[Redcarmoose]

Westone 1 True-Fit Earphones :: Westone 9/4/09 Just gunna get em!

 

[p0wderh0und23]

Quote:

Originally Posted by HeadphoneAddict /img/forum/go_quote.gif If you can afford the UM3X I would get those, or the W3 with a set of UM56 custom tips to balance them out more and make them more fun and enjoyable/less fatiguing. You get what you pay for, and the extra $250 will get you a lot. That's not to say the W1 aren't very good for the price. MINI-REVIEW: I have not tried them with a wide variety of amps or tips - only the grey silicone tips with 4G Nano, 2G Touch, iPhone 3GS and iBasso D10 (AD744/EL8201 opamps). The W1 are like a UM3X with less detail and a little less extension on both ends of the frequency spectrum. The W1 are a great IEM, being fairly neutral and transparent, somewhat more forward than the W3, with NO hint of any excess brightness, and a present but not pounding bass that has usable extension to 25Hz. There is no midbass hump like the W3 or Image X10, so there is nothing to encroach into the mids. They don't have the edge or brightness of the Phonak Audeo PFE either, so you don't need an amp to tone them down with an iPod such as a Nano or Touch. They could benefit from am amp with bass boost, but they don't demand it. Female vocals are engaging and transparent and Eva Cassidy "Live at Blues Alley" is about as enjoyable as anyone needs it to be. The sound is very open, treble is not sibilant (with medium silicone tips), acoustic instruments and especially cello and violin have great texture, and the bass is balanced with the rest of the spectrum and not bumped up. They could use another dB or two in the bass for impact, but it is still fine the way it is now. The deep bass in the Batman "The Dark Night" soundtrack seems to be all there. I did note that some of the deepest bass extension is lacking in Bella Sonus "Enamoured" where it contains some 20Hz notes in the begining. Like I said before, with test tones roll-off begins just a little by 25Hz which is still fairly present, but 20hz is pretty quiet vs my ES3X which let me hear down to 16Hz. This is about the same as the bass roll-off in my HD600, so that says something right there. The 16,000Hz notes are also a bit harder to hear too vs my ES3X without turning up the volume, but I also have 47 year old ears with high frequency hearing loss. I would not call the W1 a "fun colored earphone" like the W3, X10 or Nuforce NE-7M and Denon C700. But the W1 are not bland sounding like the Sleek SA6 were either. The W1 are good with most genre, but excel at my favorite genre like jazz and classical, new age, acoustic, folk and vocals. They are also good with electronic like Infected Mushroom, Dark Night Soundtrack, Nick Notis, Aaron Spectre, Karunesh, and more. With my favorite music I could listen to them all day and not always be thinking that I should grab better earphones. These are likely my favorite single driver BA universal IEM. Most of my alternative rock or hip hop is low bit rate stuff for the kids, but they still do okay with Boys Like Girls, Metro Station, All Time Low, Green Day, Good Charlotte, The Afters, Forever The Sickest Kids, Rihanna, Sean Kingston, Kanye West, etc although the low bit rate does hurt the sound and causes some additional bass and treble roll off. The W1 will certainly let you appreciate the improvements going from a 128K MP3 song to one at 256K. I have the Black Eyed Peas "THE End" in 256K and "Boom Boom Pow" is pretty powerful sounding. So, the one area I am least qualified to comment on due to lack of music is the genre you listen to the most.

So what you're saying is you liked them?

 

[ATTL]

Can anyone confirm if the nozzle will still fit shure olives?

Thanks

 

[p0wderh0und23]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ATTL /img/forum/go_quote.gif Can anyone confirm if the nozzle will still fit shure olives? Thanks

It will still fit. Same size nozzle as all our products.

 

[shigzeo]

am i correct in noticing some new ear pieces? they are longer, thicker and sturdier than other ones I have used from Westone. by the way, simply a phenomenal product. for build quality alone, it makes me wonder at many of the other products which are priced in the same category - it simply embarrasses them, but sound is also very good.

