[twister6]

Been pinged too many times with a question about W80 availability for sale, well, apparently it's already up on Amazon - HERE.
 
I have 2 more reviews to finish and will start working on W80 afterwards.
 

 

[tienbasse]

  Been pinged too many times with a question about W80 availability for sale, well, apparently it's already up on Amazon - HERE.
 
I have 2 more reviews to finish and will start working on W80 afterwards.
 

Doesn't look very premium/classy in terms of materials and build, waiting for your review regarding this.

 

[twister6]

 

  Been pinged too many times with a question about W80 availability for sale, well, apparently it's already up on Amazon - HERE.
 
I have 2 more reviews to finish and will start working on W80 afterwards.
 

Doesn't look very premium/classy in terms of materials and build, waiting for your review regarding this.

 
If you don't care about the sound and only the material and the build, these are on par with W60, just a touch slimmer.  I had early impressions posted a month ago here, will get to the full review soon.

 

[twoofclubs]

And? Your music source?

 
AK120II with Vorzuge Pure II+.  Haven't had much chance to listen thus far (have two small kids...) but definitely not as laid back as W60 (which I will be selling).  Getting the stock cable off to put the ALO cable on was not easy though.

 

[2k13]

Really appreciate your sharing in the first impression article.
Curious if AK120II and W80 are a good pair... without portable AMP (don't like portable AMP) 
 
Quote:

   
In my opinion, "luxury case" name here refers more to Luxurious Functionality rather than Luxurious Material.  I agree, it's misleading since some will expect a fancy leather case

 
What you have is a large hard shell case with a strong ballistic material on outside and lots of inner space.  One side has 3 fixed partitions covered by a stretchy material to store your eartips and extra cable.  In the middle there is a partitioning (you can flip it) which separates the sides and also has pockets for extra storage like credit cards or business cards or money.  The other side comes with a smaller removable case for IEMs and 2 velcro divider strips to partition sections for your DAP/DAC/amp.  This is a very clever design for those who are traveling and want to have one highly functional storage case.  Here are a few pictures (click to expand)
 
Inside the case, notice the divider side is soft so it wouldn't scratch daps:
 

 
With headphones and DAP, in one I have AK120ii and LPG and in the other one Opus#2
 

 

[togiff]

  How would these W80s compare to Westone 4Rs ? Could they be considered an "upgrade" for using with an iPhone exclusively, without any ext DAC/amp - part for a lghtning cable maybe ? I listen to power / symphonic metal only.
Speaking of lightning cables, does anyone know if Westone has any plans to release one (à la Audeze Cypher) for their IEMs, rather than a (shoddy) bluetooth adaptor which deteriorates the sound quality instead of improving it ?

The W60 is a huge upgrade from the 4r itself. I have owned the W3, W4r, W60. The W4r is decent but disappointing. It works and it capable but lacking. Both W3 and W60 are upgrades from it in my opinion. The W60 is a beast with performance unmatched by cheaper headphones for sure- the detail in the whole spectrum is undelivered by other headphones. The bass is pretty decent compared to the 4R. Therefore I am guessing the W80 is a beast that's unrivaled and a huge upgrade from the 4r ..
 
You will be impressed by carefully listening to the amazingly high detailed bass, and high frequencies produced by the upper end Westone's as if they were high definition and the cheaper headphones weren't.
 
I even think the W60 and W80 stomp the Shure SE846 ..
 
Everyone complains of the build material on the Westone's but they are lying and crazy. The W60 for example was built decent- sure the packaging wasn't quite as luxury feel to the Shure SE846 but performance was otherwise not impacted at all
 Also the high end W60 industrial grade high impact waterproof case was actually nicer than the Shure one honestly. People complain but the difference just isn't enough to give a crap about when the sound was so high end and rewarding and performance was so good..

 

[Riley Beale]

  The W60 is a huge upgrade from the 4r itself. I have owned the W3, W4r, W60. The W4r is decent but disappointing. It works and it capable but lacking. Both W3 and W60 are upgrades from it in my opinion. The W60 is a beast with performance unmatched by cheaper headphones for sure- the detail in the whole spectrum is undelivered by other headphones. The bass is pretty decent compared to the 4R. Therefore I am guessing the W80 is a beast that's unrivaled and a huge upgrade from the 4r ..
 
