Westone

Last updated
Westone
Headquarters
Colorado Springs, Colorado
,
USA

Westone is an American manufacturer of custom earpieces for the hearing healthcare market, hearing protection products, custom communications earpieces, clinical and audiological supplies, musicians hearing protection and in-ear monitors for professional musicians and audiophiles.

Contents

History

Westone Laboratories, Inc. was established in 1959 by Ron Morgan, Sr. outside of Divide, Colorado, USA. The company was later headed by Ron Morgan's son, Randy Morgan. It is headquartered in Colorado Springs, Colorado and currently led by Jason Lockwood, President and CEO.

Westone Music Products invented the first in-ear musicians' monitor. The company originally designed and manufactured the E1 and E5 for Shure, another manufacturer of audio equipment. Westone also co-developed and manufactured the early Ultimate Ears brand by Jerry Harvey, and custom-fitted in-ear musicians’ monitors.

Westone was purchased by HealthEdge Investment Partners in 2017. In 2020, Westone's music division, Westone Audio was purchased by Lucid Audio. [1]

Products

The company's earpieces are used for hearing healthcare, recreation, industrial and military applications. Its core business is custom earpieces for hearing healthcare (i.e., used in conjunction with hearing aids), but it also caters to the professional musician and audiophile market.

Earphones and in-ear musicians' monitors

UM3X Removable Cable Westone UM3X RC01.JPG
UM3X Removable Cable

Westone Audio manufactures both custom-fit and universal-fit products for personal listening for consumers, in-ear musicians’ monitors for professional musicians and audiophiles, as well as hearing protection for musicians and concert goers.

Westone Audio currently has five different product families of in-ear musicians’ monitors and earphones: the Universal Series (UM Pro 10, UM Pro 20, UM Pro 30, UM Pro 50) in-ear musicians’ monitors, the W Series (W10, W10, W30, W40, W50, W60) earphones for personal listening, the custom Elite Series (ES10, ES20, ES30, ES50, ES60), the custom Consumer Recreational (CR10), custom Musician's monitors (AC10 and AC20) and custom earpieces (Style #7 and UM56) for adapting to universal-fit earbuds and earphones.

The single driver UM Pro 10, dual driver UM Pro 20, triple driver UM Pro 30, and 5 driver UM Pro 50 are designed to provide frequency efficiencies using a universal-fit for on-stage monitoring. While the W10, W20, W30, W40, W50, and W60 also provide a universal-fit, they are specifically designed for the personal listener.

The Elite Series, namely the ES10, ES20, ES30, ES50, and ES60 are custom fit earphones and in-ear musicians’ monitors. This line was originally targeted to provide custom-fit in-ear musicians’ monitors for professional musicians for on-stage monitoring.

Custom fit is an upgrade in personal listening and in-ear musicians’ monitors. Custom-fit designs fit the shape of the ear and ear canal. Headphones typically are noise cancellation products, providing background noise in addition to the music/sound the headphone drivers deliver. Custom-fit products isolate external noise and sound by creating a seal, which aims to enhance the sound quality delivered, and to provide a better sound performance level than headphones and ear buds.

