[Gurdipurdi]

How does the ES5 compare to the M-Fidelity SA43?

 

[mrwizardno2]

My never-ending quest for properly fitting Westone ES5s just ended. I went in to try the fourth re-fit and was disappointed by the lack of seal in my right ear, yet again. While there, my audiologist called Westone and was greeted by a rude receptionist. I can understand why everyone was a little flustered, but there's no excuse for that behavior when a customer is ordering a pair of custom headphones and paying dearly for them.
 
The customer service was the tipping point. I asked for a refund. I'm going to eat a %15 restocking fee, but I'll gladly take my business elsewhere. Now I just have to figure out what I want :-/

 

[goodvibes]

Sorry to hear that. I've never dealt with them but heard they were good. Refits are common with customs but rudeness is always poor form. Check the Innerfidelity multi custom compare. Since you have a clue about how the ES5 sounds you can probably make some comparative assessments.

 

[AmberOzL]

Hi guys,
 
After a long market research I decided to buy Westone ES5. I live in Belgium so Variphone provides a service here I don't even have to send my ear impressions they take ear impressions and all.
 
I am on holiday now so my ES5 have to wait a little bit but when I get them I will post pictures and give my impressions about them. In the meantime I will try to read the thread as much as possible but 350+ pages can be difficult and take some time 

 

[gw280]

Long time lurker, first time poster. Bought the ES5s after a fair bit of looking around as an upgrade from my Shure SE315s and wow I'm impressed. First time I've used CIEMs, but I don't think I want to go back now...
 
The process was very simple. Went to an audiologist, had an open mouth impression taken (was given one of those foam bite blocks and kept veeery still for a few minutes), then saw my local Westone dealer and gave them to him. Fast forward a month and here I am with the ES5s and (perhaps I got lucky) the fit seems spot on. I can open my mouth as far as it'll go and not lose the seal, the isolation is extremely good and, whilst I do feel the CIEMs in my ear, they're not uncomfortable at all and I can easily wear them for hours on end without feeling any negative effects. I think a lot of this has to do with the soft vinyl tips.
 
Anyway, just wanted to share my experience as I know I got somewhat worried waiting for my ES5s to come in after reading all the horror stories floating around about fit issues, and figured my experience may comfort other people in a similar situation to the one I was in!

 

[cooperpwc]

Congratulations, gw280. Great first post!
 
Welcome to Head-Fi. Sorry about your wallet.  

 

[Br777]

i've had mine for a long while now.. i can still say nothing on head-fi has gotten my attention since... still rockin the es5's with the clip zip and still happy as a clam

 

[hkppl]

Have had my ES5 for 2 years and am now thinking of making another ES5 with vinyl tips (original one is acrylic), but is afraid if the vinyl tip will have issues after years. Any vinyl tips ES5 owners could share with me on their experience?

 

[Girls Generation]

Owned the ES5 for a year, they just turned a bit yellow but was going strong. No problems whatsoever. I don't have them now but they were really comfy.
Quote:

Have had my ES5 for 2 years and am now thinking of making another ES5 with vinyl tips (original one is acrylic), but is afraid if the vinyl tip will have issues after years. Any vinyl tips ES5 owners could share with me on their experience?

 

[gw280]

So I've had these for about a week now, and it seems the left monitor is a little looser than it was when I first started using them. Maybe it's a combination of getting used to them, the muscles in my ear adapting to having them in (I've had them in for probably an average of 8-10 hours a day every day), or the earpieces getting more lubricated with use...
 
Anyway - could do with some advice. The seal seems relatively decent (I can feel it's air tight), but it doesn't seem *as* airtight as the right earpiece, which is pretty good. Also, when listening to music it almost seems like the music is off-centre and tending slightly towards the right side, although this could be my mind playing tricks on me.
 
The question is - do I go get new moulds taken and send them back into Westone for a refit? I understand I have 90 days to do this, but it takes quite a while for me to get them done (I live in Toronto, so 5 days' shipping each way + time taken to do the remould). Should I not wear the IEMs for a few days to see if it's just my left ear that needs some recovery time?

 

[gw280]

Forgot to mention... I can open my mouth fully and move my jaw side to side without losing the air seal with the IEMs in (on both sides). I hear some creaking when I move my jaw though from what I assume is the ear canal rubbing against the tips of the IEMs, but I suspect that's normal, no?

 

[Girls Generation]

Are all songs you play biased to the right?

 

[Steelback]

Quote:

So I've had these for about a week now, and it seems the left monitor is a little looser than it was when I first started using them. Maybe it's a combination of getting used to them, the muscles in my ear adapting to having them in (I've had them in for probably an average of 8-10 hours a day every day), or the earpieces getting more lubricated with use...
 
Anyway - could do with some advice. The seal seems relatively decent (I can feel it's air tight), but it doesn't seem *as* airtight as the right earpiece, which is pretty good. Also, when listening to music it almost seems like the music is off-centre and tending slightly towards the right side, although this could be my mind playing tricks on me.
 
The question is - do I go get new moulds taken and send them back into Westone for a refit? I understand I have 90 days to do this, but it takes quite a while for me to get them done (I live in Toronto, so 5 days' shipping each way + time taken to do the remould). Should I not wear the IEMs for a few days to see if it's just my left ear that needs some recovery time?

 

Maybe take a short break from them and come back, but overall keep using them and pay attention to how the fit changes over time. When I first got mine, they felt fine, but after a few weeks I noticed the right monitor didn't have a perfect seal which caused some weird sounding vibrations. After trying different things I wasn't 100% satisfied and, for the money, figured I should be. So I had that one redone and had to ship them off to Westone.
 
I'm in Toronto as well and unfortunately the turn around time isn't great. It took exactly one month to get them back from the time I got the remold, but they're perfect now and I'm glad I got it right.

 

[cooperpwc]

Rediscovering the ES5 tonight after spending most of the last few months in the Final Audio and Ocharaku lands of euphonia and wild soundstaging. The ES5 really is a fine headphone. It does everything well.
 
Reading the above reminds me of what a PITA getting customs is. It took some time but I did finally get the ES5 to fit well. They're my first customs and probably my last. I am glad to own them.

 

[letloverule]

Hi i've seen that you could color the tips of the es5. Does anyone know more about that? Are there any add costs?