[Zachik]

Awesome 2-day sale - Etymotic EVO at 40% off AND free Etymotion!
https://www.head-fi.org/threads/40-off-etymotic-evo-free-etymotion-today-and-tomorrow-only.965237/

 

[twister6]

Here you go, just finished my Review of Westone MACH series with a sound analysis of every model. Enjoy the read

 

[Zachik]

Here you go, just finished my Review of Westone MACH series with a sound analysis of every model. Enjoy the read

Great read (and photos), as usual.
I am 100% in agreement - MACH 70 is my personal favorite of the series!!!

 

[Bret Halford]

A dream-team of Westone and Ety engineers team up to produce a loving homage to the classic ES series... if this is the past I am more than happy to be stuck here lol!

Thanks @twister6 it's super useful to have a single impression of the entire lineup. It is very confusing to navigate them all and understand their intent, Westone could certainly do a clearer job when describing them in the product literature.

 

[User9876]

I am mostly happy with the MACH80 but after reading impressions from some forum members and @twister6's review I wish I had got the MACH70 now.

I wrongly assumed that the MACH80 would be tuned like the W80, but sadly it isn't. Why not get the 70 too I hear you ask well I do have a bit of a cash-flow issue. That is its all flowing out of my bank account and not flowing back quick enough.

I'm currently mainly using my W80 again and have been looking at buying a spare one but see the paragraph above.

 

[twister6]

I am mostly happy with the MACH80 but after reading impressions from some forum members and @twister6's review I wish I had got the MACH70 now.

I wrongly assumed that the MACH80 would be tuned like the W80, but sadly it isn't. Why not get the 70 too I hear you ask well I do have a bit of a cash-flow issue. That is its all flowing out of my bank account and not flowing back quick enough.

I'm currently mainly using my W80 again and have been looking at buying a spare one but see the paragraph above.

I forgot the name, but there was a store in UK, in London?, carrying full Westone line up. I know it can get overwhelming, even when you attend CanJam and have everything in front of you, surrounded by a noisy environment. So, if there is a store where you can sit down and spend some time listening, comparing, analyzing - that would be ideal. The focus of my overview was to share my impressions about the overall design and the cable, and then give a summary of each model, describing how I hear it, including short notes about comparison to ES60 and ES80. It took me close to a few weeks of going back and forth writing notes, coming back later, listening again. So, it's not a 5min process of first impressions.

Can you still return back your MACH 80? It's uni, not ciem, so maybe you can still do that? Also, just because I or someone else preferred MACH 70, don't let this influence your decision or cause buyers remorse if you got MACH 80 and enjoying it. W80, ES80, and MACH 80 are not tuned exactly the same, with a bigger gap between W80 and ES80. And as I mentioned in my review, a lot of people discounted ES80 because they assumed it will sound like W80, but it's not. I still wish and hope Westone/Ety will make a uni version of ES80

 

[Tiax]

Crinacle has uploaded the new measurements, including pro x50 (seems to be almost exactly the same as um pro 50) and mach 80 (this one looks very different comparing to w80)

 

[Bret Halford]

Too bad Crinacle doesn't have an ES80 to compare it to, hard to tell how well they succeeded at porting the sound over. Looks to track @vsg plot of Mach80. Interesting though that Crin's ES60 doesn't look as close to VSG's Mach 60... hopefully we'll see more Mach measurements out there soon!

 

[twister6]

Too bad Crinacle doesn't have an ES80 to compare it to, hard to tell how well they succeeded at porting the sound over. Looks to track @vsg plot of Mach80. Interesting though that Crin's ES60 doesn't look as close to VSG's Mach 60... hopefully we'll see more Mach measurements out there soon!

For the reference, measurements below were taken on the setup identical to Crin's, and I was using small Xelastec eartips. Regarding CIEMs, those measurements are trickier to take since ES flex-canal silicone nozzle doesn't go into the coupler as deep as unis and you need to use blu tack putty stuff to seal around it.

MACH 60


MACH 70


MACH 80

 

[Bret Halford]

Regarding CIEMs, those measurements are trickier to take since ES flex-canal silicone nozzle doesn't go into the coupler as deep as unis and you need to use blu tack putty stuff to seal around it.

Indeed, this is precisely why I would find the comparison so interesting... the challenge of trying to perfectly replicate the sound profile of the custom as Lucid has done here, there has to be some interesting tradeoffs in where one would reference the custom sound to replicate. It would be very interesting to see that partially spelled out after the fact on a standard rig.

 

[AnyDave]

For the reference, measurements below were taken on the setup identical to Crin's, and I was using small Xelastec eartips. Regarding CIEMs, those measurements are trickier to take since ES flex-canal silicone nozzle doesn't go into the coupler as deep as unis and you need to use blu tack putty stuff to seal around it.

MACH 60


MACH 70


MACH 80

This is a challenge when making CIEM measurements. The IEC60318-4 coupler is designed to have the DUT at the reference plane. If it’s pulled back in the canal extension, it’s not going to give an accurate picture of the response. I don’t use the standard canal extension when measuring customs for that exact reason.

 

[Ryokan]

Balanced may not necessarily sound better than SE, (Chord builds their systems with 3.5mm stating SE is more transparent), but what about on a Dap which has been built primarily for use with balanced (better components), as many new Daps are, and SE can be almost an after thought (ZX300)? To get the most out of the player people will want a balanced cable.

 

[Bret Halford]

Linum makes 4.4 mm terminated cables, 2.5 mm is available direct from Ety and Westone.

 

[MarkParity]

Linum makes 4.4 mm terminated cables, 2.5 mm is available direct from Ety and Westone.

I don't think they are worth the money to be honest, especially from the Linum website 300+ Euros for a balanced cable, really. I will stick with 3.5mm for the MACH80 and use a source with a high quality 3.5mm output.

 

[MarkParity]

Balanced may not necessarily sound better than SE, (Chord builds their systems with 3.5mm stating SE is more transparent), but what about on a Dap which has been built primarily for use with balanced (better components), as many new Daps are, and SE can be almost an after thought (ZX300)? To get the most out of the player people will want a balanced cable.

I used to believe that about the ZX300's 3.5mm output too, but take that same output, feed it though the Periodic Audio Nickel and then into the MACH80 and prepare to be truly amazed.