make sure you post your review about it~? haha
so it would still cost around 600+ then.
Well Kenji458, here is my imepressions on the EX-1000.
The bass extends very low, but yet is not on the boomy side. For a dynamic driver IEM, the quantity of bass might be a bit lacking for bassheads, but the quality of the bass is really top notch. The bass also has a slightly longer decay as in the bass lingers for a while, yet not overly so. I think Sony intentionally tuned the EX-1000's bass like this to achieve the romantic effect on the vocals. The mids are ultra smooth and very sweet. I also noticed that unlike many dynamic driver IEMs, the bass of EX-1000 does not bleed into the mids. All I can say is that this baby is really tuned for vocals. But if I am comparing the mids of ES5 and EX-1000, I would say the ES5 has the signature Westone mids that is slightly forward while the EX-1000 sounds a bit thinner but more romantic. The treble was on the sibilant side off the box, but has tamed down after 20 hours of burn in. The treble now is quite extended and smooth without sounding sibilant.
The PRaT is on the more mellow and slower side. The EX-1000 is quite a bright IEM, but to me it still remains on the neutral side. While it has the signature dynamic driver qualities in its bass and organic sound, what surprised me was the details and clarity that it was able to bring out from my music. The details and clarity that I'm able to hear does not sound like what most dynamic driver IEMs are capable of. Comparing EX-1000 and ES5, I'm able to hear the details and clarity more readily on EX-1000. But the same details and clarity are still present on my ES5, just that EX-1000 presents them more readily due to the thinner mids. The soundstage of EX-1000 definitely trumps ES5 in terms of width, as EX-1000 is vented. The depth for both IEMs are equally good. Instrument separation is also a tie in my books. But ES5 trumps EX-1000 on the imaging. ES5 is more precise on the imaging by quite a bit than EX-1000. A lot of people has commented on the poor fit and isolation of EX-1000, but I'm able to get a relatively good fit after fiddling EX-1000 for a while. As this is a vented dynamic driver IEM, I expected isolation to be quite poor. But EX-1000 surprised me on the isolation part when I used the silicon with foam tips; it isolated more than I expected.
After trying so many IEMs in the market, I'm very pleased to have gotten the EX-1000 as my back up IEM to my ES5. It complements the ES5 really well. One is a customs while the other is a dynamic driver IEM. The ES5 scores on a customised fit and excellent isolation with a typical balanced armature sound signature albeit a bit warm, but the EX-1000 completes the picture with it's sweet and romantic presentation that ES5 is never ever able to replicate. EX-1000 also scores on managing to sound very coherant and natural across the full spectrum of sound, while ES5 still faces the limitations of sounding less coherant due to the use of multiple drivers. I've heard several high end dynamic driver IEMs such as IE8, CX-980, MTPC, Miles Davis Tribute and JVC FX-500, but none are able to impressed me as much as EX-1000. Sony has really got a winner in their hands.
