[vwinter]

Unbelievable. Now even westone is getting on this snake-oil multi driver race. hocus pocus..

is UE following up with 10 drivers hocus pocus too???

Nah UE doesn't roll like that. Why charge a grand for 6 (or 10) when you can charge it for 3.

And what a gloriously tuned 3 driver it is.

I'd rather these companies spend on tuning R&D than trying to keep pace with what everyone else is doing for the sake of it.

 

[alexm23]

Both of these new models have 3-way crossovers so the signal gets split into 3 frequency ranges.
I'm not convinced that having more than 1 driver in each frequency range results in any benefit.
Current BAs already get more than loud enough without distorting so they don't need a partner for more volume. To my understanding having 2 drivers in each frequency range would only introduce interference/mismatching. Obviously there would be no point in companies developing >3-BA IEMs if this was true, so what am I missing? As someone mentioned earlier in this thread, it's not marketing because these products aren't being marketed to people who would be susceptible to that type of message.
 
For example, and I'm not saying this just because I own them 

, the Westone 3 has 1 bass driver and has more than enough bass for basically anyone but the most extreme bassheads, and it's pretty detailed too. So why does the Westone 4 have 2 bass drivers?

 

[mrlawrence74]

Both of these new models have 3-way crossovers so the signal gets split into 3 frequency ranges.
I'm not convinced that having more than 1 driver in each frequency range results in any benefit.
Current BAs already get more than loud enough without distorting so they don't need a partner for more volume. To my understanding having 2 drivers in each frequency range would only introduce interference/mismatching. Obviously there would be no point in companies developing >3-BA IEMs if this was true, so what am I missing? As someone mentioned earlier in this thread, it's not marketing because these products aren't being marketed to people who would be susceptible to that type of message.

For example, and I'm not saying this just because I own them  , the Westone 3 has 1 bass driver and has more than enough bass for basically anyone but the most extreme bassheads, and it's pretty detailed too. So why does the Westone 4 good 2 bass drivers?

I listen to a lot of "bass music" and I can already tell you that the bass on the 4r are better than those from my W3, more deep‚ more defined. And it's way better for electro music. But the earsonic SM64 has only 3 drivers and have very good bass‚ greater than the W4 and the W3.

 

[xaddictionx]

Sound is a very subjective matter and it deviates from different perceptions. True, the number of drivers does not determine the sound quality or rather it should be the tuning that is important.

But what if now Westone decides to release a similar 4 drivers "W4" but with different tuning rather than a 6 drivers with different tuning? Many will be commenting that Westone are not keeping up with the current trend and the market. The IEM market is closing in at a very fast pace with no really true, innovative or revolutionary technology (example for the past, hybrid was a new thing), hence the only way to capture the market is to intrigue and infuse consumers with idea of more drivers being crammed into a single unit. Will it be better for Westone for example to release a different tuned 4 drivers IEM and charging lesser? Well, to me no. As a market leader in IEM and in order to sustain their market share, most companies are determined by the size of their balance sheet and the wide number of products they carry to plug the gaps (example, P&G, Unilever), going with more variety like 5 drivers and 6 drivers would probably be the best option now.

Psychologically, people will be more willing to pay for "more drivers" rather than a similarly priced single driver unit. The thinking that "2 is better than 1" prevails. With rising pressure from more companies releasing >6 drivers as their new flagship, Westone have to hop on the bandwagon. Conformity will set in with consumers willing to pay a premium for more drivers opposed to few drivers due to lack of new innovations. Cognitive dissonance will drive the mind that since I'm paying a premium for a product with no new technology, I will be generally better off with something "more". Diminishing return with a drop in utility will set in with the outlook of stationary or even decreasing margin. Thus, with the lack of innovations, you have to depend on more labour (in this case, more drivers) to do the job to sustain and grow.

However, this is not all bad as we will see the reach of a saturation point where consumers will stop the chase and prices will have to fall. Just like the smartphone race to release a new model yearly with few new softwares implemented. But do we really use those softwares? But we end up paying for them. Just like Samsung reported a loss in profit due to slow mobile growth.

"You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time" (Abraham Lincoln).

