Quote:
Originally Posted by boodi
Dick Danger
any other impression to share on es2 ?
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I guess this qualifies as other.
BUYING AND FIT
I've been asked to do a follow-up review, so here we go. While you read please keep in mind that I am not a professional writer, nor am I much of an audiophile. So here is a list of things you won't read. You will not get any reference to lower upper highs, lower mid lows, upper lower highs, mid lower mids, soundstage, etc. Bright, dark, cold, warm, air, and feel might be used, but since I'm clueless your mileage may very.
My decision to buy a custom in ear monitor was based largely on long-term comfort, sound quality was important but it was not my first concern. I thought sound quality would be irrelevant if I couldn't stand to have the things in my ears.
The decision to go with Westone was not an easy one. The IEMs from Sensaphonics and Ultimate Ears have gotten very good reviews from members of Head-Fi. I'm not sure why but when Westone said I would have to go through one of their audiologist dealers to place the order I thought that seemed like a good idea. I paid for my IEMs right there at my local audiologist's office and if felt like there would be one more person close to me that would be
on my side if something went wrong.
My ear impressions were done by an audiologist that knew what I was talking about the first time I said I needed impressions for custom IEMs. The
first time they were done my mouth was not closed but it was not open very wide either. Why does that matter? Westone recommends an open mouth impression to the second bend in the ear canal. I told the audiologist that I wasn't performer, and that listening to my iPod would be my main use for my IEMs. Once he heard that he decided that a wide-open mouth impression would not be the best way to go. He was wrong, but I'll get to that.
Westone sent my IEMs to my audiologist, I had to go back into his office for fitting instruction. I thought all it was going to be was one more chance for them to charge me for something but the visit was free and it was nice to have someone show me how these things are supposed go into my ears. At first I thought the fit was perfect, for a week I was walking around thinking everything was just dandy. After I got over the strange feeling of having them in my ears I noticed that I didn't take much mouth movement to break the seal the IEMs were making with my ear canals.
I decided that I needed to return to the audiologist and ask him what was up. It turns out I have
excessive jaw movement. After a call to Westone he decided that new impressions would be needed. This time though he provided a bite-block to hold my mouth in place while the silicone set in my ears. Even though this was an open mouth impression my mouth was not
wide open, again he made a judgment call based on my intended use.
This time he got it spot on. The replacement IEMs gave my ears a much more full feeling. Better than that I can talk, yawn, and do other things without breaking the seal.
THE SOUND
I used to following recordings to evaluate how I feel about the Westone ES2s. All were played on my 3G iPod unamped ripped at 256AAC.
The Benedictine Monks Of Santo Domingo de Silos-Mobile Fidelity UDCD 725
The Blind Boys of Alabama, Higher Ground-Realworld 724381279328
Elton John, Greates Hits-DCC GZS-1071
Creedence Clearwater Revival, Willy and the Poor Boys-DCC GZS-1070
Muddy Water, Folk Singer-Moblie Fidelity UDCD 593
Larry Willis, Solo Spirit-Mapleshade MS-01432
Johnny Cash, At San Quentin-Columbia CK 66017
Bob Dylan, Blood On The Tracks-Columbia CH 90323 (SACD Remaster)
Patricia Barber, Modern Cool-Blue Note 724352181124
Metallica, St. Anger-Elektra 62879-2 (Clean)
Gerry Raferty, City To City-DCC GZS-1075
Jethro Tull, Auqalung-DCC GZS-1105
That people is just a slice of my musical tastes.
In general the bass is tight and to the point, there is no boomy bloomy bass here. Highs and mids are right up front without being in your face. On a scale of 1-10 1 being very cold and 10 being very warm I'd give the ES2 a 6.5 on the warmth scale. But it's not all a bed of roses.
Right away the first thing I noticed was the background noise in Solo Spirit. For those of you that do not know
Larry Willis is a classically trained pianist, he has a somewhat stuffy style that can turn some people off. Anyway when I listen to Solo Spirit there is a lot of background noise that I would say is similar to noisy vinyl. It can be overcome with volume but it takes a lot of volume. This wasn't much of a problem with my former IEM, the Future Sonics EM3, but I think that is due to the lack of sensitivity of the EM3. The ES2 gives much more volume at the same settings.
I was quite happy with the EM3, I didn't think I was missing much. That all changed the first time I heard the Westone ES2. The ES2 was a revelation, the best way I can think of to describe the feeling is a blanket. The sound coming out of the EM3 was like a speaker with a blanket draped over it, the ES2 lifted the blanket and let everything come through.
Listening to People Get Ready, and I Shall Not Walk Alone by the Blind Boys of Alabama was an emotional experience. The vocals are clear, crisp, and sound like a voice should sound. From high to low everything just feels right. The opening piano just rolls into your ears and sooths the soul. At 1:32 into I Shall Not Walk Alone I found a new deep bass vocal that I'd never heard the way it should have been heard until I listened to it through the ES2s. It was there but with the EM3s muddy boomy bass it was muffled and very hard to pick out.
A great thing about the ES2 in my humble opinion is its ability to play all kinds of music very well. They do a great job in rolling out I Shall Not Walk Alone, but they do an equally great job of pounding out Metallica's St. Anger (the only track the I can stand on that CD).
When pushed these things don't packup and go home, they get up and ask for more. In St. Anger every time a drumstick hits a drum, every time a guitar jumps out to be heard the ES2 never falls behind. This is one thing I couldn't say about my trusty old EM3s, playing the same track the song turns into a jumble of noise as everything get mashed together.
So were they worth $625? Probably, I can have these things in my ears for hours without any discomfort, and comfort was why I wanted custom IEMs. I don't have an entire collection of IEMs to compare with but I feel like I did ok.
On the other hand am I ready to toss my WATT Puppies? No freakin way!
