General Information
What’s impressive about the Westone UmPro50, is…. a hell of a lot. It's the legendary ES50, removing the custom bit, and replacing it with a universal shell so light and comfortable that it almost makes custom fitting irrelevant. Oh, and you can pick up a pair for $350, second-hand. Most sellers will throw in a $100 cable.
These share a similar signature to the N5/Dulce… which I love. In one way in particular. Gorgeous bass. The bass is tight. It punches with bite and is the highlight of an iem that has few lowlights. The mids are straight and true. The treble is clear but cohesive. Not rolling off quite like the W60 - comparatively you could say it sizzles. If I was to level a complaint it might be that the top end can sound a bit lean. But this feels picky... even petty.
The UmPro50 does so much right... it again raises the question about the value of the driver wars beyond seaparating us from our dollars.
The UmPro50 doesn't need more than 5 drivers to sound utterly fantastic. Even as I write this, I recall a TOTL flagship shootout by the Wall of Madness guys that essentially opined the same thing. They were speaking about the ES5, so the custom version of this universal (from all accounts). Okay the TOTL standard then tended to max at around 8 drivers... but the basic description of how well these 5 drivers perform is as relevant now as 4 years ago.
Anyway back to a more relevant price/driver competitor... the N5/Dulce Bass.
It moves ahead of the N5/Dulce is the way it textures the bass. I mean, it’s a “hair” better. The control the UmPro50 exhibits is worth experiencing.
The treble is detailed, fast and cohesive. It isn’t a reference sound by any means - too bassy for one, but more analytical than the Westone’s W series…. Of course, that's Westone analytical to you!.
So, hardly analytical.
Confusing, I know.
What matters is the UmPro50’s signature is beautiful, smart, powerful, musical and cohesive.
The UmPro50 makes music running into your brain vivid, dynamic and dammit, exciting… listening to a Radiohead concert… and "I felt I was really THERE" as Steve Guttenberg likes to write.
Personally, I want a pair to convert into CIEMs. As disclosed mine ended up in a German car door… but despite my pain, I love love, love the UmPro50. In fact I replaced it a year later.
Size and fit
These disappear in your ears. They're incredibly comfortable. Westone's famous for the comfort and fit of their iems. No-one jams BAs more efficiently than Westone. Thankfully Westone are also famous for their tuning, or it would be a case of... who cares, right?
The Pro series don’t have the sad plastic plates the W series is burdened with, which, as I’ll scream and rant about in my W60 review, is a very good thing.
These aren’t fancy looking... but the latest version that sounds the same has a bit of a cooler look to it, and chooses a green and clear design to showcase it's model. I'm not sure why they designated their 5 driver to be green... small carbon footprint? Anyway, it's what it is.
The UmPro50 is terrific value, provided you can live with the strength / weakness / weakness. Because, of course, physical lightness comes at a cost.
Criticism
Buy these by all means, but if so, you are going to spend several hundred dollars on an iem that is somewhat flimsy.
Essentially, you won't regret the expenditure, because they sound so awesome... but then they may break. The seams on the plastic have been known to disembowel those 5 BAs... apparently fixed. Hopefully yes, but in any case this is how much I like these: I will plonk $300 for InEarz to set me up with a sweet pair of fancy sea-shell coiffed CIEMs... and I will have a Westone signature, with a cool personalised shell that won’t fall to peices. Honestly when you add the second hand price to the CIEM cost.. you get to $650 for a sweet CIEM. Not a bad deal at all.
Back to the reality of the UmPro50 design... there are truly technical arguments for narrow stems.
But I feel that Westone and Shure take this design rationale a bridge too far.
Iem’s need significant support to not require unrepairable surgery at every ill-fated corner - through normal human handling errors. (Okay, not slammed in a car door like mine… Then they’re toast - it matters not a jot what the iems were made from.)
The Westone (and Shure) stems are thin like reeds. Sticks of tiny plastic. Easy to bump, drop a bag on, or yes slam a car door on. And while nothing would survive the latter, the Nobles, for example, will handle significantly more punishment. Their broad stems and tough material ensure it.