I believe we will see true new innovations in this year 2014 as some companies are already using their own proprietary drivers as they will come to realize that this is not just merely about a race of the number of drivers. Westone may have entered the bandwagon of drivers or race albeit slightly late as consumers are already being bombarded with releases of 6-12 drivers flagship since Q4 2013. Maybe Westone should have took a leap with a hybrid implementation which may be more appealing and interesting. Hopefully the market this year will bring new surprises to us, consumers!

Nonetheless, it has been interesting to see companies springing up new releases and Westone which has always done well with BA drivers to introduce new products!

*Just my two cents worth.

 

[ostewart]

^^ well said ^^

 

[PsiCore]

Getting tired of the 1k price tag race. Ale brands, which I once loved, are dissapointing me (Shure, Westone) with these ridiculous prices. Luckily they're not the only companies anymore...

 

[D Rob]

Quote:

  I see how it may look like price inflation, but according to some people here, good sounding models are also showing up in mid and lower price ranges as well. I think advances in tech and competition will prevent price inflation.
 
I feel like in the future, we will only be buying driver cartridge packages (tailored for a specific sound) and we'll take that to the local 3-D printer place to make custom molds. They'll be a custom-cable vending machine next to the Red-Box.

 

Lol, I'm unsure of it's "do-ability" but sure sounds good to me!

 

[Spyro]

Well...there IS more development and progress for improved sound going on right now.   While it is not as abundant, there is no question the bass on W4 is superior and better quality than W3.  Listen to some test samples and it is quite apparent.  So it seems the focus the past few years was to make the bass better quality and not so bloated or muddy (in the quest for more bass).  It also seemed that the trend was that the midrange had to be recessed in order to have big bass and clarity co-exist.
 
Moving forward from here it seems the directive is to maintain the quality textured bass but also to add a subtle subwoofer fullness effect WITHOUT bass bleed or recessing the midrange.  Seems we are just starting to go down this road (SE846).  Once we achieve this across the masses....then we maybe have reached the pinnacle.  These are still exciting times but I am not crazy about the pricing.
 
From my perspective, I am absolutely thrilled with W4 and can live with it.   A big part of me doesn't even want to hear a "better" sound because it's currently not in my budget.  Like I say, you can't miss what you can't hear.

 

[imackler]

Has anyone heard about the warranty on this? If I ever get comfortable (or can afford!) walking around with $700-1000 iems, I want a 5 year warranty! I personally would prefer a high end universal to a high end custom. If there were a five year warranty, and with it the confidence that this is investment that will last, I'd be more interested in the uber-universal iems. Shures' SE846 w/ a two year is ok, but just only. 

 

[mrlawrence74]

There is a first hands on impression of the W60 by digitaltrends http://www.digitaltrends.com/headphone-reviews/hands-westone-w60/#/2 , pretty interesting but no comparison to other models or other brands. 

 

[Mooses9]

Well i like the cable at least

 

[charlie0904]

yup. cable look nice. mmcx connector spoils easily?

 

[Mooses9]

yup. cable look nice. mmcx connector spoils easily?

i only say i dislike the mmcx because there can be issues with them, i own 2 pairs of se535, and come to know some of the issues with the mmxc and this is in short basicly what it is the connection can get dirty and cause shorts in the sound. this can be fixed with cleaning the connectors male or female sides. also the connector over time can become loose and again shorts can become a issue. im not saying this is going to be a issue with the W series....but it has been a issue with the 535's and the ue900 has had a good ammount of issues with this.
 
i really prefer the pins. but hey its whatever.
 
i wonder if that cable is copper or silver i cant tell.....if it was silver for the price it would be a nice touch

 

[Mimouille]

This Westone W60  is supposedly a direct competitor for the Shure SE846. However, the Shure iem innovated on the bass, and having listened to it, I can say it is a REAL innovation, with tangible improvement.
 
And here what does Westone bring? A 6 driver universal? Well this has already been done by Noble and Earsonics. What else? The finest sound any iem blablabla? Based on what? Honestly the high market is now a serious game. And it seems Westone is late to the game and did not bring anything new, whether on the CIEM front or the universal front. I hope these iems will sound great, but I am not impressed by the announcement so far.

 

[Spyro]

You should be excited. Westone is the leader. Always has been. I'm sure they took a lot of time listening to se846 and I expect their W60 to sound evn better. I'll tell you one thing.....it won't have rolled off highs.