I have been a little hesitant to write this, as I realize I have no credibility on this board, since I have not posted anything to give everyone an idea of where I am coming from. I’m relatively new to the idea of portable music, really becoming interested when a girlfriend loaded a bunch of songs onto my Iphone for a trip to Europe.
Immediately, I knew that the buds that came with the phone sucked, so my girlfriend told me to go buy some Skull Candies. While they were an improvement, they were still way to muddy. Then I progressed to some off brand buds I bought at a trade show in Vegas. Another improvement, but still not good. Then I searched the Internet and found this forum.
I should interject that I have been into good audio since the 70’s and have spent WAY too much over the years on different sound systems, but I was still surprised to see the level of discussion and knowledge on this board. It is a wonderful resource.
One of the first threads I read was the Westone 3 appreciation thread. Most people seemed to like them, so I ordered a pair. Upon receiving them, I thought they were a huge improvement, but I couldn’t get a good seal with the included tips, so I sprung for the UM56 custom tips. These made a big difference, but then the highs on these IEM’s began to annoy me a little, plus it is a pain to get the tips out of my ears with short fingernails as the plastic stems are a little short.
Which brought me to this thread. The first thing I thought of was: THEY”RE NUTS - $1100 for THAT?? But the more I read, the more convinced I became to gamble that the 13’s were that good. I went to the audiologist (a very hot one) who did my impressions and I sent them off. I then get a call from Zac saying the impressions were made improperly as they did not expand my canal enough, and to have them redone. I went back to the hot audiologist’s partner this time, who redid them for free, and even took two impressions of each ear to make sure they were ok.
When I received the 13’s, I was a little disappointed, as my custom artwork and faceplate was not included (although I was not charged for it either). I did not send them back, as the fit is perfect, I bought them for sound, not looks, and the solid black looks fine anyway.
After listening to these for a month now, I feel like they are one of the best bargains I have ever purchased for audio. Loudspeakers that sound this good would literally cost many thousands more. Their accuracy is just amazing. I have converted a lot of my favorite music to lossless, and now thanks to you guys, I am considering amps and cables.
Oh well, you can’t take it with you…