W SeriesDriver
All W series monitors feature removable cables, and include 1 braided cable, and 1 Apple Certified Microphone Cable-
W10Balanced armature, full range, single driver.
W20Dual balanced armatures, 1 low & 1 mid/high frequency.
W30Three balanced armature drivers with a passive three-way crossover.
W40Four balanced armature drivers with a passive three-way crossover (2 low, 1 mid, 1 high)
W50Five balanced armature drivers with a passive three-way crossover (1 low, 2 mid, 2 high)
W60Six balanced armature drivers with a passive three-way crossover (2 low, 2 mid, 2 high)
W80Eight balanced armature drivers with a passive three-way crossover (2 low, 2 mid, 4 high)
Universal In-Ear Musicians’ MonitorsDriver
All UM Pro series monitors feature removable cables
UM Pro 10Balanced armature, full range, single driver
UM Pro 20Dual balanced armatures with a passive crossover;
UM Pro 30Three balanced armature drivers with a passive three-way crossover
UM Pro 50Five balanced armature drivers with a passive three-way crossover (1 low, 2 mid, 2 high)
Custom Monitors/EarphonesDriver
CR10Balanced armature, full range, single driver
AC10Balanced armature, full range, single driver
AC20Dual balanced armatures with a passive crossover
ES10Balanced armature, full range, single driver
ES20Dual balanced armatures with a passive crossover
ES30Three balanced armature drivers with a passive three-way crossover
ES50Five balanced armature drivers with a passive three-way crossover (1 low, 2 mid, 2 high)
ES60Six balanced armature drivers with a passive three-way crossover (2 low, 2 mid, 2 high)
ES80 [2] Eight balanced armature drivers with a passive three-way crossover (2 low, 2 mid, 4 high)
EarpiecesDescriptions
Style 49Typically considered hearing protection, this product is designed for the wearer to hear accurately, but at a safer volume. The design fits into the ear canal with a 9, 15, or 25 dB filter.
Style #7Also known as Westone iCustoms[TM]. This product is designed for a custom-fit with standard earbuds.
UM 56This product allows UM product line users to upgrade their universal-fit to a custom-fit. These earpieces are canal-style similar to the size of a universal tip.

Related Research Articles

An audiophile is a person who is enthusiastic about high-fidelity sound reproduction. An audiophile seeks to reproduce the sound of a live musical performance, typically in a room with good acoustics. It is widely agreed that reaching this goal is very difficult and that even the best-regarded recording and playback systems rarely, if ever, achieve it.

Headphones Device placed near the ears that plays sound

Headphones are a pair of small loudspeaker drivers worn on or around the head over a user's ears. They are electroacoustic transducers, which convert an electrical signal to a corresponding sound. Headphones let a single user listen to an audio source privately, in contrast to a loudspeaker, which emits sound into the open air for anyone nearby to hear. Headphones are also known as earspeakers, earphones or, colloquially, cans. Circumaural and supra-aural headphones use a band over the top of the head to hold the speakers in place. Another type, known as earbuds or earpieces consist of individual units that plug into the user's ear canal. A third type are bone conduction headphones, which typically wrap around the back of the head and rest in front of the ear canal, leaving the ear canal open. In the context of telecommunication, a headset is a combination of headphone and microphone.

Logitech Swiss multinational electronics and technology company

Logitech International S.A. is a Swiss multinational manufacturer of computer peripherals and software, with headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland and Newark, California. The company has offices throughout Europe, Asia, Oceania, and the Americas, and is one of the world's leading manufacturers of input and interface devices for personal computers (PCs) and other digital products. It is a component of the flagship Swiss Market Index.

Earplug Device to protect ears from loud noises

An earplug is a device that is inserted in the ear canal to protect the user's ears from loud noises, intrusion of water, foreign bodies, dust or excessive wind. Since they reduce the sound volume, earplugs are often used to help prevent hearing loss and tinnitus.

Klipsch Audio Technologies is an American loudspeaker company based in Indianapolis, Indiana. Founded in Hope, Arkansas, in 1946 as 'Klipsch and Associates' by Paul W. Klipsch, the company produces loudspeaker drivers and enclosures, as well as complete loudspeakers for high-end, high-fidelity sound systems, public address applications, and personal computers.

Headphone amplifier

A headphone amplifier is a low-powered audio amplifier designed particularly to drive headphones worn on or in the ears, instead of loudspeakers in speaker enclosures. Most commonly, headphone amplifiers are found embedded in electronic devices that have a headphone jack, such as integrated amplifiers, portable music players, and televisions. However, standalone units are used, especially in audiophile markets and in professional audio applications, such as music studios. Headphone amplifiers are available in consumer-grade models used by hi-fi enthusiasts and audiophiles and professional audio models, which are used in recording studios.