 

[jkozlow3]

Quote:

Originally Posted by HeadphoneAddict /img/forum/go_quote.gif If you can afford the UM3X I would get those, or the W3 with a set of UM56 custom tips to balance them out more and make them more fun and enjoyable/less fatiguing. You get what you pay for, and the extra $250 will get you a lot. That's not to say the W1 aren't very good for the price. MINI-REVIEW: I have not tried them with a wide variety of amps or tips - only the grey silicone tips with 4G Nano, 2G Touch, iPhone 3GS and iBasso D10 (AD744/EL8201 opamps). The W1 are like a UM3X with less detail and a little less extension on both ends of the frequency spectrum. The W1 are a great IEM, being fairly neutral and transparent, somewhat more forward than the W3, with NO hint of any excess brightness, and a present but not pounding bass that has usable extension to 25Hz. There is no midbass hump like the W3 or Image X10, so there is nothing to encroach into the mids. They don't have the edge or brightness of the Phonak Audeo PFE either, so you don't need an amp to tone them down with an iPod such as a Nano or Touch. They could benefit from am amp with bass boost, but they don't demand it. Female vocals are engaging and transparent and Eva Cassidy "Live at Blues Alley" is about as enjoyable as anyone needs it to be. The sound is very open, treble is not sibilant (with medium silicone tips), acoustic instruments and especially cello and violin have great texture, and the bass is balanced with the rest of the spectrum and not bumped up. They could use another dB or two in the bass for impact, but it is still fine the way it is now. The deep bass in the Batman "The Dark Night" soundtrack seems to be all there. I did note that some of the deepest bass extension is lacking in Bella Sonus "Enamoured" where it contains some 20Hz notes in the begining. Like I said before, with test tones roll-off begins just a little by 25Hz which is still fairly present, but 20hz is pretty quiet vs my ES3X which let me hear down to 16Hz. This is about the same as the bass roll-off in my HD600, so that says something right there. The 16,000Hz notes are also a bit harder to hear too vs my ES3X without turning up the volume, but I also have 47 year old ears with high frequency hearing loss. I would not call the W1 a "fun colored earphone" like the W3, X10 or Nuforce NE-7M and Denon C700. But the W1 are not bland sounding like the Sleek SA6 were either. The W1 are good with most genre, but excel at my favorite genre like jazz and classical, new age, acoustic, folk and vocals. They are also good with electronic like Infected Mushroom, Dark Night Soundtrack, Nick Notis, Aaron Spectre, Karunesh, and more. With my favorite music I could listen to them all day and not always be thinking that I should grab better earphones. These are likely my favorite single driver BA universal IEM. Most of my alternative rock or hip hop is low bit rate stuff for the kids, but they still do okay with Boys Like Girls, Metro Station, All Time Low, Green Day, Good Charlotte, The Afters, Forever The Sickest Kids, Rihanna, Sean Kingston, Kanye West, etc although the low bit rate does hurt the sound and causes some additional bass and treble roll off. The W1 will certainly let you appreciate the improvements going from a 128K MP3 song to one at 256K. I have the Black Eyed Peas "THE End" in 256K and "Boom Boom Pow" is pretty powerful sounding. So, the one area I am least qualified to comment on due to lack of music is the genre you listen to the most.

Thanks a lot for the review! Sounds like they may definitely be worth a try. Of course, I just hope that there won't be a little voice in my head always wondering how much better they could be versus a more expensive phone like the UM3x. Of course, there is always going to be something newer & better and there is definitely a law of diminishing returns in audio when it comes to price vs. performance. Therefore I'm still hoping that the Westone 1 will get me MOST of the way there for a fraction of the cost of it's bigger brothers. Decisions, decisions.

 

[epithetless]

Quote:

Originally Posted by shigzeo /img/forum/go_quote.gif am i correct in noticing some new ear pieces? they are longer, thicker and sturdier than other ones I have used from Westone.

I assume you're talking about the foam ones?

 

[shigzeo]

i am talking about the silicon flanges. they look like gumdrops: long and slender, but thick-walled and translucent. I assume they are westone tips, but then again, I was listening to an already opened pair which were part of a vendor's office!

 

[Freehandstyle]

hey guys, i just got the um1 and kinda bummed out to hear there's a new model coming out. Though it was good news for me as I got the um1 for like $90 brand new which is absolutely a sweet deal.

Now i'm just wondering, did anyone compare the Westone 1 to the Um1?
Just wondering if Westone only improved the built of the earphone or if there's actually some improvement in sound.

thanks guys!

