[M3NTAL]

s.f.q.

 

[Anaxilus]

Quote:

O.K., I have been reading this thread but I have one nagging curiosity which I am not sure can be answered; which is the better IEM, the Westone ES5 or JH-16 Pro? Ah, the reason why this question is difficult to answer? Because of the following: Only answer this question if you have both of these IEMs. This narrows the field considerably. ; ) 

Hopefully you are kidding but It's an impossible question to answer but not for the reason you state.  What's better, Chateaubriand or Porterhouse?

 

[3X0]

Quote:

Am planning to try the demo set of ES5 today and compare it with my JH16. Just trying to justify why I should have 2 sets of custom IEMs.

Where are demo sets of the ES5 available? I know they were at CanJam but I had no idea sets were available for sampling elsewhere. I have Jaben HK nearby which does have demo sets of high-end customs like the 16s and 13s.
 
Personally I'm much more interested in the JH13s vs. the ES5.. I had the 16s and I ultimately sold them before the end of the summer.

 

[foveus]

Quick question about the ES5's ... is the profile slim enough to lie on your side on a pillow without causing pain/eardrum damage? And if so, does it affect the seal adversely? It would be great to be able to fall asleep with these on. I do believe the JH's are capable of this although I would imagine the softer tips of the ES5 might be more comfortable.
 
On a separate note, has anyone purchased these from a dealer/audiologist in New York City?
 
thanks

 

[HeadphoneAddict]

Quote:

Quick question about the ES5's ... is the profile slim enough to lie on your side on a pillow without causing pain/eardrum damage? And if so, does it affect the seal adversely? It would be great to be able to fall asleep with these on. I do believe the JH's are capable of this although I would imagine the softer tips of the ES5 might be more comfortable.
 
On a separate note, has anyone purchased these from a dealer/audiologist in New York City?
 
thanks

The ES5 are thicker than my JH13Pro by a small degree, maybe 1mm?  So while they stick out an extra mm I can still sleep on my side with them in, and the softer tips do improve long term wearing comfort a lot.

 

[Choochoo]

I found out that Westone dealer in Bangkok has a demo set of ES5. But I got stuck in a road block (another protest downtown) and didn't make it to the shop yesterday. Will try again tomorrow.
 
Quote:

Quote:

Am planning to try the demo set of ES5 today and compare it with my JH16. Just trying to justify why I should have 2 sets of custom IEMs.

Where are demo sets of the ES5 available? I know they were at CanJam but I had no idea sets were available for sampling elsewhere. I have Jaben HK nearby which does have demo sets of high-end customs like the 16s and 13s.
 
Personally I'm much more interested in the JH13s vs. the ES5.. I had the 16s and I ultimately sold them before the end of the summer.

 

[Miradz]

sad day for me today.... I was supposed to go Jaben Malaysia to pick up my pair of ES5's after waiting for an eternity (well almost)...
 
I reached there, they passed me the box, checked out the tags, labeled with my name and my ES5's serial number, then I eagerly opened it...
 
WOW, my Smoke colored customs were sitting there nicely in the beautiful box, took them out immediately and tried them on, PERFECT FIT ! nice !
 
took them off again to look at the serial number embossed on the earpieces, which was when I noticed something terribly wrong...
 
From previous postings on the forums, all the ES5's have their serial numbers starting with ES5xxxx , the pair of customs in my hands had the serial number ES2xxxxx.... alarm bells started ringing, then i took a bright light and shone it through the customs and to my dismay, I only saw 2 drivers
 
Looks like another 3-4 week wait for them to return the wrong customs and make a new set for me...
 
On the brighter side, I get to test the ES2 balanced with the RSA protector and it sure blows away all the other Universals I've owned or tried

 

[jermng]

They should let you keep the ES2s ....

 

[goodvibes]

Cost more to ship and rebuild than just let you keep them. I bet they do.

 

[Miradz]

hmm.... I wonder if they will do that, but I guess I'll find out on Monday when the office opens

 

[jkwanness]

really sad day for you mann....... i'll make sure i'll be there the next time your es5 arrives...

 

[cooperpwc]

Quote:

sad day for me today.... I was supposed to go Jaben Malaysia to pick up my pair of ES5's after waiting for an eternity (well almost)...
 
I reached there, they passed me the box, checked out the tags, labeled with my name and my ES5's serial number, then I eagerly opened it...
 
WOW, my Smoke colored customs were sitting there nicely in the beautiful box, took them out immediately and tried them on, PERFECT FIT ! nice !
 
took them off again to look at the serial number embossed on the earpieces, which was when I noticed something terribly wrong...
 
