[lawonga]

I've been listening to my new Westone 2's for about 3 hours after my old sony mdr ex 500's "broke" a couple days ago - one side is broken, but if I wiggle the cords it comes back to life again until I bump the cord. Coming from a sub $100 pair of iem's I had expected the Westone 2's to dominate over the mdr ex 500's in almost every field. What I found is that the Westones have excellent clarity - I could hear things in the music that I have not heard before, including system noise sounds in my xperia x10 and auto-tuned vocals sounding like crap. The  music really does sound to be extremely balanced. However, it also sounded as if the music was coming out from a cave, slightly muffled. The impressive soundstage that I kept hearing about in reviews is not as good as I had expected either. My old sony's seemed to fair better in soundstage reproduction. The bass, while I expected it to be produced in lower quantities than my old sony's, sounded as if they were almost coming near the mids, and in inadequate quantities as well. I do have a proper seal with the stock soft flex sleeves as the eartips are sealed enough so that there is a feeling of suction.

However, I do also realize that I am listening to music in far lower volume levels than my old sony headphones as these provide the best isolation I have ever experienced in iem's and headphones. Perhaps not enough volume may be the case? I have tried turning it up, the cave-like signature reduced a bit, but it still sounded slightly muffled.

So, while I'm pretty satisfied with these iem's, if there was anything I am doing wrong, or is this just the Westone's unique sound signature?

 

[arcticears]

That certainly does not sound like W2's.  Two things to try, try some of the other tips that came with the iems.  The foam tips can change the sound as can other tips.  How are you inserting the foam tips?  Are you compacting them down then inserting them or are you just putting them in. Some times with foam tips the end can be squished down and it really affects the sound. The other thing to try is give them time.  When I got my W2's I was disappointed with the sound.  I worked with the tips and found the ones that worked best for me and over time my brain burned in.  I now think they are very, very good.  Our brain seems to set to a sound and it takes time to readjust to the new sound. 

 

[JoeyRusso]

Definitely try some other tips. I had good results with the Comply foams, but I preferred the Shure olives, (none of the silicon tips sounded good to me).  They should definitely sound better than you're describing.

 

[lawonga]

Thanks for the replies guys. I tried the large olive (soft flex) sleeves. They seemed to be a bit better than the medium sized ones. The bass is starting to come up a bit more, and I've come to the conclusion that the music was at too low of a volume. I'll burn them in overnight and then see what happens.

 

[arcticears]

Good. If you like the foam tips, I had the best luck with the longer Complys, the short ones just do not work in my ears.  I finally settled on the white triple flanged tip that I cut down to double flanged by removing the small third flange.