[Spyro]

Wakeride74 - Glad to hear you have found a new toy.  You have been around these forums a long time.  Check back with us in a couple months on the W4.  Not trying to rain on the parade but I had the same sentiments initially and while W4 is an outstanding IEM, the cloudy mids started to wear on me.  It took almost a month but I started missing more crispness and clarity (like what UE900 has..DOH!!).  I will say with slower acoustic music W4 reigns champion of vocals even surpassing GR10.  It's outstanding with Joni, Krall, Patricia Barber, etc, ...breathtaking.  But if I am listening to some rock or jazz fusion, Dave Weckl, etc...the W3 kills the W4....it just does. No explanation needed.
 
All these universals have their pluses and minuses and the key is finding your sweet spot with EQ and tips and determining which IEM's defaults you can live with more on an overall basis with all music. Just looking at the past IEM's I've had... the UM3X is closed in and bland, the UE900 is too thin sounding.  the SE535 mids are too dominating and nasally sounding, DB-02's are too siblant, GR10 too picky with sources and thin sounding, ER4 is waaay to unbalanced towards treble, the TF10 midrange is basically a mess, W2 is unrefined and a bit harsh sounding, W4 midrange is veiled/cloudy.  UNREAL....they all have their issues.
 
Outside of JH16, the best IEm I have ever owned and still do is the JH5...it sounds cliche but it's not a "10" in any one area but it does everything to a B+/A- level.  I swear if mine went bad I'd get another pair and get that translucent blue or something more funky than clear.  That's assuming I couldn't spring for another JH16 or UE18.
 

 

[wakeride74]

Quote:

Wakeride74 - Glad to hear you have found a new toy.  You have been around these forums a long time.  Check back with us in a couple months on the W4.  Not trying to rain on the parade but I had the same sentiments initially and while W4 is an outstanding IEM, the cloudy mids started to wear on me.  It took almost a month but I started missing more crispness and clarity (like what UE900 has..DOH!!).  I will say with slower acoustic music W4 reigns champion of vocals even surpassing GR10.  It's outstanding with Joni, Krall, Patricia Barber, etc, ...breathtaking.  But if I am listening to some rock or jazz fusion, Dave Weckl, etc...the W3 kills the W4....it just does. No explanation needed.
 
All these universals have their pluses and minuses and the key is finding your sweet spot with EQ and tips and determining which IEM's defaults you can live with more on an overall basis with all music.  Mine still lies with W3.  JH16 was the only IEM I have heard where I was truly DONE but unfortunately I had unfixable fit issues. Perhaps when the time is right... another go at JH16 or UE18.

You have me beat by a couple years 

 
I can see the potential of the cloudy mids wearing on me but time will tell. One of the problems I have is I can only get a good and long lasting seal with the tri-flange tips which pretty much puts the UE's out of the game. I also felt the UE900 needed too much alteration (i.e. colored amp) to try and bring some emotion and energy to them. I was also disappointed with the small hole near the bore, bad design IMO. 
 
At any rate the W4 seems to be hitting the mark for me so I'll roll with it until I get bored and move on... viva la headfi. 

 

[aras]

I really don't think W4 mids are cloudy at all. SM3 and UM3X has cloudy/blurry mids in my opinion but not W4. Are you using the new star tips?

 

[Inks]

It's an amazing IEM, but it is a bit cloudy in the midrange, because of the midbass, even with Star or Phonak tips. Easily noticable when coming from my DT1350. 

 

[giveit2menow]

do you find the dt1350 sounds a bit brittle after the w4?
 

 

[Spyro]

Quote:

I really don't think W4 mids are cloudy at all. SM3 and UM3X has cloudy/blurry mids in my opinion but not W4. Are you using the new star tips?

Yes and it helps versus a foam tip but it's annoying,  I actually find the UM3X a bit more linear but the collapsed soundstage make IT a bit bland as well.

 

[Jetblack08]

I purchased the se535 first...after initially thinking the shures was great, I purchased the W4 and out of curiosity I purchased the Sm3. I am conflicted as to which is best between W4 and Sm3 v2. I received the star tips in the mail last week...they were were ok but to my ears, the stock silicon bi flange from earsonic are the best for both W4 and Sm3. My se535 are collecting dust btw.
 