Where it gets interesting in ergonomics and ruggedness, is the inside. One can see the way BAs are wrapped tight, with small wires connecting them. With a bigger shell, a la Noble, there may actually be more risk of the BAs getting dislodged inside. My suspicion is based on a reaction akin to whiplash when compared with the smaller bean of the Westone shell. Also I’ve had to rely on the Noble warranty when a BA started missing a gear...
Just a thought.
Of course, there’s no analysis.
No drop testing 100 units and comparing whether how they rattle afterwards, perhaps recording them using a sophisticated microphone, followed by full spectrum sound tests. I just don’t have the resources…but consider what other manufacturers are doing!
Noble's Kaisers and Katanas use frigging military aluminium!!!!! The Wizard has spoken about 450 pounds of pressure being applied to place in the procedure of placing the 2 sides of the shell together. We can assume it’s the same aluminium on the Django’s, Dulce Bass, etc.
To digress and compare, the N5/all "old versions" have an acrylic hard plastic that feels bulletproof. Like a Sherman tank, the N5/Dulce will survive a good treading… But as mentioned may just struggle more with the (Julian Patented) "whiplash effect” likely to be associated with a drop on the ground for reasons outlined.
Obviously conjecture… As stated no-one will fund comprehensive strength & stress tests comparing manufacturers. (But gee. that would be cool, wouldn’t it? Maybe it will happen if everyone buys high end iems instead of iPods. Then there would be the scope of business to support second-order businesses that test equipment - parallel to the idiots that throw brand new iPhone’s into blenders on You-tube.)
Here’s a bald statement:
1. NO universal Westone can survive being walked on.
2. Westone should look at this issue… Even purely from a business angle. You know, from the angle, that making your customers happy is “a thing”.
Not that Westone can be j'accused of rapidly responding to customer concerns regarding design engineering...
Review: 4 stars. Pros: The UmPro50 sounds wonderful and is a joy to wear… Cons… but their physical engineering is a step up from deplorable.
New versus old below...
Make this iem strong and you have a firm 5 star. And THAT’S HOW CLOSE YOU ARE WESTONE, FROM BEING BACK IN THE GAME...!!!!
These share a similar signature to the N5/Dulce… which I love. In one way in particular. Gorgeous bass. The bass is tight. It punches with bite and is the highlight of an iem that has few lowlights. The mids are straight and true. The treble is clear but cohesive. Not rolling off quite like the W60 - comparatively you could say it sizzles. If I was to level a complaint it might be that the top end can sound a bit lean. But this feels picky... even petty.
The UmPro50 does so much right... it again raises the question about the value of the driver wars beyond seaparating us from our dollars.
The UmPro50 doesn't need more than 5 drivers to sound utterly fantastic. Even as I write this, I recall a TOTL flagship shootout by the Wall of Madness guys that essentially opined the same thing. They were speaking about the ES5, so the custom version of this universal (from all accounts). Okay the TOTL standard then tended to max at around 8 drivers... but the basic description of how well these 5 drivers perform is as relevant now as 4 years ago.
Anyway back to a more relevant price/driver competitor... the N5/Dulce Bass.
It moves ahead of the N5/Dulce is the way it textures the bass. I mean, it’s a “hair” better. The control the UmPro50 exhibits is worth experiencing.
The treble is detailed, fast and cohesive. It isn’t a reference sound by any means - too bassy for one, but more analytical than the Westone’s W series…. Of course, that's Westone analytical to you!.
So, hardly analytical.
Confusing, I know.
What matters is the UmPro50’s signature is beautiful, smart, powerful, musical and cohesive.
The UmPro50 makes music running into your brain vivid, dynamic and dammit, exciting… listening to a Radiohead concert… and "I felt I was really THERE" as Steve Guttenberg likes to write.
Personally, I want a pair to convert into CIEMs. As disclosed mine ended up in a German car door… but despite my pain, I love love, love the UmPro50. In fact I replaced it a year later.
