[fluffyberry]

I visited hong kong for the week and today i spent the afternoon at the mingo store in hong kong.
While i have a smallish collection of headphones they are all full size cans which i use at home with the audio technical 900x as my personal favorite.
for in ear monitors i've had a cheapish pair of ultimate ears i got on a deal a year or so ago but i was never in love with them (i've also had sennheisers and shure).
my main gripe with iem's has always been fit, something which i suspect is more related to my ears than anything else.

making a longish story shorter, mingo has something like 200 headsets one can audition. On a monday afternoon right upon opening i was one out of two customers in the store.
i wanted to try iem's as i have enough of big can's and i already know what my next big headset purchase is going to look like. An hour in i had found a headset i liked, the westone.

i first tried the westone 1. It was excellent and i liked the fit. Then i tried the westone 10 pro. Holy cow what a difference in sound! And the fit was still great.
I spent a good hour with the 10 pro and i really liked it a lot. Then i went and tried the 20 pro. Didn't like it as much, there was something in the mid register that just didn't sound as good to me as the 10 pro. After this came the 30pro. What a difference.  I spent another hour with them, switching back and forth with the 10 pro. Clearly a very different sound signature and i can see how i liked them both! The 10pro seemed to me to be more forgiving of poorly recorded material, while the 30pro seemed to call out every little detail, and went a bit deeper in the bass region. the 30 pro was just fantastic when listening to them with great recordings but a crappy recording, especially with music with lots of electronica sounded too harsh, maybe even a tad bit shrill. To me this was more a reveal of the flaws in the recording but as i want to enjoy my music even when crappy i found that the 10 pro didn't give me the same experience.

listening to the BBC news broadcast via podcast yielded about the same experience on both models.

Since i plan to travel and use iem for commute and travelling i think the 10 is the better choice for me. For critical listening i'm using full size cans anyway.

Conclusion:  to me the 20 pro didn't sound good at all, the 30 pro excelled in all aspects with great program content, but the 10 pro was more forgiving of less great recordings and content at the expense of a bit lower bass. For a great all rounder i think the 10 pro is the better choice.

Nice impressions! Did you compare them to the origial um series? Cos thats what the new line i supposed to replace, not the w line

 

[Zalithian]

Nice impressions! Did you compare them to the origial um series? Cos thats what the new line i supposed to replace, not the w line

the new and old um lines are supposed to sound the same

 

[Spyro]

Exactly.....the review was a waste of typing and means nothing whatsoever.....

 

[fluffyberry]

yeah but he compared the new um series to the original w series, or did i read that wrong?? O.o

 

[Zalithian]

The new w series is also the same as the old w series.

 

[bumbabeef]

  Exactly.....the review was a waste of typing and means nothing whatsoever.....

I don't think he was comparing them to the w line at least not the whole line. He was just giving his impressions of the new um pro line.

 

[Zalithian]

I don't think he was comparing them to the w line at least not the whole line. He was just giving his impressions of the new um pro line.

But it's not "new"

 

[bumbabeef]

But it's not "new"

New design and new cable yes, New sound is debatable, hopefully we get a review and comparison from joker soon.

 

[Zalithian]

New design and new cable yes, New sound is debatable, hopefully we get a review and comparison from joker soon.

please explain how new sound is debatable.

 

[bumbabeef]

please explain how new sound is debatable.

well one review said it was and some reviews said no. I'm waiting on someone who has both um3x and the new um pro 30s that can do a thorough review and comparison.

 

[Zalithian]

Okay, I understand. There are some mixed signals but I don't think anyone has really said they sound noticeably different. Even Westone isn't mentioning that and Westone has told a couple people that they sound the same. Whether they sound different or not, the difference is negligible.

 

[soundy08]

May I know what is the difference between the UM / UM Pro series and W series?

 

[Spyro]

  May I know what is the difference between the UM / UM Pro series and W series?

Cosmetics and cable only.  Sound and sound specs are the same.

 

[soundy08]

I'm confused, from what I have researched, they have different specs. I'm curious why Westone has two lines of product (UM and W series).
 
UM PRO 30 Specs

1. Sensitivity: 124 dB @ 1 mW
2. Frequency Response: 20 Hz - 18 kHz
3. Impedance: 56 Ohms @ 1 kHz
4. Passive Noise Attenuation: 25 dB
5. Driver: 3 balanced armature drivers with passive 3-way crossover
6. Cable Length: 50"/128 cm

http://www.earphonesolutions.com/westone-um-pro-30.html
 
 
W30 Specs:

1. Sensitivity: 107 dB SPL @ 1 mW - what does this mean? The higher this number the "louder" it will play at a certain volume setting. 107 db is an excellent number.
2. Frequency Response: 20 Hz - 18 kHz
3. Impedance: 30 ohms @ 1 kHz - what does this mean? The lower the number the less power it requires. 30 ohms is considered very efficient.
4. Moise attenuation: 25 dB
5. Drivers Config: 3 balanced armature drivers with 3-way crossover
6. Weight: 0.445 ounces / 12.7 grams
7. Cables: EPIC replaceable cable
8. Cable: 50” / 128 cm
9. Premium comfort tips, mini-monitor vault, cleaning tool, and 2-year warranty when you buy from Earphone Solutions

http://www.earphonesolutions.com/westone-w30.html

 

[Spyro]

Oh...I thought you meant old version versus new version.

W series is for consumer market with larger soundstage and UM series is for musicians for monitoring on stage. Reviews on W3 versus UM3X will also explain differences.