[Janni]

Got the shipment confirmation from earphonesolutions last night

I am just praying that the Dutch customs work a bit faster than normally!

 

[Janni]

Headphoneaddict: would be great if you could comment on the W3's sensitivity to quality amplification, i.e. is it true that you do not need an extra amp as much as with other IEMs.

 

[ZephyrSapphire]

I'm looking forward to your review, HeadphoneAddict. Patiently waiting for mine to arrive next week.

 

[Spyro]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Janni /img/forum/go_quote.gif Headphoneaddict: would be great if you could comment on the W3's sensitivity to quality amplification, i.e. is it true that you do not need an extra amp as much as with other IEMs.

I wonder too. Very similar specs as TFPro and I believe TFpro need an amp to really shine.

 

[Reian]

I also received shipment notice from EarphoneSolutions yesterday. Should receive them tomorrow

.

 

[toughnut]

cant wait for head-fiers to give their impression. hopefully it will live up to its hype and price tag

 

[BloodSugar00]

UK Westone retailer PJBox now have the Westone 3's price up and the notice that they expect them in stock by 5th Dec:

PJBOX UK :: MP3 Players and Accessories :: Westone 3 True-fit Earphones

About what I thought.

EDIT: To any UK based head-fiers importing from an American based retailer (Sooziq, I think you may be a relevant candidate), if I was to import the W3 at a cheaper cost for the product, would I be expected to pay a customs charge? Also, in the event I was to experience quality control control failure(s) on the headphones would you have to ship it back to retailer ie an overseas shipping fee on my end would be involved or do you return them to a UK/European based Westone outlet and/or representative to take care of? Thanks in advance!

 

[jwm6780]

I got Tuesday as a delivery date because Flavio has posted that we may have gotten an early notice of shipment. They will be shipped on Friday. I paid for two day fedx and that would mean a Tuesday delivery.

I feel like a kid who cannot wait for Christmas morning!

 

[p0wderh0und23]

Quote:

Originally Posted by BloodSugar00 /img/forum/go_quote.gif UK Westone retailer PJBox now have the Westone 3's price up and the notice that they expect them in stock by 5th Dec: PJBOX UK :: MP3 Players and Accessories :: Westone 3 True-fit Earphones About what I thought. EDIT: To any UK based head-fiers importing from an American based retailer (Sooziq, I think you may be a relevant candidate), if I was to import the W3 at a cheaper cost for the product, would I be expected to pay a customs charge? Also, in the event I was to experience quality control control failure(s) on the headphones would you have to ship it back to retailer ie an overseas shipping fee on my end would be involved or do you return them to a UK/European based Westone outlet and/or representative to take care of? Thanks in advance!

Customs, yes.
Repairs, etc... they would need to come back to the States. There is no one in the UK authorized to do repairs. If you purchase them locally, I believe (and I need to check on this) Variphone who handles the EU would cover you for the issues. They have on UM1 and UM2, so you would only need to send it to Belgium and not back the States. This is another reason we encourage our friends from the EU to order from a dealer over there.

 

[digivate]

Quote:

Originally Posted by BloodSugar00 /img/forum/go_quote.gif UK Westone retailer PJBox now have the Westone 3's price up and the notice that they expect them in stock by 5th Dec: PJBOX UK :: MP3 Players and Accessories :: Westone 3 True-fit Earphones About what I thought. EDIT: To any UK based head-fiers importing from an American based retailer (Sooziq, I think you may be a relevant candidate), if I was to import the W3 at a cheaper cost for the product, would I be expected to pay a customs charge? Also, in the event I was to experience quality control control failure(s) on the headphones would you have to ship it back to retailer ie an overseas shipping fee on my end would be involved or do you return them to a UK/European based Westone outlet and/or representative to take care of? Thanks in advance!

Wow, I'm really impressed with PJ BOX's price for the Westone 3. I was expecting a UK price of between £280-£300. I'll be surprised if you can better that price if you buy from America and import the earphones.

I bought my UM2s from earphone solutions (who are excellent) but you pay quite a lot if you want expediated and recorded delivery (I think I paid $38). You also have to pay customs charges, which also get added to the cost of delivery (mine came as an invoice from FedEx a week after they'd been delivered). I had a discount code for earphone solutions, so that saved me another £15-£20.

I found by buying from earphone solutions and shipping to the UK I only saved about £5 on the cost I would have paid if I'd bought them from PJ BOX and the main reason I did that was because I wanted the clear version and PJ BOX only had the black UM2s.

Anyway, since I bought the UM2s the exchange rate between the dollar and sterling has deteriorated quite a lot - your pound will buy you a lot less abroad than it would have done a year ago - so I don't think there would be any financial advantage in buying from the USA at the moment.

If you buy the Westone 3s in the UK and they go wrong within the first 30 days you should be able to return them to the reseller (PJ BOX). Westone's quality is excellent though, so I would expect the chances of a fault to be VERY low indeed.

I only bought my UM2s a couple of months ago, and I labsolutely LOVE them to bits ... but at £265 I'm really tempted to upgrade. I think I'll hold on and see what other think first though - £265 is still a lot of money.

