Performance

To test these in-ear-monitors I used my Cowon iAudio i7 loaded with all of my music encoded in FLAC which is a free lossless format. In order to get a good idea of the performance of the Westone UM1s I tried listening to a lot of different types of music at different listening levels.

I generally listen to a lot of rock and therefore I started off by going through some of my old records. The bass is lacking a bit compared to the more expensive UM2s and so are the highs. The roll off starts sooner at both ends of the response curve. One of the first things I noticed was that the mids were pretty accurate compared to my Ultimate Ears Super.fi 3 Studios which are in the same price segment.

Since the Westone UM1s is a reasonably price single driver earphone neither the bass or treble extends that well. Coming from the high end UM2s it is pretty apparent what you pay for with the more expensive headphones. Where the UM1 does a good job at reproducing sound, the UM2s presentation is immaculate.

The UM1s both lack a bit of bass definition and amount compared to the high end UM2s, but they still pack more bass punch than other similar priced IEMs on the market today. The way I see it the UM2s are just more of the same as the UM1s. The UM1s are a smooth and warm sounding IEM like its bigger brother.
The things I miss the most with the UM1s coming from the UM2s is some bass precision and amount where you can hear each of the tones that the bass player strikes accurately. That the treble is a bit more recessed did not change things that much. Only the reproduction of classical pieces was hurt by this minor difference, and let's face it the UM1s are not intended for listening to classical music.

Considering the massive price of the UM2s the UM1s do not fall that far behind. With the price difference being a mighty $200 I think it is safe to say that the price performance ratio of the UM1s is way better than that of the UM2s.

The noise attenuation capabilities of the Westone UM1s is really good and does just as good a job at keeping noise out as its bigger brother. The seal between ear and monitor is perfect because of the brilliant Comply foam tips.

Since the UM1s use the same brilliant cable solution as the UM2s the amount of microphonics is kept at a minimum.