COMPARISON OF THE UM2 AND THE WESTONE 3![Comparison of the UM2 and the Westone 3]() Yesterday night I did a 3 hour comparison between the Westone UM2 and the new Westone 3 earphones.
Songs I listened to:
1. The Entertainer - Cincinnati Orchestra
2. Thru These Walls - Phil Collins - Hello I Must Be Going!
3. Colors of the Wind - Vanessa Williams - Pocahontas
4. Take Five - The Dave Brubeck Quartet - Time Out
5. Pussycat - Missy Elliott
6. Get Low (Remix) - Lil Jon and The East Side Boys
7. Iron Man - Black Sabbath - Paranoid
8. Right Now (Na Na Na) - Akon
9. Broken - Scott Stapp - The Great Divide
10. The Great Divide - Scott Stapp - The Great Divide
I experienced more hissing (when there is no music) with the UM2. The sound of the Westone 3 is more refined, controlled (in a good way). What really strikes me on this comparison, is that, if I had to choose one word to describe the comparison it would be "fluid". The Westone 3 is noticeably more fluid. It seems there are more notes connecting the music. There is more "music" in the playback when using the Westone 3. The UM2 sounds dryer in comparison. It feels more rough, raw. I feel almost embarassed for writing this review because the 3 is diculously awesome. I feel sad and nostalgic about the other IEMs I used to love. The 3 makes me feel like I'm betraying my old toys. It's cowardice!
The playback flows in a way I have not experienced before with other earphones. Its like the music was written in cursive with the Westone 3. It's all very fluid. With Colors of the Wind I hear a very faded sound like a drumstick touching the snare drum rim which I cannot hear with the UM2.
Cables on the Westone are softer, more flexible than on the UM2 (not sure if it's because my UM2 are approaching 3 years now).
I kept switching: every other song I would start with a different earphones.
On Take Five you can hear with much more clarity the air blowing from the sax. You can hear the breathing before the blow. The string stretching of the big bass. Very hard to describe. On the Missy Elliott song the vocals were definitely better on the 3. Bass was also better on the 3 when listening to the heavy bass Get Low. UM2 is clearly rougher on this song.
That's it! I don't want to listen to anything else! Everything else became monotone, gray. I'm becoming more and more spoiled and now my ears can only "see" colors with the 3. This was a great surprise. I truly hoped the Westone 3 would be marginally better than my UM2 but I never thought it would be such a game changer. Just to prove everything can be improved. It is ridiculous. Seriously. If I were auditioning to buy these and price was $800, I'd hand the plastic in a heart beat. Specially knowing the prices and performance of all other models. The Klipsch IMAGE doesn't hold a candle to these. It's like Civic SI vs. new BMW M3 V8. It's hard for me to put in words as you can tell. I'd like to ask for help from our customers to describe in words this experience. The velvety of the vocals is simply amazing.
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