass is just nice for me and most importantly is the presence of high. They are the second most comfortable tips I've tried.

Comply foam - They are #1 in terms of comfort. However, bass is just too overwhelming for me. The presence of high is also much lesser compared to the silicone tips.

Clear flex - Sound signature is quite similar to the grey silicone tips. However, they are really bad in terms of comfort.

Triple flange - I can't seem to push these tips into my ear canal properly. I've tried a few times and I gave up on them.

SilverB

where can I get the klipsch tips?

I think the only way to get them is ordering by phone from their website.

i've spent the better part of the day listening to various tips and, for my ears, the small and midsize complys are the best blend of sound and comfort. but they didn't the sound best to me. modified triflanges sounded best, but i find them very uncomfortable to wear for any period of time.

the biggest surprise -- because it has long been my favored tip for er4p's -- were the shure olives. great on the ety's but really bad, to my ears, on the w3's with some of the worst sibilance i've heard on a headphone. i didn't believe my ears at first but after swapping tips back and forth for the past four hours, there's no question about it.