[jws919]

So I ordered some Westone 3s and they should be here Monday for my cross-country trip to LA for the week.

Since I dropped 400 on these, I got to thinking, what about customs?

Now, granted, I haven't even heard the 3s yet and I may love them, but if I do not I have 7 days to return them for a full refund.

Does anyone have any recommendations for customs in the 3-400 dollar range that sound great? I have a pair of SA6, and love the sound, but figure I may enjoy an upgrade. I know sleeks offer a custom, but with my displeasure regarding some aspects of the SA6, I'm weary. Plus, I assume the sound will be the same.

I also saw Alien Ears and LiveWires. Any others I may have missed in my searching? Can anyone speak to the different qualities?

Or, am I going to be better off going for a nice universal IEM in this range and only going custom when I can shell out the 800-1100 for some of the high end ones?

Thanks for input. Everyone's always real helpful. And I know I may have missed an identical thread. I'm not going to search for more than the half hour I did -- so sorry if I prove to be an annoyance.

Much love,
Jeff

 

[qusp]

Quote:

Or, am I going to be better off going for a nice universal IEM in this range and only going custom when I can shell out the 800-1100 for some of the high end ones?

yes!!


or getting custom tips for your W3. I havent tried any of the cheap customs; I have had triple-fi, SE530 and W3 I was researching getting some hearyourself C3 or livewires; as initially it sounded like a great idea; but then I started reading posts that just compared it to SE530 but with better isolation and some actually preferred SE530. sure there may be cheaper solutions, but you still dont get something for nothing. I decided that even if I was to get slightly better sound from having better isolation; that risk wasnt worth it when weighed against the fact that they had zero resale value and I couldnt do the trade-up or to be more accurate; trade sideways thing with them. a custom you dont like is dead money. so I bought UM56 tips for westone 3 and I've been very happy. i'm still happy, but very shortly i'll be getting some ES3X as I now know that I like customs and I like the westone SQ. this of course is just my opinion based on nothing but my experience with many of the top tier IEM's and also custom tips; as well as all the research I did here. For me; to make the money you spend on them worthwhile it really must be considerably better; so unfortunately it seems we just have to go all out; at least westone has released a UE10-11 competitor for $850. I'm sure you'll get some differing opinions in here; but hey, this is just mine

 

[HeadphoneAddict]

Quote:

Originally Posted by qusp /img/forum/go_quote.gif yes!! or getting custom tips for your W3. I havent tried any of the cheap customs; I have had triple-fi, SE530 and W3 I was researching getting some hearyourself C3 or livewires; as initially it sounded like a great idea; but then I started reading posts that just compared it to SE530 but with better isolation and some actually preferred SE530. sure there may be cheaper solutions, but you still dont get something for nothing. I decided that even if I was to get slightly better sound from having better isolation; that risk wasnt worth it when weighed against the fact that they had zero resale value and I couldnt do the trade-up or to be more accurate; trade sideways thing with them. a custom you dont like is dead money. so I bought UM56 tips for westone 3 and I've been very happy. i'm still happy, but very shortly i'll be getting some ES3X as I now know that I like customs and I like the westone SQ. this of course is just my opinion based on nothing but my experience with many of the top tier IEM's and also custom tips; as well as all the research I did here. For me; to make the money you spend on them worthwhile it really must be considerably better; so unfortunately it seems we just have to go all out; at least westone has released a UE10-11 competitor for $850. I'm sure you'll get some differing opinions in here; but hey, this is just mine

Seconded - get the UM-56 custom tips for the W3, or step up to the ES3X.

If you must have full customs in that price range that are good there are Livewires and Hearyourself.com (and Sleek which I haven't tried). I have the $250 Livewires and $350 Freq Show music makers which are supposed to be just like the hearyoursef.com 3-driver custom (rumor says hearyourself made them for Freq), and I like the Livewires slightly more than the Freq. But the W3 with the custom tips are better than both, being more immersive and powerful and engaging, and more musical - they are just as detailed but not as flat and monitor-like.

If you need a totally flat monitor then those two customs that I mentioned are in your price range and will fill that roll, but the Westone ES3X can fill BOTH rolls - a flat accurate reference monitor headphone that is also extremely engaging and immersive and powerful. I don't have a single full size headphone or IEM that can match the ES3X performance. They are simply stunning.

 

[jws919]

great feedback -- I forgot westone made custom tips. Sounds like I'd be a fool to go custom just for the sake of going custom at this price range. Hopefully I like the 3s when they arrive in 2 days! Thanks you two!

 

[Carmantom]

I do not know about the other mid-range customs mentioned, but I do know about the difference between the Sleeks universal and the customs. I have owned both and decided to try the customs after talking to Jason at Sleek Audio.

Michael at Sound Earphones (a forum sponsor), said he thought the sleek customs were the best bang for the buck. This statement is with him owning the UE 11 Pros. He said if he had it to do over again he wouldn't get the UE 11 Pros. He wasn't saying anything bad about the UE 11Pros. He was simply stating for the big premium it was not worth it.

I can tell you tell you they the customs are way better. I guess between the isolation (which is great) and the fact they can do something to custom the sound. For me I asked for bass being more articulate and impacttful, mids to be warm and highs to have sparkle. He almost got it perfect for me. The mids could have been a little warmer. Yet after hearing it, the mids seemed pretty good. If I had to use one word to describe the sound, I would say neutral. Very neutral. I enjoy them very much.

I don't know much about custom tips, but I'm sure I will try out some time soon. Good luck!

 

[imademymark]

well i managed to get a fairly substantial amount of listening time with the w3 and i prefer them to my livewires when used unamped, straight from an ipod

when its amped, dac-ed out from a proper source then i think the livewires have abit of an edge clarity wise, but its almost too close to call in terms of which is better