Received my ES-5's for about a week now, at first I didn't really notice the greatness of them, but it was until I went back to my W3 and I felt like all the details were gone from songs. The bass of W3 is nice (I used to consider them great), but now in comparison with the es-5... the W3's bass felt like it was only going half way, a big gob of bass being pushed down your throat, but the ES-5's bass felt like it was a surging rush of bass being shoved all the way down to my lungs, really satisfying lol.
The difference in details and clarity is so far apart it's not even funny, at first I scoffed at how I read a Westone rep said that it would make the W3's sound like an entry iem, now I understand....
The texture of instruments and vocals is just much clearer, it's as if it's close enough that I could touch them. The subtle sounds of a plucking violin became so much more lifelike, it immediately conjured up images of musicians doing so.
Sense of air and space is also a huge improvement for me from W3's, although I did not feel a great improvement in depth or width. (I think the size of my ES-5's had an effect on that, I realised I have really tiny ears...).
Was listening to Dvorak's 9th, and when the trumpets come in, ti was like a hot searing white light flashing in my brains, it was a big bright (sonically), but not the shrill feeling of W3, but it was just so clear that I could not do anything but pause and listen to the sound, momentarily stunned.
Problem is, the fit is so good (and the isolation is insane... I'm a bit nervous about wearing them on the street now), it hurts a bit, my right ear canal is a bit swollen up (has been but just couldn't NOT put them on...), and am wondering if I need a refit. Initially my ear canals hurt after wearing them for the first 10 minutes, then it settled, then the pain came back again. I get a throbing pain after I take them off. Yesterday, it got a bit bad and the area around my ears was a bit sore... laid off them for a day to see if my right ear gets a bit better...
Trying to resist sending them back to refit but deep down I think I really should, question is I'm not sure whether it is that tight because my canals are slightly swollen (happens when it's a bit irritated like when I try to put in triple flanges dry), or it's just too large for my ear canals... ahh...