Westone Audio’s AM PRO X 30 IEMs Are Made For All Music Lovers

Westone Audio has produced custom earpieces for the broadcast and entertainment industries for over 40 years. If you are a musician playing live on stage, there’s a good chance the earpiece you’re wearing, feeding the audio mix from the PA system to your ear, was made by Westone Audio. Stage monitoring technology has done more to improve live sound quality than almost any other development. Today’s slick live performances owe a lot to the development of In-Ear Monitors (IEMs).

The latest IEM from Westone Audio has been explicitly designed for singers and instrumentalists. Although the AM PRO X Series of IEMs is made for musicians, don’t let that put you off because these high-end earbuds are brilliant for listening to music and have a stunningly pure sound that must be heard.

The Westone AM PRO X Series of monitors are available in three configurations and all three models use advanced balanced-armature technology designed by Westone. All the AM PRO X models include Westone’s StageSense filter system, which carefully balances the audio with a certain amount of surround external sound.

The concept of StageSense is like a pair of open-backed headphones and the result creates an open, airy and relaxed sound. The StageSense filter system enables musicians to hear the audio from the mixing desk while still being able to sense feedback from the audience and fellow band members.

Westone Audio has developed its range of balanced-armature drivers for the MA PRO X. Balanced armature drivers are micro speakers that generate sound using different technology to the more usual and less-expensive dynamic drivers found in most earbuds and loudspeakers. Balanced-armature drivers are tiny and can produce highly accurate sound, so they are often used in hearing aids. However, they also reproduce music with incredible clarity and have a flat response that creates a pure, uncolored sound.

The flagship of the new IEM range is the AM PRO X 30 and it uses three balanced-armature drivers for bass, mids and treble. The three drivers are connected via a three-way passive crossover, producing an accurate and expansive soundstage. Balanced armatures are sometimes criticized for being shrill or sounding slightly clinical. Some people say they lack a convincing bass. Well, that isn’t the case with the AM PRO X 30. These IEMs set a new standard for balanced armature performance.

These IEMs have a sensitivity of 124dB @ 1mW, a frequency response of 20Hz to 18kHz, and an impedance of 56Ω. You need a good source to get the best from these awesome IEMs. I used a hi-res digital music stream from Tidal.com for some of my testing. I fed the signal from my iPhone into the FiiO KA13 headphone amplifier DAC I reviewed recently. The sound was stunning in its clarity, accurate soundstage and sheer musical energy.

The AM PRO X 30 are supplied with various sizes of silicone and memory foam ear tips. You must choose the correct size and type of tip to suit your ears if you want the best sound. I chose the largest size of silicone ear tips. The sound produced by the balanced armatures feeds through an impossibly narrow spout that the ear tips push onto. The earpieces hook over the wearer’s ear and each earpiece is connected to the twisted copper cable using innovative T2 micro connectors. The other end of the cable has a single-ended 3.5mm stereo jack plug.

The fit of the AM PRO X 30 is comfortable because the earpieces are light and low profile. The design reminds me of some Etymotic earbuds but with better comfort. Because of the ear hook, the IEMs hardly feel any weight, and you can almost forget you are wearing them. Because a certain amount of external sound is permitted to reach the listener’s ear, you don’t feel as cut off and isolated as you can when wearing some earbuds.

As well as being able to wear the AM PRO X 30 for a long time, I could also listen to them for a long time without experiencing fatigue as the distortion levels are very low. The brain doesn’t have to work hard filtering out and making sense of distorted audio. The IEMs are challenging to drive, so I recommend using them with a good DAC headphone amplifier.

One of the tracks I used to test the IEMs was “Columbus and 89^th” by Sarah Jarosz, from her forthcoming album Polaroid Lovers. The start of the track, with its delicate finger-picking guitar and acoustic bass, is genuinely spine-tingling through the AM PRO X 30. It’s been a while since a pair of IEMs genuinely bowled me over like this. As I mentioned, I often find balanced armatures a little harsh and clinical, but the AM PRO X 30 projects a warm analog sound that’s a sheer joy to listen to. Almost every track I auditioned with these IEMs seemed to reveal something new.

One minor issue with the Westone AM PRO X 30 is that they are so clear they can ruthlessly reveal poor recording technique or mastering quality. These IEMs will have you playing all your old favorite music again to uncover subtleties and nuance you may never have heard before, despite listening to a track many times.

Verdict: The AM PRO X 30 are made for musicians and designed as an affordable stage monitor with a universal fit. However, these are some of the best-sounding wired earbuds I’ve heard in quite a while. The Westone AM PRO X 30 deserve an excellent audio source and plenty of power, but with the FiiO KA13, they sounded sublime and the KA13 headphone DAC is not expensive. If you like your music uncolored, unsullied, open and with superb levels of detail, these excellent IEMs are well worth auditioning. Highly Recommended.

Pricing & Availability: The AM PRO X 30 IEMs are available now from WestoneAudio.com as well as selected retailers, including hifiheadphones.co.uk and gear4music.co.uk in the UK. The pricing for the Westone AM PRO X 30 IEMs is $479.99 / £308 / €349.

More info: WestoneAudio.com

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