[TCD1975]

  I get alot of harsh highs and hiss as well, but I didn't want to be the bearer of bad news..

 
I don't think I said that I thought the highs were harsh - they may be, but I didn't notice in the short time I spent listening - just that I noticed hiss from my Sony NW-ZX100. Sony DAPs have a bit of a reputation for hiss, but I can't say I've noticed any hiss before using my other (limited range of) IEMs.
 

 
Have you tried Noble K10UA? It has a detailed laid-back sound.

 
No. I'm not really in the "big league" when it comes to IEMs.
 
I've had Westone UM Pro 50 and W60, and they both fit well within my own personal comfort zone when it comes to price/performance ratio.
 
I've had the Shure SE846 which were too forward, narrow, and fatiguing for my personal taste.
 
And now I've tried the W80, but for me personally I don't think I can justify the 50% jump in cost over the W60, and I also question the reliability of the MMCX connectors.
 
The Noble Kaiser 10U are amongst several universal IEMs I'm interested in, including Astell & Kern Roxanne II, Earsonics S-EM9, and 64 Audio U12, but they are all a significant increase in budget to what I'm used to, so I wish I could try before I buy.

 

[ljnew]

   
Which source are you pairing W80 with?  Hissing with Ref8 cable is noticeable with some of the sources, but not as bad as what you hear with ES60 or Zeus or Andromeda.  Regarding harsh highs, I mean, we all have a different perception of the sound and I'm the one who will be the first to admit about being allergic to harsh and grainy upper mids and bright treble.  But honestly, I don't find W80 to be harsh at all.  As an example, S-EM9, K10UA, and Andromeda have brighter and more forward highs (not by a mile, but they do relative to W80).  Also, when you use small eartips, lacking a tight seal, the low end impact is attenuated, thus creating a perception of the high frequency tilt.
 
But hey, we all hear things differently, and there are so many other IEMs/CIEMs to choose from

I have lg v10 and im using flac files.  Also, i always use viper4android and dolby atmos to customize the sound to my liking.  I believe that's why i like the um pro 50 so much because it is made for mixing.  i noticed and believe the w80 may be best for people not using eq as the sound is somewhat colored already.
 
But I noticed thats what the um pro did pretty well; I was able to hear detailed highs without them being harsh at all.  imho

 

[twister6]

 

   
Which source are you pairing W80 with?  Hissing with Ref8 cable is noticeable with some of the sources, but not as bad as what you hear with ES60 or Zeus or Andromeda.  Regarding harsh highs, I mean, we all have a different perception of the sound and I'm the one who will be the first to admit about being allergic to harsh and grainy upper mids and bright treble.  But honestly, I don't find W80 to be harsh at all.  As an example, S-EM9, K10UA, and Andromeda have brighter and more forward highs (not by a mile, but they do relative to W80).  Also, when you use small eartips, lacking a tight seal, the low end impact is attenuated, thus creating a perception of the high frequency tilt.
 
But hey, we all hear things differently, and there are so many other IEMs/CIEMs to choose from

I have lg v10 and im using flac files.  Also, i always use viper4android and dolby atmos to customize the sound to my liking.  I believe that's why i like the um pro 50 so much because it is made for mixing.  i noticed and believe the w80 may be best for people not using eq as the sound is somewhat colored already.
 
But I noticed thats what the um pro did pretty well; I was able to hear detailed highs without them being harsh at all.  imho

 
Bingo!  If your current setup makes UMPro 50 sound like you have described, you are already compensating/enhancing upper mids.  Using the same setup with W80 will push it over the limit and can make it sound harsh

 

[ljnew]

   
Bingo!  If your current setup makes UMPro 50 sound like you have described, you are already compensating/enhancing upper mids.  Using the same setup with W80 will push it over the limit and can make it sound harsh

fair enough

 

[obsidyen]

   
I don't think I said that I thought the highs were harsh - they may be, but I didn't notice in the short time I spent listening - just that I noticed hiss from my Sony NW-ZX100. Sony DAPs have a bit of a reputation for hiss, but I can't say I've noticed any hiss before using my other (limited range of) IEMs.
 
 
No. I'm not really in the "big boy league" when it comes to IEMs.
 
I've had Westone UM Pro 50 and W60, and they both fit well within my own personal comfort zone when it comes to cost/performance ratio.
 
I've had the Shure SE846 which were too forward, narrow, and fatiguing for my personal taste.
 
And now I've tried the W80, but for me personally I don't think I can justify the 50% jump in cost over the W60, and I also question the reliability of the MMCX connectors.
 
The Noble Kaiser 10U are amongst several universal IEMs I'm interested in, including Astell & Kern Roxanne II, Earsonics S-EM9, and 64 Audio U12, but they are all a significant increase in budget to what I'm used to, so I wish I could try before I buy.

