[Spyro]

 
I've thought of picking up the UM1, UM2, or UM3X at one point, but I fear it has Westone's signature "scooped out upper mids". W2 nearly nailed it for me, except in that aspect; pushing it to "dealbreaker" territory.

 
scooped out upper mids? Never heard that in 10 years on Head-Fi and wouldn't refer to that as the Westone sound sig. While the very balanced UM3X leans towards midrange and bass it is very EQ friendly where you can make treble even superior to W2/W3. It's the only designated "balanced' universal I have heard that also carries some nice weight to the presentation. "Balanced and neutral" usually equates to "lite" on bass. UM3X is unique in this regard.

 

[JohnSantana]

Quote:

the westone 4 is very neutral IEMS, people by the westone 4 for analytical music, which I dont prefer too much, so I guess its not your cup of tea afterall, move on to something you like.

so in this case yes, I am using my W4 to listen to my CD collections and at least 320 KBps music to enjoy the lost details when I was listening with my UE700

 

[TwinQY]

Quote:

the westone 4 is very neutral IEMS, people by the westone 4 for analytical music, which I dont prefer too much, so I guess its not your cup of tea afterall, move on to something you like.

Err, while I get how people perceive neutrality is all subjective, I wouldn't go so far to call the W4s as analytical. They simply don't have the clarity or transparency to pull it off. Natural? Yes. Balanced? Definitely. But the ever-so-slightly warm and smoothed-out mids, along with the not exactly prominent treble, don't really translate into an analytical sig to me. Yes, we all hear differently, etc, etc. I guess to me, something like the PFE232 or the K3003, while still not analytical, are a heck of a lot closer than the W4s.  

 

[Littleted]

Quote:

so in this case yes, I am using my W4 to listen to my CD collections and at least 320 KBps music to enjoy the lost details when I was listening with my UE700

This weekend i went to my brothers whos a UK DJ, used to do the manchester hacienda to mention a few, so when i talk about ear phones he always bangs on about his, has a few sets but mainly Pioneer Cans or Sony for DJing.
 
I had in my bag a pair of UE700s and my Favorites the Sony MDR EX1000 in-ears, as always he said that they wouldnt sound any good blah blah blah, saying my sources were crap, blah blah blah, so i said right bring it on
 
I have faith in the sonys as i know they are great IEMs, so we first tried the UE700s, now for all the IEMs ive tried on that form factor the UE700s sound the best, some ive had are the ETY 4ps ( rubbish ) beyedynamics 101s ( ok but abit too much middle ) and others. And he was impressed but still fell back on his full size cans as the preferred set.
 
So i went to the car and got the sonys, i said give them a whirl. well what could he say, he was gobsmaked, he tried his Iphone, an old sony discman with a proper CD, his technics tables, and other sources, and he came to me with his tail between his legs and admitted that not only did they sound better than any of his Over the ears cans, but he wants a pair.
 
I Admit most of his music is tecno or dance, but still for them to blow him away is no mean feat.
I would advise anybody to give them a crack cos in my eyes if you like the UE700s, then the soundstage the sonys offer just build upon them 4 fold.
 
ted

 

[stationwagon]

Quote:

so in this case yes, I am using my W4 to listen to my CD collections and at least 320 KBps music to enjoy the lost details when I was listening with my UE700

Well yes that's your cup of tea and you found it. Aparently not everyone is going to be characterising every single detail. The Westone 4 Is good like everyone else says for Neutral well balanaced music.

 

[Katun]

Quote:

scooped out upper mids? Never heard that in 10 years on Head-Fi and wouldn't refer to that as the Westone sound sig.While the very balanced UM3X leans towards midrange and bass it is very EQ friendly where you can make treble even superior to W2/W3. It's the only designated "balanced' universal I have heard that also carries some nice weight to the presentation. "Balanced and neutral" usually equates to "lite" on bass. UM3X is unique in this regard.

 
W1

 
W2

 
W3

 
UM3X

 
W4R

 
See the common occurrence? I really don't like the sound of it.

 

[JohnSantana]

Quote:

This weekend i went to my brothers whos a UK DJ, used to do the manchester hacienda to mention a few, so when i talk about ear phones he always bangs on about his, has a few sets but mainly Pioneer Cans or Sony for DJing.
 
I had in my bag a pair of UE700s and my Favorites the Sony MDR EX1000 in-ears, as always he said that they wouldnt sound any good blah blah blah, saying my sources were crap, blah blah blah, so i said right bring it on
 
I have faith in the sonys as i know they are great IEMs, so we first tried the UE700s, now for all the IEMs ive tried on that form factor the UE700s sound the best, some ive had are the ETY 4ps ( rubbish ) beyedynamics 101s ( ok but abit too much middle ) and others. And he was impressed but still fell back on his full size cans as the preferred set.
 
So i went to the car and got the sonys, i said give them a whirl. well what could he say, he was gobsmaked, he tried his Iphone, an old sony discman with a proper CD, his technics tables, and other sources, and he came to me with his tail between his legs and admitted that not only did they sound better than any of his Over the ears cans, but he wants a pair.
 
