Westone Adventure Series - New Dynamic Driver for rugged activities: Impressions and Discussion
Jun 10, 2013 at 5:53 PM Post #151 of 257
Quote:
DITTO! After all, a big section of their sales will come via this site (or from previous purchasers who have left these shores).
 
Please do not release a hybrid this year, thank you.


Please do release a hybrid!  Something that sounds great and is affordable.
 
Sorry Sinth, but we can't stand in the way of progress. 
tongue.gif

 
Jun 10, 2013 at 9:54 PM Post #152 of 257
So the package arrived with my Westone ADV's! (Kudos to Earphone Solutions for sending them out so fast.)
 
Amusingly this is the first IEM I have ever bought that came with its own stand.
 
Build quality seems fantastic.
 
Super early special ultra impressions are: dark, dark, dark, dark.
 
Jun 10, 2013 at 10:37 PM Post #153 of 257
Burn burn burn, plus a liberal dose of treble EQ and they get less dark... LOL

On a serious note, they do improve and are good for alot of the rock I listen to and I especially like Cello music on them but some genres suffer such as orchestral classical but do seem to be improving.

I do find myself listening at mid to louder than normal volumes as I mentioned earlier. The interesting thing as I am enjoying the full sound at that volume and I don't notice ear fatigue which surprises me.

I plan to give my another 10 hours of burn in to night.

a_recording what is your source player?
 
Jun 10, 2013 at 10:58 PM Post #154 of 257
Quote:
Burn burn burn, plus a liberal dose of treble EQ and they get less dark... LOL

On a serious note, they do improve and are good for alot of the rock I listen to and I especially like Cello music on them but some genres suffer such as orchestral classical but do seem to be improving.

I do find myself listening at mid to louder than normal volumes as I mentioned earlier. The interesting thing as I am enjoying the full sound at that volume and I don't notice ear fatigue which surprises me.

I plan to give my another 10 hours of burn in to night.

a_recording what is your source player?

 
Yeah I do quite like it with the treble EQ. But I really hate using EQ.
 
I've literally only had them in my ears for 10 minutes with an iP5.
 
For reference they are darker than say, the XBA-40.
 
Jun 11, 2013 at 1:10 AM Post #155 of 257
My main source (Nokia 920) is brighter than my old iPhone which helps. I will do a comparison tomorrow if I have time.
 
Jun 11, 2013 at 2:21 AM Post #156 of 257
Okay, I've been using these throughout the day and and while these are still early impressions, I can pretty much say this:
 
Westone has crafted what is probably the most ergonomic and comfortable basshead IEM on the market. 
 
The ADV is very very comfortable, and build quality is excellent. Isolation is also very good.
 
The sound is very thick and dark. The bass and mid-bass are by far the most prominent aspects of the sound, though there is some slight shimmer to the vocals that prevents the whole thing from sounding too much like a swamp. Bass tones (or at least driver action) actually start at 10hz, and in that respect the ADV is very much like other micro-drivers I have tried.
 
As Dweaver suggests, they sound better at higher volumes when you can hear the actually quite detailed mids. At these volumes you are probably likely to give you a headache from too much bass before you would ever get treble fatigue. 
 
Everything is tight and coherent though. I've been enjoying these with electronic and fast paced music, which kind of seems to suit the intended use of these headphones as exercise / active IEMs.They sound really good on Kanye West's "My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy".
 
I have one concern with the build. While wearing them I noticed that my neck was getting pricked by something.
 
Upon close inspection of the cable, I noticed that one of the reflector patches had frayed off the cable and was rubbing against my neck.
 

 
While this is a minor thing and I easily snipped it off with a nail clipper, I would imagine that over time as the cable frays more of these reflector patches will start to flake until the whole cable is prickly.
 
Jun 11, 2013 at 4:25 AM Post #157 of 257
Okay maybe I spoke too soon.
 
Despite clipping off the errant reflector braid there is still an irritating little stub left. I can barely even see anything sticking out but evidently I have a sensitive neck.
 
Also finding that I'm getting a tiny sore spot in my left ear from some part of the earphone rubbing against the inner ear. :[
 
Jun 11, 2013 at 9:47 AM Post #158 of 257
Sorry to hear about the cable fraying a_recording I have been fortunate to not have that issue. I pretty much just use the treble boost function on my phone to get the most out of this IEM otherwise it really is to dark.

I gave my pair another 10hrs of burn in and the treble does seem to be improving while some of the bass is evening out but it still requires EQ. I think I will give it a couple more days of burn in and see if I can focus on the treble primarily to see if can help that area along a bit faster.

I tried it with my iPad mini this morning and there is the added warmth I have noticed with my iPhone, it is not to severe but I did fire up a custom EQ app to get the most from the IEM as I find the presets from Apple just suck.
 
Jun 11, 2013 at 10:16 AM Post #159 of 257
Yeah, it's annoying because I am actually enjoying the sound. They do sound like a fair bit like XBA-40's, but even darker. 
 
The thing is that even if I get a replacement unit I would be worried about the cable fraying again anywhere above the Y split and causing the same issue. 
 
