[lee730]

Yes you can get IE8's for a bit under $300.00 its best to make sure they are certified Sennheiser Dealers though for your safety. I purchased mine on ebay for $260 dollars and that is a very good price, and they are legit; I registered them with sennheiser and they pass with flying colors. I would also recommend an extended warranty from square trade so you'll have a 5 year warrenty. On such an expensive investment I think its worth the little extra money for sound piece of mind .

 

[lee730]

How are his comments on this useless? For your information he is right, you can get better pair earphones at that price range. I have seen the Westone 2's go for $300.00 or more but that is not a deal. You can get a genuine pair for $229.99 on sale at amazon.com. You can get Westone 3's for $334 on sale on amazon, which would be a better deal for that money. IMO though the Sennheiser IE8's are the way to go for overall balance and great bass with a superior sound stage. I got my pair of IE8's for $260 dollars and they are legit.  The Sennheiser's full retail is around $400.00 which I do not consider a deal and I would not have purchased them at that price.
 

 

[shotgunshane]

The Westones on Amazon are not from authorized dealers, so you would have no warranty.

 

[lee730]

I recommend going to amazon.com and checking out the IE8's on sale around the $260 dollar range. They go all the way up to $400.00 which is crazy to me but they retail up to that. I got my pair from ebay for $260.00 and they are legit. Just be careful though as there are a lot of fakes and to be sure, always register you products with the manufacturer online as that will give you an immediate indication if they are legit. Also when you order lets say through amazon, you have protection and can get refunded if you were ripped off; that always offer me sound piece of mind. Just do your research and don't order any headphones that seem to good of price to be true. I think you were referring to the Westone 2's earlier for $300.00, don't bother with those. If anything get the Westone 3's for $334 on amazon. Still I prefer my IE8's as they have magnificent bass, great overall sound quality with balance and a superior sound stage. They sound like you are wearing large headphones having such a sound stage. I must admit I was a bit disapointed with them out of the box but when I found out they require a burn in period I calmed down. After just a few hours of listening they improved 150% and they still continue to improve. I've burned them in for a bit over a 100 hours and Id say at least til 150 hours they won't be fully burned in. I'm excited as that means they just continue to improve and I am already satisfied with them. And if you want to take your music and headphones to an even greater level, consider an amplifier. I got a Fiio E7 amp this week from amazon and I can't say enough about it. It makes all the difference. It even makes my bose IE 2's sound fantastic. Good luck man and keep me posted on your decision.

 

[lee730]

You may be right on that I'm not sure about that. All I know is that the pair of Sennheiser IE8's I bought were not from an authorized dealer but he did acquire them from an authorized dealer and I did register them with Sennheiser and they did not deny my warrenty of 2 years, so just a little food for thought. Plus square trade wouldn't have given me my 3 year warranty as well if not, I just entered the item number from ebay and they immediately offered the 3 year warranty for a bit under $30.00. IMO as long as the products are legitimate then the manufacturer has no right to deny your right to your warranty. The only case they can really get away with this is when you order from lets say Europe and your from America, that's different; lol then again these did originally come from Germany so thats not 100% true either. All I know is that Sennheiser is backing their warranty. So what I gather as long as the product is a Genuine product, Sennheiser won't screw you over like the other IEM manufacturers could. You just need proof of purchase along with Serial.

 

[lee730]

I contacted that dealer from amazon to confirm if what you say is true, I'm just curious about this as I can't understand how I can get away with it but others can't. I think some IEM manufacturers are just trying to find ways out of warranty support, which should be illegal.

 

[Eric_C]

lee730, I suggest using the Quote function in your replies, or writing the names of people when posting. It's hard to tell who you're referring to in this thread.

 

[drewrussell2011]

I use the UM2 as my stage monitors, and they are absolutely wonderful for that. To me, they are very analytical, which is a good thing in a live setting. However, running them straight from my iPod, unamped, I'd rather something else simply because the sound isn't "fun". Just a thought for the OP.

 

[lee730]

 
Quote:

lee730, I suggest using the Quote function in your replies, or writing the names of people when posting. It's hard to tell who you're referring to in this thread.

Sorry Eric I'm still getting use to posting as I am new to this. I was referring to this post
 
Originally Posted by illwafer 


 
Quote:

erm no. for US$300 you can do far better

 
your 2nd useless post to the thread. congratulations.
 
 
 As I don't think that was appropriate of him to say his comments are useless. For that price IMO that is not worth it for the westone 2's although I'm sure they are great ear buds. My IE8's are definitely more expensive than the Westone 2's at full retail and I managed to get them cheaper than $300.00.

 

[lee730]

Quote:

The Westones on Amazon are not from authorized dealers, so you would have no warranty.

