[BKG22]

@pofdstudios If you could find me just one of the 16 drivers used in the W80 for $10 I'll split the difference in cost with you. 

 

[mrhizzo]

It's ridiculous expensive? Yes. But if you can afford AND want, why not?

For me these products shouldn't cost more than 500 usd. But I buy anyway when I want.

 

[pofdstudios]

  @pofdstudios If you could find me just one of the 16 drivers used in the W80 for $10 I'll split the difference in cost with you.

LOL! I meant this post to point out the obserdity of the price. Unless those drivers are made from diamond and platnium they are not worth the asking price. Are they made from unobtainium with real unicorn hair braided while orbiting Jupiter used for the cables? Listen I have no problem dropping big money on little things but at what point do you say "enough"? lol The material cost for these even on the outside is less than 50 bucks if that. Id like to see a material data sheet as to cost of the material used. I mean there are other manufacturers whom do the same thing day in and day out . So I am not saying anyone is doing anything dishonest and I am sure they sound really nice BUT 1499.00 Nice?. Like they say a fool and his money are soon parted.

 

[H20Fidelity]

LOL! I meant this post to point out the obserdity of the price. Unless those drivers are made from diamond and platnium they are not worth the asking price. Are they made from unobtainium with real unicorn hair braided while orbiting Jupiter used for the cables? Listen I have no problem dropping big money on little things but at what point do you say "enough"? lol The material cost for these even on the outside is less than 50 bucks if that. Id like to see a material data sheet as to cost of the material used. I mean there are other manufacturers whom do the same thing day in and day out . So I am not saying anyone is doing anything dishonest and I am sure they sound really nice BUT 1499.00 Nice?. Like they say a fool and his money are soon parted.

I'm not here to discredit your opinion, but please (yourself being a new member) take a look around at the general pricing of high-end earphones in 2016. You may find you have quite a job ahead of you addressing them all. Its not really fair to zone in on Westone.

 

[pofdstudios]

I'm not here to discredit your opinion, but please (yourself being a new member) take a look around at the general pricing of high-end earphones in 2016. You may find you have quite a job ahead of you addressing them all. Its not really fair to zone in on Westone.

I may be a new member but Im not new to high end audio. I come from a background of Mark Levinson Audio ( when he still owned the company)  and Cello Audio which I did engraving for etc so I know a little about manufacturing and cost. I dont mean to come across as singling out Westone as they make a wonderful product. And I am not going to try and discourage someone from buying something that they find valuable to them. I just think as a whole the markets ( Audio Equipment especially )  have gotten way out of whack when it comes to pricing. Its nothing new really the markup on audio equipment has been out of whack for decades now. But I will stand by my opinion.

 

[H20Fidelity]

I may be a new member but Im not new to high end audio. I come from a background of Mark Levinson Audio ( when he still owned the company)  and Cello Audio which I did engraving for etc so I know a little about manufacturing and cost. I dont mean to come across as singling out Westone as they make a wonderful product. And I am not going to try and discourage someone from buying something that they find valuable to them. I just think as a whole the markets ( Audio Equipment especially )  have gotten way out of whack when it comes to pricing. Its nothing new really the markup on audio equipment has been out of whack for decades now. But I will stand by my opinion.

Maybe you want to pop into our Tralucent Audio Plus5 thread sometime.

It's $3080 USD and only uses 5 drivers.

 

[pofdstudios]

LOL No Thanks. I do have a set of speakers I made from a set of secret plans from Speaker Lab in the 70's Talk about vintage!! They even include a coffee stain on the original walnut veneer at no extra charge! Cant get much more vintage than that. I swear the internal copper wiring was mined by hand and then spun by virgins of unknown origins. 25000.00 ea Firm
LOL

 

[Koolpep]

LOL! I meant this post to point out the obserdity of the price. Unless those drivers are made from diamond and platnium they are not worth the asking price. Are they made from unobtainium with real unicorn hair braided while orbiting Jupiter used for the cables? Listen I have no problem dropping big money on little things but at what point do you say What? lol The material cost for these even on the outside is less than 50 bucks if that. Id like to see a material data sheet as to cost of the material used. I mean there are other manufacturers whom do the same thing day in and day out . So I am not saying anyone is doing anything dishonest and I am sure they sound really nice BUT 1499.00 Nice?. Like they say a fool and his money are soon parted.

