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Author Topic: W30 - It Gets The Fuck Out of the Way  (Read 465 times)

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Gilly87

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W30 - It Gets The Fuck Out of the Way
« on: March 18, 2015, 11:12:42 PM »

So yesterday I finally got my pair of W30s that I've been lusting after since the new W line launched.

I wish I could find the post on Head-Fi, but after hearing about the substantial changes made to the W40, I started getting my hopes up for the 30s - I really liked the W3 on the whole, it had some of the crunchiest electric guitars I've heard from an IEM to date, vocals had great air and a neutral tone (not the Sennheiser slightly warm "neutral" - I mean neutral-neutral, erring on the side of being a bit cold if anything), the treble was super-extended, albeit a bit splashy, the soundstage was deep and wide and separation was top-noch...but dat bass. God. It was just intolerable. Listening to the W3 was like having a really awesome, stimulating conversation with a group of really smart people about something really interesting, except there's one drunk, abrasive asshole who just keeps butting in and drowning everyone else out. You try, you really do; you want to enjoy yourself, and you bear it and keep trying to make the best of it for as long as you can, but eventually you just scream at him and storm the fuck way.

That's what I did with the W3s, anyway. I mean, I sold them. I only yelled a little.

Fast forward...ummm...4 years I think, and the W30 finally drops, and I've heard so much good stuff about the W40s that I want to give it a try. Spyro's review on Head-Fi got my hopes up that my wishes had been granted, and I decided to buy them. I had a few expenses at the end of the year, including a very full Christmas (my nephew is 3 and playmobils are fucking expensive), so they had to wait, but I finally ordered mine from a local dealer and just got em yesterday.

I'm going to do a real writeup once I've spent some more time with them, but I have to say, they sound very close to what I originally envisioned for an improved W3. The mids are not cold like the W3, but guitars still have really great crunch, and the tonality is probably the closest to being truly neutral that I've ever heard in a universal. Extension on both ends is impressve, and end-to-end balance is some of the best - there are no really obvious peaks or valleys, perhaps a small peak in the mid-treble range, but the sound is incredibly cohesive for a BA and apart from being a bit fatiguing, I'm having a hard time finding fault with it. I put it to the test with a friend of mine, a film scorer who is used to top-of-the-line near-field monitors, and she was really impressed; said they were the most neutral-sounding in-ears she has ever heard.  Now she's not super into personal audio, and hasn't heard high-tier customs, but I've showed her plenty of other in-ears before - SM3, GR07, ER4S, UM3X, etc. - and she wasn't thrilled with any of them, but somehow the W30 passed the test.
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Anaxilus

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Re: W30 - It Gets The Fuck Out of the Way
« Reply #1 on: March 18, 2015, 11:51:09 PM »

Karl at westone definitely knows how to get a neutral sound when it's called for. I've also been pleased with his crossover tuning with my ES5 being extremely coherent even though I'm usually sensitive to most 3-ways on IEMs.
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Gilly87

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Re: W30 - It Gets The Fuck Out of the Way
« Reply #2 on: March 19, 2015, 03:13:48 PM »

Aren't their customs a bit warmer/darker as a rule? I've read oodles of reviews, and I tend to think of the ES line as falling in the arena of an HD6x0-type sound, perhaps with better bass extension. But maybe I'm wrong?
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Anaxilus

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Re: W30 - It Gets The Fuck Out of the Way
« Reply #3 on: March 19, 2015, 03:17:12 PM »

Aren't their customs a bit warmer/darker as a rule? I've read oodles of reviews, and I tend to think of their customs as falling in the arena of an HD6x0-type sound, perhaps with better bass extension. But maybe I'm wrong?

No, no such 'rule' I know of. I know Karl is averse to ear piercing treble and likes to play bass guitar. The ES5 is neutral warmer with a bit of bass added and treble rolled just so to prevent fatigue cuz it's a stage monitor. I think that suits his particular tastes as a performer. The older ES3X and newer ES60 is supposed to be more neutral as studio monitors.
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burnspbesq

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Re: W30 - It Gets The Fuck Out of the Way
« Reply #4 on: March 19, 2015, 05:40:18 PM »

