[tigon_ridge]

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Musicman /img/forum/go_quote.gif I appreciate the style and music reproduction of headphones is ultimately down to personal taste, but having now having had a pair of Westone 3's for a couple of weeks my overall view of their performance is disappointing. You of course need to have something to compare with to make a valued judgement; before buying the Westone's I have lived happily with a pair of Ultimate Triple 10's. The Westone's cable is very thin and not easy to mould around the back of your ears. This also makes them appear very fragile. Some folk talk about the Triple 10's not being the most comfortable; I personally find them very comfortable using Comply Ear Tips. Not the case with Westone's which after 30 minutes-or-so started to feel uncomfortable. With only two sizes of ear-tips supplied I also could not get a good seal in the ear. Sound quality; the Westones are much brighter than the Triples 10's. Listening to classical music I describe the sound as shrill. The bass, although not lacking, in my view can’t compete with the Triple 10’s, especially if you listen a lot to soul/dance music As you can rarely audition in-ear plugs, like me you rely on sites like this to help make your buying decisions and it was on this basis I decided to buy the Westones. If I had had the opportunity to listen to them first I almost certainly would not have bought them. So in my view, if you are looking to buy the best non custom made IEPs that money can buy I recommend the Triple 10’s over the Westones UM 3 without question

This is the um3x thread, sir. There is no "UM 3". Let's not mixed these two breeds together. And let's not try to confuse the newbies (me, myself, and I) by making up your own acronyms like "IEP's". That said, what tips have you been using with your Westone 3's?

 

[No Deal]

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Musicman /img/forum/go_quote.gif I appreciate the style and music reproduction of headphones is ultimately down to personal taste, but having now having had a pair of Westone 3's for a couple of weeks my overall view of their performance is disappointing. You of course need to have something to compare with to make a valued judgement; before buying the Westone's I have lived happily with a pair of Ultimate Triple 10's. The Westone's cable is very thin and not easy to mould around the back of your ears. This also makes them appear very fragile. Some folk talk about the Triple 10's not being the most comfortable; I personally find them very comfortable using Comply Ear Tips. Not the case with Westone's which after 30 minutes-or-so started to feel uncomfortable. With only two sizes of ear-tips supplied I also could not get a good seal in the ear. Sound quality; the Westones are much brighter than the Triples 10's. Listening to classical music I describe the sound as shrill. The bass, although not lacking, in my view can’t compete with the Triple 10’s, especially if you listen a lot to soul/dance music As you can rarely audition in-ear plugs, like me you rely on sites like this to help make your buying decisions and it was on this basis I decided to buy the Westones. If I had had the opportunity to listen to them first I almost certainly would not have bought them. So in my view, if you are looking to buy the best non custom made IEPs that money can buy I recommend the Triple 10’s over the Westones UM 3 without question

What was/is your source?

Have you considered cutting your losses and putting the earphones up for sale while there is a generally favorable view of them? The experience that I am having with the earphone is the opposite of yours but if I felt as strongly as you sound, I would be getting rid of them.

 

[bakhtiar]

Quote:

Originally Posted by charlie0904 /img/forum/go_quote.gif hi there, what did you use to coil the um3x connector? (blue color wire thingy, a wire?)

It does nothing to do with the sound quality. It just a RJ 45 (cat 6) cable, and coiled around the stress relief. to enhance the stress relief. Also it is my own way to 'mark' my equipments

, and I did it to most of my wired equipments.

 

[mark2410]

Quote:

Originally Posted by gameboy115 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Quick question, just wonder why don't you go for W3 instead, since it has better bass and soundstage which similar to SE 530

well from what i read the W3 is V shaped, when everyone jumped all ove the um3 as being 530 competition that was of far greater interest to me. may try the w3 one day but in no great hurry, i i do rather think of it as being a um3 just tuned differently. just nothing ive read about it makes me go "ooooh i want it"

 

[mark2410]

Quote:

Originally Posted by 3X0 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Interesting.. I don't believe I've heard the UM3X being called shrill before or uncomfortable, especially not in comparison to the 10 pro. I'm surprised.

well i can see why it would be. uncomfortable is entirely dependant on the shape of your ears, um3 works fine for me and most but cant be for everyone.

as for being shrill i find the um3 goes that way with the icon mobile, S and T's become very very sharp on some songs and is just so entirly source dependant. ive never encounted anything that changes so very very much depending on whats driving it. so depending on the source he uses i can very easily see it being harsh or shrill. i know when i use my comps sound card to drive them they sound just awful

 

[midget]

can anyone comment on the soundstage of the um3x? i know everyone says that its largely dependent on the source, but i'd like to know how the soundstage scales to, say, the se530. personally i find the soundstaging on my lowly uhp336 (sf3) superior to the se530's. any thoughts?

 

[3X0]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mark2410 /img/forum/go_quote.gif well i can see why it would be. uncomfortable is entirely dependant on the shape of your ears, um3 works fine for me and most but cant be for everyone.

Given my nascent experience with the Westone UM2 and the 10 pro back in the day, I absolutely refuse to believe that anyone could find the former less comfortable than the latter given the same tips. Though I see what you're saying, it doesn't make any sense to me given my inspection of both designs.

