Performance

To test the Westone UM2s I used my Cowon iAudio i7 which has a quite powerful amplification stage which can drive the UM2s to their limit. All of my music is ripped from CDs using EAC and then encoded to FLAC which is a lossless compression format. To test the capabilities of these in-ears I listened to a lot of different music over an extended period of time and noted how it performed. I also used the headphones when commuting to and from work just to see how they performed in real world use.

To begin with I sat down and listened to them for a couple of hours just to get a feel for them. And I was pleasantly surprised, these in-ears actually have a fairly good and wide sound stage which means that you can hear the "position" of the instruments and voice. With most IEMs you feel like all of the sound is coming from the same place, but not with these. The good sound stage makes the music come to life and sound so much more vivid.

The UM2s sound so open and laid back it is a joy to for several hours at the time. I must say that I really like listening to the UM2s because of their open and full sound.

The sound stage coupled with good bass and mid frequency response makes them ideal for rock, pop, and other contemporary music types. The treble detail is quite good on the UM2s and extends nicely, however, I think the treble does not quite live up to the insane high standards of the bass and mids of these earphones. The mids and lower mids of these earphones are just amazing, detailed, airy and leaves you with that wow sensation after listening to them for a while. The smoothness and tonality of these earphones is way ahead of that of most in-ears.

Compared to other earphones the thing that makes the biggest impact on me is the sound stage and the full bodied sound of the UM2s. It has been a while since I have been caught that much off guard I simply was not expecting the Westone UM2s to deliver in so many performance aspects. The UM2s are a very warm sounding pair of headphones, so if you are looking for a pair of analytical sounding headphones look elsewhere.

The midrange on the UM2s is clear and is incredibly detailed which helps to bring out the vocals. Since I listen to a lot of old school rock like Dire Straits, Bruce Springsteen, Steely Dan it is nice to hear just how well trained the performers vocal capabilities are. The only part of the UM2s performance that falls a bit behind is the treble response. It just lacks that little bit of detail that makes classical pieces sound incredible. Overall the Westone UM2s are the most enjoyable in-ears for rock and pop listening I have come across in a long time and definitely worth trying out if you like those genres.

Noise attenuation was higher than average with the UM2s. Compared to my normal in-ears namely the Ultimate Ears the attenuation was much better especially low and mid frequency attenuation was miles ahead.