Experimentation with the Westone 3
Dec 28, 2008 at 10:54 PM Thread Starter Post #1 of 18
DavidMahler

DavidMahler

Headphoneus Supremus
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I have not yet decided how I feel about the impactful bass of the Westone 3. Everything else about the monitor stands out as being nearly perfect. I just did as an experiment a simple EQ adjustment with the iPOD (no amp)......where I just put on the EQ setting Bass Reducer............I'm not saying it sounded instantly better, but it did sound almost identical to my UE10 pro except with a tad less bass and bit more sparkle up in the treble region. If you own the Westone 3 and would like to have some idea of what the UE10s sound like, try this setting with you ipod. The UE10s are tad more bassy than this, but not distinctly so. Also the UE10s are slightly less grainy.

I do not own the UE11s, but I suspect the UE11s sound quite similar to the Westone 3 which is basically a UE10 with subwoofer capability and a bit more treble extension.

I know someone who owns both the UE11s and Westone 3 is going to chime in and beat me up for making such a "ridiculous assumption".........but I already own the UE10 which is more than twice the money of the Westone 3 and I am very willing to call them equals......However the UE10 is simply more neutral and more accurate, if that is important to you then the Westone 3s will never match them......but again if you'd like to hear something sorta similar to the UE10s try the bass reducer eq setting on the iPod with your Westone 3s

Also......try this setting particularly with classical music, I think the setting is wonderful classical music, though again, the flat EQ is also wonderful for all music I've tried.

Dave
 
Dec 29, 2008 at 1:06 AM Post #3 of 18
Ok, so I have to chime in also. I am one those who has 530s and W3 connected to nano>lod>51 and the Mid bass really bothers me lately...it is always present and doesn't let me hear the vocals properly in any song. The bass guitar is usually supposed to be in the background and not in front of the singer! Anyways, i know you aren't supposed to use the EQ in the ipod as it degrades the sound, but with the Bass Reducer EQ, i feel like songs are a whole lot more bearable to listen to than before. The quality isn't necessarily better as you stated, but it just gets rid of that mid-bass hump which tends to give me headaches. So thank you for the advice
smily_headphones1.gif
 
Dec 29, 2008 at 2:42 AM Post #4 of 18
so long as you have an ipod that is supported I would recommend installing rockbox. the EQ is unparalleled in a dap IMO and sounds awesome if yu knock the mid bass back 1-1.5db for use with W3. also the UM56 custom tips bring the mids forward a bit.
 
Dec 31, 2008 at 8:09 AM Post #6 of 18
Color me crazy but after experimenting with the iPods EQ settings (4G, 1Gtouch, 2Gtouch, 4Gnano), the W3 is a totally amusing animal. It's been well known that the iPod's EQ distorts the sound of most IEMs and portable headphones out there. Funny about the W3 though is that it welcomes the EQ presents well. I know I will get flamed for this but I abandoned the Mustang with this rig because I preferred the portability and SQ of the 2G touch with the EQ set to Dance. As per recommendations, tried the Jazz, Latin, Bass Reducer and Treble Booster settings but the Dance setting worked best for me (no, I don't dance
smily_headphones1.gif
). I guess my hearing is more biased towards treble and sparkling details in my songs. My second favorite is Treble Booster but I find my VBR songs picking up some sibilance. The TB preset only works well (forgiving) on ALAC and 320kbps tracks. Now I wish I can find a bright sounding amp to go well with the W3 to tame the mid bass down and slightly push forward the mids/vocals/violin solos. The Mustang kinda makes the mid bass too overpowering that it places a 'veil' over some details of the tunes. My ears.
confused_face.gif
 
Dec 31, 2008 at 11:48 AM Post #7 of 18
Quote:

Originally Posted by monsieurguzel /img/forum/go_quote.gif
Ok, so I have to chime in also. I am one those who has 530s and W3 connected to nano>lod>51 and the Mid bass really bothers me lately...it is always present and doesn't let me hear the vocals properly in any song. The bass guitar is usually supposed to be in the background and not in front of the singer! Anyways, i know you aren't supposed to use the EQ in the ipod as it degrades the sound, but with the Bass Reducer EQ, i feel like songs are a whole lot more bearable to listen to than before. The quality isn't necessarily better as you stated, but it just gets rid of that mid-bass hump which tends to give me headaches. So thank you for the advice
smily_headphones1.gif