 

[soozieq]

Quote:

Originally Posted by BloodSugar00 /img/forum/go_quote.gif UK Westone retailer PJBox now have the Westone 3's price up and the notice that they expect them in stock by 5th Dec:

You may as well wait and get them from the UK then. You won't save anything by getting them from the US. Even if they sailed past Customs because of the free shipping, the exchange rate is so poor, you'd only save about £5.00!

Quote:

(Sooziq, I think you may be a relevant candidate), if I was to import the W3 at a cheaper cost for the product, would I be expected to pay a customs charge?

Have you imported from the US before? Because it all depends, if they were marked as a gift with a low item value, you might get lucky and skip customs. The 2 earphones I ordered from earphonesolutions a while back got through with no problem. But this time I opted for express shipping because I didn't want to wait, and I was prepared to swallow the shipping costs and customs fees.

HM Revenue & Customs

Don't forget that anything over the £36 gift allowance will attract a compulsory Parcelforce clearance fee of £13.50 (separate to customs), and remember that shipping gets added to the item value so we get charged for that too! You'll be better off ordering from PJBox, or wait to see if I hate mine first, and then buy them off me at a discount

 

[HeadphoneAddict]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Janni /img/forum/go_quote.gif Headphoneaddict: would be great if you could comment on the W3's sensitivity to quality amplification, i.e. is it true that you do not need an extra amp as much as with other IEMs.

The W3 sound as good as the source. My 2G ipod nano and 5.5G ipod video headphone out don't sound good enough with anything, but that is their fault and their LOD always sounds better with an amp. But my 3G nano headphone out sounds nice without an amp, and my iPhone 3G sounds even better. So, I can enjoy those with no amp and be happy. But the nanos, iphone and iMod with Predator or Pico through LOD still sound the best, but the iPhone 3G headphone out sounds close yet still a little better with a good LOD/amp. I really appreciate even my lower ranked iBasso D2 boa via macbook very much, now that the Westone 3 are here in the house to use with it. Those are the only three amps I have tried so far with them - I still have to try the D3 Python, V1, TTVJ portable Millett, Headsix, Lyrix and Travagans colors (loaned the Lyrix to P0wderh0und for two weeks though).

The W3 are not so sensitive that I am plagued with hiss which would usually cause me to grab an amp with my Livewires and SE530. And with an amp they are not so sensitive that I am plagued with channel balance issues, because I am not forced into having to adjust the volume at the very lower end of the amp's volume control. The sensitivity is just right and I use them at about 50% volume on an ipod headphone out.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ZephyrSapphire /img/forum/go_quote.gif I'm looking forward to your review, HeadphoneAddict. Patiently waiting for mine to arrive next week.

You guys are gonna make my review redundant if I keep answering questions, but I may not have the review finished till next week, so I keep giving away my findings.

 

[BloodSugar00]

Quote:

Originally Posted by soozieq /img/forum/go_quote.gif You may as well wait and get them from the UK then. You won't save anything by getting them from the US. Even if they sailed past Customs because of the free shipping, the exchange rate is so poor, you'd only save about £5.00! Have you imported from the US before? Because it all depends, if they were marked as a gift with a low item value, you might get lucky and skip customs. The 2 earphones I ordered from earphonesolutions a while back got through with no problem. But this time I opted for express shipping because I didn't want to wait, and I was prepared to swallow the shipping costs and customs fees. HM Revenue & Customs Don't forget that anything over the £36 gift allowance will attract a compulsory Parcelforce clearance fee of £13.50 (separate to customs), and remember that shipping gets added to the item value so we get charged for that too! You'll be better off ordering from PJBox, or wait to see if I hate mine first, and then buy them off me at a discount

Thanks for the informative response and advice, much appreciated!

Firstly, no I have not imported from the US, or, indeed, anywhere outside the British Isles before, hence the abundance of basic inquisitions of someone with experience of importing lol. Yeah, I hadn't actually realised the exchange rate between dollars and GBP had dropped so much; I knew it had dropped to less than 1:2 a lil while back but I didn't follow it's decline. It's good to recieve such detailed insight also, as I was aware of the obvious sur charges to impiorting, ie international shipping charges and possible customs levies but I was not aware of the parcel force standard expense to claim your item whatsoever! By the sounds of it, if the exhange rate is now so poor, and you've paid express shipping, and the parcelforce fee is standard and possible customs could be put on the package, the Westone's are gona set you back an arm and a leg! You must of wanted them badly!

. I Think you're advice is sound though and I can wait and get em off PJBox, myself.

 

[rhythmicmoose]

Quote:

Originally Posted by HeadphoneAddict /img/forum/go_quote.gif The W3 are not so sensitive that I am plagued with hiss which would usually cause me to grab an amp with my Livewires and SE530. And with an amp they are not so sensitive that I am plagued with channel balance issues, because I am not forced into having to adjust the volume at the very lower end of the amp's volume control. The sensitivity is just right and I use them at about 50% volume on an ipod headphone out.

This is awesome. The hiss when I use my UM2 directly with my MacBook Pro is pretty close to unbearable. If the 3 solves that problem, I might be able to sell my DT770. Not that I'm itching to sell it, but it would be an option.

 

[apnk]

Nice, the sensitivity well be like the ER4p/s! Can't wait.