I've owned the Westone 3 for about 3 weeks now. To cut to the chase, I cannot recommend them enough. They are everything I had hoped they would be and more. I also highly recommend Earphonesolutions. They provide customer service at a level you just can't find anywhere anymore. Before my purchase, they answered all my questions and helped me to finally pick the W3 (I was struggling trying to decide between the IE8, UM3X, and the W3). Also, as soon as my order arrived in the mail, Earphonesolutions announced a 15% Back-To-School sale. I emailed them and asked if they would refund me 15% of my cost, and they did it within minutes.
Now, let me talk some about the W3 and what I like about them. I use them with my Cowon S9, a player I highly recommend. I've always used Cowon players because I love the sound they produce. The music files are FLAC. Before I got the W3 I was listening to MP3 files. With the W3, for the first time I can tell the difference between listening to an MP3 and a FLAC. The W3 are THAT revealing. So I've re-ripped my CDs as FLAC. It's not that the 320 kbps MP3s sound bad, but there is just that extra subtle detail in the highs and lows with FLAC. I primarily listen to film scores, most of which are large orchestras. I also listen to some rock (U2, Joe Satriani, Rush, The Police, and a few others). Previous headphones I've owned and used are the original Bose Triports, Bose Triport OE, Bose Triport IE, Sennheiser PX-100, Sennheiser PX-100 II, Koss Portapro, Sleek Audio SA1, Klipsch S4, and Klipsch Custom 3. They all pale in comparison to the Westone 3. I will say that, as with all IEMs, it took me a while to find the right fit. I don't like any of the included eartips. They either don't seal well, are uncomfortable when they do seal, or muffle the sound. The tips I love to use on them are the medium size Sony hybrids. I had to use the cores from an old set of Complys that I had to get them to fit on the W3. These tips are the best in terms of comfort and sound quality (for me, I know everyone's ears and tastes are different). They seal perfectly, are so comfortable I forget I'm wearing them, and allow the sound to really open up. I'm not sure if it has to do with the larger diameter nozzle opening compared with the tips that Westone includes, but my guess would be probably. The clarity and detail is unbelievable. You really can hear little details that you may have never heard before in your music. The bass is perfect. It is tight and controlled, can hit hard when its in the recording, and can extend so low that it's hard to believe that huge sound is coming from such a tiny device. It really feels like you're standing in a room full of speakers with massive subwoofers. And yet it doesn't muddy up the other frequency ranges of the music at all. If you listen to a lot of music, and if you spend a lot of money on music, you owe it to yourself to invest in a quality set of earphones to listen to that music on. Oh, and the build quality of the W3 is superb. They truly do have the best cable I've ever seen. It's supple, light, doesn't tangle, has no memory effect, feels rugged, and has zero microphonics. The polar opposite are the Klipsch Custom 3 that I own, the cable of which can drive one to madness with its constant kinking and horrible microphonics.
So, in quick summary, get yourself a pair of these. Now. You won't regret it. You'll only regret not having bought a pair sooner.