[FenderP]

All I can say is they are a major improvement on my Etymotic ER-4Ps which disappeared on a flight from Austin, TX, to Dallas, TX, on my journey back home to MA. I was upset, especially considering I had the Westone inserts made so that I had custom molds for the Etys.

The first thing that strikes me about the ES2s is that they are musical than the Etys, which were more accurate, but not as musical in retrospect. The ES2s also have one thing sorely lacking on my Etys - bass! I tried it against the albums Rush Moving Pictures and John Coltrane Giant Steps (source: the MoFi versions). Both sounded great. The Coltrane sounds just right, with the cymbal in the right channel having the right tonality and not harsh at all.

The ES2s certainly seem accurate; time will tell. I've had them for a few hours only. And no monophonic crap from the cord! Woo hoo!

My Vaio Pocket drives the ES2s fine - I don't have to go above four bars of volume or so. In the interim, I had Sony EX81s and those suckers needed the volume to be all the way up. The Etys were about 1/3, so these are definitely a better match for my player.

 

[digihead]

Congrats on the ES2s. I love my ES3s. Westone makes a killer product. Good to see another head-fi'er supporting Westone. Enjoy!

 

[arielext]

Hope you enjoy your ES2's as much as I do mine

Did they fit in one turn, or du you have to go back for a re-fit?

 

[ken36]

Please give us your impressions in a month or so. Thanks.

 

[ScubaSteve87]

did you see that westone makes custom ear molds that fit ipod earbuds.........why?

 

[catscratch]

Don't mean to threadjack, but... Does the ES2 use the same drivers as the UM2?

 

[South_Korean]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ScubaSteve87 did you see that westone makes custom ear molds that fit ipod earbuds.........why?

to sell more products maybe. birng more attention to them.

 

[Wmcmanus]

Way cool, FenderP. Please do give us more impressions of the sonic characteristics of the ES2s once you've spent more time with them. (Oh, and sorry to hear about losing your Etys... I had a couple of close calls with them myself when travelling).

BTW, did you get your ES2s with the custom color option? I've star gazed at the "Happy Clouds" and "Keys" options more times than I can tell.

 

[jerb]

Its All marketing and right now the portable market is for the Ipod. Everyone wants those distinct white buds in their ears, however some people want to set themselves "above" the crowd (but still be trendy) thus the custom earmolds.

 

[Wmcmanus]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jerb Its All marketing and right now the portable market is for the Ipod. Everyone wants those distinct white buds in their ears, however some people want to set themselves "above" the crowd (but still be trendy) thus the custom earmolds.

I think it's much more than marketing. The "custom" market has expanded considerably but still at a relatively slow pace, and remains mostly untapped in terms of the potential for music lovers / audiophiles. The vast majority of sales made my Ultimate Ears, Sensaphonics, and Westone are to performing musicians who "need" custom IEMs for comfort since they have then in while performing and move all about. However, during the past year and change on Head-fi, more and more members have discovered that these products offer distinct sonic advantages over their counterpart "universal fit" IEMs such as most of the products offered by Etymotics and Shure. In my opinon, the improved "seal" that you get from custom fitted IEMs is just one of the reasons that they perform better. I think that they're better designed and engineered in general, but of course all of this also comes at a huge cost differential. Whether it is worth it or not is something that everyone needs to decide for him or herself, but the differences are clearly more than just marketing, IMO.

 

[iDesign]

Quote:

Originally Posted by catscratch Don't mean to threadjack, but... Does the ES2 use the same drivers as the UM2?

Yes, the same driver is used in both products.

 

[FenderP]

Quote:

Originally Posted by arielext Did they fit in one turn, or du you have to go back for a re-fit?

One turn.

 

[FenderP]

Quote:

Originally Posted by iDesign Yes, the same driver is used in both products.

But the design is slightly different ...

 

[FenderP]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wmcmanus Way cool, FenderP. Please do give us more impressions of the sonic characteristics of the ES2s once you've spent more time with them. (Oh, and sorry to hear about losing your Etys... I had a couple of close calls with them myself when travelling). BTW, did you get your ES2s with the custom color option? I've star gazed at the "Happy Clouds" and "Keys" options more times than I can tell.

Still happy with them ... more as it develops. Definitely a worthwhile purchase.

I didn't get the custom color. I went for the clear (not flesh) colored ones.