 

[shane55]

Quote:

I purchased the se535 first...after initially thinking the shures was great, I purchased the W4 and out of curiosity I purchased the Sm3. I am conflicted as to which is best between W4 and Sm3 v2. I received the star tips in the mail last week...they were were ok but to my ears, the stock silicon bi flange from earsonic are the best for both W4 and Sm3. My se535 are collecting dust btw.
 

 
One of these days I'll have to try out the SM3-v2.
But yeah, the W4 is far more to my tastes than the SE535... but the SM3-v1 was deeply flawed... to my ears.
 
I understand what people say about the recessed upper mids, and I observe that. But most the time it's not bothersome... and unless I've been listening to the DBA-02's (or Ety's) just before I stick the W4's in my ears... I don't really mind.
The rest of the sound is just too good, and to reiterate what was said above... you can find 'something' wrong with just about every IEM.

 

[DarSevn]

I have no great way to start this post of my impression after buying the W4, so I will say a few things which will probably sound like rambling because it probably is haha.
 
First, I don't consider myself an audiophile, simply a music lover.  On the other hand, I am a head-fier in the truest sense because I have bought a lot of headphones in the past year just to experience the sound and find what I am looking for.
 
Now, I will compare the W4 to the UM1 because that is the IEM I was using when I decided to upgrade to the W4.  I learned a long time ago not to give into hype on anything, whether it be a restaurant, movie, album, video game, or headphones in this example.  I am sure there are people here that will say the W4 will completely blow the UM1 out of the water, and the people who buy into that will be sorely disappointed if they bought the W4 expecting a mind blowing upgrade compared to the UM1.
 
Here is the kicker though, and I will try to explain it as best as I can, in simple terms.  The W4 is that much better than the UM1 but you aren't going to put them in and instantly hear angels crying.  I don't care much for the burn in debates, but IMO the brain definitely takes a bit to adjust to a new flavor, so to speak, hence the term "brain burn in".  That is where the kicker for me came.  As I listened more I began to realize that everything is smoother and more polished with the W4.  I always felt that the UM1 felt like it had a slight veil, but I never knew if that was just my imagination or me just being picky.  After listening to the W4 though, I realized that every single aspect of it is clearer and smoother sounding, the sound stage is wider (but I can't say how much), and it just feels more refined.
 
Now, earlier in the post I said someone who was expecting a mind blowing upgrade would be disappointed, but I meant that only in the sense of something being hyped up and then someone getting let down.  For me, this is a huge upgrade, but it is not something you just pop into your ears and realize, or it least for me it wasn't.  I decided to finish with a food analogy, and the most apt comparison I thought of was when I visited Japan.  Sushi snobs will turn their nose up and tell you that the sushi in Japan is the best and it will beat anything else.    But for me the sushi in Japan was ALMOST comparable to good sushi you can get in other parts of the world.  The difference was the little subtleties in the flavor.  The rice, fish, atmosphere, and everything else just combined so well as to make it that much better than anything I had ever experienced.  It wasn't a huge difference, but when I thought about how it all added up, I realized that there wasn't a big difference but it was enough to matter.  Which is exactly how I feel about the W4's, everything small (or maybe it is big and I just can't notice it yet) adds up so well that IMO it makes it that much better.
 
Sorry for the long winded post, I am just not great when it comes to getting my thoughts across on a message board haha.

 

[xaddictionx]

I have no great way to start this post of my impression after buying the W4, so I will say a few things which will probably sound like rambling because it probably is haha.

First, I don't consider myself an audiophile, simply a music lover.  On the other hand, I am a head-fier in the truest sense because I have bought a lot of headphones in the past year just to experience the sound and find what I am looking for.

Now, I will compare the W4 to the UM1 because that is the IEM I was using when I decided to upgrade to the W4.  I learned a long time ago not to give into hype on anything, whether it be a restaurant, movie, album, video game, or headphones in this example.  I am sure there are people here that will say the W4 will completely blow the UM1 out of the water, and the people who buy into that will be sorely disappointed if they bought the W4 expecting a mind blowing upgrade compared to the UM1.

Here is the kicker though, and I will try to explain it as best as I can, in simple terms.  The W4 is that much better than the UM1 but you aren't going to put them in and instantly hear angels crying.  I don't care much for the burn in debates, but IMO the brain definitely takes a bit to adjust to a new flavor, so to speak, hence the term "brain burn in".  That is where the kicker for me came.  As I listened more I began to realize that everything is smoother and more polished with the W4.  I always felt that the UM1 felt like it had a slight veil, but I never knew if that was just my imagination or me just being picky.  After listening to the W4 though, I realized that every single aspect of it is clearer and smoother sounding, the sound stage is wider (but I can't say how much), and it just feels more refined.

