Hey all, this is my first post here, though I have looked at the forums on occasion. Anyway, I, having already been down a very frustring path of Etymotic ER-6i (which I grew to dislike the sound of more and more), Sennheiser CX-300 (marginally acceptable, but still bad), Sennheiser PXC-300 (noise-cancelling - poor noise reduction and lousy sound quality - what a waste of money!), I had all but given up on an on-train listening set of headphones, but finally I decided to try once more, this time with Westone UM2's. I've had them several weeks now.
At first I was somewhat thrilled, just because they didn't seem to sound bad, but with time I'm finding them just as unsatisfying as every other non-open-air set of headphones I've ever tried, especially in-ear-canal phones. The sound quality is absolutely deplorable in comparison to even my "lowly" Sennheiser PX-100 headphones. In the end all the in-ear-canal phones have ended up sounding "dead". Kind of liking listening to music through a pillow. I do have a good seal. I've read up on and experimented greatly with seal. Seal is not the problem.
Except... today I plugged them into the headphone port of my MacBook and played music via iTunes (with EQ off, "Sound Enhancer" off) and, and I'm hoping I'm not imagining it, they actually did seem to sound really good! It was like the pillow had been cast aside. Am I imagining this? I'm hoping not, and hoping that perhaps the problem is that, in spite of the allegedly adequate sensitivity of the UM2's, my iPod (video) isn't actually capable of driving them. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that a PA2V2 amp will do the trick. I put in my order today and can't wait for it to arrive. I can't say I'm thrilled with the idea of having to carry an amp around, but if it can finally make it enjoyable to listen to music while on the train, it will definitely be worth it. I'll try to report back once I get my amp and can test it out. If it's a failure I give up - I can't afford to buy anything else in this so far quite infuriating quest for even mediocre sound quality!