If you ask what the most fashionable wired earbuds are right now, I don’t know what your answer is, but I finally know today...
Through it, I seem to see the future. What this product should look like.
————
In September 2021, Westone Audio of the United States released new earplug products in China, including the PRO X series positioned for professional monitoring and music appreciation. W80 V3.
Among them, the PRO X series is regarded as an upgrade of the UM series in 2013. The specific models are PRO X10, PRO X20, PRO X30 and PRO quantity.
The full range of PRO
The PRO .
It should be noted that the Chinese and English names of the westone brand have changed: the Chinese name is Westone Audio, which is no longer the previous Westone; the English name is Westone Audio.
Opening the official website of westone, I found that it (founded in 1959) has gone through 60 years...
In addition, I also found that its communication product manufacturing has a close relationship with the US military (a bit Similar to my country's qdc), in addition to developing moving iron earphones, it is also engaged in a large number of technical research related to hearing protection. In short, it is a very technologically advanced manufacturer of headphones and earplugs.
What a pity...
I have only heard of one of the W series earplugs of this brand about 10 years ago (a touring prototype sent by Sun Maofeng, the boss of Shanghai Wutian at that time), and I didn't have a deep impression on it.
However, when I listened to it this time, I didn’t expect that the single-acting PRO X10 moved me a little.
Yes, it sounds better, and it even makes me have a strong yearning for every new earplug from Weston. I haven’t had this desire to collect for a long time.
In addition, I am not a fan of this brand, but now I somewhat understand why there are so many audiophiles in the "ancient times of the HIFI circle" with so many "Wishton stories" and such a strong " Wisdom plot."
The packaging is nice-looking and the material is also very good.
The box originally has a layer of plastic film and a warranty paper affixed to it. Be careful not to lose it after unpacking.
Wisdom's new logo can be seen on the side of the box, with the WA design next to it.
The Linum T2 marked on the box means the T2 interface of the Linum wire brand, which corresponds to the 3.5TRS plug.
Back.
The biggest feature of PRO X10: light and thin. It’s like pursuing the ultimate lightweight feel of wired earbuds.
The most extreme part is “Linum’s BaX headphone cable”.
It is reported that BaX is made of silver-plated copper, with an extremely thin wire diameter of only 0.9mm, and a weight of only 4-8g. The auscultation effect is weaker than that of most HFI earplugs. At the same time, , it can also withstand a pulling force of up to 60N.
(On the day of the press conference, a staff member used the BaX headphone cable to lift a 6kg weight, and the cable was not damaged at all)
In addition, this cable is soft and skin-friendly, Not easy to yellow and other characteristics.
There is a WA brand abbreviation logo on the outside of the case, and there is a moving iron unit without any information on it inside.
The rest are very simple, without any sense of class, and only exude a faint professional atmosphere.
In addition, as far as the shell craftsmanship is concerned, there are no shortcomings, and it is about the same level as Sennheiser IE40PRO.
Through the PRO X10 casing, you can see a red object near the conduit with the word "10" engraved on the surface. According to limited information, the casings of the PRO X series are all the same, with only different internal designs.
The cavity is fully enclosed and has a passive noise reduction effect of 25dB when worn well.
According to my limited knowledge in the past few years, Wisdom PRO X10 is probably the lightest HIFI earplug with passive noise reduction capabilities.
The plug connected to the headset has a raised plastic ring around it. This small design is very finger-friendly and significantly improves the convenience of removing and installing the cable. Good reviews.
Due to the small width and thickness of the cavity, the earmuffs appear large.
Accessories: 1 small waterproof hard storage box, 1 larger storage bag, several earmuffs and a headphone brush.
The velvet bag has exquisite craftsmanship and can hold a lot of things.
For bundling wires?
The T2 connection terminal seems to be unstable and unreliable, but the actual plugging and unplugging experience is very good.
Whether plugging or unplugging, it is more comfortable than the traditional MMCX terminal.
It is reported that Linum’s T2 patented interface has the advantages of high durability, uninterrupted signal transmission, and low sleeve wear.
Out of curiosity, I used Dayinke Zen PRO cables with it, and found that the diameter of the male head of Dayinke MMCX terminal is slightly larger than the Wisdom earplug female socket, so it cannot be inserted.
