[394216]

I've been using my UM3X for 8 years now, looking for an upgrade. Is the UM50 the upgrade I'm looking for?

 

[Pete7]

I looked into the nozzle and it doesn't look green. It's white or gray, it's hard to say not having other filters on hand to compare. Most probably it's white, and it's the same color as W60 have.

I took some close up photos, zoomed in on them and the filters look like the brown 1000 ohm filters to me. I'll take a better photo with my wife's Google Pixel 2 and post it later tonight.
If the tool from Aliexpress someone posted truly minimizes the risk, I'm willing to give it a go. Ordered that and a pair of the white 680 ohm filters. I'm curious if it might raise the treble a little without becoming sibilant.

 

[Pete7]

The filters are definitively the brown 1000 ohm filters. Use a white 680 ohm for a signature for more treble, the green 1500 ohm filter for a more bassy sig.

 

[BKG22]

I'm always down for Westone reviews

I have been consistently confused by Westone. I have consistently (from experience and other reviews) seen a consensus that Westone somehow manages to suck all of the musicality and fun out of any song you throw at it. It is very detailed, but about as fun as a toyota prius.

Ouch...

 

[elfary]

Ouch...

Why is it that Westone marketing is so low key these days?

When Westone 3 was released lots of tech sites reviewed them. It's been ages since a mainstream outlet reviewed a set of Westone iems.

 

[WhatToChoose]

Ouch...

Nah, not necessarily a bad thing man

Westone (at least, the W3/30s, and W80s from one review) is good for listeners who want a purely analytical listening experience.

 

[BKG22]

Why is it that Westone marketing is so low key these days?

When Westone 3 was released lots of tech sites reviewed them. It's been ages since a mainstream outlet reviewed a set of Westone iems.

I wouldn't say that Westone marketing is low key. I can actually confirm that our marketing department and budget is larger than it has ever been. There are two things that I could point to that would justify your perception.

First, Westone is a global brand selling our earphones into over 100 countries. Each of those countries receives some support with marketing which does stretch us thin. Some places we are better represented than others.

Secondly, the market has drastically changed since the days of the W3. There was a time that it was really Ultimate Ears, Shure, and Westone in the mix and all 3 of those companies had common bonds. At that time it was Westone and UE that were making genuine innovation in the iem space and allowing the products to market themselves. Nowadays there are a crazy number of companies entering the space and frankly, most of the "innovation" that they are shouting at the roof top is just noise. With all of these companies and all of this noise it seems Westone is just more quiet.

The truth is that we have two of the OGs in the industry, the Cartwrights, who just celebrated their 40th anniversary with Westone. If I were to walk into their office right now I can tell you that they have 3-4 project boxes with tech that has yet to be seen in an earphone and they are working every day on making something better than they have done before. I am excited for Westone's future and and the products on the horizon. We might be a bit more self reserved than the competition but if you've ever met the Cartwrights you'd understand why.

I appreciate the question though and am happy to answer any others.

Blake

 

[elfary]

I wouldn't say that Westone marketing is low key. I can actually confirm that our marketing department and budget is larger than it has ever been. There are two things that I could point to that would justify your perception.

First, Westone is a global brand selling our earphones into over 100 countries. Each of those countries receives some support with marketing which does stretch us thin. Some places we are better represented than others.

Secondly, the market has drastically changed since the days of the W3. There was a time that it was really Ultimate Ears, Shure, and Westone in the mix and all 3 of those companies had common bonds. At that time it was Westone and UE that were making genuine innovation in the iem space and allowing the products to market themselves. Nowadays there are a crazy number of companies entering the space and frankly, most of the "innovation" that they are shouting at the roof top is just noise. With all of these companies and all of this noise it seems Westone is just more quiet.

The truth is that we have two of the OGs in the industry, the Cartwrights, who just celebrated their 40th anniversary with Westone. If I were to walk into their office right now I can tell you that they have 3-4 project boxes with tech that has yet to be seen in an earphone and they are working every day on making something better than they have done before. I am excited for Westone's future and and the products on the horizon. We might be a bit more self reserved than the competition but if you've ever met the Cartwrights you'd understand why.

I appreciate the question though and am happy to answer any others.

Blake

Thanks a lot for your insightful answer. Much appreciated.

I have had Westone iems in my inventory since 2011 and i am not giving up anytime soon.

Actually in spite of the flooding of the marketplace and (quite questionable) marketing techniques of many manufacturers i just use Westone and Shure iems b/c of their industrial design, sound performance (their house sounds are brilliant and quite complementary) and tech support.

Heck i think it was Karl Cartwright (along with Jerry Harvey) the one who came up with the in ear concept to begin with.

 

[Spie1904]

After my first months of using my Westone ES 30, I figured I'd share some of my thoughts in this thread as it's based on the UM PRO 30 anyway if I'm not mistaken.
(I tried the UM PRO 30 to decide to get it built initially anyway and it sounds similar to what I can remember).