Thanks. Since you have called all of us fools who are either interested in buying these or actually owning them, can we move on? Take a look at the IEM flagships of Noble, 64audio, JH-Audio, UE, Campfire Audio, CustomArt, AAW, AKG, Sennheiser, Dita, Beyerdynamic. Enjoy. and welcome to the new normal.

 

[Deftone]

They have a very nice alo cable and very nice sounding 8 driver per side. But a lot more effort should have been put in to those housings. It really does bring the w80 down and put many people off buying it. Just take a look at iems sub £100 using well crafted and finished metals.

 

[Law87]

LOL! I meant this post to point out the obserdity of the price. Unless those drivers are made from diamond and platnium they are not worth the asking price. Are they made from unobtainium with real unicorn hair braided while orbiting Jupiter used for the cables? Listen I have no problem dropping big money on little things but at what point do you say What? lol The material cost for these even on the outside is less than 50 bucks if that. Id like to see a material data sheet as to cost of the material used. I mean there are other manufacturers whom do the same thing day in and day out . So I am not saying anyone is doing anything dishonest and I am sure they sound really nice BUT 1499.00 Nice?. Like they say a fool and his money are soon parted.

 


the material seems cheap because its light weighted. Companies that make their IEM fancy and out of metals are heavy as heck, comfort after a period of listening will be horrid.

so while I understand your frustration but I can see why Westone made their product like this. most companies don't take it into consideration. Most people don't notice it but Comfort is ahead of sound fidelity. No matter how good an IEM or Headphone sound, if the comfort sucks, then they wont like it.


While debating between the W60 and the 846, this is what I found out the most. Users with 846 are complaining about sore ears while I rarely see anyone complain about Westone comfort level.

 

[Law87]

They have a very nice alo cable and very nice sounding 8 driver per side. But a lot more effort should have been put in to those housings. It really does bring the w80 down and put many people off buying it. Just take a look at iems sub £100 using well crafted and finished metals.

 


An ALO rep says that the cable did not add to the substantial cost like everyone thought. might be $100 but not a $500 price tag.

 

[BKG22]

 

They have a very nice alo cable and very nice sounding 8 driver per side. But a lot more effort should have been put in to those housings. It really does bring the w80 down and put many people off buying it. Just take a look at iems sub £100 using well crafted and finished metals.

 


An ALO rep says that the cable did not add to the substantial cost like everyone thought. might be $100 but not a $500 price tag.

This Westone rep can confirm that this cable did not cost $500 but was much more expensive than stock cables. 
 
I can also confirm that there are no stock drivers in the W80 and each of the 16 drivers used is proprietary to Westone and not available to any other company. This means that they are more expensive than stock drivers from any of the BA manufacturers. 
 
Furthermore, We do hear concern from some that the material that we use is not as nice as the exotic housings of others. I can tell you that our housing is purposefully picked as it is light, doesn't transfer heat or cold and is soft on the ear. We are looking at future material but for the comfort and ability to make these as small and ergonomic as possible  we chose this housing.
 
Ear fatigue is real and it needs to be stopped!  

 

[twister6]

 

I'm not here to discredit your opinion, but please (yourself being a new member) take a look around at the general pricing of high-end earphones in 2016. You may find you have quite a job ahead of you addressing them all. Its not really fair to zone in on Westone.

I may be a new member but Im not new to high end audio. I come from a background of Mark Levinson Audio ( when he still owned the company)  and Cello Audio which I did engraving for etc so I know a little about manufacturing and cost. I dont mean to come across as singling out Westone as they make a wonderful product. And I am not going to try and discourage someone from buying something that they find valuable to them. I just think as a whole the markets ( Audio Equipment especially )  have gotten way out of whack when it comes to pricing. Its nothing new really the markup on audio equipment has been out of whack for decades now. But I will stand by my opinion.

