[Sylaw]

  The prices of the new offerings are completely justified.
 
-  Most universals are in that $1,200 range with very low re-saleability.
-  If universals can eclipse the sound of these top-end customs at less price AND have 70-80% resaleable value (versus 30-40% that customs offer) it is a MUCH higher and better value.
-  IMHO what is creeping most people out about all this is the increasing costs of universals and and not realizing that the universal market is "matching" SQ of custom market (yet at a lower price) so they need to understand to maybe just stay away from that price range...much like they stayed away from customs because it was simply out of their budget.
 
No need to overthink this whole process!   IEM SQ technology has advanced well these past 5 years and there is EXCELLECT sound quality for everyone within everyones budget....

well said spyro.... 

 

[vantagesc]

Anyone know when retailers might have these to ship out?

 

[Kepller]

  Anyone know when retailers might have these to ship out?

According to westone somewhere around Feb - March 

 

[JohnSantana]

Hopefully the myth of more BA = more sound quality is true this time.

this is thee reason of me getting W4R instead of the other brand with lesser BA like Etymotic's and even AKG's line up.

 

[javahut]

Any more word on the W60s? Got my preorder in a few days ago. Can't wait to compare with my SE846. I've always preferred that warm, lush "Westone sound" over Shure's. But the SE846 were just too great to let go of. And I half jokingly said I would use them until Westone came out with their $1K universal IEM. Little did I realize it would be so soon.

But even now, as great as the SE846 is, it can't match the tonality of the W4 with the right tips. So I'm really anxious to see if Westone can one up Shure once again, given my personal preference in sound. I don't think it matters at all that Westone hasn't (apparently) come up with a supposedly innovative driver, as Shure claims for their sub. All that ultimately matters is how they sound when they're tickling my eardrums. And from past experience, Westone knows what they're doing when it comes to sound, and are very good at it.

 

[Spyro]

Any more word on the W60s? Got my preorder in a few days ago. Can't wait to compare with my SE846. I've always preferred that warm, lush "Westone sound" over Shure's. But the SE846 were just too great to let go of. And I half jokingly said I would use them until Westone came out with their $1K universal IEM. Little did I realize it would be so soon.

But even now, as great as the SE846 is, it can't match the tonality of the W4 with the right tips. So I'm really anxious to see if Westone can one up Shure once again, given my personal preference in sound. I don't think it matters at all that Westone hasn't (apparently) come up with a supposedly innovative driver, as Shure claims for their sub. All that ultimately matters is how they sound when they're tickling my eardrums. And from past experience, Westone knows what they're doing when it comes to sound, and are very good at it.

Did you have SE535 too?  Is main difference just the bass?

 

[vantagesc]

Any more word on the W60s? Got my preorder in a few days ago. Can't wait to compare with my SE846. I've always preferred that warm, lush "Westone sound" over Shure's. But the SE846 were just too great to let go of. And I half jokingly said I would use them until Westone came out with their $1K universal IEM. Little did I realize it would be so soon.

But even now, as great as the SE846 is, it can't match the tonality of the W4 with the right tips. So I'm really anxious to see if Westone can one up Shure once again, given my personal preference in sound. I don't think it matters at all that Westone hasn't (apparently) come up with a supposedly innovative driver, as Shure claims for their sub. All that ultimately matters is how they sound when they're tickling my eardrums. And from past experience, Westone knows what they're doing when it comes to sound, and are very good at it.

 
I think the most remarkable thing about the SE846 is that they don't match my preferred sound profile (I gravitate towards thinner sounding, more clinical sounding earphones).  Yet I really like them and decided to keep them after a 30 day trial period.  They are awesome in environments like airplanes. 
 
What is it about the W4 tonality that you like?

 

[audionewbi]

Any word on these?

 

[xaddictionx]

Seems like Westone has been overshadowed..

 

[javahut]

I heard from Westone support a couple days ago that it would still be a few weeks for the W60 (whatever that means). A retailer told me they weren't expecting them until April. Very anxious to check out the W60 versus my SE846. In general, I've always preferred Westones to Shures. Hoping that will still be the case!

 

[halcyon]

$999 and no in-built/shipping cable for the most sold mobile platform (Android) in the world? PASS

 

[roy_jones]

I'm not nearly as concerned as I was a couple years ago when the high priced universals first emerged.  There is so much price pressure on IEMs in that tier with how competitive the lower tiers are.  These are the golden days of IEMs. 
 
Cables make no difference towards sound quality, but people will argue with the certainty of a religious zealot that they do.    Save your money or at least do the most basic independent research before the PT Barnum folk here suck you in. 

 

[spook76]

I'm not nearly as concerned as I was a couple years ago when the high priced universals first emerged.  There is so much price pressure on IEMs in that tier with how competitive the lower tiers are.  These are the golden days of IEMs. 

Cables make no difference towards sound quality, but people will argue with the certainty of a religious zealot that they do.    Save your money or at least do the most basic independent research before the PT Barnum folk here suck you in. 

I agree. What mystifies me is why you would want to buy a $1,000 IEM to answer phone calls. Use your included earphones for that. I personally hate talking on the phone with IEMs as you have no feed back from your own voice.

 

[truckdriver]

I agree. What mystifies me is why you would want to buy a $1,000 IEM to answer phone calls. Use your included earphones for that. I personally hate talking on the phone with IEMs as you have no feed back from your own voice.

 
Spook, you reminded me of that mic cable that I had with my SE530 years ago.The 530 had that short cable and the mic would sit about chest level.  My brother had a wonky Bluetooth that fed my own voice back to me. It was bad.

 

[vantagesc]

I agree. What mystifies me is why you would want to buy a $1,000 IEM to answer phone calls. Use your included earphones for that. I personally hate talking on the phone with IEMs as you have no feed back from your own voice.

 
I bought Logitech's iPhone cable to use with my SE846s.  I will often get phone calls when traveling and it's a big hassle to take out the IEM while walking through the airport to answer a call.  Or maybe I'm at the gym.  It's just more convenient.
 
Not a big believer in cables at all, but I think the stock Shure cable sound a bit more strong in the bass than the Logitech cable.  Might be a problem with the Logitech connector.