Westone Audio Mach Series Review
Mach Series
$299-1599
Pros
- 8 Models to suit all price brackets and sound styles
- Beautiful high quality design and build
- Solid range of tuning and high grade audiophile level signatures
Cons
- T2 Cable people may take time to get used to
- No wireless connections supplied in the series
As many of our avid followers know, we hold Westone Audio in high regards and they have proven themselves time and time again, consistently producing refinements and shaping the way we see the inear audiophile industry today.
Building on 35 years of engineering knowledge and artists engagement the MACH series raises the bar on the industry respected ‘W Series’ with a complete overhaul from shell design, to accessories, to connector, to sound signature!
Certainly a bold move, for Lucid Audio the new owners of Westone Audio.
The flame of Karl Cartwright’s legacy has been handed to a new set of custodians to keep his unique special in ear sound alive.
When I read this I had to have a double take, as it is quite a revelations in the industry, the decision for Lucid Audio to expand and to pick up some serious choice brands, Westone Audio being one of them as well as Etymotic audio to name but a few.
So to understand more about the Mach Series and Lucid Audio, we reached out to ask for an interview and was delighted when they agreed.
The full ‘earphonia.com Lucid Audio Interview Covering Westone Audio’s Mach Series’ can be found here but I will also reference relevant parts throughout this review.
With Westone Audio being instrumental in the evolution of the audio quality experience, the team at earphonia.com were delighted to be given the chance to sample 5 models in the Mach Series Range.
The mid tier, 40, 50 and 60 models as well as the 2 top tier earphones in the series, the 70 and 80 models.
Lets take a look at all of these and determine how they differ ergonomically from the Classic W Series and details about what they have to offer.
The 40,50,60 – (mid tier) 70 and 80 (top tier) Mach Series earphones share similar packaging and accessories, the main difference in terms of accessories is that the supplied cables are different between the mid tier range and the top tier range.
Lets take a looks at the common set of accessories first and then we can talk about the cables.
The packaging lends more of a focus to the human element, featuring a different ‘cool – good looking’ person on the packaging for each of the models as opposed to the primarily ‘blank’ W Series box style.
In my view this represents two different elements, firstly a subconscious feeling of a human connection as well as a feeling of ‘cool successful people buy these’ items so I must be cool and successful also to own these.
I may be off the mark but this is how I read into this. There is nothing wrong with this and I can see much more attraction to the Mach Range versus the previous W range purely on this branding alone.
Another element that this relays is that the audio experience is natural personal and not just all a disconnected technical experience.
Lets take a look at the package in general and find our what treats we are in for.
Each of the Mach series models in the range we covered have these cardboard outer sleeves, tightly placed to hold the inner packaging in place.
A rectangular hardish cardboard inner box is inside proudly showing off the newish Westone Black and Red Logo with the new owners names below – inspired by Lucid Hearing.
The right hand flap has a small magnet attraction to keep the box closed but with a little force you can flip open the box to reveal the package contents.
You can see a Black Gloss Pelican Case inside. In my view these pelican cases are the most premium cases you will find and are of a extremely high end production standard, this is a welcome inclusion and I much prefer these over the orange smaller cases.
The units I received did not have the branding label on the cases for the series, this could be due to receiving units early as development was being finalised but the official images show a label with the series number on it see below.
It doesn’t make much difference to me but would like to point it out, in-case you think something is wrong with your purchase if the label is not there, I wouldn’t worry about it.
Inside the Pelicase, there is cleanly machined foam inserts with 3 sections to hold all the items in place and securely when on the move.
Your Mach series earphones are protected well and extremely unlikely to get damaged in transit.
Moving on to the other common accessories.
You get the familiar eartips that were shipped in the original W Series, these are very nice
5 Pairs of Star Tips and 5 Pairs of Foam Tips (my preference).
One eartip cleaner, which has a metal loop for removing wax/debris.
A well made soft cloth bag with Westone Audio branding on one black side and the other side light grey. This bag/pouch is soft and well made, with a draw string at the top for securing it.
A small sticker with the Westone Audio – ‘W A’ logo is also included as well.
As mentioned earlier the mid tier and the top tier range have a different cable included.
The mid tier – 40,50,60 in the Mach Series range have a Linum SuperBaX™ T2 Cable 3.5mm Single Ended
Whereas the top tier – 70,80 in the Mach Series range have the Linum UltraBaX™ T2 Cable.
A small black rubber strap is also included to secure the cables when wrapped to be stored away, this should make it much easier to unravel and you wont end up with the dreaded ‘cable mangled spaghetti effect’.
I suspect many Westone Audio fans will be raising eyebrows when they realise that the well known MMCX cable is no longer used and now the T2 connectors are used.
I’m not sure of the main reason for this but I have heard of connection faults on MMCX connections for some brands, so this could be the reason.
So I asked the engineers why the new T2 connection:
From my perspective, the T2 is a better connection system. The T2 has springs in each corner of the socket the socket to maintain the ground connection, so even if the plug is tilted directly away from one ground spring, it pushes directly into the one in the opposite corner.
The ground connection on MMCX connectors is nowhere near as robust and the connection is more prone to intermittency. While it is a fundamental change, it is not one that is unique to Westone Audio and Etymotic.
More and more manufacturers are implementing the T2 connection (sometimes referred to as IPX). On a long enough timeframe, I think it’s possible that T2 becomes the new standard.
Our experience with the T2 connectors was extremely positive, it does have a solid click when inserted and I have not heard of any faults with T2 connections, so this may just become a new standard for now, time will tell.
Possibly a number of audiophiles with high end aftermarket MMCX cables will be seeing red as they wont be able to directly use their current cables on the Mach Series but you can pick up T2 to MMCX connectors from Linum website.
We don’t have these adaptors or have not tested these so cannot comment but Linum do also sell a number of parts, so if you are a DIY cable fan you might be able to create your own custom cable.
