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Review: Westone UM1
November 2, 2013
Back to In-Ear experience
After a frustrating
experience with Pioneer and Urbanears, I finally found what I should
have bought in the first place.
How I got here was a short journey. After AstroVision gave my refund, my mind was set on getting a pair of BRAINWAVZ but I don’t want to go to Burgos Circle where my also-geek grandson got his.
I headed to the Power Mac
Center in Greenbelt only to be told they never had BRANWAVZ despite
some web searches confirming an “Apple Store” in Greenbelt has them.
Nevertheless, it gave me an opportunity to listen to the AKG311 that
sounded tinny and life-less, and to the Harman Kardon AE that
sounded like a Harman Kardon and priced like a Harman Kardon. The
representative of Beyond Innovations (the
distributor of the brand) was quick to inform me that the AE will
not sound good if I won’t use it with an Apple product and my
eyebrows are now raised. I showed him my iPod Classic 120GB and he
immediately opened the sealed product, wow. So yes, it sounded great
on the iPod and I insisted on trying it on my HTC 8S and it sounded
“ill” and we used an Urbanears adaptor and it sounded “ok” but not
worth the price tag. I had to try it with my Xperia V, and now it
sounded like shit. So, I gave up and heeded his recommendation- wait
for the Harman Kardon SOHO. He also showed
me the photos as an over-the-ear can and
looks sexy in brown! I thanked him for his time and said I am
interested to hear it, but it won’t show up in their stores this
year.
I crossed-over Landmark and
upon entering Greenbelt I saw an AstroVision, so I entered and I
asked if they have BRAINWAVZ, the girl was excited to inform me they
don’t but there’s a store which she don’t know the name that
has, she continued by
giving directions and I just realized I know that store! So I headed
over to Quick Sound where I was introduced to Urbanears and
Marshall…
The same girl who patiently attended to me before is who I’m story-telling about my frustrations with the Urbanears and she came up with the conclusion that the Urbanears doesn’t really meet my sound preferences. I started trying out the various products and even gave the Medis and its more expensive brother from Marshall another chance, but with the same result. I gave up on Urbanears and tried the BRAINVAWZ which didn’t impress me this time, and only the low-end is available for demo as the M3 and M4 are must buys.
I tried
almost everything they have on demo, until I saw
Westone products which were facing the
payment counter. They have the old UM1 on demo for P3,995 and I took
a serious auditioning time with this one. After I am convinced about
the sound quality, I knew that the UM2 should sound better. They
have a new UM1 for P5,450, and old UM2 for
like P11,950 and a new UM2 for like
P13,950. Wow, what a jump in price! Fine,
dual-drivers and so on for the UM2, but at
this price range I have other plans in
mind. I ended up getting the new UM1.
Comfort
The first thing I noticed
with the UM1 is that the default tip is very similar to the 3M
earplugs I am familiar with- I used
one at Qantas Formula 1
Grand Prix in Melbourne, and we give
these to our examinees who want sound
isolation from other examinees who read aloud the exam questions. I
also use these plugs when there are noisy neighbors singing in-
and out-of-tune at night.
I know I could have it in my ears for like 10 hours and not feel any
discomfort so the claim in front of the box-
“incredible comfort” and “superior sound isolation” seems to be
addressed already.
I’m not sure if I will be
annoyed by the wires looped on my ears but I have done that before,
so it’s nothing new. I have been using it for more than two hours as
I type this on my Surface RT while playing music via Media Monkey
streaming Achtung Baby by U2 from my Synology NAS through the Wi-Fi
of my Western Digital N900 Central.
Microphonics
Absolutely nothing. I don’t
care how they do it, but I’m glad they did. Compared to the
un-clipped Altec MZX406, the Altec is noisy.
Efficiency
The technical specifications
listed this model at 114dB/mW, 25 ohms
@ 1kHz. It can be driven loud by my Sansa Fuze,
iPod Classic 120GB and HTC 8S, but let’s not talk about the Sony
Xperia V which is still the worst device I own for playing music.
Isolation and Leakage
Due to the material used for
the tip, isolation from external noise is pretty good but of course
not as good as the isolation provided by Bose noise-cancelling
headphones. As for the leakage, there is none even if my SPL meter
is just 4 inches away from my ear. Room noise is about 37dB – 41dB
with or without music playing.
The Sound
This is a monitor, same as
the Pioneer SE-EX9 monitor I had, so the two are direct competitors
in their category.
Tonality, the quality I
always look for in any audio product is a strong feature of the UM1.
It claims to be a musician’s monitor, and while I may not be a
musician, I love music and it does offer the tonal quality of my
preference.
The UM1's published frequency response is from 20Hz - 16kHz, so comparing the top end performance with my AKG K240 Studio would be futile. Nevertheless, the UM1 is satisfying, and subjectively better with some materials.
For testing vocal tracks, I always use my trusty vinyl featuring Charlene's Never Been To Me, where the UM1 did a beautiful reproduction with well tamed sibilance. I played Suzanne Vega's Luka and Tom's Diner tracks and I furhter confirm naturalness and uncolored volcals.
I am continuously impressed
by the qualities of the UM1 as I stack track after track in my
playlist. I am playing Dream Theater’s Endless Sacrifice as I type
this paragraph and I had to stop and mesmerize with the
articulation of John Myung's bass.
Headstage and Imaging
There is no headstage and
I’d be lying if I say there is. So there. As to imaging, it is as
good as it can possibly get, unlike the Medis which is all over the
place. The Tanto is even better than the Medis.
Build quality
Made in Colorado,
USA. Need I say
more?
Packaging
