Westone In-Ear Monitors and High-End Earbuds

Produced by Young Jeohn

SIGNATURE W SERIES

Westone's latest flagship earbud is the W80 Signature and is designed with 8 drivers - two for bass, two for midrange and four for the highs. It adds to their existing line of models from W10 to W60, and prices start at $199 and go up to $1499.

UM PRO SERIES

UM Pro Series are IEM's (In-Ear Monitors) that are specifically designed for use on stage and for live performances. Westone offers 4 models:

  • UM Pro 50 (5 balanced armatures)
  • UM Pro 30 (3 balanced armatures)
  • UM Pro 20 (2 balanced armatures)
  • UM Pro 10 (1 balanced armature)


Westone have a long history of making In-Ear Monitors and earphones (since the 80's) and were the first to make balanced armature earphones. With Karl Cartwright, one of the leading pioneers in this field, they've designed real world solutions with experience from helping bands like Def Leppard, Rush, and Van Halen.

AM PRO 10, 20, 30

Consider this line the same as the UM Pro series - with the addition of a passive ambient filter. It's got the same sound signature, but allows the wearer to hear the environment. Westone incorporates what's known as a SLED (Sonic Low Pressure Equalization) device that prevents any sound coming from the drivers from leaking. You get to keep all the low end, which typically gets lost when ambient sound is involved.

CABLES

As far as cables are concerned, every Westone product is designed to use interchangable MMCX connector cables (sort of like an "open standard" format). They also have a Bluetooth cable that also uses MMCX (so you can simply swap out your existing cable) with a battery life of eight hours and costs $99.

All Westone products come with a 2 year warranty and 10 tips (5 silicone/5 foam) that are color coded.

And for those thinking of trying IEMs on for size, they have a new starter IEM called the UM1, costing only $99. This too, uses balanced armature drivers.

More info: http://www.westone.com

CanJam Audio Show (02/18)
@The Marriott, New York City

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Check prices --- Amazon affiliate link
https://amzn.to/2GFupkw (W80 eight-driver earbuds)
https://amzn.to/2GKbSn4 (UM1 single-driver IEM)

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Young Jeohn

Adding creative flair to Otakus & Geeks with his videos, photos and written musings. Having lived abroad with extensive travel experience from Scandinavian ice castles to the fashionable Harajuku district in Tokyo, he carries knowledge from old-skool anime days and enjoys eating with chopsticks (with expert precision), talking shop with companies large and small and other questionable activities he can't talk about in public. His website lives at http://www.YoungFromNewYork.com