Comes with an inert foam cover for enhanced noise isolation and a traditional silicone cover.
I felt that the factory-installed case had some sound leakage and lacked bass response. I later switched to a larger case and saw significant improvements. The three-band quality has also been significantly improved.
An ultra-thin catheter similar to Shure and Etymotic EVO.
Wearing earplugs is always important. When it comes to comfort, in my judgment, the lighter, thinner, and smaller the better.
There is no doubt that the Wisdom PRO X10 is the most compact among around-ear headphones.
The wearing comfort of IE40PRO is considered excellent by most people, but when faced with PRO X10, I think it is slightly inferior.
The overall size of PRO X10 is smaller, and even the thickness of the casing makes it feel "ultra-thin". Similar to 1MORE comfobuds z (sleep beans), suitable for listening on the pillow.
Compared with the slightly larger custom-shaped HIFI wired earplugs that have been popular in China in recent years, PRO X10 is even smaller.
In summary, combined with the official website of Wisdom in the United States, you will find that the company attaches great importance to the comfort and health of "hearing products". I think this is what many Wisdom brand fans are keen on. .
No matter how small it is, it still has its opponents, such as the Yamaha EPH-200 in the picture above.
However, the PRO X10 is lighter, and I often wonder if it will be blown away by a gust of wind.
Okay, it’s time to talk about the sound quality.
Ease of use: Very good. With an Apple phone + Apple original adapter cable, just turn the volume up to 70%, and it will have greater loudness and fullness. When turned on to 80%, you will have a shocking sense of presence. A volume of 30% to 60% is more suitable at night. When sleeping, you can turn the volume down to 10%.
By analogy, paired with a portable HIFI player, it will basically be versatile.
However, since it is a single-acting iron, its full-frequency dynamics may not be as powerful and shocking under certain music as some dynamic earphones with the same sensitivity.
Front end: IPHONE XR + various small tail pushers, FiiO M11 paired with Questyle CMA12 desktop headphone amp, Shanling M6 21 version.
In one sentence: As a single-acting iron, it is successful. And this is not easy. You must know that Sony has made four single-action iron earplugs, but none of them has been truly recognized.
Slightly neutral (different from the obvious neutrality of Sony MDR-Z1R), different from music appreciation earplugs, so it is unlikely to produce a soft and gorgeous sound (maybe possible under some players) It will moisturize); it is different from the cold sound with strong analytical sense of NF AUDIO NA2+ and NM2+, but a relatively rare sound with good analysis but fullness and strong sense of reality.
The resolution and thickness are both good, and in most cases it is listenable, sometimes with a slightly sweet listening experience (depending on the source). What is more unexpected is that the low-frequency volume is not small, even slightly more than Sennheiser IE40PRO, but not as much as Sony IER-M7 and M9. The low-frequency atmosphere is comfortable, not stiff, and it is usually not easy to hear the moving iron. The taste (can still be perceived in extreme cases).
Due to the moving iron, it is more sharp than some ordinary moving coil earplugs, and is easier to show "clear" and "pure" instrumental texture.
Compared with Sony’s previous three single-action iron earplugs, XBA-10, XBA-100, and XBA-C10, the bass performance of Wisdom PRO X10 may be the best, at least better than that of XBA-10 It is better than C10, and the volume and texture are superior to a certain extent.
Paired with an Apple phone + original adapter cable for direct push, the sound is a little darker, the imaging is softer, the taste is a little bland, the balance is good, and the analysis is pretty good, but not outstanding.
Paired with several Shanling portable players, the one that stands out is the M6 ??21 version. The sound quality and listening experience are one to two notches better than the Apple phone + various headphone amplifier cables. It has good analysis and It's solid, has a distinct sense of sophistication, and has clearly more cohesive lines. The female voice is nice.
When paired with a Questyle desktop headphone amp, you should pay attention to the volume knob at this time. If you turn it slightly wider, there will be a slight feeling of loss of control caused by "over-pushing". Based on this set of front-end, the male voice is a little dry, but the female voice has no problem. The sense of space is larger than that of other playback devices. Some people can't imagine that it comes from such a "small" cavity. The imaging is solid, but relatively cold. The overall listening experience is fuller and quite amazing. During this period, you will feel "it's worth paying 1,000 yuan".
