[vagarach]

Good to see head-fi getting excited over some new headphones (well, iems). I just love it when the latest gear is released!

 

[OakIris]

Quote:

Originally Posted by p0wderh0und23 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Did someone actually ask for the 3 to be A/B's with the Atrio M5 ???? You're kidding right ?

Come on, Doug, you listend to my M5s for at least 30 seconds at the meet! That should be long enough for the comparison!

Holly

 

[p0wderh0und23]

LOL !!

Yeah that's about long enough.
No honestly. I would need to give them a good long listen with my music on my setup to give an honest impression. Off the bat, very bass heavy, lacking in mids/highs.. IMHO.

 

[Febs]

Doug, you mentioned in an earlier post that the Westone3 is designed for listening while the UM series is designed for stage monitoring. What sort of considerations go into designing for one application as opposed to the other?

(Incidentally, I currently have E500s for listening, but I use UM-1s for stage monitoring.)

 

[OakIris]

Well, when I can afford it, I would like to get the Westone 3s with custom molds; I was impressed by the sound, and only heard them with the foamies, so the customs would be even better. This won't be anytime soon, though, so in the meantime I'll be listening to my M5s - at least they are a big step up from my Vibes.

Holly

 

[chouman]

Ahhh!

I just bought the UM2. I'm just gonna wait til the hype goes down a bit and there's something for people to upgrade to so these prices will drop too. Grr...

 

[D_4_Dog]

man, since reading Ray's glowing review i can think of nothing else BUT westone 3s....

 

[nickknutson]

Quote:

Originally Posted by D_4_Dog /img/forum/go_quote.gif man, since reading Ray's glowing review i can think of nothing else BUT westone 3s....

Me too! It's taking everything I've got not to pre-order them!

 

[p0wderh0und23]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Febs /img/forum/go_quote.gif Doug, you mentioned in an earlier post that the Westone3 is designed for listening while the UM series is designed for stage monitoring. What sort of considerations go into designing for one application as opposed to the other? (Incidentally, I currently have E500s for listening, but I use UM-1s for stage monitoring.)

UM's are built for uncompressed music. They also have "bumps" in the response where the artists need them for live sound.

The 3 is built for compressed music (ie, iPods, recorded music). The sound was built more around giving a more neutral, fun feeling with recorded music.

I've used my 3's on stage, and while yeah they sounded good, I'd take the UM2 for stage use still. Just had the response I wanted.

 

[LFC_SL]

Oh dammit

*grumble*

*calculates how much needed for house deposit*

 

[daveDerek]

Quote:

Originally Posted by nickknutson /img/forum/go_quote.gif Me too! It's taking everything I've got not to pre-order them!

Nick, why restrain yourself? btw, that's quite a set of curls you're sporting in your latest avatar.

for those wanting further listening impressions see this thread: http://www.head-fi.org/forums/showthread.php?t=217299
in particular search for posts by iamoneagain. one of these days i'm gonna do a 'cliff notes' version of that thread.....

 

[PiccoloNamek]

Quote:

The 3 is built for compressed music (ie, iPods, recorded music). The sound was built more around giving a more neutral, fun feeling with recorded music.

Do you mean dynamic range compression or data compression? Most of the music I listen to is losslessly compressed and well-mastered, so both definitions wouldn't apply to me. Also, do these IEMs have a depressed upper midrange like all the others? I'm really looking for a universal IEM that doesn't. Such a thing might make sense when listening to heavily compressed and poorly EQ'd rock music, but for well-mixed and mastered music, it just sounds very dull and lifeless.

 

[p0wderh0und23]

All recorded music is "compressed" in some form. So the sounds will respond different than if you were listening to music that was being played live thought the soundboard into earphones.

 

[PiccoloNamek]

Not necessarily all recorded music, especially not music from places like say, Mapleshade, for example.

You didn't answer my question about the FR, either.

 

[p0wderh0und23]

I'm not even going to debate over compressed music.

As for the FR. I'll leave that to others to describe.
What I can say is that it's very well balanced. I've used them on everything form direct out of an iPod to listening to Dead Can Dance off a Meridian 508 CD Player into the RSA Apache amp.