[jeffisflyboy]

Its been 3 months since I bought my westone 3 from authorized dealer here in the philippines.  I'm first struck by its soundstage and fast performance, but I can't help but notice the sibilance on vocals whenever there is a letter "S" in the lyrics.  Using a foam tips reduces the intensity of this sibilance but in return pushes the treble a bit veiled.  Being interested on this topic http://www.head-fi.org/t/663273/se530-535-acoustic-filter-mod-more-sq-improvement-than-cables-dampers
I decided to order some knowles acoustic dampers from knowles and try to change the filter myself.
 
How It Goes:
Referring to the previous topic about shure se535 damper modification and tha classes of each filter and its resistance, I decided to buy the 330 ohms, 680 and 1000 ohms but the problem is there is no available 680 ohm on mouser electronics, So I just decided to bought the 330, 1000 and 1500 ohms.  It took 5 days before I received those filters.
 
The Removal of Stock Damper:
 
Removing the stock damper from westone 3 is not so easy because it is positioned in inner part of the nozzle.  At first I tried to remove it trying not to damage the mesh but its impossible to remove it without pushing through the mesh, so I have no choice.  I'm a bit worried of what I'm doing because I might ended up breaking the nozzles in the process, but fortunately, I removed it

wew. 
Its not that I'm making bad immage on westone, but I'm not sure of what material they are uses with the stock damper.  I just noticed that when I managed to removed the damper together with the damaged mesh, I noticed that the mesh is made up of a paper like material, which is I'm not sure if it really help in smoothing the sound from the drivers.  hmmmm.
 
Anyway, go to the testing of the new dampers that I bought, here are the impressions:
Note:  I just use shure yellow foam tips instead of silicon tips because of the consistent sibilance on the sound.
 
330 ohms Gray:
Lows:  The lows have more quality and body but not punchy at all.  It still retain the quality of the original stock damper but has just a little more quality in sound.  Still no problem on any genre of songs.
 
Mids:  These are the area where nit has an improvement.  The details on the mids become more clear, I can say that there is much more clear details on 330 than the stock, but not to the level that it becomes analytical.  Its just more clear so some details that I haven't heard before are now coming out.
 
Highs:  The soundstage indeed has improve in terms of separation, airiness and depth, so there is a sense of a bigger soudstage but not a very big improvement.  Its just has a more airier and more depth soudstage.  The cymbals have more presence and the vocals, but the bad news is it enhances the sibilance a little more, and I also noticed the timbre became a little thiner.
 
1000 ohms brown:
Lows:  The lows on these dampers have more presence, has more body and quality but I noticed that it starting to sound muddy.
Mids:  The mids became a bit veiled on these.  Details are still present but it seems to dulled the presentation because of the muddy lows.
Highs:  Sibilance is still present but tamed a little, but presence of the clashes of cymbals are not that bright anymore unlike in 330 ohms. 
 
1500 ohms green:
 
Lows:  Very muddy sound on lows than the brown damper.  More juicy bass but greatly affects the entire spectrum.
Mids:  Details are push back and became more veiled in presentation.
Highs:  Same as the mids, the highs has lesser presence but sibilance is still there, it just tamed a bit more.
 
So having tested all those dampers, I just decided to permanently insert the 330 ohms dampers.  I just can't live without those soundstage and details in the sound.  I just uses the shure yellow foam tips which is, based on what I heard does'nt lessen the sibilance but decreases its intensity so that its not painfull on my ears.  Maybe someday if I have the money, I will reshell them and see if it will improve the sound more. 

 

[Spyro]

I absolutely love the W3.  If I had $300 to spend on one IEM it would probably be it.  Just love the expansive full sound, great detail, big bass and big sound stage, terrific ergonomics.

 

[jeffisflyboy]

  I absolutely love the W3.  If I had $300 to spend on one IEM it would probably be it.  Just love the expansive full sound, great detail, big bass and big sound stage, terrific ergonomics.

