Finally done with several hours of nonstop listening between the se530 and the W3. I gave up on matching them to the etys since umm.. they just kinda fail in comparison to these two. I am utterly amazed by the W3. I can't believe the headstage, it really just wraps you into the music its a great set of iems. I can also attest to the sibilance issues that others have gotten. I used the following as my two primary test tracs for sibilance:
Marc Cohn - Listening to Levon
Matchbox 20 - Long Day
I think at this point its rather pointless to test out and discuss the merits of the W3's, with the exception of their sibilance. I tried these out with the W3's and there was ALOT of sibilance in each track. Tried them with the Se530's and still alot of sibilance. The difference, the sibilance from the Se530's sounded natural (like if I were to say "she sells, seashells, down by the sea shore") and the sibilance from the W3's made me wanna pull the iem's out. **Actually the sibilance from Listening to Levon is pretty unbearable, in fact I got sibilance from it when I used my HD650's with my canamp, but it was OK with the Shures and just earpiercing with the W3's** While playing several songs from my ipod just to try out the W3's I noticed that some tracks that did not have sibilance with the Se530's had sibilance when I switched to the W3's. In these songs like the Healing Game, the sibilance was noticeable but not ear piercing. So suffice it to say, yes sibilance can certainly ruin your W3 experience. But to be perfectly honest I dont think its an attack against the W3's quality. Its the W3's sound signature, just as the sound signature from the TFT-pros' have very fatiguing high ends.
The quality of the W3's are top notch, but my real issue with them is a personal one (my preferences for a sound sig). If I were to characterize the sound signature of the W3's, I would state that they resemble umm mountains... next to each other... ^_^ << Like that. When I first heard the W3's I was amazed by how powerfull the bass was and at first blush it seemed to be better than the bass of the shures. It was fast and it was nice, it wasn't loose. But the more I listened to it, and as I listened to songs that REQUIRE that fast Prat-tat-tat-tat (try Strung out - "Calling") I noticed that the bass was so strong it could ruin the rest of the song. The best way I can describe it is that the bass from the W3's are like a 16 oz boxing glove and the bass from the Se530's are like 8 oz boxing gloves. The W3's don't necessarily hit harder, but fuller (but not boomy). Unfortunately, its slower and its such a huge blow that you end up focussing on the bass rather than the song. Normally during a guitar solo, you listen to the solo. But with the W3's I ended up saying "wow I've never heard this before" and then I realized I wound up hearing just the drums. The bass on the 8oz gloves on the other hand is faster and leaves a smaller dent. But the ONE thing I dont understand is that the se530's can give you a shock wave. Try listening to the lion king sound track (fave movie growing up,... admit it its yours too) listen to "This Land." There is a section where the instruments die down a bit and you hear strong drum beats in the back ground (resembling the slow beating of a heart). With the W3's, the heartbeats over lap and even though they're powerful I can only hear them. With the Se530's (I still dont know HOW this happens since they're iems) , I could actually FEEL the bass and it was clearer.
I THINK, that the broader bass from teh W3's contribute to the much large head stage,which is ABSOLUTELY AMAZING. The head stage of the Se530 is a notch below the W3's but its nothing to laugh at either, I still find myself being sucked in by the music. Because my musical preference lingers towards the blues and Jazz, I need clean and fast bass, and I can't let it ruin the solo. So my personal preference is the Se530's. But I feel that the W3's are on equal footing to the Se530s. I know alot are asking if one is better than the other, my answer is... theres no meaning to asking which is better. Its like asking do you like vanilla or chocolate.
Another thing that kind of "bothered"me about the W3's are that they color the sound. Its hard to notice, VERY hard to notice, because it feels that the coloring helps promote that wide and warm head stage (think of crossfeed versus no cross feed). I didn't notice it was colored until I played "Trouble" from Cold Play. When I heard the piano section, it seemed REALLY REALLY off. and this is from my memory of what my HD650's sounded like and what the etys/se530's sounded like. I would love to compare it to other headphones but those are the only ones I've used to play that song. But honestly, the colouring is very well done, I like the colouring but its a bit "bothersome" because I'm just not used to it. It sounds nice, and I'm certain if I didnt have to give these to their owner, I'd probably get sooo used to the colouring I would never want to own another pair.
Finally I feel that anyone who tries the W3's must TRY to fix the sibilance problem. I remember people suggesting over and OVER again.. Use the long tips, use the long tips etc... Well I took a closer look at the Se530' and the W3 and theyre VERY identical except the shaft of the W3' is smaller (about 2.5mm) and to be honest the sound of the Se530's and the W3's are VERY VERY similar. The W3's just have a more forward Low and High end. And with everyone saying, long tips. I figured, well maybe its the shaft, its just too short... first ^_^ now .|. sorry. apologies.
But anyway here's my mod:
The first pic is inserting the SMALL black silicone (the clear one is too thick) about halfway down the shaft of the W3. Then flipping it inside out. Since the W3's didnt belong to me, I didnt do the complete mod. the complete mod would be to get some masking tape (any tape will do,some are just easier to work with) cut a strip that's half as wide as the shaft of the W3 and wrap it around the W3 until you make something like this:
|| < Original Shaft
|||| < Shaft + Tape
If you do this, insert the black silicone tip backwards up to the tape and then put it inside out. then Just stick them in your ears! Here's the catch, it creates a REALLY GOOD SEAL... umm EASILY.. and this makes them truly universal (unless you have REALLY REALLY REALLY big ear canals and can insert #2 pencils inside and wiggle it). Just wrap the wires over your ears and just place the W3's over your ears. push them in a bit and release - instant seal. no fidgetting etc.. I tried these with the shures, and they were great as well.
Well try it out folks see if it fixes the sibilance. it wont Kill the sibilance, but it will reduce it to the point that it sounds natural. It also tames the base so that its more "natural." WITHOUT getting rid of teh amazing soundstage. By doing this little mod, you get close to the SE530's with super sound stage. (I still think the Se530 are more to my liking).
Well any feed back would be great. Hope the mods work for you guys.