I Admit most of his music is tecno or dance, but still for them to blow him away is no mean feat.
I would advise anybody to give them a crack cos in my eyes if you like the UE700s, then the soundstage the sonys offer just build upon them 4 fold.
 
ted

 
Yes, before I was listening to my Westone W4, my UE700 has always accompany me in my daily commute and also working in front of the computer.
When listening live rock/metal music with UE700, I feel like I'm on the stage myself, while listening with Westone W4 I can position myself at around 5 rows in front of the stage plus I can hear more details that I couldn't hear with my UE700. I guess this is where more Balance Armature at its best.

 

[JohnSantana]

Quote:

 
W1

 
W2

 
W3

 
UM3X

 
W4R

 
See the common occurrence? I really don't like the sound of it.

 
Wow that's a very detailed observation there Katun, pardon me a I'm just a nubie in this area, what sort of common occurence that you mean ?
on Westone W4R graphs is that area between 1K and 10K that the graphs falls down below the green line ? so the perfectly neutral IEM should project graphical line same as the green line ?
I'm confused here.

 

[Katun]

Well, notice around 2K it starts to take a nose dive. Up until around 5K, you see the lowest dip in frequency out of the whole spectrum.

 

[JohnSantana]

Quote:

Well, notice around 2K it starts to take a nose dive. Up until around 5K, you see the lowest dip in frequency out of the whole spectrum.

 
Ah I see it now
 
20 Hz- 1000 Hz : High (Bass and Drums)
1001 Hz - 5000 Hz : Mid (Acoustic instruments and vocals) ---> so based on your graphs above, the Westone IEMs sound signature bit recessed in the mid ?
5001 Hz - 20000 Hz : High (Cymbals, Electric guitar, sound effects)

 

[TwinQY]

Yeah, the graphs seem to make sense. Female vocals/upper mids in general on the W4s seem to be a bit delicate at times. I do think from listening that even the W2s are a little more flat/neutral overall.

 

[Spyro]

 Listened to W4 almost exclusively for over a month straight and instead of growing to like them more, I became bored and a little disenchanted with them for many of the reasons mentioned above.  Ended up selling them and upon going back to my JH5 (and even W3) everything just sounds more natural and cohesive but it made me notice somethng else about W4.
 
Perhaps I am the only one but it seems the instrument separation and the soundstage are competing with each other instead of working together and it's distracting.  This is hard to explain but with an IEM like UM3X it's ALL about the instrument separation and with the very closed-in soundstage this seems to work.  With an IEM like W3 it's much more about the big soundstage although you still hear things around you, to the left and to the right.  But something seems to go wrong when you try to strongly emphasize both.  With W4 you'll hear like one instrument or tone WAY left or WAY right almost out of the mix.  Perhaps this is the recording but it almost seems boxy or a little unatural and less cohesive.  Just an observation or me not explaining what I am hearing accurately.  This could also just be a unique characteristic of an IEM that leans more towards "analytical" versus "musical."

 

[291079]

Quote:

 
Perhaps I am the only one but it seems the instrument separation and the soundstage are competing with each other instead of working together and it's distracting.

 
not quite sure if i find it as distracting as u find it, but i concur.
i find the music quite veiled also

 

[ANDEROAN]

Quote:

 
not quite sure if i find it as distracting as u find it, but i concur.
i find the music quite veiled also

you might want to try this...this is my second go around with the W4's! the only reason why is because they where almost perfect for me the first time but lacked polish to the sound,
 
and on the W4 appreciation apprciation thread they talk about using a collar to allow the use of almost any normal tips with a lager diameter bore to them, this will allow th sound to open up and not be veiled!
 
well I did and they did, open up that is,
 
anyway I happily discovered the perfect collar to go over the W4 stem and allow ANY larger tip to be put on over it, they come from where I work, I work the paint line, and we use plugs to mask the threaded parts, and the smaller rubber plug fits GREAT over the w4 stem nice and snug with a nice large bore,
 
so if you want some, PM me and I can mail some out to you, no more canibalising other tips, not that that is a big deal for some of the ones that get torn up, but these plugs cold be a better solution in some cases,
 
anyway I am getting a deeper/better insertion with them, I started out as long as they would go and then trimmed them to what worked best,
 
here's some pics
 

 
^ the one on the left is the W stem section, on the right is the plug from work, bigger diameter
 

 
the plug from work on the W4 stem
 

another angle
 
so for anyone who wants to try experimenting with a couple of sets of them? hollar at me if you want the perfect adaptor, FREE of charge! I will put them in an envelope and send them on to you! I found it to be a great help with adapting any IEM to the W4! works as a collar/adapter, I get them free from work! the larger diameter bore, along with a regular IEM seems to NOT impeed the wonderful sound in the least coming from the W4, I am liking what I am hearing!

 

[Michael172]

Quote:

Give them more time and they may grow on you. There were plenty of headphones I didn't like at first, but ended up loving. Just listen carefully and make sure you don't keep telling yourself at the back of your mind that these are bad and you don't like them - such an attitude will most certainly prevent you from hearing the headphones properly. You need to be positive - try to convince yourself that these are good headphones, but you just aren't used to the sound signature and can get used to it over time. Something like that.

 
Ive not got much experience but I remember getting my RE262's and thinking the same having come from a set of DTX 80's. Really couldn't get to grips with the new sound signature atall, especially coming from what I felt were quite bassy DTX80's. Stuck with them and loved them but I found I no longer listened to rap or anything with plenty of bass. I think those IEMs had influence on the music taste I had today (metal, thrash).
 
Ive got some UM2's coming to me soon and Im worried I wont like them. hopefully I will learn to love them.