 
There is a very good reason why we greet all new members here with "Welcome to Head-fi, sorry about your wallet"

 
I do understand that you are coming from a different "old school" background, but this is reality of in-ear monitors.  As it was mentioned before, majority of other brand name IEM flagships are in $2k-$3.5k price range.  People are willing to buy it, and after buying it also spend another $500-$1500 on the upgraded exotic material cable.  That is a reality of Head-fi, and as H20 pointed out - singling out Westone is not the best place to complain because their flagship is probably among the cheapest (relatively speaking) and definitely has the smallest 8-driver design, plus you get a heck of an accessory package with premium cable, custom eartips, different cases, etc.
 
But here is a thing, if you look at Westone product portfolio, as well as other multi-BA manufacturers, you have a lot of different models from single to dual, triple, quad, etc. drivers.  You don't have to buy the flagship, unless you desire the best.  You have a choice of other entry level models that sound pretty good and cost a fraction of the price.  As a matter of fact, something I mentioned in all of my Westone reviews, regardless of the entry level or the flagship model, their packaging and accessories are all flagship level.  Though, W80 stepped it up, big time.
 
Anyway, as I said, Welcome to Head-fi and sorry about your wallet

 

[blazer78]

  LOL! I meant this post to point out the obserdity of the price. Unless those drivers are made from diamond and platnium they are not worth the asking price. Are they made from unobtainium with real unicorn hair braided while orbiting Jupiter used for the cables? Listen I have no problem dropping big money on little things but at what point do you say What? lol The material cost for these even on the outside is less than 50 bucks if that. Id like to see a material data sheet as to cost of the material used. I mean there are other manufacturers whom do the same thing day in and day out . So I am not saying anyone is doing anything dishonest and I am sure they sound really nice BUT 1499.00 Nice?. Like they say a fool and his money are soon parted.

 
Of course, the material bill of quantities is going to be substantially less than the retail price. The retail costs must factor in research and development, marketing, overheads and include a markup for profit in order for healthy survival.
 
Yes, I agree that the prices of earphones have skyrocketed in not-so-recent times (probably around the akg k3003i era lol), but it is difficult to find alternatives with an equivalent standard of SQ at a much lower price (in a similar form factor). As long as there is a strong market for high-end earphones, the high prices will be here to stay.

 

[luckyshot]

Hello guys, I don't comment much or write reviews! But I can say that I have been a music lover
And audiophile for close to 30yrs. I listen mostly to my carefully setup 2 channel rig. No I'm not going
To brag about my audio equipment or components. I can tell you guys that the westone W80 Sig. are
Simply amazing. I'm so impressed with these bad boys! My favorites that I own and listen to on the go
or at my computer desk top system are as follows-- Shure se846+Moon audio silver dragon cables,
Westone ES5 smoked+Alo audio sxc24 cables and now these Westone W80 signature+Alo audio Ref 8
Cables that come standard with purchase. I got these from Westone dealer locally in NYC audio46!
And yeah I pay tax. I don't care what others say. These sounds amazing.

What I'm hearing is an open spacious sound and free from coloration. Every note that's played or rather
Hit, tapped, pulled, pluck. Brushed, punched or kicked sounds real and effortless. Bass notes are not
Only deep and tight but they are tuneful and round with pitch diffinition. You can easily see/hear musician
Playing in their own space smiling at each other. It's funny but years of listening has paided off for me.
Joe levano in the room above her live at Carnegie hall NY. I can hear what happens after a musical
Instrument is played. With the w80's the music is again open and spacoius, huge sound stage and
You can hear how big the venue is. Kris and Karl Cartwright at Westone talked about Harmonic content
In relation to the design of the W80. A lot of hi-end earphones companies are putting out iem that are
Tuned or tweaked from a previous model to generate cash. Many are not shooting for stars. I thank you
All at Westone for the W80. For being stars and leaving behind the flat and 2-dimensional sound of your past
Design. Well not all of them but many. I'm going to order today ASAP the campfire audio vega from Alo.
I'll try my best to wright some real reviews.

Finally, I don't want to disrespect anyone here, this is a nice community for all audiophiles geeks including myself
I want to say that after hearing extensively the noble k10 and katana I was not impressed much. I rather go
With jerry's Angie2 or Roxane 2. But also found them too pricey for what they bring to the table. Which
Is a dark and drier sound signatures, somewhat colored sound and this was my conclusion using the AK240
With DSD files!! at their very own tables and setup, strange I think. Yeah I love the w80 and only three days with
Them.