Westone UM PRO Series Thread

[Voyageur]

I spent some time on the phone with westone today chatting about history and products and the future direction of Westone. Will not divulge names but the person has been with westone for well over 10 years and thinks the transition to china for the w series and um series is seriously tarnishing the name of Westone. They hope to bring production back to Colorado, but its a long process that has not been approved yet nor sure if it will. They hope if they can it will fix the problems with the quality comtrol and when issues do arrise, a quicker fix can be implemented. I also learned about some new products in the works. If all does go well, westone universals will be great again. I still remember my first pair of Westone um1 and um2 about 11 or 12 years ago. Those and Shure were what opened the world of high end audio up for me. You never forget the first time you hear things you never have before in your music.

Interesting... my most recent UM Pro 30 (April 2016) are still branded as "Made in Colorado".

 

[chef8489]

Interesting... my most recent UM Pro 30 (April 2016) are still branded as "Made in Colorado".

It was July or Aug they decided to send them over I believe she told me. For the military program we are only allowed U.S. made products and that is when the um series was no longer available for us as the manufacturing was sent to China. The skeleton series and the es series are still made in Colorado.

 

[elfary]

In my experience the Um pro series assembly is less reliable than the W line. At least as for the housing goes. The superglue of the UM line can look lousy on way too many earphones.

 

[ryanjsoo]

I`ve had a really similar experience, the glue is not great on my UM 50 Pro, that goes for my original unit and one that had driver failure due to moisture ingress. Went on numerous runs with the W30 and never had an issue, the left treble drivers on my first UM 50 died within a month. Luckily my second unit seems to be holding up better but the glue is similarly imprecise. Still happy with the build overall however and the sound quality is much to my liking. 

 

[Gosod]

Just called the shop where I saw this cable and checked for you ... cable has 1 year manufacturer warranty ...
This is for Hong Kong and Asia...

I believe in Europe the minimum legal warranty would be 2 years...

it's good, it changes the sound? and compared?

 

[slackerpo]

this is getting interesting
 
fiio just played their hand: https://www.facebook.com/FiiOAUDIO/posts/1200297206694477

 

[SlashZack]

I would like to get a new epic cable for my um pro 50. Is there anyway to identify the new version of the cable from packaging?

 

[elfary]

I would like to get a new epic cable for my um pro 50. Is there anyway to identify the new version of the cable from packaging?

 
Except for ordering in Westone or Variphone directly, i do not think there is any way to be sure about which version you will end up with.

 

[damobananna]

Hi guys - quick novel and questions about cables

So I was in the store today comparing my um 50 with some aurisonics to verify my purchase, although there is A LOT to like about them, there seems to be something about them that stops me from enjoying them completely - like there is some kind of blanket over them? any way it didnt take me long to decide there is no point in continuing my pursuit with another iem - there is somthing special about the
um pro 50.

So any way I am playing through an ak junior which sounds ten tones better than my cheapo smart phone, I plugged that into a very warm fio amp with bass boost so atleast I might be able to accomplish a basshead/aurisonics style phone but with all those details we love ... Hurray I got the sound I was after and found myself hearing the music at last instead of listening and picking at it

(depending on what i am putting though them, plus after 3 weeks or so of moderate use the gorgeous treble has become quite a bit more apparent - grain of salt but I am thinking that now as I type and they have the best treble I have heard from an iem and am loving them stock out of mid budget ak junior )

. Obviously and unfortunately though, a lot of the original quality and detail became buried in this slap together plan and I thought as soon as I left the shop with this cheap fixer upper I would have been dissatisfied knowing its a botch job - I am way to fussy i confess.

sooo I had the thought to ask if they had any upgrade cables on hand and to my luck they did! So I without a due plugged in a spc litz from alo . now I have never spent any real money on cables for any of my iems because I thought I wouldn't hear any difference but man was I wrong..these umpo 50 NEED a good cable The silver .copper hybrid just made them sound more coherent across all frequency stronger almost not sure how to explain but deff made them way more immersible end of story

Ten minutes of musical bliss later, (I asked the dude to fetch me one at 250 aud, this is really a bargain price to shine up my $800 to a level where i previously thought impposible. The dude also added that pure silver was not going to be a good match ) The guy came back empty handed and said I could order online. No worries there but now I have to ask you for my question for peace of mind if any takers have read this far :blink:, have you tried different sorts of cables with the 50 other than the stock and how would you rate them and what would recommend ? i am goin for a more musical and imersive sound with more of that bass . sorry to burst into the thread like this and thanks in advance !!

 

[damobananna]

deleted

 

[Jodiuh]

What's a good value cable for UM Pro 30?

 

[ryanjsoo]

What's a good value cable for UM Pro 30?

 
UE900 cable is nice, gives a slightly brighter sound, the memory wire is easily removed with an x-acto knife. The Meeaudio Pinnacle P1 cables are also worth a look. I haven`t used it personally but the DT86 cable on penon looks very nice for $35. 

 

[twister6]

What's a good value cable for UM Pro 30?

UE900 cable is nice, gives a slightly brighter sound, the memory wire is easily removed with an x-acto knife. The Meeaudio Pinnacle P1 cables are also worth a look. I haven`t used it personally but the DT86 cable on penon looks very nice for $35. 

I have that Penon cable, beautiful!!! and amazing workmanship. Tested it last night with Andromeda, Pristine-R, and ES60. Very good secure snappy connection. But it doesn't exactly behave as spc cable, and instead adds more body and deeper sub-bass to the sound. I will try to remember to test it tonight with um pro 50 and w60, and will let everyone know.

 

[damobananna]

cool I look forward to that.. I have the option of a silver litz from HPL and an spc from ALO both at around $250 australian and am keen to know what sound you prefer,, the guy i the store said silver would make the umpro 50 to bright does a silver cable reduce the bass ?? cheers

 

[damobananna]

I would like to get a new epic cable for my um pro 50. Is there anyway to identify the new version of the cable from packaging?

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