Coming from an SCL4, the UM3X sounds a lot more "complete". The bass is stronger and crisper, the mids and highs are more detailed. It's a very balanced sounding head phone with no one area more emphasized than the other, which is not quite as exciting sounding as headphones that focus more in one area.

The foam tips that come with the headphones are very comfortable and isolate very well. The triple flanges don't fit my ears well so I can't give much information on that, and I don't like rubber tips in general. The headphones themselves aren't very big and fit in my ear very nicely. The cable is very sturdy, despite looking quite flimsy. It's very light and thin, which leads to very little microphonics, but also tangles quite easily. The inline volume control is a nice accessory to have since these headphones are quite sensitive.

Now onto the bad part. I have only one gripe about these headphones and it's related to the removable cable connector. My cables were connected very tightly to the headphones themselves, so tightly that when I removed the cable, part of the connector housing broke off and another part remained in the headphone. The other issue problem with the connector I ran into is that it breaks quite easily when you straighten the strain relief or bend it the wrong way. The top and bottom part of the housing pops off. Other than the poor connector, these headphones are excellent

Just got them for about a week or so and I have been trying them on every chance I have, they sound great do not stress my ears and provide great noise isolation even with the silicone tips. I have been using shure black olives and every time a song ends a void occurs until the next song comes on and that really sucks. Overall these um3x's are the best thing i ever had both in build and sound quality.

These still do not isolate plane noise as well as the Shures 4xx/5xx series but they are pretty good. They sound incredible, a little better than the Shure 500. I wish they were a hair smaller. The Shure 4xx still fit the best out of all of them and still isolate noise the best. I do love these as they are clear and the midrange is almost as good as the Shures. The bass is better and the three drivers make a difference. Recommend. (Used with a Verizon iphone 4).

Used Westone 3 for a couple of years until cord developed a intermittent break by the plug (sound would cut out, bend cord and sound would come back). Really loved the W3 but never did like the thin cord. Bought um3x because could replace the cable if it broke again. When first used it had same problem, but found cable ends wasn't making good contact with the earphones (both sides). Reinserted them seems to fix it. As far as how it compares with the W3, because the um3x is a monitor the sound is up front with no enhancement and not as full as the W3. But you can hear everything in the music (heard sounds in songs never knew was in there) Can make the sound fuller by playing with the ipod EQ settings. (kinda like the flat setting) Also might have to burn it in, about 12 hours, before it really starts to sound great. Just like the W3, need to get a real good fit to hear the bass. The W3 was my favorite but now I think the um3x is better.

The UM3x weren't even on my short list initially and I could have overlooked them entirely as something really only meant for musicians on stage. The more I read about the UM3x, the more I found others who were using them at home and with portable devices. I haven't found anything to dislike, but if I had to complain about anything at this point it would have to be the price. I won't complain because I have never regretted paying for quality.

I've owned the UM3X's for some months now. I have them with the non-removable cables as Westone uses some of the best cables on the market, I did not see the reason in adding a point of failure with removable connectors. I thought to write this review now because of a very recent revelation I had with this pair. I also own the Westone 3's currently (for over a year) but perhaps not much longer due to my recent discovery.

You may read many things on forums about these IEM's being very mid-heavy and lacking a wide soundstage. This is partially correct and had I written this review before, I might have even docked it a star. I generally preferred the Westone 3's over the UM3X for listening to electronic music due to their big sound and deep bass. I bought the UM3X because the W3's can be pretty hard on the ears after some hours and get fatiguing, it's a very big sound that's not for everyone. The UM3X have the same fit as the venerable UM2's and are also made in the US (big disappointment seeing China on the W3's). I should note that I have had a W3 pair fail, I've never had a UM2 or UM3X pair fail. If it happens to you, Westone has excellent service and will have a replacement pair at your door within a week.

In any case, a few weeks back I had decided to take the jump and buy my first headphone amp/portable DAC. The unit I have been using is the Fiio E7, which is cheap and good looking. It is not a top performer but very good for a sub $100 amp. My only gripe would be it hisses a very tiny bit, much less than a laptop out or most ipod outs, but more than my Cowon A3. It is also limited to 16bit/48khz output as a DAC on laptop (not an issue for most music sources, only an issue for very hi-fi recordings). I stress that this unit is an excellent starter unit and fairly well suited to the low power requirements of IEM's, it will not compare to a $300 amp, but it is good for an on-the-go user. Ibasso and Headroom make competitors in this lower price range that will likely give you the benefit I've had.

