...is this a real thread? I'm a little confused...
Anyway I own the turbines and I've herd the W3's (not the um3x). I also owned the IE8 which is an easier comparison for the Turbines. I did direct comparisons between the IE8 and the turbines, but the W3's are only from memory so please take that into account with my impressions.
Soundstage:
IE8>Turbines~W3 (pretty close from memory)
Bass (Impact):
IE8>Turbines>We
Control:
W3>IE8~Turbines
Forwardness:
IE8>W3>Turbines
Highs (taking into effect sibilance issues):
Turbines>IE8>W3
I think I should justify the comment regarding the highs because I didn't take the time to "Voltage" the W3's. The IE8's had some sibilance issues while the turbines didn't have any. All three iem's have a lot of sound stage and an overall warm presentation with pentiful o bass. In terms of tight/controlled bass though the W3's were the best of the three. In terms of sound stage the IE8's edged out the Turbines, and the W3's were along the same lines as the Turbines. The difference between the turbines and the W3's aren't Worlds apart. Especially when the turbines seemed to be just a notch less refined than the IE8's. I sold my IE8's and kept the turbines because it felt like the turbines could become my "beater" pair of iem's whereas I'd be too worried about taking the IE8's out (fit issues, and I just couldnt walk around with them). As far as I'm concerned, the Turbines and the W3's are only worlds apart if the IE8 is completely outclassed by the W3's. Since this isn't the case (based on reviews, notably by n_maher, headphoneaddict, who place the IE8's below the W3's out of preference and gave the W3's a slight margin over the IE8's) I have to say that the Turbines are infact closer to the W3's as you may expect. I think by in large the Turbines are the first signs of cheap, high-end killer iem's. I hope more companies create headphones like these. And Shure's new line up of close cans (and based on Jude's impressions of them) seem to be the signs of a new line of high end killer headphones. It feels like a lot of companies are jumping on board with newer designs that are just a few notches below the front runners at a third of the cost.