From previous postings on the forums, all the ES5's have their serial numbers starting with ES5xxxx , the pair of customs in my hands had the serial number ES2xxxxx.... alarm bells started ringing, then i took a bright light and shone it through the customs and to my dismay, I only saw 2 drivers
 
Looks like another 3-4 week wait for them to return the wrong customs and make a new set for me...
 
On the brighter side, I get to test the ES2 balanced with the RSA protector and it sure blows away all the other Universals I've owned or tried

Sorry to hear this. Of course I cannot know for sure but... this sounds like it could be a Jaben screw up to me. Whoever screwed up, it's pretty shocking!

 

[animalsrush]

I had ES5 for couple of weeks now and have been pairing them with PICO Slim and Sony X with ALO Audio LOD. As my PICO Slim came few days before ES5 i am burning and listening to both for few weeks now. Here are my brief impressions and some pics. Please note these are just my impressions and i don't want to claim to be an audiophile ..
 
Ear Impressions and Fit : The audiologist i went to took very good impressions and used 1 inch bite block and i have no fit issues at all. They feel very comfortable and they seal better even when i yawn, move my jaws, eat etc.. I took the instructions from the JH audio site for impression. The left side feels bit loose when i walk but i don't lose the seal so i may send in for refit ( if i really want to be picky). I have had them once for 5 hrs straight and they were extremely comfortable and i didn't even feel they were there.
 
Music used to test the ES5 :
Rock : Pink Floyd : Animals , Rush : Moving Pictures , Doves : Lost Souls,Kingdom O Porcupine Tree : In Absentia, Fear Of Blank Planet , Signify
Nu Metal: Deftones : Deftones, White Pony, Around The Fur , Disturbed : Down with Sickness 
Vocals : Albums by Corrianne Bailey Rae , Diana Krall , Alison Krauss, Natalie Merchant  , Sherya Ghosal , Anuradha Paudwal , Hooverphonic , Zero 7 and Morcheeba
Bass : Massive Attack : Mezzanine , Protection , Kamasutra - Soundtrack , Paul Van Dyk - Global , Don - Soundtrack
Overall sound: Prem Joshua : Water Down The Ganges , Gladiator - Soundtrack
 
ES5 Sound: Personally i like the westone sound( have tried shure/Senns)  i moved from UM2 to Um3X to ES5. So i am bit biased. I find ES5 easy on ears. It is very detailed provides good high and mids and controlled lows. The sound stage is expansive and has degree of vastness to it. I had found Sony X with UM3x bit confined but amp had started to help a little bit there.The vocals are bit recessed than UM3x but it is a good thing as i found that it used to overshadow the instruments in UM3x. However the vocals are still very good with ES5. What i mean is that they feel natural instead of digital. ES5 really brings forth differences in the voice of each singer distinctively and i am thoroughly enjoying them, I didn't find ES5 sibilant at all( again it is a matter of perception if the sibilance is not obvious).I had seen that on UM3x a bit but not on ES5.However i EQ my Sony X which has a very good EQ settings and YMMV.
 
ES5 bass: The bass is very well extended and controlled. The quantity is enough as well. I had to reduce my clear bass setting on Sony X for ES5. It is not overpowering so that mid and highs get lost or underpowered that it gets lost among highs. However if you like too much bass than this is not for you. I sometimes increase the clear bass for Trance music( Paul Van Dyk - Global) just to get the beats pumping.. but now i tend to like the bass without extending it in the player.
 
Conclusion: If i would summarize .. ES5 is a great overall performer with good detailed sound stage, extended bass without overpowering, good instrument separation, extended decay and easy on ears ( Less fatiguing). I find that it does what UN3X does but extremely better. Please note all my impressions are based on my setup of Es5 - ALO Audio LOD - PICO Slim and Sony X. Based on that Es5 is worth every penny i spent. I excited to see how sound changes when the amp fully burn in.
 
Now for some pics:
I got the translucent smoke ones ( Inspired by Cooperpwc

)
 

 
My ears are so huge they could fit in a 12 inch sub woofer in there if they wanted to

 
 

 
My Portable gear : Sony X - ALO AudioLod - PICO Slim - Westone ES 5
 

 
Side View
 

 
Overall rig :
 

 

[Kunlun]

@animalsrush, nice review. What EQ settings do you use for the ES5?
 
 
did you name it Paul?

 

[Wildcard30]

Thanks for the write up and I agree with you about the sound of the ES5.