 
I could maybe recommend Earsonics ES3, the new 399 Euro IEM from Earsonics. I have not heard it yet but some reviewers say it gives you 90% of the sound that S-EM9 does. How it is compared to W60, I wouldn't know since I've heard neither. However, laid-back sound bores me so I'd probably prefer ES3. I agree that affording TOTL IEMs, which get more expensive every day (Dita's new DD IEM is USD 2000), is a tough pill to swallow. 

 

[TCD1975]

I'd not even heard of Dita until you mentioned them. There are so many expensive universal IEMs available now.
 
When I first started visiting this forum, about 10 years ago (registered with a different username) the 3 pinnacles of the universal IEM world were probably Shure SE530, UE TripleFi 10, and Westone UM2. I think they were all about $300 or less.
 
I'm not saying the technology hasn't moved on, in leaps and bounds, but that's some inflation right there.

 

[klove4252]

I'm a fan of the W80 so far. They are very open and airy, and they offer a relaxing and smooth listening experience. The only negative for me is the memory wire. They hurt the comfort and the fit, but the cable itself is great. I might try to remove the mod like @twister6 mentioned. 

 

[Naim.F.C]

IEM's are becoming such exploitative cash cows these days. I find it absolutely absurd that they're charging this much extra, for just a few extra drivers and some minor sonic tweaks, and ultimately in essentially the same, really not that great, cheap housing. There are literally $30 earphones on Amazon that have better housing quality and materials (though not necessarily comfort). I wouldn't be surprised if the manufacturing cost to Westone was orders of magnitude less than the asking price for these, and I really can't see R&D costs being exorbitant either.
 
I own the W40's, and very much like them, but really only after some minor EQ tweaking to get rid of some of the veil and overt warmth. Without the EQ, I wasn't blown away. Having said that, ironically I actually prefer the W40 (and the UM30Pro) in terms of overall sound signature, compared to the W50 (versus vanilla W40) and W60 (vs EQ tweaked W40), and more ironic than that, I also preferred the sound of my original Westone 4's to the W40's, but I've since lost my 4's, and that's after I previously had them replaced when one side stopped working, so in the end I've simply stuck to the W40's as my go to.
 
Adding more inanity to it all, one of my W40's still creak ever so slightly when squeezed where the clip on piece goes, which again I find ridiculous for a (at the time) $500 pair of earphones.

It's weird that Westone seemingly keep charging more and more ludicrous sums, for what is to my subjective tastes, often worse sonic performance (reading the impressions of the W80's, even here the feedback seems somewhat mixed). I guess ultimately they have likely reached sonic limitations within this tiny housing, and adding more drivers isn't really adding objective improvements to the sound, just random subjective sonic tweaks. There's probably only so much you can squeeze through these tiny little nozzles, irrespective of however many drivers you stuff in there.
 
Even though I am a Westone product user, the company has really fallen out of my graces. I really feel like so many of these manufacturers these days are taking advantage of their consumers, using the reputations they've amassed over the years in order to get away with increasingly massively worse value proposition, with each new upper tier release.

/rant

 

[obsidyen]

I think you're right, instead of adding a so called audiophile cable, whose ability to improve sound is debatable, they could have improved shell quality. Those so called audiophile cables are bulky and ugly as well. You'd look like such a geek walking around with these, it could by itself repel girls who would normally like you. I would very much prefer K10's stock cable or an affordable cable like Linum Music.

 

[Virtu Fortuna]

   
I could maybe recommend Earsonics ES3, the new 399 Euro IEM from Earsonics. I have not heard it yet but some reviewers say it gives you 90% of the sound that S-EM9 does. How it is compared to W60, I wouldn't know since I've heard neither. However, laid-back sound bores me so I'd probably prefer ES3. I agree that affording TOTL IEMs, which get more expensive every day (Dita's new DD IEM is USD 2000), is a tough pill to swallow. 

Well, not %90 but maybe 75? The sure thing is it really has a similar presentation.

 

[obsidyen]

  Well, not %90 but maybe 75? The sure thing is it really has a similar presentation.

I just read it in a review or impression, it's not my opinion. I'm waiting for more reviews/impressions, yours included. Massive price difference makes ES3 a really attractive option.

 

[twister6]

90%, 75%, etc is all very subjective when you compare.  Wasn't planning to review ES3, since I just reviewed S-EM9, but now with all these % claims it got my attention

  Will put it on my review list!
 