Crystal earpiece

A crystal earpiece is a type of piezoelectric earphone, producing sound by using a piezoelectric crystal, a material that changes its shape when electricity is applied to it. It is usually designed to plug into the ear canal of the user.

Ultimate Ears American audio equipment manufacturer

Ultimate Ears is an American custom in-ear monitor (IEM), speaker, and earphone manufacturer based in Irvine and Newark, California, United States.

M-Audio is a business unit of inMusic Brands that designs and markets audio and MIDI interfaces, keyboards and MIDI controllers, synthesizers, loudspeakers, studio monitors, digital DJ systems, microphones, and music software. The company has independent offices in the US, Canada, UK, Germany, France and Japan.

In-ear monitor Audio earpiece commonly used in live music and television

In-ear monitors (IEMs) are devices used by musicians, audio engineers and audiophiles to listen to music or to hear a personal mix of vocals and stage instrumentation for live performance or recording studio mixing. They are also used by television presenters in order to receive vocal instructions, info, and breaking news announcements from a producer that only the presenter hears. They are often custom fitted for an individual's ears to provide comfort and a high level of noise reduction from ambient surroundings. Their origins as a tool in live music performance can be traced back to the mid-1980s.

Headset (audio) Telephone or computer accessory

Headsets connect over a telephone or to a computer, allowing the user to speak and listen while keeping both hands free. They are commonly used in customer service and technical support centers, where employees can converse with customers while typing information into a computer. Also common among computer gamers are headsets, which will let them talk with each other and hear others, as well as use their keyboards and mice to play the game.

Stage monitor system Speakers for live music performances

A stage monitor system is a set of performer-facing loudspeakers called monitor speakers, stage monitors, floor monitors, wedges, or foldbacks on stage during live music performances in which a sound reinforcement system is used to amplify a performance for the audience. The monitor system allows musicians to hear themselves and fellow band members clearly.

Future Sonics is an American professional audio and consumer earphones company which designs and manufactures its own proprietary MG line of full-range miniature loudspeakers used in all of its products.

Jerry Harvey is an American sound engineer best known for inventing, along with Karl Cartwright, a series of customized dual-speaker in-ear monitors in 1995. He founded Ultimate Ears that same year, and in 2007, founded JH Audio. He has served as the sound engineer for artists as varied as Van Halen, Kiss, Morrissey, the Cult, the Knack, David Lee Roth, Mötley Crüe, k.d. lang, and Linkin Park.

Meze Audio Romanian headphone company

Meze Audio is a high-end audio company based in Baia Mare, Romania. Its product range consists of audiophile headphones and earphones.

V-Moda American audio equipment manufacturer

V-MODA is a private international company specializing in the design and production of low-end mobile audio products, including headphones, earphones, portable amplifiers, protection ear plugs and accessories.

UE 900

UE 900 and UE 900S are noise-isolating ear phones manufactured and marketed by Logitech, under the Ultimate Ears brand. They are aimed at listeners who prefer neutral sound signature. They are rated as one of the best ear phones in its price range by CNET.

HiFiMAN Electronics is a Chinese manufacturer of audio products including headphones, amplifiers, and portable audio players. Hifiman is known for its audio products, initially made under the brand Head-Direct but now only as HIFIMAN.

Hearables

Hearables or Smart headphones or Earbuds are electronic in-ear devices designed for multiple purposes. The category is split between hearables for hearing health, and hearables for other applications.

Fiio F9 Earphone model

FiiO F9 and FiiO F9 Pro are noise-isolating earphones manufactured and marketed by FiiO Electronics Technology. They are aimed at listeners who prefer strong bass and are rated as one of the best earphones in its price range by CNET.

References

  1. "Lucid Audio Purchases Westone Audio | the Hearing Review".
  2. "Westone ES80 Review — Headfonics". headfonics.com. 2018-09-23. Retrieved 2022-07-30.