[twister6]

 

I think PM3 will be even warmer and lusher than W60, even a little more veil in comparison.  But hey, that's what CanJam is for - to check it out with your own ears!!!  And take a listen to AEON, when I had a chance to listen to it at CanJam NYC, I liked it even more than SINE (another good candidate for full size).  Unfortunately, Westone usually doesn't attend CanJam events, maybe one day.

Oh thats's right. I had forgotten. Westone was at CanJam SoCal last year, so I was hoping that maybe they'd decided to make it a thing, but that was probably an anomaly.

I loved the PM-3 when I was on the listening tour, and they blew me away when paired with the original HA-2 (and I do have one of those). I don't recall trying the Aeon last year; will definitely check those out. Since these are for office use, though, some level of portability would be nice... and I don't really want to leave $1500+ cans laying around, y'know? I guess my Audeze/Mr.Speakers dreams will have to wait.

 
Scroll down: http://www.canjamglobal.com/socal2017 to see the list of exhibitors.  Oh, and AEON was only introduced a few months ago.
 
Well, I hope that someone will have W80 for you to take a listen to at SoCal CanJam.

 

[Law87]

To those that feels like the w80 is too low in impedance, causing hiss from amps. I really reccomend the etyomic erps adapter (or any impedance adapter) i honestly think it tone down the mid bass, brings out the treble sparkel and definitely eliminate the hiss.

 

[twister6]

To those that feels like the w80 is too low in impedance, causing hiss from amps. I really reccomend the etyomic erps adapter (or any impedance adapter) i honestly think it tone down the mid bass, brings out the treble sparkel and definitely eliminate the hiss.

 
Spot on!!!!! 
 
Personally, I find W80 to have very low hissing level (testing it with LPG which is notorious for hissing with sensitive IEMs).  But I think you have a low impedance silver cable, and that could make hissing more noticeable.  Also, with hissing, it's not just an impedance, but sensitivity, and W80 is rated at 111 dB which is average.  But, due to low impedance (W80 is 5 ohm) the sound can change a bit depending on output impedance of your source.  I just tested it with Ref8 and Ultimate Ears Buffer Jack (UEBJ is similar to etys impedance adapter).  UEBJ is only $10 on UE website.
 
And for sure, the background is dead silent, the bass is leaner, and the treble sparkle and airiness goes up.  The overall sound is actually more revealing now, toward analytical side.  Definitely a cool little trick to change W80 sound sig.
 

 

[Law87]

   
Spot on!!!!! 
 
Personally, I find W80 to have very low hissing level (testing it with LPG which is notorious for hissing with sensitive IEMs).  But I think you have a low impedance silver cable, and that could make hissing more noticeable.  Also, with hissing, it's not just an impedance, but sensitivity, and W80 is rated at 111 dB which is average.  But, due to low impedance (W80 is 5 ohm) the sound can change a bit depending on output impedance of your source.  I just tested it with Ref8 and Ultimate Ears Buffer Jack (UEBJ is similar to etys impedance adapter).  UEBJ is only $10 on UE website.
 
And for sure, the background is dead silent, the bass is leaner, and the treble sparkle and airiness goes up.  The overall sound is actually more revealing now, toward analytical side.  Definitely a cool little trick to change W80 sound sig.
 

 
 
even with the Alo cable, I find there is hissing, not as noticeable but every cable with my Chord hugo i can hear it unfortunately. 

 

[Law87]

 
 
Moon Audio Silver Dragon IEM.
 
Got this cable about a year and a half ago. About couple months ago, it was starting to cut out on both my westone W60 and W80, send it in to Drew, asking to replace MMCX connector (I was willing to pay for it since it was out of warranty) almost TWO weeks later, recieved the cable back. They dint fix a dang thing, the sound was still cutting out! when I try to removed it, this bit camed off, and he blame it on my W80 female socket tolerance as being "off", charge me 40$ to fix this or 25% on a new cable. All my other cables there is NO cutout, none whatsoever, so its not my IEM or the MMCX connector itself.