I listen to mostly Piano, Jazz, Rock, Metal, Folk and singer song writer stuff.
Occasionally I take some EDM, Drum'n Bass.

Please excuse my lack of terminology as I wouldn't call myself the typical audiophile.
I know what I like and what I don't but I sometimes have troubles explaining it.
Something I did however come to like about these Westone is what I think people would refer to as the 'closed soundstage'?
That may seem counter-intuitive but it often occurs when I go test some other IEM's.

The Westone ES30 really give me that close / intimate feeling of a concert happening inside my head and I'm the only spectator (similar to how the Etymotic ER4SR did that for me).
Yet somehow I'm still able to pick out where the sound is coming from (left, right, back, front of the orchestra so to speak).
I don't know if the detail is on the same level of the Etymotic as I could possibly confuse detail with different bass levels.
When I try high end IEM's, they often have this huge sound stage and while it's impressive, it's simply not what I prefer listening to for long sessions with my intimate type of music

Figured I'd share this for people who are wary about Westone because the people in these threads seem fairly quiet

Last but not least, these also work wonders when practing on my digital piano

 

[twister6]

After my first months of using my Westone ES 30, I figured I'd share some of my thoughts in this thread as it's based on the UM PRO 30 anyway if I'm not mistaken.
(I tried the UM PRO 30 to decide to get it built initially anyway and it sounds similar to what I can remember).

I listen to mostly Piano, Jazz, Rock, Metal, Folk and singer song writer stuff.
Occasionally I take some EDM, Drum'n Bass.

Please excuse my lack of terminology as I wouldn't call myself the typical audiophile.
I know what I like and what I don't but I sometimes have troubles explaining it.
Something I did however come to like about these Westone is what I think people would refer to as the 'closed soundstage'?
That may seem counter-intuitive but it often occurs when I go test some other IEM's.

The Westone ES30 really give me that close / intimate feeling of a concert happening inside my head and I'm the only spectator (similar to how the Etymotic ER4SR did that for me).
Yet somehow I'm still able to pick out where the sound is coming from (left, right, back, front of the orchestra so to speak).
I don't know if the detail is on the same level of the Etymotic as I could possibly confuse detail with different bass levels.
When I try high end IEM's, they often have this huge sound stage and while it's impressive, it's simply not what I prefer listening to for long sessions with my intimate type of music

Figured I'd share this for people who are wary about Westone because the people in these threads seem fairly quiet

Last but not least, these also work wonders when practing on my digital piano

Thanks for sharing your impressions. I had a few people in the past asking me about ES models, other than ES60 and ES80 I'm familiar with, so I will keep this in mind.

And, indeed, Westone threads get a lot more views than replies, with me usually being the loudest voice by default, or people just pinging me in PMs. So, I appreciate you chiming in.

 

[Spie1904]

Thanks for sharing your impressions. I had a few people in the past asking me about ES models, other than ES60 and ES80 I'm familiar with, so I will keep this in mind.

And, indeed, Westone threads get a lot more views than replies, with me usually being the loudest voice by default, or people just pinging me in PMs. So, I appreciate you chiming in.

I personally hadn't heard anything before by Westone but I ended up trying their lineup when I just couldn't find a single IEM that I could comfortably listen to for longer than 30 minutes. The biggest cause is that I have a rather small ear according to audiologist so there is not a lot of room in the concha area of my ear. Therefore I was pleasantly surprised when the Westone shells turned out to be super comfortable (tried W10, W20, UM PRO 30).
I unfortunately had issues with the W80 being a bit too thick / large.
The Westone lab also confirmed after taking my impressions that they could at the most fit in 3 BA drivers in the shell in order for it to remain comfortable.

Since then I've been very happy with my ES 30 when it comes to comfort.
In terms of audio quality, I'd say these are sufficient but I'm keeping my eyes open for any 'high end stuff' that would be tiny enough for me to give a spin.
However with the war of the BA drivers (5,8,12,...), I doubt that day is gonna come any soon

What I haven't tried yet is getting an after market cable for my Westone's (now use the regular epic cable).
Overall it's fairly comfortable so haven't searched for anything after market and I'm not so sure a cable will change much either (not experienced with cables)

 

[twister6]

I personally hadn't heard anything before by Westone but I ended up trying their lineup when I just couldn't find a single IEM that I could comfortably listen to for longer than 30 minutes. The biggest cause is that I have a rather small ear according to audiologist so there is not a lot of room in the concha area of my ear. Therefore I was pleasantly surprised when the Westone shells turned out to be super comfortable (tried W10, W20, UM PRO 30).
I unfortunately had issues with the W80 being a bit too thick / large.
The Westone lab also confirmed after taking my impressions that they could at the most fit in 3 BA drivers in the shell in order for it to remain comfortable.

