Westone Audio AM Pro X30 IEMs Review

Video Review

First Impressions / Setting up

The Westone Audio AM Pro X30 IEMs (in-ear monitors) are all about what they call “proprietary ambient technology”. They basically let a bit of the external noise from your environment in. As such, the box has a blurb about being great if you’re a musician in a church where you need to hear what the minister is saying between your performances.

We’re reviewing them though from the point of view of DJs, who might also find it valuable to hear what’s going on around them, while still enjoying the benefits of DJing with in-ear monitors rather than with normal headphones and a separate monitor speaker.

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So what do you get? Once inside the box there is a small hard plastic case, a soft carry bag, and a bag of both silicone and memory-foam tips of many sizes – there will definitely be a size that fits you here.

The IEMs themselves are safely mounted in the packaging and already connected to the supplied detachable cable, which has a minijack plug on one end of it and a small cable adjuster designed for tidying the cable away under your chin. They also have a set of tips attached.

The IEMs themselves are transparent plastic and are in a classic in-ear monitor shape with a wire hook that’s designed to go around your ears and help them to stay in place. In-ear monitors like this do take a little bit of getting used to when it comes to putting them into your ears and taking them out again, but after a while it becomes second nature.

Especially when you’re using the memory-foam tips you’ll need to give them a good squeeze to fit them into your ear, and then over 10-15 seconds they’ll expand to the fit that you’re going to feel for the rest of your session.

You can test whether the earbuds are a good fit (whichever type you’re using) by putting your finger over the outside of each IEM, which blocks the passive holes, and then you should hear a big change in ambient noise – if you do, that means you found the right fit.

In Use

Overall the Westone Audio AM Pro X30s are comfortable fitting, with a nice low profile in your ears, and the cable has just the right amount of “hang” due to having just enough weight and being super-flexible.

It’s also just about the right length for DJing: Sometimes with in-ear monitors the cable provided isn’t long enough so you need to use an extension, but this one is a little bit longer than some and I found it was fine for DJing with. I preferred it to the cable on my Shure IEMs because it was more flexible. It seemed to hang more nicely and I did also enjoy using the adjuster to get a comfortable fit around my neck.

So to the audio experience. First, the sound quality: I really liked it, especially for long-term listening. It’s balanced and easy on the ear. Because these headphones let a little bit of background noise in, that adds to the sense that you could wear them happily for a long time. However, it doesn’t let a huge amount of background noise in – it’s just enough to hear people speaking close to you.

But is this really what you want? Well, I used them at home initially, and while I liked the sound, personally I do prefer noise-cancelling (passive or active, I don’t care which) – I’ve got kids at home. When I put my headphones on I want some “me time”!

Then I tried them for DJing. I really thought I wouldn’t like them for DJing – after all here at Digital DJ Tips we teach that your headphones should really isolate you from the outside world. Why? Because ultimately you want something that stops outside noise getting into your ears, so that when you’re DJing with them you don’t need to have them so loud they end up hurting.

However, it turns out that I did like them! One thing about in-ear monitors is that while they mean you don’t need to have a monitor speaker, it is kind-of an “all or nothing” situation once you’ve taken the time to get them in and get the fit right. At that point, mid-set, you don’t want to be taking them in and out all the time.

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I found that DJing with them while still being able to hear people talking to me nearby was a nice compromise. It did cut out enough background noise, meaning I didn’t have to have them too loud, but also I didn’t have to take them out every time someone needed my attention for some reason. So maybe surprisingly, they got my thumbs up for DJing – at least, the kind of DJing I do, where it’s not SUPER loud in the venue.

Conclusion

The Westone Audio AM Pro X30s are a well-made, good sounding and competent in-ear monitor. The twist is that they let a little bit of noise in. Whether you want that or not will determine whether these are the right choice for you.

I would have liked to have seen a way of adjusting that feature – for instance being able to twist the small part that’s got the holes in order to close or open them, or being able to pull it out and replace it with a “proper” plug to make them more isolating. As it is, you’re stuck with their chosen level of ambient noise when using these.

So are they for you? When it comes to DJing, if you like the idea of using in-ear monitors but you know you’re going to have to converse with people, these are an absolutely brilliant choice. Unless you’re playing the biggest clubs with the loudest sound systems you’re unlikely to need 100% isolation, because the noise outside of your headphones isn’t going to be so loud that it becomes necessary. I’m thinking about mobile DJs, event DJs, bar DJs, and residents in small clubs.

These kind of DJs I think would really appreciate the best of both worlds that such an IEM offers. However, if you are a big name DJ playing the biggest venues with the loudest sound systems, I don’t recommend these. For instance James Hype, one of our tutors, wouldn’t like them because he prefers to have in-ear monitors that are more isolating. But of course James doesn’t talk to anyone when he’s DJing, so he wouldn’t need the option to be able to hear people without taking them out in the way that most other DJs would.

And finally, you may be only buying one pair of headphones and they need to do everything for you. I think generally these would be a good all-rounder, but if you’ve been wowed by noise-cancelling headphones in the past, especially active noise-cancelling headphones, then they may not be for you – these do let in more noise than you may be accustomed to.

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Surprisingly though, I think these could be an excellent choice overall for quite a large number of DJs. If in-ear monitor DJing is something that appeals to you, you should definitely consider the AM Pro X30 from Westone Audio.