You will be impressed by carefully listening to the amazingly high detailed bass, and high frequencies produced by the upper end Westone's as if they were high definition and the cheaper headphones weren't.
 
I even think the W60 and W80 stomp the Shure SE846 ..
 
Everyone complains of the build material on the Westone's but they are lying and crazy. The W60 for example was built decent- sure the packaging wasn't quite as luxury feel to the Shure SE846 but performance was otherwise not impacted at all
 Also the high end W60 industrial grade high impact waterproof case was actually nicer than the Shure one honestly. People complain but the difference just isn't enough to give a crap about when the sound was so high end and rewarding and performance was so good..

 
According to Twister the W80 is is a very slight upgrade to the W60.  It is kind of not worth the price for such little sound improvement.  It seems you are paying for the new accessories and the less than impressive use of an extra 2 drivers per ear.  Yes the form factor is somehow smaller with more drivers, but realistically who cares if there is no sound improvement.  It is a pure matter of making  more drivers fit into a housing and saying we have more so we are better. There is a war to see how many drivers can be fit into an earpiece.  It means nothing to me. I really like the Westone 3 for what it is, but I would never buy Westone again due to their recent changes for the worst in quality and customer service.  Especially something so expensive.  I bought a Shure SE846 and have had the longer cable replaced once in 2 years and absolutely no other problems.  I know they are only for certain people, but I love them.  Shure's customer service was pretty good, but could have surely been a bit better too.  They replaced the cable without hassle, but they did not keep me updated via email when they received my cable through when they shipped my replacement.

 

[TCD1975]

  Everyone complains of the build material on the Westone's but they are lying and crazy. The W60 for example was built decent- sure the packaging wasn't quite as luxury feel to the Shure SE846 but performance was otherwise not impacted at all. Also the high end W60 industrial grade high impact waterproof case was actually nicer than the Shure one honestly. People complain but the difference just isn't enough to give a crap about when the sound was so high end and rewarding and performance was so good..

 
Westone sound is indeed excellent, but the cracked face plates and cable connector issues are a fact ... people who complain about these issue are not "crazy and lying".

 

[togiff]

I was only talking about the feel out of the box before use.
 
Honestly they don't like the presentation out of the box or try to knock it. But, it seems like it would last.
 
Should items fail westone warranty works great and post warranty replace items are cheap. They continue to offer replacement headphones at a huge discount I think, over brand new price.. The discount is like 80%.

 

[Riley Beale]

  I was only talking about the feel out of the box before use.
 
Honestly they don't like the presentation out of the box or try to knock it. But, it seems like it would last.
 
Should items fail westone warranty works great and post warranty replace items are cheap. They continue to offer replacement headphones at a huge discount I think, over brand new price.. The discount is like 80%.

They do not offer out of warranty replacements for 80% off.  No one does this.  It is not worth doing.  It is a huge money pit as is lifetime warranties.  I talked to Westone and if you're product is out of warranty they will not fix it and they will not replace it period.  Once your product is out of warranty they cannot do anything.  They did briefly give anybody who sends in an authentic Westone 3 in a $100.00 discount on a new Westone 30, but that is all they have ever done.  They are one of the brands that do no permit dealers to lower prices on Westone products ever.  Westone is very strict about always charging full retail price and not letting dealers give discounts or sale prices.

 

[chef8489]

 
According to Twister the W80 is is a very slight upgrade to the W60.  It is kind of not worth the price for such little sound improvement.  It seems you are paying for the new accessories and the less than impressive use of an extra 2 drivers per ear.  Yes the form factor is somehow smaller with more drivers, but realistically who cares if there is no sound improvement.  It is a pure matter of making  more drivers fit into a housing and saying we have more so we are better. There is a war to see how many drivers can be fit into an earpiece.  It means nothing to me. I really like the Westone 3 for what it is, but I would never buy Westone again due to their recent changes for the worst in quality and customer service.  Especially something so expensive.  I bought a Shure SE846 and have had the longer cable replaced once in 2 years and absolutely no other problems.  I know they are only for certain people, but I love them.  Shure's customer service was pretty good, but could have surely been a bit better too.  They replaced the cable without hassle, but they did not keep me updated via email when they received my cable through when they shipped my replacement.