Interesting.  Would be a little concerned about bad impedance match with some devices (Pono Player in particular).  Website says 30 ohms @ 1kHz, which would be borderline-but-probably-OK with a device with an output impedance of 3-4 (Atkinson's measurements in the April issue of Stereohphile say 3, although mine measured closer to 4), but I would be curious to see an impedance-vs.-frequency plot.  I have bad memories of W4 being downright unlistenable with first-gen AK100, which had an output impedance of 22 ohms.
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Gilly87

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Re: W30 - It Gets The Fuck Out of the Way
« Reply #5 on: March 19, 2015, 08:58:51 PM »

No, no such 'rule' I know of. I know Karl is averse to ear piercing treble and likes to play bass guitar. The ES5 is neutral warmer with a bit of bass added and treble rolled just so to prevent fatigue cuz it's a stage monitor. I think that suits his particular tastes as a performer. The older ES3X and newer ES60 is supposed to be more neutral as studio monitors.


That's basically what I thought. Didn't know about the ES60/ES3X though; good to know they have a range of options, because as much as I'm digging the W30s, I may turn to them when it comes time to go custom.

I do like a bit of extra treble and am not averse to a mildly fatiguing sound. After a couple of hours I find myself wanting to take a break from the W30s, but I tend to prefer a brighter sound so I don't mind; T90s are my reference cans :P
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tiohn

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Re: W30 - It Gets The Fuck Out of the Way
« Reply #6 on: March 20, 2015, 12:17:42 AM »

I sold most of my IEMs (and non-IEMs, actually) after I got my UERM, but kept the W30. I haven't used them since, but I liked them so much I decided to hang onto them as a backup should something happen to my UERM.
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Gilly87

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Re: W30 - It Gets The Fuck Out of the Way
« Reply #7 on: March 22, 2015, 01:25:46 AM »

I sold most of my IEMs (and non-IEMs, actually) after I got my UERM, but kept the W30. I haven't used them since, but I liked them so much I decided to hang onto them as a backup should something happen to my UERM.

I can understand why...my original goal in finding an IEM was to find something like a universal UERM with a bit more bass, somewhere between the RM and TF10. The W30 is the closest yet for sure.

Just read some promising things about the SD-4 on Head-Fi, though - another mild v-shape earphone with emphasized upper mids, good presentation, and extension on both ends. I really don't need anything else now that I have the W30 but...eh...
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CCS

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Re: W30 - It Gets The Fuck Out of the Way
« Reply #8 on: April 06, 2015, 04:54:24 PM »

I'm not making any final judgments yet, because I just received these today. But, I'd like to post my first impressions here:

Fucking nailed it, Westone.
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CCS

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Re: W30 - It Gets The Fuck Out of the Way
« Reply #9 on: April 09, 2015, 10:57:42 PM »

Interesting.  Would be a little concerned about bad impedance match with some devices (Pono Player in particular).  Website says 30 ohms @ 1kHz, which would be borderline-but-probably-OK with a device with an output impedance of 3-4 (Atkinson's measurements in the April issue of Stereohphile say 3, although mine measured closer to 4), but I would be curious to see an impedance-vs.-frequency plot.  I have bad memories of W4 being downright unlistenable with first-gen AK100, which had an output impedance of 22 ohms.

I have a feeling that impedance might be an issue with these. They don't sound as flat from Asgard 2 (rated <2 ohms) than out of my Leckerton (<0.5 ohms). It's not just a difference in presentation, I think. It sounds like a real difference in frequency response.

Update: Upon further listening, I still find these reasonably neutral and well balanced. Plus a couple decibels in the mid bass, relative to sub bass and the mid range, but nothing excessive and zero bass bleed. There is perhaps a little emphasis on the sibilance region in the treble (somewhere between 6-8 kHz), but it is far less severe than other earphones featuring emphasis here, such as the GR07. It is only noticeable on tracks that I already know have a strong tendency to sound pretty sibilant on most gear, so I don't think it should be a deal-breaker for most.

From memory, detail levels exceed any other earphone I've experienced thus far, though I haven't been super impressed by the resolving power of any earphone I've yet encountered, upon extended listening. This is the first earphone I've had that has really satisfied me in that way.

At $400, I don't feel cheated, but if you can wait for a decent discount, I'd advise trying to purchase this at $300 brand new from an authorized Westone dealer.

To reiterate: Fucking nailed it, Westone.
« Last Edit: April 14, 2015, 12:57:23 AM by CCS »
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