^^ True, but at any rate they're not going to be selling more of these with their higher initial offering price so in a way its not really going to help them to increase marketshare initially. I'm shure (pun intended) that they'll certainly make quite a bit more money with the artificial price...

Is the soundstage and instrument separation changed at all or is it pretty much similar to the UM3X? Also I wonder how much the treble improvement is due to the tuning of the drivers vs the sound bore and the tip selection. I remember reading over in the UM3X appreciation thread somewhere that...

They definitely look like they have the Y-split cord from what I can tell, and not the J-cord from the photos. Also as far as the size is concerned I think they're slightly thicker and longer than the XBA-2, but not quite as large as the XBA-4. XBA-3 was somewhat oval-shaped and these are more...

Have your cellphone nearby? Or possibly WiFi interference with the BA drivers, it happens with any BA IEM that I own when I use my E10 as a source hooked up to my laptop and have my cellphone nearby.

It was at a listed fully authorized dealer, however the sale ended when they ran out of stock.

$250 for the W3 seems a little high for liquidating stock to make way for the W30 though. There were a few places recently where you could pick up the W3 for $205 brand new, without tax or shipping costs. Either way these are certainly much cheaper and less risky than getting the IE80 (in the...

Just read your review Shigzeo, and it pretty much sums up my experience in auditioning the SM64 v2 earlier this year for a couple of days (loaned from a friend). Now if only we could get these back in stock somewhere in the US, I could finally get around to buying it.... The last time they were...

As you are coming from the B2 and the GR07, I think that you might be noticing the note presentation of the W4R which probably seems overly thick compared to the B2. For the tips, I would say to try out some tip mods and see if that doesn't help to improve things. That said, maybe you prefer the...

Apart from making the distinction between the two types of tips, its really just a name for marketing purposes that they [Westone] can claim as their own design. There's nothing extraordinarily revolutionary about their design, just a name to set themselves apart from the rest of the options on...

Having heard both the SE215 and the SM1 (I still own the SM1), I wouldn't recommend the SM1 for dubstep mainly because the bass impact and dynamics are far better on the SE215 for dubstep/electronic/bass-driven music. That's not to say that dynamics are bad on the SM1, or that it lacks bass...

Indeed, the magnesium alloy housing would be a pretty sweet deal for the build alone. I'm just not a huge fan of the shure-style mmcx connectors, but I'll reserve my judgement on that until they actually begin selling these in the market.

No markings itself to distinguish between the models, but the SM3 v2 is at least two times as thick as the SM1.

I would definitely try out some different tips and/or tip mods (like the Sony Hybrid tip mod) to make sure you get a good seal. I don't personally own the 4R, but my S.O. does and occasionally I get to listen in ^.^. Anyways getting a proper seal with these are very important, and once you do...

With the genres you listed as your preferences, I would go with the XBA-3 or the TDK BA200. With the tour, you have minimal instrument separation with a copious quantity of warm bass making the overall sound muddy. Something like the XBA-3 or the BA200, while not as hard hitting as the GR07 BE...

That's what it seems like for the SM64, though SoundEarphones has mysteriously removed all EarSonics products from its website. If you click on any links that would normally take you to EarSonics items, it returns no items. Does that mean that they're going to stop carrying EarSonics stuff? Time...

Pre-orders have begun for the UM 10 Pro at some places, and I think I heard that general availability will start after September 10th. Also if you look at the "6 second unboxing" vine from @WestoneAudio's twitter page, you can see that the cable is definitely a newer design with a brand-themed...

I think that at those bitrates, your files are probably on the borderline between sounding decent and you being able to make out the compression artifacts. It will all depend on what type of music you have in those bitrates. Anything with a high dynamic range (think classical), will not sound...

The highs on the UM3X are definitely not "dull" in a bad way. Most reviews state that the treble is "dull", which is sort of a polite way of saying if you like bright and sparkly treble then its not the IEM for you. You can hear the treble for sure on the UM3X, but its definitely far from...

I agree with everything you said to be honest. If this product line release does not have any retuning done to the BA drivers used, or if they don't use new iterations of the specific drivers that they use, then its a lost chance to leapfrog Shure and the others who seem to be on the move these...

Well I just got finished reading through the press release, and to be quite honest I feel like this is a product refresh with a new cable system (the mmcx connector) rather than it being a completely new product in terms of its sound. That said the new colors do look appealing.. ;)

Have you tried tips with a wide opening / larger bore size? I found that with comply tips and the grey silicone tips, the treble response on the SM3 is subdued. The included double flanges are good, but didn't give me a good fit. What I ended up doing is cutting off the stem from the double...

Hmm well when you look at the picture closely, you could be right about it being a single driver model. We know that the UM1 colors did away with the braided EPIC cable, perhaps this will be what amounts to essentially a removable cable version of what was the UM1 before the relaunch into the...

Wow, I remember being at the Westone booth earlier this year at CES and I remember one of the representatives saying that they were working on something new to be released this year. Obviously they didn't say what the product was going to be, or any specific details, but they did hint that...

Wow, I certainly enjoyed the low-end response of the SE215 but one of the reasons I sold them is because I couldn't get the treble response that I wanted out of them with the tips that worked for me. To the OP, out of curiosity where did you buy your pair of SE215?

Getting a good seal and making sure the fit is comfortable with the tips of your choosing is most important. Depending on the physical tip size and the size of the bore/opening of the tip, certain aspects of the sound can be enhanced or attenuated. For example long comply tips can serve to...