 


I think you need to recheck what Twister said about the w80. Nowhere did he say they were a very slight upgrad or such ery little sound difference. I do believe he said " But for now, I’m definitely impressed with what I have seen and heard so far. In a way, W80 feels like a love child between W60 and ES60, fine-tuning Westone house sound to bring it closer to a more revealing performance. You are getting a tighter and more articulate tuning of the bass, a more revealing retrieval of upper mids details, and a more expanded soundstage." And a couple of times i even heard him say that he was preferring them to the es60, but that could just be because they were new, and the es60 are an amazing iem that give the jh audio Roxanne a run for the money.

 

[chef8489]

They do not offer out of warranty replacements for 80% off.  No one does this.  It is not worth doing.  It is a huge money pit as is lifetime warranties.  I talked to Westone and if you're product is out of warranty they will not fix it and they will not replace it period.  Once your product is out of warranty they cannot do anything.  They did briefly give anybody who sends in an authentic Westone 3 in a $100.00 discount on a new Westone 30, but that is all they have ever done.  They are one of the brands that do no permit dealers to lower prices on Westone products ever.  Westone is very strict about always charging full retail price and not letting dealers give discounts or sale prices.

 

That is not entirely true either. If you have any of their customs and they are out of warranty, you just pay for the parts for the repair, and its pretty cheap. A driver replacement is in the 20-35.00 price range.

 

[Riley Beale]

 

   
According to Twister the W80 is is a very slight upgrade to the W60.  It is kind of not worth the price for such little sound improvement.  It seems you are paying for the new accessories and the less than impressive use of an extra 2 drivers per ear.  Yes the form factor is somehow smaller with more drivers, but realistically who cares if there is no sound improvement.  It is a pure matter of making  more drivers fit into a housing and saying we have more so we are better. There is a war to see how many drivers can be fit into an earpiece.  It means nothing to me. I really like the Westone 3 for what it is, but I would never buy Westone again due to their recent changes for the worst in quality and customer service.  Especially something so expensive.  I bought a Shure SE846 and have had the longer cable replaced once in 2 years and absolutely no other problems.  I know they are only for certain people, but I love them.  Shure's customer service was pretty good, but could have surely been a bit better too.  They replaced the cable without hassle, but they did not keep me updated via email when they received my cable through when they shipped my replacement.

 


I think you need to recheck what Twister said about the w80. Nowhere did he say they were a very slight upgrad or such ery little sound difference. I do believe he said " But for now, I’m definitely impressed with what I have seen and heard so far. In a way, W80 feels like a love child between W60 and ES60, fine-tuning Westone house sound to bring it closer to a more revealing performance. You are getting a tighter and more articulate tuning of the bass, a more revealing retrieval of upper mids details, and a more expanded soundstage." And a couple of times i even heard him say that he was preferring them to the es60, but that could just be because they were new, and the es60 are an amazing iem that give the jh audio Roxanne a run for the money.

Twister posted later when somebody asked if it is worth upgrading from the 60 to the 80 after just buying it.  He said no it is a very slight upgrade that will not be a good value for your money.

 

[Riley Beale]

 

 
They do not offer out of warranty replacements for 80% off.  No one does this.  It is not worth doing.  It is a huge money pit as is lifetime warranties.  I talked to Westone and if you're product is out of warranty they will not fix it and they will not replace it period.  Once your product is out of warranty they cannot do anything.  They did briefly give anybody who sends in an authentic Westone 3 in a $100.00 discount on a new Westone 30, but that is all they have ever done.  They are one of the brands that do no permit dealers to lower prices on Westone products ever.  Westone is very strict about always charging full retail price and not letting dealers give discounts or sale prices.

 

That is not entirely true either. If you have any of their customs and they are out of warranty, you just pay for the parts for the repair, and its pretty cheap. A driver replacement is in the 20-35.00 price range.

Yes, but we were all talking about universal fit earphones no Custom IEMs.

 

[togiff]

Actually neither of you are correct. Westone when out of warranty will repair or replace your headphones for cheap. In my case my westone 3 broke as the shell fell apart when no damage had been done to the headphone- they offered replacement of my choice. They provided me the option of selecting the model of Westone I wanted, either Westone 3, 3UMX, or 4r. 4r was the newest at the time. I chose the 4r and the cost was only $100 dollars total. They included a 90 day warranty.
 
The replacement they send you is brand new and includes original items and whatnot from the box.
 
Normal cost of the headphones: $499.99 at the time.