Hello,
I'm not much of a poster on here (but have lurked for a while). I recently decided to upgrade my IEM's and have in my possession both the SE846 and Westone W80 which I have been comparing for about 2-3 weeks.
I wanted to post my opinion on these, in hopes that others may find this information useful as I could not find much information on this forum or the web comparing these two.
First of all, for those not aware there is currently a coupon you can use at earphonesolutions to get 35% off the W80's, bringing them to $975. So price-wise these two earphones are about the same price. I don't know how long this coupon will last or if some form of similar discount has always existed for W80's. If there is some discount somewhere for SE846's I'm unaware of it and earphonesolutions is out of stock. The discount code is "OCT35". Alright now that I saved you $525 if you want to get those let's continue.
A bit about me which may be useful information to you: I've owned and used Westone W4R's for several years (they still work fine). I am 41 years old and according to hearing tests I have trouble perceiving frequencies above 15KHz which I read is somewhat common due to age. I think when I was a teen I listed to a lot of music at high volumes with earbuds so that didn't help either. My wife could hear the same test sounds easily up to the 19-20KHz range so that made me a little sad but oh well. I don't consider myself any sort of "expert audiophile" or whatever. Just a guy who enjoys a quality listening experience. I might not know all the right qualitative words to use.
My setup is: iPhone 7 playing 320kbps downloaded files from Spotify with an Oppo HA-2SE DAC/amp. I typically listen in my office which is essentially a quiet place. I don't commute and listen on buses or the like. The type of music I typically listen to is Pop, Rock, Dance. I always listen with flat or no EQ. When I use the W80 I have the ALO Ref8 cable installed.
Westone 4R: These were my first IEM's coming previously from medium priced dynamic drivers (Sony MDR-EX600). I would say these are not particularly strong in bass if that's what you like but still very good though and separation and clarity very good. Have enjoyed them for many years and still do.
I decided to "splurge" a little and upgrade as I said, hoping and wondering if new more expensive IEM's would give a similar "massive jump" in quality as I experienced when I first moved to the W4R's.
Westone W80: Have a very "full" sound as compared to the W4R. I didn't think the W4R's lacked in any way until I heard these. Excellent separation and clarity, strong bass. Better than the W4R for sure. But what I immediately noticed too is that the W4R's are much stronger in the high's - which I like a lot and the W80's can't do this even with some EQ. Maybe it's a personal preference thing or I have been "trained" by years of use of the W4R's, or it's because I have trouble hearing high frequencies I dunno. All I can say is that for sure higher frequencies are more apparent with the W4R. After some days/weeks of getting accustomed to using the W80's I would say that overall though, they are definitely better than the W4R. I don't miss the high frequencies - unless I swap back to the W4R's (which I then feel sound overall less "lively" and "full" - particularly the lower end/bass).
Shure SE846: compared to the W80's the first thing I noticed, which surprised me, was that they don't have as much bass as the W80's - or maybe a different kind of bass. Let me try to explain: with the W80 I hear and "feel" the vibrations of the bass in my head more so than with the SE846. This surprised me as Shure advertisements and descriptions from users typically highlighted the SE846 "subwoofer" and bass. But it's clear if you switch between W80 and SE846 which I did a lot of back and forth with the same songs for many hours. Volume/impedance of the W80 and SE846 are very close so you don't need to adjust volume as much to make an apples to apples comparison either.
The mids/vocal range of the S846 is more apparent than the W80 or W4R. I don't know if "forward" is the right word. It's a different "signature" that's for sure, very apparent. To me, it sounds like what happens when I increase the "mid tone" setting on an EQ. Overall net effect is not unpleasant, just different. I would say that with the SE846 it sounds a bit closer to hearing the singer's voice live in front of me than with the W80 if I close my eyes and imagine a bit. Is this "signature" better sounding to me? yes and no - it's just different.
I did try all the white/blue/black tubes with the SE846 too. The eartips I used were the silicon Westone tips (same size and type for all three earphones - to try to keep things apples to apples, plus they are what are comfortable to me).
General W80 vs SE846 :
I think in the end I prefer the W80's. I would say that overall they have better separation/clarity of sound and the effect of the lower mid to bass sounds lead to an overall more full, lively, satisfying sound - it's like, there's just "more there". It's slight, but true.
With the W80 I hear, feel, and experience the low frequencies in way that doesn't happen with the SE846. I'm not a bass freak either, and I wouldn't say the bass on the W80 is "overpowering" or drawing a veil over the rest of the sounds (like cheapo earbuds can).
The SE846 definitely have much more forward mids and overall are slight more "in your face". The bass on the SE846 is definitely weaker.
They are both great earphones in their own right - and you likely wouldn't notice the differences unless you did A/B comparing like I have been.
Now, the final nail in the coffin for the SE846, at least for me, is that they are uncomfortable after extended use (like 20 minutes or more). They are just physically larger. After about an hour using them, if I take them off and put the W80's in my ear then it's like I feel physical relief. I have tried to focus on sound quality or signature as my decision making factor - but after many days of testing back and forth I have come to the conclusion that sound wise W80 and SE846 are both very high quality, different "signature" but in general still pretty close in terms of "quality" that someone (at least me) likely only notice the difference when going back and forth. There is no "night and day" difference in quality overall. So with that in mind, the fact that the SE846 become uncomfortable after some time I might as well choose the W80 as the long term keeper.
I hope this info is useful for others contemplating a W80 vs SE846 decision. Definitely music and sound can be subjective and definitely the higher you go in terms of price range there are diminishing returns.
(Don't suppose you're a fan of that amazing band with the same name, are you?) I don't have any issues with fit using the SE846, but I have to give credit to Westone - they know what they're doing with their ergonomics.
