My Westone 3 / Sennheiser IE8 dilemma - Page 8

I tested UE11 at Jaben (SG), made similar to W3 wth silicon tips to demo. I was told that I am only listening to 50% of the real UE11 output (wth customs I suppose). the beats and "tingling/clanging" sounds were "so real", I have push W3, se530, tf10, er4p away from the table. A truly remarkable experience of a IEM which could match headphones. but price is a very saddening factor. hopefully sometime soon I can test the IE8 (not sure whether burn-in but as a demo set it should) at Jaben again. so that i can really hear the impact of senns technology of DYNAMICS!! yeah!! heheh, sorry uncle wilson.. i will buy something from u someday.

it seems IE8 is quite uncomfortable? westones is far most comfortable IEMs but W3 kinda big though..

HeadphoneAddict, have you tried the IE8? I was thinking today, that after I burn-in my IE8, maybe someone on this forum would want to do an exchange with me, my IE8 for their Westone 3, for a week or so. That way, we could each get a really good audition of these two IEM's and we could post our opinions here. If that is something you are open to, I would be for sure. In any case, even though I purchased the IE8, I am always thinking I made a mistake. It is just a case of the grass is greener on the other side of the fence I suppose. I guess too, I was thrown off by so many who said the W3 had sibilance issues.

On another note, I was looking at the poll and noticing that the IE8 was ahead of the W3. For some reason I suspect it is only because more people have the IE8 than the W3. I am not convinced that the votes are coming from people who have had extensive use of both IEM's.

I have found different results:
- From my Fuze, the E5 sounds much better to me than the Icon Mobile. The Icon Mobile seems to reduce the bass, but change nothing else. The E5 seems to slightly increase the soundstage and the bass seems ever so slightly increased.
- My Fuze directly connected to the IE8s has better bass impact than the Icon Mobile via USB, but doesn't have the same treble brightness, and has a narrower soundstage.
- From USB the Icon Mobile sounds much better than from my Fuze, but is a little behind my new Audiotrak Prodigy 7.1 with rolled op amp (AD8066). The Prodigy has much more bass impact, and the rest of the spectrum just seems more involving (and I have better op amps on the way). Soundstage and detail are about the same.

While I feel the IM is bright, it also seems to partially accomplish this by sacrificing bass impact and speed.

My IE8 has probably 350 to 400 hours (or more) on it, and I feel the mid-bass hump is gone and the treble has come out. I also switched from the T-400s to a extended (modified) silicon tip stuffed with T-400s. I feel it has very good, balanced heights, and feel it is well balanced, with a slightly warm presentation. To me, it lacks nothing!

Thanks, that is cool. Maybe, someday, I will get some UE11s!

it seems IE8 is quite uncomfortable? westones is far most comfortable IEMs but W3 kinda big though.. [/QUOTE]

When I was using T-400s, my IE8 was very comfortable. I am using modified silicon for many reasons, and they aren't as comfortable as the Complys. But I am playing around with it, and they are becoming more comfortable.

I haven't voted because I haven't heard both. The best way to compare the W3 and IE8 is to have both at the same time.

What TS verdict on this? IE8 or W3? or end up keeping both, which is always a good thing to do

http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f103/c...xs-etc-396277/

But this poll is created after he wrote that review. Although he ranked W3 higher, he still deciding which one to keep

I own the IE8's and had an extensive side-by-side comparison with the Westone 3. I pretty much concur with the above comments. If I were to take issue with any of the above comments, it would be with the bass of the W3. I find the bass on the W3 to be fantastic and that it is just a bit tighter and more focused than the IE8. Both of these IEM's are more similar than dissimilar to me, but often in these comparisons, people want to know what the differences are and so the differences tend to be overemphasized. The achilles heel of the IE8, if there is one, will be the fit for some people. The IE8 sits fairly shallow in the ear canal and doesn't isolate as well as the W3. The fit is perfectly fine for me however. The achilles heel of the W3, if there is one, is the sibilance. I do not find the sibilance problem with the W3 as bothersome as some others here, but knowing that my IE8's don't have this problem at all, I do not think I could live with the W3. Though both IEM's are quite neutral, I believe that the IE8 is warmer than the Westone 3 with the W3 being brighter. In absolute terms, I do prefer the IE8's. The fact that here in the U.S. you could purchase the the IE8 for half the price of the W3 makes the decision a no-brainer for me; get the IE8.

interesting, so the ie8 definitley require burn in to max their potential?
and u said the westone 3 more picky??? i found the westone 3 highs very painful and would distort at hgih volume so i sold them,,, i had the ie8 too but amd getting a different pair
--does the type of driver the westone 3 uses, can this be improved with burn in, and thus evening out its painful and distorted highs(distorted at high vol.
) sharp and painful none the less,

i myself do have both and do prefer the w3 and as for this stupid thing about proving you own both, videos of both of these can be seen on my youtube page myparrots1 im not an audiophile so dont really want to go into detail but i do like the w3s more and the ie8 for its bass