I might just give a bit more of a listen, maybe post a brief impression video and then exchange for something else.
 
Jun 11, 2013 at 11:09 AM Post #160 of 257
So guys, ever since I wrote my early impressions I have became one with the adv series. I have listened to these exclusively for the past 5 days or so and left them burning in when I was not wearing them at above normal listening levels. Here are my findings.

Soundstage is truly something unique to this headphone, I really enjoy the way sounds come from this iem. It shows layers not previously as easy to pick out. The way the whole spectrum encapsulates your mid and rear ear and then seems as if the vocalist is always in your front 2 inches of forehead is enjoyable for me.

Bass: the item of much debate. Let me start this by saying, I run alot. I'm also a pretty hefty guy at 255 lb. I also lift weights more than or equal to my running. So I am very interested in these adv being successful. Now that that has been said lets start.
Bass: still the most prevalent sound in this iem, ain't no way around it, these thump and thump admirably. The bass is thoroughly enjoyable with electronic and some rock music but its too much on acoustic, country (don't hate :) ) most rock I listen to and vocals. I've never head Florence and the machines vocalists voice sound so manly, it's as if its boosting her lower register in the vocal range. I do say, these kick ass, and very much ass at that, when it comes to electronic music, dubstep, drumstep, I dunno the other genres, too busy enjoying them to name them. I still find these enjoyable to listen to but there's something holding me back and I will tell you what that something is at the end of this "re-review".

Mids- the mids are great if you lower the bass some in eq you can really hear everything very clearly. These are obviously a very tuned headphone and to think all this sound comes out of this 6.5 dynamic is awesome. Engineering is a hell of an art. The female vocals are too weighty here to be truly enjoyable to me, I have heard what the vocalist sounds like and this just plainly isn't it. It's colored and its enjoyable but it's not accurate and I like music to be as close to the way the artist intended it to sound because its their art, who am I to change that?

Highs, kind of rolled off on the higher freq. they don't have much simmer its more of "shimmer". They do sound very good but it's audibly behind the lows quite a bit and unless the volume is turned up past normal listening levels it doesn't get heard as easily as the lows and mids. They do very well in an active setting when your working out and your hearing isn't really the primary sensory organ.

The volume is up and the intensity is high, THAT is when these headphones come alive. I've never been so engaged with a pair of headphones, the first day I used these I was so in the zone that I set a new 415 deadlift personal record. These simply kick ass as workout phones.

That all being said there are some drawbacks to this kind of tuning In an iem.
The added volume does not make me feel good about my hearing and enjoying this hobby in the long run, I find myself scrambling to lower the volume down immediately after a heavy lift or sprint interval.
The fact that these are dynamic driver do make driver flex a tad annoying when your lifting because your ear shape changes when you lift and the sound cuts out or goes to a lower volume until the flex has stopped. That is absoultly my biggest pet peeve.
The reflective cable is cool but ultimately I feel it should be an option with a normal braided cable being included in the box. It's just too microphonic. Yes it lessens with a cable clip but I have never had to use a cable clip before and don't intend to, it's simply annoying and unattractive at the gym. The microphonics do lessen wih an increase in volume but as stated earlier, is an iem worth destroying hearing for some silly ergonomic issues?

That all being said I do believe westone will do well with these and I'm sure these are great for alot of people but they just aren't great for me. I will unfortunently continue to use the earpods, um3x, and asg2 for active listening.

After listening to these exclusively I threw in my pair of asg2, sm64, and um3x and just smiled and realized what all I have been missing in clarity and balance. It was a bitter-sweet moment for these adv series because at that moment I decided this is the way music is supposed to sound and not overly bassy. The way the sm64 sounds is perfect for an active sounding headphone. And ultimately I will continue to rock out to all frequencies and not just bass

I can answer questions and clarify more if needed I just tried to hurry this along as I'm in class and sit in the front row haha. Any details needed just ask and ill reply! Thanks for your time guys I hope this helps
 
Jun 11, 2013 at 11:19 AM Post #161 of 257
Does any one else feel these have a similar sound sig as the m100? Not a bad thing especially since they r cheaper and in ears. Same approach to the elevated bass response too. Think Val said "the bass is elevated for at home applications but when your moving around and active it becomes much more natural after the bass noise gets drowned out by the outside environment". Something like that I remember reading here.
 
Jun 11, 2013 at 11:55 AM Post #162 of 257
Unfortunately I have not heard the M100 so can not comment on this. But I do believe the added bass is to help when out and about being active. I do think unless these change more a lot of people will have to EQ these to get the most out of them. The good news is they are easily EQ'd and respond very well to it.
 
BTW I also noticed female voices being a bit to deep but applying a treble boost makes them much more enjoyable (my phone's treble boost starts at 700hz, on my iPad mini I had to use a custom EQ app and started boosting slightly at the 500hz range and increased from there).
 
Jun 11, 2013 at 12:00 PM Post #163 of 257
Quote:
So guys, ever since I wrote my early impressions I have became one with the adv series. I have listened to these exclusively for the past 5 days or so and left them burning in when I was not wearing them at above normal listening levels. Here are my findings.