Plugging the UM3X's into the Fiio E7 and MY GOD, they aren't even the same IEM. The soundstage opens right up, the bass is clear and accurate, the mids go from being the most forward element to fitting in perfectly. They still keep the refined sound without any muddiness. It is like taking a blanket off a pair of speakers. This is the case for my 4g/5.5g ipods, my Cowon A3, and my laptop outputs, all sound somewhat boring with the UM3X, but amping these they sound great. I have tested the W3's side-by-side with the same standard comply foams and same amp, and while they see some improvement, it's rather minor with an amp. I believe the W3's were designed to not require an amp and really don't see the benefit, but the UM3X scales *REALLY* well with an amp. The W3's almost sound muddy compared to the perfect clarity of the UM3X when it is amped.

I now have no reasons to prefer the W3 over the UM3X. Unless you lack an amp, the UM3X are better in every single possible way. Of course the W4's may also be an option, I have demoed a friend's unamped and they sounded quite excellent. I will have to re-demo them amped against the UM3X to see just what the differences are, I am betting that the unamped W4's are quite comparable to the amped UM3X's.

I have performed a little research and it doesn't appear anyone did impedance measurements on the UM3X over different frequencies. The published impedance measurements from manufacturers are very misleading. It may be that their impedance rating drops dramatically with lower frequency which will cause an attenuation of bass on cheap headphone op-amps not able to supply the current due to a higher output impedance rating (especially laptop headphone jacks and older ipods). There is a graph of the Westone 3's impedance, which shows it never really drops below 20ohm even in real low frequency, this is probably why average reviews state the W3's as having a greater amount of bass than the UM3X as the engineers designed it to work well on ipod outputs. In any case, the UM3X are a world different on an amp.

Final note, even with a crappy source; these IEM's sound *much* better with the amp. If you don't intend to amp these, I'd pass and consider the W3's. But if you do amp these, the W3's cannot compare, these are a phenomenal pair of IEM's and I cannot state enough the importance of buying even a cheap amp.

new to ear phones ,but have experience with sound equipment love the quality of sound.

No1

I ordered these earphones as a special treat to myself and they did not disappoint at all. I also own the UM1 Earphones by Westone (those were my first IEM's) and I was so impressed with them that I got the "itch" to try the higher end earphones. Right out of the box these blew me away. I was immediately on "Twitter" thanking Westone for the great technology that they put into their sound quality. The fittings that are shipped with these are also wonderful. I tried a few different pairs and I ended on the small comply-foam ones. I listen to mostly acoustic based rock music and some lighter style pop songs and these sound great with both. I had an awesome experience with earphone solutions as well. I got a follow call directly from the Reps to confirm the shipping address and a few days later I received them exactly as promised. AWESOME experience and AWESOME product!!!

What I liked:
I bought a pair of UM3x recently from Earphone Solutions because I was really happy with my UM2s and read such great things about the UM3x and needed to find out for myself if they were really that much better than my UM2s. I planned to either upgrade my UM2s (I was within the return period) or give my UM2s to my wife. When they arrived, I compared the two headphones for 1/2 hour and really was surprised by how full bodied the sound was and how detailed they were. I made the mistake of letting my wife compare the two and she too really liked the UM3xs over the UM2 which she thought were really great. The bad part is, my wife ended up taking my UM3xs and I have to buy another UM3x for myself.

What I didn't like so much:
One reason I bought these over the W3s were the removable cables. I was worried at first when they came because the left side phone kept going out when I moved the cable (I thought I had to return them). I had to detach the cable from the phone and reinsert it, it seemed to have stopped the problem. I know Westone had to recall some of the removable cable models so I thought this may be one of them (I did notice the yellow dot on the bottom of the packaging though that meant it was the newer fixed version).

The other item I'm still on the fence on is the memory wire. It made it hard at first to get the phone into position, but after I had them kinked the right way, it didn't seem to be a problem. Buy yet again, I only had them for 30 minutes so I need more time to make a call on the memory wire.

Bought this iem's on November and loving it every time i use it up until now. I am not a musician or a performer, but i chose this because of the removable cable and sound sig and it's very useful because i can change the cables into customize iem cables.The SQ of the iem's its just perfect and crisp, bass are tight, but not too punchy(i am not a bass head), the high's are just crystal clear with 0 sibilance. The iem's not definitely cheap, but it is worth the money.

This is the S&#$T!!!