kenyee
100+ Head-Fier
- Joined
- Feb 26, 2005
- Posts
- 164
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- 24
Got a chance to listen to a fellow head-fier's Westones this week and I think they pretty much sound like what people described versus the Shure SE530's.
The short summary is it isn't as forgiving (reveals flaws in music) as the Shure SE530's and has tighter (but less) bass (no surprise since it has only one lowrange driver) with a slightly more open soundstage (probably because of the extra high frequency volume). This is based on what I remember of the SE530's music (Adam is enjoying them up in Canada now
Tested it via headphone out on an iPhone 3g as well as via a lineout cable through a Hornet amp and used the yellow foamies I brought; also tested it on my T-Mo Wing. Surprisingly, I didn't have issues w/ getting it into my ears with a good seal using the relatively short yellow foamies. I had expected to have issues because of the shorter nozzle.
Unfortunately, we didn't have a male/male 3.5mm cable so I couldn't put the Hornet between the headphone amp and the Westone.
As others have mentioned, the vocals aren't as forward. It sounds quite a bit like my Sennheiser HD590's through the headphone output of both devices (the iPhone has more bass and a more open presentation), but with more high frequency volume and more bass.
The volume on the headphone output and the Hornet amp were set so they were approximately the same because "louder" makes something sound better subconsciously. What surprised me was how much the Hornet and iPhone lineout made a difference. Through the headphone output, high frequences were a bit too high with some songs (e.g., cymbals and vocals in songs by Christina Aguillera and Mariah Carey...there are times when the cymbals and voices feel like they're in your face). The amp output got rid of this excess high frequency, increased the soundstage so you could pick out instruments, and increased and tightened the bass more. The EQ on the iPhone was flat. This effect was true when comparing with Mark Anthony music as well (this music didn't have excessive high freqency volume). It was a huge difference..much like the difference between my T-Mo Wing's headphone out vs. through a cheap ghetto amp (the same amp made little difference w/ the iPhone's headphone out).
Anyone else try different MP3 players with the Westone 3's? I'm confused as to why there would be that much of a difference unless the Hornet rolls off the highs a bit.
The short summary is it isn't as forgiving (reveals flaws in music) as the Shure SE530's and has tighter (but less) bass (no surprise since it has only one lowrange driver) with a slightly more open soundstage (probably because of the extra high frequency volume). This is based on what I remember of the SE530's music (Adam is enjoying them up in Canada now
Tested it via headphone out on an iPhone 3g as well as via a lineout cable through a Hornet amp and used the yellow foamies I brought; also tested it on my T-Mo Wing. Surprisingly, I didn't have issues w/ getting it into my ears with a good seal using the relatively short yellow foamies. I had expected to have issues because of the shorter nozzle.
Unfortunately, we didn't have a male/male 3.5mm cable so I couldn't put the Hornet between the headphone amp and the Westone.
As others have mentioned, the vocals aren't as forward. It sounds quite a bit like my Sennheiser HD590's through the headphone output of both devices (the iPhone has more bass and a more open presentation), but with more high frequency volume and more bass.
The volume on the headphone output and the Hornet amp were set so they were approximately the same because "louder" makes something sound better subconsciously. What surprised me was how much the Hornet and iPhone lineout made a difference. Through the headphone output, high frequences were a bit too high with some songs (e.g., cymbals and vocals in songs by Christina Aguillera and Mariah Carey...there are times when the cymbals and voices feel like they're in your face). The amp output got rid of this excess high frequency, increased the soundstage so you could pick out instruments, and increased and tightened the bass more. The EQ on the iPhone was flat. This effect was true when comparing with Mark Anthony music as well (this music didn't have excessive high freqency volume). It was a huge difference..much like the difference between my T-Mo Wing's headphone out vs. through a cheap ghetto amp (the same amp made little difference w/ the iPhone's headphone out).
Anyone else try different MP3 players with the Westone 3's? I'm confused as to why there would be that much of a difference unless the Hornet rolls off the highs a bit.