[pdupiano]

At the end of the day if your on the fence about the W3's and Se530's... Buy a pair of W3's

If you like them, great keeep them, if not sell and get some se530's. Its easier to go down the mountain than up and against the grain.

 

[Navyblue]

Quote:

Originally Posted by spleisher /img/forum/go_quote.gif Where doyou live, NavyBlue????? On average, I would say the SE530 is $50 - $100 CHEAPER than the Westone 3's or IE8's. We can discuss/argue sonic quality all day long, but the price thing seems pretty cut and dry to me. If someone is otherwise, on the fence between SE530 and Westone 3, SE530 certainly gets the edge in price/value when you compare street price to street price.

I'm in Singapore.

Local price: SE530 > TPF10 > W3 > IE8 > W3* (some "special" deal I got). Albeit the difference isn't much from one step to the next, from one end to another end is pretty significant.

For some reason we got high Shure prices here, which made the entire IEM range's price/performance ratio pretty bad. But IMHO if we are already looking at IEM at this price bracket this degree of difference in price should not be a consideration. When we splurge we might as well get something we like than save a few bucks.

 

[spleisher]

Quote:

Originally Posted by pdupiano /img/forum/go_quote.gif At the end of the day if your on the fence about the W3's and Se530's... Buy a pair of W3's If you like them, great keeep them, if not sell and get some se530's. Its easier to go down the mountain than up and against the grain.

Exactly what "mountain" are the Westone 3's "up" on, compared to the SE530's? Just curious.

 

[spleisher]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Navyblue /img/forum/go_quote.gif I'm in Singapore. Local price: SE530 > TPF10 > W3 > IE8 > W3* (some "special" deal I got). Albeit the difference isn't much from one step to the next, from one end to another end is pretty significant. For some reason we got high Shure prices here, which made the entire IEM range's price/performance ratio pretty bad. But IMHO if we are already looking at IEM at this price bracket this degree of difference in price should not be a consideration. When we splurge we might as well get something we like than save a few bucks.

Yeah, I guess things could be different in Singapore, as opposed to North America.

Not sure I agree with your "splurge" idea though. I do see what you are saying, but if I go to Amazon right now, the SE530's are $289, as opposed to $379 for the Westone 3's, and $449 for the IE8's. That's a 38% increase to choose the Westone 3's over the SE530's, and a 55% increase to go with the IE8's. In my world, that's a significant difference. I understand that if you were actually shopping for these items, you would shop around, but still.... I don't know about you, but I can't say "Well, if I'm spending $289, I can therefore just as well spend $449". That seems like faulty logic to me.

 

[verjuno]

Voted for Westone 3 because the cable is much better than SE530.

 

[raelamb]

The W3's are far better to me than the SE530's which I owned for a year. I use the thin complys and get a wonderful seal, extreme comfort, and NO sibilance. I might have stayed with the Shures however if I encoded my music in anything less than lossless as they are much more "forgiving" of the source.

 

[THE_SOURCE41]

I haven't tried the W3's but I have to say the 530's are really comfortable and I really love the mid's and bass on them.

 

[Lamenthe]

Thanks to this thread I'm down to the W3's vs the 530's now, but I'm always wary of "crystal clear highs." Would anyone consider the W3's as bright? My ears are pretty sensitive toward higher frequencies.

 

[MythNoob]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lamenthe /img/forum/go_quote.gif Thanks to this thread I'm down to the W3's vs the 530's now, but I'm always wary of "crystal clear highs." Would anyone consider the W3's as bright? My ears are pretty sensitive toward higher frequencies.

W3 could be a problem for you then.

 

[Lamenthe]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MythNoob /img/forum/go_quote.gif W3 could be a problem for you then.

Thanks, that made my decision easy

.

 

[TheMarchingMule]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lamenthe /img/forum/go_quote.gif Thanks to this thread I'm down to the W3's vs the 530's now, but I'm always wary of "crystal clear highs." Would anyone consider the W3's as bright? My ears are pretty sensitive toward higher frequencies.

Quote:

Originally Posted by MythNoob /img/forum/go_quote.gif W3 could be a problem for you then.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lamenthe /img/forum/go_quote.gif Thanks, that made my decision easy .

Well, that is based primarily on what tips you use, so...in all honestly, that coupled with the bends of your ear canal mean that you wont know for sure unless you try it out for yourself.

 

[rsatmans]

I received my Shure se530 today. I Have only been comparing them to the W3 for all of about 30 minutes. So far I have noticed the cable on the W3 is much much nicer. It bends much easier and is about half as thick. The most surprising thing so far is that the W3 have more bass then the SE530. Completely blows my mind I thought the SE530 would have more bass since it has a 2 micro drivers for bass but this doesn't seem to be the case. The W3 also seem to be shining in the highs. However, I am really enjoying the mids of the SE530. I will update after more listening

 

[spleisher]

Personally, I think the Westone 3 has a little too much bass. To me, it encroaches on the mids a bit. The highs are indeed more noticable on the W3 than they are on the SE530 for sure, but be careful, that's where fatigue can set in.

 

[JuStlcE]

I'm really want to try both but actually i think W3 is more comfortable

 

[spleisher]

Quote:

Originally Posted by JuStlcE /img/forum/go_quote.gif I'm really want to try both but actually i think W3 is more comfortable

I can see why you would say that. Really, they're pretty darned similar in terms of design, but the ultra-soft cable on the Westones probably give them the edge in the comfort department.

Slight downside: It's not a modular cable. I like being able to disconnect my cables on the SE530 and use the different lengths depending on what I'm doing.