Comparing XBA-100:
The full-range naturalness and smoothness of Wisdom PRO X10 will be more obvious, and it is less likely to produce a "dry" feeling. In addition, in the frequency bands that are most directly felt by the human ear, from mid-low to mid-high frequencies, PRO There are some shortcomings in some details in terms of listening experience, but X10 basically has all the frequency bands in place. Although the quality is not so flamboyant, it definitely has nothing to do with the word "unpleasant".
Compare qdc Neptune: This is a tough opponent, both sides have relatively strong capabilities. All I can say is that the Neptune’s sound is more stretched and makes more sense of space. Because the Weston PRO X10 is positioned as a professional monitor, it is better at expressing “pure” sound. It has very little modification, and the "pleasure" needs to be savored slowly, and this is also the point where monitoring earplugs are different from music appreciation earplugs. However, even so, during the three days of experience, I was still poisoned by PRO X10 from time to time.
I couldn’t explain the reason for this at the moment. It felt like drinking tea. You know it’s not a sweet drink, but you’ll get addicted to it as you drink it. The sweet drink here is "Neptune" and the tea is "PRO X10".
I think the listening experience of PRO X10 is very good among monitoring earplugs. The other one is Sennheiser IE40PRO, which also sounds better.
(Of course, there must be a group of people who are completely unable to adapt to this kind of pure sound quality that is slightly dry and cold)
The X10’s treble is not gorgeous, but it is always swaying around your ears, and the texture is slightly hard. Brighter, not elegant. This plug lacks the "sense of height" or "sense of depth" that some more advanced monitor earplugs often have. Therefore, the high-frequency overtones are often nestled in a slightly smaller space, which may be detrimental to those who want to play "large-scale" music. Enthusiast not friendly.
It is suitable for listening to self-made, vocal, plucked, and orchestral instruments. It is not good at expressing very strong bass, such as some movie soundtracks, hip-hop, electronics, etc. that emphasize dynamics. As a single-acting iron, its limits are perceptible. As long as it does not cross the boundaries (frequency band, music type), everything is almost perfect.
Comparing Yamaha EPH-200:
From a purely quality perspective, Wisdom's is better, because it is basically healthy and clear in the entire frequency range. The EPH-200 has some modifications in the bass and treble parts. The bass has a larger volume and slightly overwhelms the human voice. The treble floats far away, which is suspected of deliberately creating a sense of "upper" space. PRO X10 is relatively "honest", and various sounds are presented in a brighter manner, which has a better sense of entity and is therefore more solid. The problem with the EPH-200 is that it may have too much bass, otherwise its listening experience is pretty good from a music appreciation perspective.
Comparison with IE40PRO:
IE40PRO is very stretched horizontally, and it feels like it is slumping thousands of miles. The separation is excellent, but the full frequency range is thin, and the high-frequency imaging is a bit too exaggerated and seems a bit fake. Of course, I still think it sounds good. The main advantage of Weston PRO X10 is that it is "healthy" and has a solid foundation. Even if the separation is not so exaggerated, the sharp and clear monitoring tuning is still enough for you to appreciate the shape of every "music".
The vocal thickness of X10 is better than that of IE40PRO. Especially when paired with higher-end playback equipment, its full-frequency density and thickness will be more outstanding. It may not necessarily be pleasant to the ear, but it is likely to exceed your expectations. The imagination of the energy feeling of single-acting iron.
Finally, I need to remind you not to turn up the volume too much. Moving iron earplugs such as PRO X10 are not easy to withstand.
——————————
All in all, I personally like this plug. It is extremely light and extremely pure.
Today, when wired earbuds are being forced by TWS to become bigger and heavier, Wisdom has gone in the opposite direction. Ah... it’s really classy and fashionable. It seems to have redefined the form of wired earbuds and brought a new design trend to the entire market. It is quite forward-looking and even has a bit of "science fiction" color.
The product value of PRO X10 comes from Wisdom's ever-improving ergonomic design and rigorous sound tuning. Although its first listening experience is plain, it may not be as easy to satisfy one ear as the moving coil, but its overall strength is still OK considering the current "single-acting iron" price of 1,000 yuan (988 yuan).
In addition, I am also curious about how it compares with Shure AONIC 3. If there is an opportunity in the future, we will discuss it.