Regarding /rant about W-series, @Naim.F.C - you have a valid point, but some of it also has to do with a sound preference.  People think that a "flagship" means a super crisp revealing sound with details jumping in your face.  IEM tuning is manufacturer's interpretation of the sound, thus a signature will vary.  W40/W50/W60 have a typical Westone laid back lush detailed sound where some people prefer it as is, and other need to tweak it with EQ to bring back the dip in upper mids (what makes sound smooth/laidback and also perceived as a little veiled).  W80 is not just 2 additional drivers, it's an updated tuning.  Together with Ref8 cable I hear a more noticeable difference over W60.  Trust me, you wouldn't want to use the EQ with it anymore.  Look at a few posts above.  Someone used the same setting from UM Pro50 on W80 and the sound got too bright.
 
With a price, well, heck, it's a trend now.  You add more drivers, you have the next flagship, you can't go down in price because nobody going to take you seriously.  Look at every other manufacturer, Empire Ears, Noble, 64Audio, JH, UE, etc.  With a few exceptions, they go up in driver count and the price goes up.  True, there are cheap IEMs and recently there has been a lot of DIY 8-9 driver models from China that cost 1/2 the price and use cheap off-the-shelf Knowles drivers.  The reputable well known manufacturers don't use off-the-shelf drivers, those are all custom made for them specifically.  You have W40 with 4 drivers.  Now imagine the same shell has 8 drivers now without doubling the size of it.  That's one impressive engineering work.  Addition of Ken's ALO Ref8 cable is a bonus you can't discount either.  Yeah, maybe the wires are springy and memory wire could be annoying for some, but you can't take away the sonic improvement it introduces (after a proper burn in) in comparison to Epic or other premium cables that cost more.

 

[corentin]

Just a quick remark pertinaing to cables, recently had to change the epic cable on my W4R which was starting to cut sound when moving it, and was flabbergasted to notice such a stark difference with my old epic cable! It's night and day, I still cannot believe it... Now the sound is almost exclusively mids; no bass, no highs, just mids... and the soundstage is totally "in my head" and not in front of me as it used to be... I'm letting my IEMs and their new epic cable play on my ipad while at work but I was shocked there could be this much difference between cables, let alone between the same cable before and after burn in...
In fact the difference is so great, I'm not even sure the issue at hand here has only to do with cable burn in...
So while I was skeptical of Westone's move to include the ALO cable with their W80s, if it is half as good as everyone says, I'm willing to become a cable believer!

 

[pacman46]

Just a quick remark pertinaing to cables, recently had to change the epic cable on my W4R which was starting to cut sound when moving it, and was flabbergasted to notice such a stark difference with my old epic cable! It's night and day, I still cannot believe it... Now the sound is almost exclusively mids; no bass, no highs, just mids... and the soundstage is totally "in my head" and not in front of me as it used to be... I'm letting my IEMs and their new epic cable play on my ipad while at work but I was shocked there could be this much difference between cables, let alone between the same cable before and after burn in...
In fact the difference is so great, I'm not even sure the issue at hand here has only to do with cable burn in...
So while I was skeptical of Westone's move to include the ALO cable with their W80s, if it is half as good as everyone says, I'm willing to become a cable believer!

I hear ya brother. I put a new epic cable on my um50 case the old original one was junk.when I first put the new one on it was very dark sounding and didn't like it at all.but I stuck with it and now after about two weeks with it it is now opened up and now the Soundstage is wider and the highs are actually there now lol I wasn't one to belive in cables and stuff but I am now .they sound great now.

 

[twister6]

 

Just a quick remark pertinaing to cables, recently had to change the epic cable on my W4R which was starting to cut sound when moving it, and was flabbergasted to notice such a stark difference with my old epic cable! It's night and day, I still cannot believe it... Now the sound is almost exclusively mids; no bass, no highs, just mids... and the soundstage is totally "in my head" and not in front of me as it used to be... I'm letting my IEMs and their new epic cable play on my ipad while at work but I was shocked there could be this much difference between cables, let alone between the same cable before and after burn in...
In fact the difference is so great, I'm not even sure the issue at hand here has only to do with cable burn in...
So while I was skeptical of Westone's move to include the ALO cable with their W80s, if it is half as good as everyone says, I'm willing to become a cable believer!

I hear ya brother. I put a new epic cable on my um50 case the old original one was junk.when I first put the new one on it was very dark sounding and didn't like it at all.but I stuck with it and now after about two weeks with it it is now opened up and now the Soundstage is wider and the highs are actually there now lol I wasn't one to belive in cables and stuff but I am now .they sound great now.

 
And it's not just wires of the cable, but the solder joints which can go through some burn in.  I'm not trying to force anybody to become cable believer, just to be open minded that in some cases you can hear a difference (even a subtle one).  I actually wrote a little "intro" thoughts about the cables/wires in one of my reviews here.