Now, earlier in the post I said someone who was expecting a mind blowing upgrade would be disappointed, but I meant that only in the sense of something being hyped up and then someone getting let down.  For me, this is a huge upgrade, but it is not something you just pop into your ears and realize, or it least for me it wasn't.  I decided to finish with a food analogy, and the most apt comparison I thought of was when I visited Japan.  Sushi snobs will turn their nose up and tell you that the sushi in Japan is the best and it will beat anything else.    But for me the sushi in Japan was ALMOST comparable to good sushi you can get in other parts of the world.  The difference was the little subtleties in the flavor.  The rice, fish, atmosphere, and everything else just combined so well as to make it that much better than anything I had ever experienced.  It wasn't a huge difference, but when I thought about how it all added up, I realized that there wasn't a big difference but it was enough to matter.  Which is exactly how I feel about the W4's, everything small (or maybe it is big and I just can't notice it yet) adds up so well that IMO it makes it that much better.

Sorry for the long winded post, I am just not great when it comes to getting my thoughts across on a message board haha.

Welcome to the W4 club! Glad that you enjoyed this wonderful IEM!

 

[DarSevn]

Even though I listen to a lot of bass heavy music, I really enjoy the sound of both the UM1 and now the Westone 4.  If I want to listen to something with bass, I would rather use full sized cans instead of IEMs anyways.  And now I am glad I finally took the plunge on the W4's, I am enjoying them very much!

 

[pokpokgei]

i've tried the W4 briefly for about 10 minutes. never tried any BA iem previously. 
 
 
i cant believe that the W4 actually has more bass and sub-bass than my panasonic hje900 which definitely makes the W4 a basshead sort of iem.
 
 
there's something weird i noticed though, both the bass and mids of the W4 seem to be equally forward with a narrow region of emptiness between both of them. is this narrow region of emptiness what people call the coherence issue of multi driver iems? 
 
i'm not saying the bass and mids sound bad, they sound good individually but this placement of the bass and mids seem to make it a little artificial sounding in general. it's like two speakers placed at the same distance in front of you, 1 representing the bass and the other representing the mids with a narrow separation between the two speakers where the mids doesn't cross into the bass and the bass doesn't go into the mids.

 

[skeptic]

The cross-over design and performance seems pretty spot on to me.  I ran some frequency sweeps last night after reading your comment pokpokgei and (thankfully) didn't encounter any dips or "emptiness" in what I heard.  The FR graphs posted on goldenears and elsewhere seem to confirm that the W4's have a pretty sooth curve.
 
Maybe the demo pair you heard was defective?  

 

[shane55]

Quote:

The cross-over design and performance seems pretty spot on to me.  I ran some frequency sweeps last night after reading your comment pokpokgei and (thankfully) didn't encounter any dips or "emptiness" in what I heard.  The FR graphs posted on goldenears and elsewhere seem to confirm that the W4's have a pretty sooth curve.
 
Maybe the demo pair you heard was defective?  

 
When I first got them I ran sweeps as well as individual tones. I detected a slight dip around 4k (if I remember correctly). But it was not great.
Some tracks it's noticable in the upper vocal range and 'breath'. It just cuts back on the 'presence' a bit.

 

[nelamvr6]

Quote:

i've tried the W4 briefly for about 10 minutes. never tried any BA iem previously. 
 
 
i cant believe that the W4 actually has more bass and sub-bass than my panasonic hje900 which definitely makes the W4 a basshead sort of iem.
 
 
there's something weird i noticed though, both the bass and mids of the W4 seem to be equally forward with a narrow region of emptiness between both of them. is this narrow region of emptiness what people call the coherence issue of multi driver iems? 
 
i'm not saying the bass and mids sound bad, they sound good individually but this placement of the bass and mids seem to make it a little artificial sounding in general. it's like two speakers placed at the same distance in front of you, 1 representing the bass and the other representing the mids with a narrow separation between the two speakers where the mids doesn't cross into the bass and the bass doesn't go into the mids.

 
That's odd, I haven't noticed anything similar with my pair.  They sound fairly coherent to my ears.  Perhaps your pair is defective?