Haha, so funny we have the same problem, sometimes I got so annoyed because I cannot hear the freaking vocal at the front, its fall back! esp. in Rock music...Gosh, its annoying...
However, 2 solutions I tried:
1. certainly play around with your tips, comply foam turns to create more bass and therefore overlaps some mids and highs...maybe thats why vocals fell back...but different tips will definitely help reduce some bass and vocal will back to front~try the triflange...I had it moded~

2. EQ really helps a lot with westone 3, it doesn't distort the SQ, at least to my ear...its sounds much better when I put on vocal booster~bass reducer, treble booster...play around with it, W3 is funny and always amaze me.
 
Dec 31, 2008 at 11:49 AM Post #8 of 18
Quote:

Originally Posted by AJan /img/forum/go_quote.gif
Color me crazy but after experimenting with the iPods EQ settings (4G, 1Gtouch, 2Gtouch, 4Gnano), the W3 is a totally amusing animal. It's been well known that the iPod's EQ distorts the sound of most IEMs and portable headphones out there. Funny about the W3 though is that it welcomes the EQ presents well. I know I will get flamed for this but I abandoned the Mustang with this rig because I preferred the portability and SQ of the 2G touch with the EQ set to Dance. As per recommendations, tried the Jazz, Latin, Bass Reducer and Treble Booster settings but the Dance setting worked best for me (no, I don't dance
smily_headphones1.gif
). I guess my hearing is more biased towards treble and sparkling details in my songs. My second favorite is Treble Booster but I find my VBR songs picking up some sibilance. The TB preset only works well (forgiving) on ALAC and 320kbps tracks. Now I wish I can find a bright sounding amp to go well with the W3 to tame the mid bass down and slightly push forward the mids/vocals/violin solos. The Mustang kinda makes the mid bass too overpowering that it places a 'veil' over some details of the tunes. My ears.
confused_face.gif



Certainly agree!
 
Dec 31, 2008 at 6:21 PM Post #9 of 18
Quote:

Originally Posted by Feather225 /img/forum/go_quote.gif
EQ really helps a lot with westone 3, it doesn't distort the SQ, at least to my ear...its sounds much better when I put on vocal booster~bass reducer, treble booster...play around with it, W3 is funny and always amaze me.


Here's a thread some may find useful on the subject of EQing an iPod.
 
Dec 31, 2008 at 7:13 PM Post #10 of 18
Quote:

Originally Posted by qusp /img/forum/go_quote.gif
so long as you have an ipod that is supported I would recommend installing rockbox. the EQ is unparalleled in a dap IMO and sounds awesome if yu knock the mid bass back 1-1.5db for use with W3. also the UM56 custom tips bring the mids forward a bit.


good to know! I have a classic and a imod may be I will try on the imod and I am getting custom tips also.
 
Dec 31, 2008 at 7:45 PM Post #11 of 18
Regarding the "impactful bass" of the 3. Which eartips are you using? I found the Comply tips did exhibit this, not because their seal is good, but because the material they are made of tends to emphasize this range. (my personal term for this type of sound is "rubbery bass".) The foam tips did seem to minimize it though. I'm not sure if they reduce the low bass somewhat, But with good source material the result is simply stunning! I bought some Ety foamies, but their latest ones have an added plastic insert at the user end, which reduces the diameter of the aperture and seems to serve no useful purpose other than constrict the sound ...(comments?) I have a couple of old foamies without these inserts that indeed sound more open. Must have something to do w/ tailoring the response.

I suspect that the perceived upper bass prominence is more a function of the eartips than the 3 itself, and therefore can be improved with the proper tip. I tried molding tips from that silicon sold for use as for earplugs, but the result was no sound at all, which I suspect was caused by the 3's diaphrams bottoming out due to the unequal air pressure created when inserting.

stay tuned...
 
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