Since then I've been very happy with my ES 30 when it comes to comfort.
In terms of audio quality, I'd say these are sufficient but I'm keeping my eyes open for any 'high end stuff' that would be tiny enough for me to give a spin.
However with the war of the BA drivers (5,8,12,...), I doubt that day is gonna come any soon

What I haven't tried yet is getting an after market cable for my Westone's (now use the regular epic cable).
Overall it's fairly comfortable so haven't searched for anything after market and I'm not so sure a cable will change much either (not experienced with cables)

Oh, I remember now, we talked in PM about this Yeah, seems that CIEM is the only way for you to go, mate. Glad ES30 worked out well. If they could squeze W80 or W60 drivers into W10-size shell, that would have been ideal for you, but you know it's not feasible.

With a cable, Linum SuperBax, that would be a step up for you, keeping the same comfort as Epic, and improving sonic fidelity.

 

[Blackeyeliner]

So, back to my treble problem with UM Pro 50's. I had filters replaced. They indeed were brown and they were replaced to white (least resistive, I believe?). I honestly don't hear ANY difference. They are still highs-dead to me, and I have W60's to compare - those are piercingly, sharply bright (compared, of course - they are totally adequate "objectively"). And now I think they're a little too bright for my taste). Filters are indeed replaced by the shop - it's clear looking into the nozzle that they're not the same and white. Maybe it's worth trying taking those filters out altogether for a chance? I love the sound, build, bass, and fullness, but highs are just.. absent. Completely absent. By the way, I compared them to new UM Pro 50's in store - same thing. W60, W80, UM Pro 30 - all have highs, UM Pro 50 - don't. At least, to my ear.

And it was interesting to me, how absent are highs in my UM Pro 50? So what I did I took my reference HD650's, took some listening sessions with speakers, and then started to build an equalization curve to bring them to "normal sound". What I ended with was (who's standing, sit) - +5.5 Db at slow slope from 4.9K upwards, plus some other adjustments. On my ADI-2 Dac's screen it looks like this:

And mind you, this does NOT sound like something weirdly bright, it sounds normal. I'd say much softer (in high-frequency department) than W60 unequalized (from any source, not only ADI-2). And this _normal_ sound is amazing, really on par with W60 and very nice and enjoyable. I would be okay if every player I have had parametric EQ, but somehow equalization of headphones was considered an unredeemable sin by audiophile community, and so many devices come without any DSP whatsoever, there's no parametric system-wide EQ in iPhone, Spotify has some rudimentary controls that barely help, etc.

I mean, I am lost. This is so wrong and hard to understand. How come I need to add 5.5 Db of high frequencies for it to start sounding at least neutral.

 

[assassin10000]

Gray is the least resistance. Well that or no filter.

Hmmm. Dunno what to tell you, as I don't have the UM Pro 50 (or your ears also ).

 

[twister6]

So, back to my treble problem with UM Pro 50's. I had filters replaced. They indeed were brown and they were replaced to white (least resistive, I believe?). I honestly don't hear ANY difference. They are still highs-dead to me, and I have W60's to compare - those are piercingly, sharply bright (compared, of course - they are totally adequate "objectively"). And now I think they're a little too bright for my taste). Filters are indeed replaced by the shop - it's clear looking into the nozzle that they're not the same and white. Maybe it's worth trying taking those filters out altogether for a chance? I love the sound, build, bass, and fullness, but highs are just.. absent. Completely absent. By the way, I compared them to new UM Pro 50's in store - same thing. W60, W80, UM Pro 30 - all have highs, UM Pro 50 - don't. At least, to my ear.

And it was interesting to me, how absent are highs in my UM Pro 50? So what I did I took my reference HD650's, took some listening sessions with speakers, and then started to build an equalization curve to bring them to "normal sound". What I ended with was (who's standing, sit) - +5.5 Db at slow slope from 4.9K upwards, plus some other adjustments. On my ADI-2 Dac's screen it looks like this:



And mind you, this does NOT sound like something weirdly bright, it sounds normal. I'd say much softer (in high-frequency department) than W60 unequalized (from any source, not only ADI-2). And this _normal_ sound is amazing, really on par with W60 and very nice and enjoyable. I would be okay if every player I have had parametric EQ, but somehow equalization of headphones was considered an unredeemable sin by audiophile community, and so many devices come without any DSP whatsoever, there's no parametric system-wide EQ in iPhone, Spotify has some rudimentary controls that barely help, etc.

I mean, I am lost. This is so wrong and hard to understand. How come I need to add 5.5 Db of high frequencies for it to start sounding at least neutral.

Sorry if I asked you this before, just loosing track of all Westone replies I post on head-fi/FB/email But are you using foam or silicone eartips? Foam will absorb some high frequencies. Also, go down one eartip size smaller. Loosening up the seal with balance out the sound where bass will get lower, giving upper mids/treble more room to breath Also, try some silver-plated cables, you can sharpen the sound a bit this way.