I'm pretty pissed, to think I was going to purchased a copper cable from them. Point is, I will never do bussiness with them, I'm talking to Ted Allen and plus sound right now to get this cable fix with a better parts or soldering. If you bought stuff from them or going to buy stuff from them, beware of quality issues.

Communication from Ted and PLUSOUND is a hella lot quicker than Drew. I bet my cable wont take 2 weeks to return either.
 

After reading several reviews on Headfi, it seems people are getting the same experience. Please dont buy from this company, they are so unprofessional.

 

[xaddictionx]

Moon Audio Silver Dragon IEM.

Got this cable about a year and a half ago. About couple months ago, it was starting to cut out on both my westone W60 and W80, send it in to Drew, asking to replace MMCX connector (I was willing to pay for it since it was out of warranty) almost TWO weeks later, recieved the cable back. They dint fix a dang thing, the sound was still cutting out! when I try to removed it, this bit camed off, and he blame it on my W80 female socket tolerance as being "off", charge me 40$ to fix this or 25% on a new cable. All my other cables there is NO cutout, none whatsoever, so its not my IEM or the MMCX connector itself.


I'm pretty pissed, to think I was going to purchased a copper cable from them. Point is, I will never do bussiness with them, I'm talking to Ted Allen and plus sound right now to get this cable fix with a better parts or soldering. If you bought stuff from them or going to buy stuff from them, beware of quality issues.


Communication from Ted and PLUSOUND is a hella lot quicker than Drew. I bet my cable wont take 2 weeks to return either.



After reading several reviews on Headfi, it seems people are getting the same experience. Please dont buy from this company, they are so unprofessional.

Agree with your point. Had 2 cables from them having the same problem as well. Not heavily utilized and well kept but both was hit with problems with both termination and pins end. IMO, the sound is pretty good from those cables but built quality takes a hit..

 

[jgosroc]

That's true, Shane, they are not stirring too far away from their house sound.  For me personally, going to ES60 was a big step up and that's what I recommend if you are looking for a more audiophile quality tuning.  Always puzzles me why Westone never made universal version of ES60 - that would have been their best seller.  But in my opinion, W80 is their best tuned release in W-/UMPro-series.

I don't use W60 with a stock Epic cable, and typically switch to either BaX or SuperBaX or some other silver cables to get to my ideal sound signature.  For a consumer who is in the same situation with a sound preference and has to spend extra money to fine-tune W60 (to be clear, in my case it's a review sample), it's a safe move to upgrade to W80 without a need to invest into another cable on top of it.  Plus, the quality of W80 bass is noticeably improved over W60.  W60 has a laid back analog "dynamic" performance, while W80 has a tightness and a speed which is leaning more toward BA performance.

Bottom line, if you are expecting a significant change from the original W60 signature, W80 is not it.  But if you want a refinement of W60 sound - W80 got it.

My h jnew m
?!.l!

 

[twister6]

 

That's true, Shane, they are not stirring too far away from their house sound.  For me personally, going to ES60 was a big step up and that's what I recommend if you are looking for a more audiophile quality tuning.  Always puzzles me why Westone never made universal version of ES60 - that would have been their best seller.  But in my opinion, W80 is their best tuned release in W-/UMPro-series.

I don't use W60 with a stock Epic cable, and typically switch to either BaX or SuperBaX or some other silver cables to get to my ideal sound signature.  For a consumer who is in the same situation with a sound preference and has to spend extra money to fine-tune W60 (to be clear, in my case it's a review sample), it's a safe move to upgrade to W80 without a need to invest into another cable on top of it.  Plus, the quality of W80 bass is noticeably improved over W60.  W60 has a laid back analog "dynamic" performance, while W80 has a tightness and a speed which is leaning more toward BA performance.

Bottom line, if you are expecting a significant change from the original W60 signature, W80 is not it.  But if you want a refinement of W60 sound - W80 got it.