 

[mark2410]

Quote:

Originally Posted by 3X0 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Given my nascent experience with the Westone UM2 and the 10 pro back in the day, I absolutely refuse to believe that anyone could find the former less comfortable than the latter given the same tips.

well ive had no problems with either, never found the triples to be uncomfortable in the slightest so if hes has the same it mightnt take much to make the um3 more uncomfortable

but yeah hes the only person i can think of ever saying they arent comfortable whereas many have complained about the triple

 

[twylight]

Shrillness for me has always been mistakes in my setup - usually having say the USB driver still on 48/16 with 44/16 audio and a lot of in PC converting going on - I benchmark my setup off CD transport , hard set everything to 44/16 with WASAPI and they sound identical...I wish CDs weren't annoying - its so easy to get a perfect signal off any old transport with a nice outboard DAC.

 

[mamba315]

I have a question for all UM3X owners...

I've had my UM3X for a couple months now, and the other day in the gym I noticed that the black cable was rubbing off and causing black streaks on my fingers and shirt. Has this happened to anyone else?

The rest of the cable is shiny black but the part that is causing the trouble is a dull black color. I guess I'll have to return to Westone but I want to know possible causes so that the same thing doesn't happen to my next pair.

I'd hate to send them back. They're quite an addictive pair of 'phones and I wouldn't like to be without them.

EDIT - It appears that it wasn't a problem with the cable after all. Some sort of black grease seems like it got into the braiding of the cord. Some careful cleaning with paper towel seems to have eliminated the problem. I have no idea how it got there, but unless the problem reappears I am going to assume the cable is not faulty and that it was just a foreign contaminant.

 

[epithetless]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mamba315 /img/forum/go_quote.gif I have a question for all UM3X owners... I've had my UM3X for a couple months now, and the other day in the gym I noticed that the black cable was rubbing off and causing black streaks on my fingers and shirt. Has this happened to anyone else? The rest of the cable is shiny black but the part that is causing the trouble is a dull black color. I guess I'll have to return to Westone but I want to know possible causes so that the same thing doesn't happen to my next pair.

This is just conjecture, but could your sweat have anything to do with it? Do other parts of the cable start coming off if you rub them? My three guesses would be sweat, skin oils, or defective sheathing (unless you happened to walk your UM3Xs through a spray of isopropyl alcohol...or, better yet, hydrochloric acid...

).

 

[mamba315]

Quote:

Originally Posted by epithetless /img/forum/go_quote.gif This is just conjecture, but could your sweat have anything to do with it? Do other parts of the cable start coming off if you rub them?

I have wondered if sweat/water could be a contributing cause. I am not a very sweaty person but it IS summertime and the gym gets hot no matter how many fans they have going. I haven't tested to see if I can get other parts of the cable to have the same problem... I guess I want to keep them in good shape just in case Westone refuses warranty for some reason. I should note that I am very careful with them during use and I store them in the case when I'm not wearing them. I would say I border on the careful side of "normal" use, so maybe it's a manufacturing or engineering defect.

EDIT - It appears that it wasn't a problem with the cable after all. Some sort of black grease seems like it got into the braiding of the cord. Some careful cleaning with paper towel seems to have eliminated the problem. I have no idea how it got there, but unless the problem reappears I am going to assume the cable is not faulty and that it was just a foreign contaminant. Props to powderhound and Westone for being so quick and willing to help.

 

[p0wderh0und23]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mamba315 /img/forum/go_quote.gif I have a question for all UM3X owners... I've had my UM3X for a couple months now, and the other day in the gym I noticed that the black cable was rubbing off and causing black streaks on my fingers and shirt. Has this happened to anyone else? The rest of the cable is shiny black but the part that is causing the trouble is a dull black color. I guess I'll have to return to Westone but I want to know possible causes so that the same thing doesn't happen to my next pair. I'd hate to send them back. They're quite an addictive pair of 'phones and I wouldn't like to be without them.

Send a good high res photo of the issue to us. This is a new one. Send it to Kyle at music@westone.com I'll work with him on it.

 

[charlie0904]

Quote:

Originally Posted by bakhtiar /img/forum/go_quote.gif It does nothing to do with the sound quality. It just a RJ 45 (cat 6) cable, and coiled around the stress relief. to enhance the stress relief. Also it is my own way to 'mark' my equipments , and I did it to most of my wired equipments.

oh... thanks maybe i will try...

cheers.

 

[talisman42]

my initial impression is that it's not a defect. other variables could include bug spray or other chemical?
Quote:

Originally Posted by mamba315 /img/forum/go_quote.gif I have a question for all UM3X owners... I've had my UM3X for a couple months now, and the other day in the gym I noticed that the black cable was rubbing off and causing black streaks on my fingers and shirt. Has this happened to anyone else? The rest of the cable is shiny black but the part that is causing the trouble is a dull black color. I guess I'll have to return to Westone but I want to know possible causes so that the same thing doesn't happen to my next pair. I'd hate to send them back. They're quite an addictive pair of 'phones and I wouldn't like to be without them.