Whats an upgrade from Westone 3?
Nov 17, 2011 at 10:16 PM Thread Starter Post #1 of 13
Carsonwen

Carsonwen

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I have owned the Westone 3 for about a month now and am ready to upgrade. I want something clearly better and  not just different. I loved everything about the W3 except the not so great seperation, recessedd mids, and its hard to describe but its just got this dark thick sound to it. I really love the shure se 535 mids and how its forward but i dont like how it lacks in bass and treble energy the W3 has. Is there an iem, maybe even customs, that can do all of this? Forward mids, good bass, and good highs? My maximum is 800$. I would prefer a universal fit but i am willing to get custom if there are no universal fit that can provide the sound i want.
 
Or... is it possible to change the sound of the W3 to the way i want by using equ? I was able to make the mids quite forward but not without completely cutting out the mid bass and lower mids making the sound bright and weird. If someone knows how to do it, plz tell me. Thx
 
Nov 17, 2011 at 10:29 PM Post #2 of 13
Nothing meets your criteria in a universal.  Through EQ you may get it closer to what you are looking for but not an all out upgrade.  UE11, UE18, JH16 would be the obvious big upgrades but they are all over $1,000.
 
I owned W3 and JH5 at same time and give a slight edge to JH5 but more importantly, the JH5 sound sig (quite different that W3) sounds like what you may be after.  It is a bit more aggressive and mid-oriented than W3.  It also has a full bassy sound with very adequate treble.  It blows SE535 out of the water.  JH5 is a bit like SE535 on steriods but not quite as forward midrange but still very present.
 
Nov 17, 2011 at 10:49 PM Post #3 of 13
The universal IEMs like EX1000+ZO( superb clarity through out the whole frequency spectrum and wide soundstage, deep bass), JVC FX700(deep punchy bass, great mids, clear extended highs and wide soundstage), UM3x(great midrange details with superb instrument separation, placement and deep punchy bass), PFE232 and GR10 are highly recommended. But i will recommend to buy used highend custom IEMs like JH13Pro, ES5, UM Miracle and reshell them, they all are supperior sounding than any universal IEMs.
 
Nov 18, 2011 at 6:57 PM Post #5 of 13
The ex1000 does not isolate much, so that might be a problem. The um3x has very forward hit-or-miss mids, and not enough highs. I would recommend looking into the jh5 and myabe the 1964Qs. As for universal, I can't think of any that will suit the bill right now. Maybe the xba-3 by sony will prove to be a good signature
 
Nov 18, 2011 at 8:11 PM Post #7 of 13
Im thinking you're wanting to go customs.  How bout the thousand sounds CIEM?
 
Nov 20, 2011 at 10:42 PM Post #9 of 13


Quote:
spyro said:
Nothing meets your criteria in a universal.  Through EQ you may get it closer to what you are looking for but not an all out upgrade.  UE11, UE18, JH16 would be the obvious big upgrades but they are all over $1,000.
 
I owned W3 and JH5 at same time and give a slight edge to JH5 but more importantly, the JH5 sound sig (quite different that W3) sounds like what you may be after.  It is a bit more aggressive and mid-oriented than W3.  It also has a full bassy sound with very adequate treble.  It blows SE535 out of the water.  JH5 is a bit like SE535 on steriods but not quite as forward midrange but still very present.
Click to expand...



 
I remember you saying the w3 had superior sound to jh5 at half the cost. (forgot which thread) 
 
I don't really got the 1000$ + to spend on jh 16 but is there a better version of the jh5? Like jh10? (considering that the sound sig of jh 5 is what I'm after)
 
Nov 21, 2011 at 1:49 PM Post #10 of 13


Quote:
carsonwen said:
 
I remember you saying the w3 had superior sound to jh5 at half the cost. (forgot which thread) 
 
I don't really got the 1000$ + to spend on jh 16 but is there a better version of the jh5? Like jh10? (considering that the sound sig of jh 5 is what I'm after)
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Well, it's not 1/2 the cost so not sure where a quote like that would come from. 
 
Unamped, I could flip a coin between W3 and JH5 (many would still take JH5).  I love them both.  But with an amp, I think the JH5 improves much more and passes up W3.
 
Have not heard it but the JH7 sounds like a more refined version of JH5 (a good thing) and is $700-range.
 
I believe JH10 will be very neutral sounding and possibly lean on bass for many. 
 
Nov 21, 2011 at 4:05 PM Post #11 of 13
thx, i think i might go with JH7 then. Do you know around how much an ear impression is?
 
Heres a link to the thread i saw the quote from:
http://www.head-fi.org/t/470327/w2-vs-jh5-question
 
scroll down ull see it.
 
Nov 21, 2011 at 5:25 PM Post #12 of 13


Quote:
carsonwen said:
thx, i think i might go with JH7 then. Do you know around how much an ear impression is?
 
Heres a link to the thread i saw the quote from:
http://www.head-fi.org/t/470327/w2-vs-jh5-question
 
scroll down ull see it.
Click to expand...


I'll apologize for my mis-leading post there as I said "I'd like to think...."
 
The post is from Feb 2010 but I didn't get my JH5 until Dec 2010.  Wrong for me to mislead without hearing it.
 
Regarding ear impressions, call around.  I got mine for $25 and they were fine but I have heard some people paying up to $150 but that is ridiculous. $50-75 would seem most common.
 
You may email brittany@jhaudio.com to ask het about the difference from JH5 to JH7 (or any other products for that matter).  While JH7 is much cheaper than JH13 and JH16 it is still quite a bit more than JH5.  I never really inquired about it.  Just what I have read.
 
 
 
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