 

[HeadphoneAddict]

Quote:

Originally Posted by supern0va /img/forum/go_quote.gif You have briefly compared them to the PFEs. How do these 2 compare on clarity, lows/mids/highs, accuracy more specifically? You also seem to prefer them to the W3s, although you did mention up-front that the W3s are better with the UM56 (really much more expensive than the UM3X together!) How do these compare? Thanks.

The PFE are possibly what I would call "hyper-detailed" and tilted towards the top end vs the W1, and sometimes that is a little too much or can be fatiguing, even with the PFE black filters on the wrong iPod. The W1 have enough clarity and transparency in the lows, mids and highs to disappear, are more forgiving of the program material, and I think a little more accurate than the PFE. Bass and mids are on about the same level as the PFE, but the highs do not intrude like sometimes with the PFE. With my 4G Nano and PFE I would always suffer from sibilance with the grey or black filters, while my iPhone 3GS was fine with the black filters - the W1 don't have this issue with the 4G Nano and still sound fine with the iPhone 3GS. The W1 still don't have the same degree of extension at both ends as the PFE, but the W1 sound more balanced or natural. The W1 are also more efficient than the PFE, and you don't need to turn up the volume as much.

The W3 with UM56 tips become more balanced and accurate than with silicone, modded tri-flange or complys tips. They still exceed the W1 for detail and extension, have a little more bass impact, and a little more distant seat from the stage than the W1, giving the W3 a bigger soundsatge. The W1 still have a great sense of air and ambience, but put you closer to or on the stage like the UM3X. That's why I said in the review that they remind me more of a UM3X with less detail and less extension.

Quote:

Originally Posted by music_4321 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Larry, once again, an excellent (mini) review! You pretty much covered everything there's to know about the W1. I won't be getting these but I'm very curious. Just one question, though, are the earpieces designed like the W3 or the UM3X? The latter, as you know, are extraordinarily comfortable.

The ear-pieces are designed like the W3 in shape but are noticeably smaller in depth and width. They have a reverse image of a one instead of a three, with green surrounding the black 1 instead of red - so it doesn't look as much like a black widow spider now.

I think these are very comfortable, and I don't have a problem getting the grey silicone tips in and sealed. I wonder if the nozzle is maybe half a mm longer or something.

Quote:

Originally Posted by p0wderh0und23 /img/forum/go_quote.gif So what you're saying is you liked them?

Absolutely! Like I said in my mini-review, "The W1 are a great IEM... and ...excel at my favorite genre... These are likely my favorite single driver BA universal IEM."

Quote:

Originally Posted by shigzeo /img/forum/go_quote.gif am i correct in noticing some new ear pieces? they are longer, thicker and sturdier than other ones I have used from Westone. by the way, simply a phenomenal product. for build quality alone, it makes me wonder at many of the other products which are priced in the same category - it simply embarrasses them, but sound is also very good.

Quote:

Originally Posted by shigzeo /img/forum/go_quote.gif i am talking about the silicon flanges. they look like gumdrops: long and slender, but thick-walled and translucent. I assume they are westone tips, but then again, I was listening to an already opened pair which were part of a vendor's office!

The tips are similar to the ones in the Shure universal fit kit, with grey silicone and clear vinyl tips, with triple flabe tips, but also includes Complys tips instead of Black foam tips.

I still have to try more amps and sources with the W1, and I will report back about that and add it to my original mini-review later.

 

[Sixteh]

Any chance we can get a comparison of these to the UM1/2?

 

[music_4321]

Quote:

Originally Posted by HeadphoneAddict /img/forum/go_quote.gif The ear-pieces are designed like the W3 in shape but are noticeably smaller in depth and width. They have a reverse image of a one instead of a three, with green surrounding the black 1 instead of red - so it doesn't look as much like a black widow spider now. I think these are very comfortable, and I don't have a problem getting the grey silicone tips in and sealed. I wonder if the nozzle is maybe half a mm longer or something.

HPA, many thanks for answering my question - I'm even more curious about these now.

 

[TheMarchingMule]

Why am I curious about these, even though I disliked the sound and fit of the Westone 3?

I do hate that lime green color though...maybe the Westone 2 will have a blue logo!

 

[dranoel4190]

i got a chance to listen to these when i was in singapore. one thing i immediately noticed is that they dont have the sibilance issue i was getting with the westone 3. and theyre very small!
i really liked them.

imo theyre great value for the price.

 

[ajmiarka]

Additional review at iLounge

http://www.ilounge.com/index.php/rev...fit-earphones/