My h jnew m
?!.l!

 
So, what are you trying to say?

 

[jgosroc]

So, what are you trying to say?

I still don't know how I did that, but even so it's a remarkably accurate semantic transcription of my blathering desire for a pair of W80s...

 

[twister6]

I'm totally mesmerized by this video, probably played it a dozen of times already.  So, that's how they stuff 8 separate BA drivers inside of a tiny W80 shell

 

 
Very slick!!!
 

 

[Shma]

First time posting.  Greetings.  I received my w80 iems a little over a week ago.  I've been really impressed with the range/frequency response in these (great control).  It's definitely revealing, almost embarassingly so as it concerns poorly produced tracks (such is the timbre/harmonic quality of these).  I've been playing them relatively constantly for this time thru a Note 5 (64 bit float PowerAmp), Fiio e12a and Westone furnished ALO cable.  I'm switching from the umpro 50.
I find the build quality to be materiallistically simple but void of any signs of 'cheap'.
 
After 12 hours of runtime thru this setup, the sound (the best way I can describe it) began to sound fuller and has increased incrementally since.  It doesn't approach muddy, however, like my umpro 50 now sounds since rocking these for a time.  At the moment it's certainly stacking up to good value and good times. Really enjoying this new Kendrick album.

 

[twister6]

  First time posting.  Greetings.  I received my w80 iems a little over a week ago.  I've been really impressed with the range/frequency response in these (great control).  It's definitely revealing, almost embarassingly so as it concerns poorly produced tracks (such is the timbre/harmonic quality of these).  I've been playing them relatively constantly for this time thru a Note 5 (64 bit float PowerAmp), Fiio e12a and Westone furnished ALO cable.  I'm switching from the umpro 50.
I find the build quality to be materiallistically simple but void of any signs of 'cheap'.
 
After 12 hours of runtime thru this setup, the sound (the best way I can describe it) began to sound fuller and has increased incrementally since.  It doesn't approach muddy, however, like my umpro 50 now sounds since rocking these for a time.  At the moment it's certainly stacking up to good value and good times. Really enjoying this new Kendrick album.

 
So, you only have 12hrs of listening time on W80/Ref8 cable?  Definitely give it more time.  You will hear more changes.  Not as much burn in of the drivers, but I hear changes with a cable (I was testing and switching it between different iems for the reference).  Of course, everybody hears it differently, and I don't discount contribution of placebo effect either

 

[movax]

Slightly off-topic from the W80 -- I have W4Rs, and was wondering if the W80s still ship with the standard orange Westone hard case? The plastic latch on mine broke, and I've keeping my W4Rs inside a (too large) Pelican hardcase that's eating up too much room in my backpack. Didn't want to immediately pay Westone another $25 for the same old case if they've changed things...

 

[435279]

W80 comes with two zip-up cases, like this:
 
https://twister6.com/2016/12/09/westone-w80/#jp-carousel-2387

 

[twister6]

  Slightly off-topic from the W80 -- I have W4Rs, and was wondering if the W80s still ship with the standard orange Westone hard case? The plastic latch on mine broke, and I've keeping my W4Rs inside a (too large) Pelican hardcase that's eating up too much room in my backpack. Didn't want to immediately pay Westone another $25 for the same old case if they've changed things...

 
A bit confused, bud.  So you have an old W4R which comes with an orange mini vault case, and the plastic latch broke.  Are you planning to buy W80 and wondering if it comes with the same case, or you just want to get a replacement?  As it was pointed out above (the link to my blog

), W80 uses a small zip-up pocket case which is pretty durable.  But W60, W40, etc. still come with their signature orange mini vault (like a mini pelican, and easy to find in that bright color

).
 
Try to ping @BKG22 from Westone.  I'm sure your W4R pass the warranty, but maybe he can help you with a replacement.  I know he helped a number of people in this thread with various problems.