Size and fit
These disappear in your ears. They're incredibly comfortable. Westone's famous for the comfort and fit of their iems. No-one jams BAs more efficiently than Westone. Thankfully Westone are also famous for their tuning, or it would be a case of... who cares, right?
The Pro series don’t have the sad plastic plates the W series is burdened with, which, as I’ll scream and rant about in my W60 review, is a very good thing.
These aren’t fancy looking... but the latest version that sounds the same has a bit of a cooler look to it, and chooses a green and clear design to showcase it's model. I'm not sure why they designated their 5 driver to be green... small carbon footprint? Anyway, it's what it is.
The UmPro50 is terrific value, provided you can live with the strength / weakness / weakness. Because, of course, physical lightness comes at a cost.
Criticism
Buy these by all means, but if so, you are going to spend several hundred dollars on an iem that is somewhat flimsy.
Essentially, you won't regret the expenditure, because they sound so awesome... but then they may break. The seams on the plastic have been known to disembowel those 5 BAs... apparently fixed. Hopefully yes, but in any case this is how much I like these: I will plonk $300 for InEarz to set me up with a sweet pair of fancy sea-shell coiffed CIEMs... and I will have a Westone signature, with a cool personalised shell that won’t fall to peices. Honestly when you add the second hand price to the CIEM cost.. you get to $650 for a sweet CIEM. Not a bad deal at all.
Back to the reality of the UmPro50 design... there are truly technical arguments for narrow stems.
But I feel that Westone and Shure take this design rationale a bridge too far.
Iem’s need significant support to not require unrepairable surgery at every ill-fated corner - through normal human handling errors. (Okay, not slammed in a car door like mine… Then they’re toast - it matters not a jot what the iems were made from.)
The Westone (and Shure) stems are thin like reeds. Sticks of tiny plastic. Easy to bump, drop a bag on, or yes slam a car door on. And while nothing would survive the latter, the Nobles, for example, will handle significantly more punishment. Their broad stems and tough material ensure it.
Where it gets interesting in ergonomics and ruggedness, is the inside. One can see the way BAs are wrapped tight, with small wires connecting them. With a bigger shell, a la Noble, there may actually be more risk of the BAs getting dislodged inside. My suspicion is based on a reaction akin to whiplash when compared with the smaller bean of the Westone shell. Also I’ve had to rely on the Noble warranty when a BA started missing a gear...
Just a thought.
Of course, there’s no analysis.
No drop testing 100 units and comparing whether how they rattle afterwards, perhaps recording them using a sophisticated microphone, followed by full spectrum sound tests. I just don’t have the resources…but consider what other manufacturers are doing!
Noble's Kaisers and Katanas use frigging military aluminium!!!!! The Wizard has spoken about 450 pounds of pressure being applied to place in the procedure of placing the 2 sides of the shell together. We can assume it’s the same aluminium on the Django’s, Dulce Bass, etc.
To digress and compare, the N5/all "old versions" have an acrylic hard plastic that feels bulletproof. Like a Sherman tank, the N5/Dulce will survive a good treading… But as mentioned may just struggle more with the (Julian Patented) "whiplash effect” likely to be associated with a drop on the ground for reasons outlined.
Obviously conjecture… As stated no-one will fund comprehensive strength & stress tests comparing manufacturers. (But gee. that would be cool, wouldn’t it? Maybe it will happen if everyone buys high end iems instead of iPods. Then there would be the scope of business to support second-order businesses that test equipment - parallel to the idiots that throw brand new iPhone’s into blenders on You-tube.)
Here’s a bald statement:
1. NO universal Westone can survive being walked on.
2. Westone should look at this issue… Even purely from a business angle. You know, from the angle, that making your customers happy is “a thing”.
Not that Westone can be j'accused of rapidly responding to customer concerns regarding design engineering...
Review: 4 stars. Pros: The UmPro50 sounds wonderful and is a joy to wear… Cons… but their physical engineering is a step up from deplorable.
New versus old below...
Make this iem strong and you have a firm 5 star. And THAT’S HOW CLOSE YOU ARE WESTONE, FROM BEING BACK IN THE GAME...!!!!