Yeah I also love the energetic sound of W3.  I also thinking of buying another pair just in case it broke, but a friend of mine who has also westone 3 says that he had it for 5 years, so I'm just taking care of it like a jewel

  But I'm also curious what the new line up of westone sounds, or differ, they now have the w30 with removable cable, maybe if its available here in my country I will definitely try it, but one things is for sure I will not going to sell this 

 

[SilverEars]

Was stock like the Shure 535 white filter?  If so, you must have bumped the lower treble region with the grey filters which brought more lower treble presence.  Looking at Rin's graphs it seems to impact the 3k region where resembles the Fletcher-Munson curve which is measurement of our sensitivity to sound levels.  Anyway, it looks like sibilance region is hardly affected according to the SE535 graphs.
 
 

 

 

[jeffisflyboy]

  Was stock like the Shure 535 white filter?  If so, you must have bumped the lower treble region with the grey filters which brought more lower treble presence.  Looking at Rin's graphs it seems to impact the 3k region where resembles the Fletcher-Munson curve which is measurement of our sensitivity to sound levels.  Anyway, it looks like sibilance region is hardly affected according to the SE535 graphs.
 
 

 

Well as I'm only a beginner head-fier here and don't have much knowledge about these information I'm not really sure of the cause of the persistent sibilance on westone 3.  Im a shure se535 ltd owner before and the only time I heard a sibilant sound on the 535 is when I plugged it in straight on my ipad 2, but on my ordinary nokia express music which is not a high-fi player and using wav audio from flac files, it really brings the best of its capabilities.  As for westone 3, all I know is if I'm using silicon rubber tips the sound is so sibilant that I can't listen to it for more than a minute.  But when using foam tips reduces its intensity but make the sound a little warmer.  When I tested those filters I thought that using 1000 and 1500 ohm filters will vanish the sibilance on the sound but I'm wrong, the only part that those filters affects is the treble.  The lower the resistance, the clearer and detailed the mids and the higher the resistance the more bass you can hear but lessen the treble response but still, sibilance is there, based on what I hear.

 

[MuZo2]

You will need a special tool to remove the dampers without destroying it.
– 680, 1000 and 1500 ohms are typically used to smooth response
Did you try the new Westone star tips?

 

[jeffisflyboy]

  You will need a special tool to remove the dampers without destroying it.
– 680, 1000 and 1500 ohms are typically used to smooth response
Did you try the new Westone star tips?

There is an included westone star tips when I purchased it, if you are referring to the ones that Dark gray in color and is also color coded in the rubber core, yes if that is the westone star tips.  I tried the small, medium and small longer foam tips but I don't feel comfortable at them, and it doesn't lessen the sibilance on the sound.  The shure yellow foam tips is much more comfortable to my ears and if not lessen the sibilance, at least have lessen its intensity.  I'm about to purchase comply foamies but I'm not sure of what model of these foam tips is better for westone 3.  There is a post here that comply lessen the treble a bit but I'm not sure until I tried it. 

 

[Hi-Fi'er]

FYI for any filters: When located near the receiver, the small volume of air in the tube is fairly stiff allowing the receiver's output to effectively push air through the filter. When the filter is farther away from the receiver, the elasticity of the air makes it harder to push signal through the filter resulting in a more damped output. Plus it's the correct way as to be able to remove them also.

 

[Hi-Fi'er]

I tried the brown and white and green Knowles filters in the W3's and there is still major sibilance? Is there another solution? I don't know how the 330 is good when the 680 is major sibilance! W3's are already peaky and edgy. The brown is just on the edge making it tolerable at the cost of slight clarity.
 
*Update: Using the brown with grey foam and now they sound like W3 again.
 
Thank you.

 

[jeffisflyboy]

Its been a while since I owned the w3s.  I actually owned westone 2 at the moment.  And while they don't sound as bassy and expansive as the westone 3, I think I like the sound of the westone 2 more, because of more forward midrange and more transparent sound.  I hope that anyone with their westone 3s do still enjoy the sound because it is still a great sounding iem imo.