elnero

I don't know why but the picture in my head of your home system has a big ole 8 track in it.

I'm not saying I disagree with what you posted only that saying he wasn't given a reason to be defensive is a bit off base. Seriously, wouldn't you be a bit on the defensive if the same thing was posted about you?

This will probably provoke the ire of a few of you, I really don't want it to seem like I'm taking sides because god knows I feel the same way about some of the things that have been stated about HeadphoneAddict and what goes on at HF but I can see why the guy may have been a bit on the defensive from the outset considering this was post #8 of the thread: That and some of the ensuing comments certainly come pretty close to questioning his integrity. I don't really have much of an opinion either way, it's kind of become the way of HF, but I do think it showed some balls and at least somewhat of a thick skin to come on here and try and explain his position, maybe he could have dealt with it better but I think people saying there was nothing done to provoke him is a bit misleading. It's kind of starting to remind me of the whole -=Germania=- thing.

I believe you're right on the cable, there is also at least one or two other third party cables available. My friend bought one but I forget what the name is, I can find out for you if you like. It's funny the differences we as individuals have in how we perceive different headphones, in particular IEM's. While I didn't find the tri.fi's midrange severely recessed or anything it was enough that in some instances vocals and some music sounded a bit flat and lifeless. I don't really hear a midrange recession with the 3's, in fact they sound fairly natural to my ears. I do quite like the 3's but at this point they are somewhat confusing at the same time, they're almost chameleon like for lack of a better term. It's hard to explain, in some cases songs I didn't expect to sound that great end up sounding wonderful while others that I expect to sound good only sound mediocre. Some songs I expect to hear sibilance issues with exhibit none while others I've not had an issue with before do. Some songs the bass is full, punchy and drives the music while in other cases snare drums lack the expected "snap". But I do find I'm hearing further into some recordings, getting more of a sense of the space and the instruments and as I've mentioned based on comparisons with what I have here and previous comparisons I think at this point they offer a step forward albeit with some reservations. That said no headphone is perfect and it's a matter of how well it suits the users ear and preferences. Most of the flaws I hear with the 3's are fairly minor in the grand scheme but even though I quite like them the sibilance issues may end up being a deal breaker for me.

I've only heard them with Comply's, bass was impressive but they did have a bit of mid recession for me and the highs were just borderline for sibilance. I'm hopefully going to borrow the same pair again soon, but with a recable, and give them another try because there were aspects that I really did like.

What tips are you using on the tri.fi's?

Ahhh ok, I misinterpreted what you said, sorry.

You make it sound like 95% of the experienced reviewers share your opinion and preferences, somehow I doubt that's the case or we wouldn't have Grado vs. Sennheiser, O2 vs R10, etc. Just because the W3's didn't meet your expectations or your personal preference doesn't mean they're are not top-tier universals deserving of the praise others have for them. It seems to me to be fairly obvious that if you were expecting the W3's to be a more balanced ER4 that you would be disappointed, in many ways the W3's are the antithesis of the ER4's and trust me, there's many people with good ears and plenty of experience that think that's a good thing.

I've had the Westone 3's now for a couple of days and I guess my opinion runs about middle of the road. My ears are quite sensitive to silicone tips these days but my preference is to use a tip that has some durability. With this in mind when I first got the 3's I went straight to the Shure black olives. Unfortunately for me the 3's with these tips exhibit excessive sibilance which I'm very sensitive to. This made me hesitant to open the included pack of tips because the only ones I didn't have in one form or another were the Comply's and I would have preferred to avoid those because of the shorter durability and expense of them. I tried a few of the other tips I have around even tri-flanges and bi-flanges for as long as my ears could tolerate them. Some worked better than others which gave me a bit of hope so I finally broke down, cracked open the package of tips, put on the Comply's and I've been fairly happy since. In this configuration to my ears the 3's have a nice full bass that seem to integrate nicely with the mids which also have a full, somewhat forward sound. It's not too forward though, vocals seem to have natural amount of body. Based on how my other IEM's are configured the treble is a bit more than I'm used to but that's not necessarily a bad thing, sibilance is still more than I'm accustomed to at this point as well but it does not seem excessive unless it's recorded that way and even then I haven't found it to be too bad. I see what others have said about the decay, I think this adds to the full-bodied, silky smooth feel and even though the stage isn't huge you get a good sense of the recorded space but I think this also causes them to feel a bit reserved or reined in. They have a decent amount of punch but lack that last bit PRaT that would give them that extra bit of "fun factor". As it stands now when I listen to the 3's I know they sound good but it's not until I put in one of my other IEM's that I realize just how good they are. IMO, based on what I have here and the comparisons to the other high-end universal IEM's I've had in the past I think the 3's represent a step above the rest of the class. Are they perfect? Nope, but they certainly represent a step in the right direction.

To be fair to Ken (Highwaystar) I think it must be noted that at the time williamgoody was an upstanding member of the community and had been for quite some time plus it was the first time Head-Fi had to deal with anything of that magnitude. I used to talk with williamgoody on a fairly regular basis and I bought a Meta42 from him, when I opened the package I was surprised to find he had even thrown in a decent RCA to mini cable without my knowledge. Up until all hell broke loose this seemed to be pretty much the norm with him, then all of a sudden he just seemed to turn into a completely different person. It still weirds me out to this day. Edit: Come to think of it that Meta42 was supposedly Justin's first amp build.

In general I've found it to be a real chore selling gear on HF for at least the past year or more.

This just in... Monster Beats by Dr. Dre Tour In-Ear Headphones - Apple Store (U.S.)

I wouldn't consider the ER4's accurate.

What gave people the impression that the 3's were like a more balanced ER4?

Happy Birthday!

Happy belated birthday Jay!

Thanks for the rundown, it does sound like my type of series as I tend to like the more involved, all encompassing type of series.

I've never read any Erikson, I must give him a try.

I still haven't read the last book yet. I have it but I wanted to go back and reread the others to refresh my memory of them. Unfortunately my reading time has been very limited of late so it's taking me forever to get through anything.

I've often wondered if that's where the name came from. I'm a big fan of the books myself so this is exciting news and even more so with the news that it's HBO.

I noticed this a couple of days ago when I went their website to get the manual for my watch (everytime I need to do something to it I need to get the damn manual). From what little I've seen they don't look like anything I'm aware of but I do find it hard to believe they're doing it themselves.

Happy Birthday!

Be honest, you really want them so you can use them at work and banish the SR-60's.

How are these ones listed on Head-fi IC: Grado PS-1 - Head-Fi: Covering Headphones, Earphones and Portable Audio different from the regular PS-1's. Before I saw this ad I had not heard of any variations, now we have a "shiny polished" and a chrome. Is it possible they're the same thus the one on auction is not truly a one of a kind?

Uh Oh, sounds like you're speaking from experience.