Soundstage is truly something unique to this headphone, I really enjoy the way sounds come from this iem. It shows layers not previously as easy to pick out. The way the whole spectrum encapsulates your mid and rear ear and then seems as if the vocalist is always in your front 2 inches of forehead is enjoyable for me.

Bass: the item of much debate. Let me start this by saying, I run alot. I'm also a pretty hefty guy at 255 lb. I also lift weights more than or equal to my running. So I am very interested in these adv being successful. Now that that has been said lets start.
Bass: still the most prevalent sound in this iem, ain't no way around it, these thump and thump admirably. The bass is thoroughly enjoyable with electronic and some rock music but its too much on acoustic, country (don't hate
smily_headphones1.gif
) most rock I listen to and vocals. I've never head Florence and the machines vocalists voice sound so manly, it's as if its boosting her lower register in the vocal range. I do say, these kick ass, and very much ass at that, when it comes to electronic music, dubstep, drumstep, I dunno the other genres, too busy enjoying them to name them. I still find these enjoyable to listen to but there's something holding me back and I will tell you what that something is at the end of this "re-review".

Mids- the mids are great if you lower the bass some in eq you can really hear everything very clearly. These are obviously a very tuned headphone and to think all this sound comes out of this 6.5 dynamic is awesome. Engineering is a hell of an art. The female vocals are too weighty here to be truly enjoyable to me, I have heard what the vocalist sounds like and this just plainly isn't it. It's colored and its enjoyable but it's not accurate and I like music to be as close to the way the artist intended it to sound because its their art, who am I to change that?

Highs, kind of rolled off on the higher freq. they don't have much simmer its more of "shimmer". They do sound very good but it's audibly behind the lows quite a bit and unless the volume is turned up past normal listening levels it doesn't get heard as easily as the lows and mids. They do very well in an active setting when your working out and your hearing isn't really the primary sensory organ.

The volume is up and the intensity is high, THAT is when these headphones come alive. I've never been so engaged with a pair of headphones, the first day I used these I was so in the zone that I set a new 415 deadlift personal record. These simply kick ass as workout phones.

That all being said there are some drawbacks to this kind of tuning In an iem.
The added volume does not make me feel good about my hearing and enjoying this hobby in the long run, I find myself scrambling to lower the volume down immediately after a heavy lift or sprint interval.
The fact that these are dynamic driver do make driver flex a tad annoying when your lifting because your ear shape changes when you lift and the sound cuts out or goes to a lower volume until the flex has stopped. That is absoultly my biggest pet peeve.
The reflective cable is cool but ultimately I feel it should be an option with a normal braided cable being included in the box. It's just too microphonic. Yes it lessens with a cable clip but I have never had to use a cable clip before and don't intend to, it's simply annoying and unattractive at the gym. The microphonics do lessen wih an increase in volume but as stated earlier, is an iem worth destroying hearing for some silly ergonomic issues?

That all being said I do believe westone will do well with these and I'm sure these are great for alot of people but they just aren't great for me. I will unfortunently continue to use the earpods, um3x, and asg2 for active listening.

After listening to these exclusively I threw in my pair of asg2, sm64, and um3x and just smiled and realized what all I have been missing in clarity and balance. It was a bitter-sweet moment for these adv series because at that moment I decided this is the way music is supposed to sound and not overly bassy. The way the sm64 sounds is perfect for an active sounding headphone. And ultimately I will continue to rock out to all frequencies and not just bass

I can answer questions and clarify more if needed I just tried to hurry this along as I'm in class and sit in the front row haha. Any details needed just ask and ill reply! Thanks for your time guys I hope this helps

 
Thanks for your very honest and detailed impressions. These are most definitely not for me.
 
Jun 11, 2013 at 12:17 PM Post #164 of 257
Quote:
The fact that these are dynamic driver do make driver flex a tad annoying when your lifting because your ear shape changes when you lift and the sound cuts out or goes to a lower volume until the flex has stopped. That is absoultly my biggest pet peeve.
The reflective cable is cool but ultimately I feel it should be an option with a normal braided cable being included in the box. It's just too microphonic. Yes it lessens with a cable clip but I have never had to use a cable clip before and don't intend to, it's simply annoying and unattractive at the gym. The microphonics do lessen wih an increase in volume but as stated earlier, is an iem worth destroying hearing for some silly ergonomic issues?

 

What tips were you using? Do you still get driver flex when using foam tips? I'm assuming you mean that as you are lifting weights, your ear canal positioning naturally changes which causes the "seal" of the earphone to go "in and out" (almost like what happens when you raise your eyebrows or smile) ? Do you have to constantly readjust this seal to compensate?
 
Jun 11, 2013 at 12:18 PM Post #165 of 257
Quote:
 
Thanks for your very honest and detailed impressions. These are most definitely not for me.

I hear you music _4321, these may not be for me in the end either. I am enjoying them but am not sure they will be my cup of tea considering most of my equipment is more mid/treble oriented. I may keep them for those days I want a completely different sound but I am not sure yet. I amgoing to do a full review soon and when I do I will definitely have a section where I talk about who I think these are good for and who should avoid them.
 

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