Well I contacted the seller and he/she states that the Westone 3's will be covered under warrenty if purchased through them so there's no worries about that and you will have the support of amazon behind you. Plus you save some money instead of paying the $400.00 premium for them. I gather the same goes for the Westone 2's which are about 100 dollars cheaper than the 3's on amazon. Here's the contact information below from them. As long as the product is legit they have to support the warranty.
 
Hi, yes, it will have a full manufacturer warranty,
thanks.

On Thu, Jan 13, 2011 at 2:41 PM, Jimmy Angelo - Amazon Marketplace <[e-mail address removed]> wrote:
Hello there I was just curious about a pair of ear buds. I see that you have Westone 3's for about $340.00 dollars and was wondering, are you a certified dealer. More so will the buy of this product be able to use the warranty from the manufacturer or would it be voided because you are not a certified dealer. Thank you this is very important for me to know and it could get you a sale based on your reply. Thank you once again.

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[shotgunshane]

Westone specifically mentions Crawfords an an unauthorized dealer on their website.  They will not honor warranty from them.  Ask Westone not the dealer.  No matter the dealer, all manufacturers will not honor the warranty without proof of purchase (receipt) from an authorized dealer.  That includes Sennheiser.  All their websites allow you to "register" your product for the warranty but if you read the small print it says registering doesn't mean you qualify for warranty.  "The Sennheiser product you have purchased features a Limited Warranty of 24 months. The warranty period begins on the date of purchase of the brand new Sennheiser product by the first end user.  A valid, dated proof of purchase from an authorized Sennheiser dealer or reseller is necessary to establish warranty period."    
 
Some unauthorized dealers will try to perform warranty work themselves.  Good luck with that.

 

[shotgunshane]

Not to mention there are coupon codes all over the place to use at authorized dealers.  Common ones are anywhere from 5% to 15% off.  There's no reason to pay full price anywhere.  That means brand new UM2's with removable cables can be had for around $260 from a legit dealer.

 

[Totally Dubbed]

I haven't read the whole thread:
Just saw the first page, where a head-fier & 100+ were slagging off Mark...LOL..you idiots. Be nice to each other!
 
I'm with mark here,
personally I would go for the w2's if anything.
But saying that I KNOW you can get some W3's for like 350 bucks.
I know that as I'm from the UK and comparing the prices between the US and UK market...means we have to pay a big deal more to get what you guys are getting.
More so, I bought the W2's was disappointed then sold them. Especially for their premium price.
Saying that the W's are produced in the US so no surprises there.
 
Personally, I had the W2's, and demoed the UM2's, UM3x and the W3's.
Out of all I preferred: W3, um3x, then the W2's and then the UM2's.
But the W3's + UM3x's were out of my budget - around £200 for the W2's and UM2's and around £350 for the W3's...You put that in the $ currency...that's a huge difference.
 
The W1-2-3 are made for PERSONAL listening, not monitors, unlike the UM range.
Which means that overall the W2-3's will sound better for what you want.
Although if you like a lot of vocals - opera or what not - go for the UM's. They will reproduce clear voice much better
 
Now in terms of price range: Get the W3's please lol
I know you can get the W3's for that sort of price in the US. I could be wrong, but I'm sure you can get your hands on w3's for that same price.
A quick ebay search suggests that the W3's are $400. So I'm sure the 300 mark wouldn't be impossible to achieve. Look at Head-fi as well. Good deals go through here!
 
NOW:
Do your really want a BA driver - like the Westone's have?
They are good for noise separation, their sound stage is really good, but their bass sucks SO BADLY!
 
Put it this way:
My £45 sony ex500's had better pounding bass, than my £200 Westone 2's.
 
Up to you !
 
Hope I helped!
And Mark was partially right, you could do better for the same price - not Westone products - but still - especially seeing as you are in the US.

 

[Spyro]

One can make a good argument that UM2 is worth upper $200's or near $300.  First, it is literally one of only a few universal IEM's still made in the USA.  Very well built with the housing made of a very dense, heavy resin versus the weaker plastic shell design in the "listener series" (W1, 2, 3) and just about every other IEM currently made.  Secondly, it houses the same Knowles ED9689 driver as the ER4 (granted, tuned differently)  + you get another driver to beef up the bottom end.  Sounds like a deal to me.  Back in the day, I remember actually preferring the UM2 over SE530 by a slim margin for it's creamier, more natural sound. 
 
UM3X was hailed as a "much improved" UM2 and it certainly has improvements however the big knock on UM3X is a very "dull" and dry presentation.  From memory, I never recall such a statement like that when describing UM2.  Actually I remember it being fairly fun and musical.
 
If you are a listener that misses the SE530sound, UM2 is about as close as you can get.  I think it is becoming a classic that will be around a long time.