Video Reviewīeneath each bud’s innocuous plastic frame rests a mighty four-pack of razor-thin balanced-armature drivers. A small packet of instructions at the very bottom of the W40’s box rounds out the package. Beneath that was a second removable cable, this one braided. Packed tightly into the orange case we found a baggy loaded to the gills with silicone and Comply foam ear tips, a tiny hex screwdriver, and an ear-wax cleaner. The ‘vault’ comes with a pressure release valve, heavy plastic clamps and is built tough enough to survive a direct hit from a scud missile.
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Below the phones we found a seriously heavy-duty plastic carrying case in orange that Westone calls a Monitor Vault. Beneath the earpieces we discovered two hard-shell jackets in red and blue that clip over the W40’s glossy ‘W’ logo to give the buds a touch of color. Inside, a layer of thick foam held the black buds in place, with a detachable cable running in ribbons around the top of each bud before disappearing into the bottom layer. Coaxing the inner package from its cardboard shell was a bit of a chore, but once we did we were rewarded with a smooth, charcoal-grey box with a magnetically-sealed cover that opens like a hardcopy book. The W40 come in a premium package that gives their owner some immediate consolation for spending half a grand on a pair of in-ear headphones.
WELSO WESTONE GUITAR PORTABLE
We recently took a luxury ride on the W40 express to find out what a $500 in-ear headphone could do for our portable music catalog, and in the interest of brevity, we’ll tell you now: It can do a hell of a lot. That princely price tag gets you a spoil of goodies, including 25 dB of passive noise attenuation and a still-absurd array of four balanced armatures. Inciting slightly less sticker shock, though still pretty pricey, are the $500 Westone W40. But the W60’s premium tones also fetch a seriously premium price $1000, actually, which places them in a very narrow niche.
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We got our first listen to the W60 at CES 2014, and it offered one of the most incredible portable audio experiences we’ve ever had, handily winning our Best of CES 2014 award in the headphones category. But it’s Westone’s impressive new line-up of consumer in-ear headphones that’s been catching our attention lately – including the top-tier W60, which packs a ridiculous six-armature arsenal into each tiny earpiece. Storied audio company Westone boasts an expansive auditory catalog, supplying everything from in-ear monitors for musicians to custom made noise-attenuating earpieces for jet pilots.