Wait Promac? Earphones? Yep! Same brand that makes those TVs I often associate as “raffle prizes”. Now they’re venturing in the world of headphones and what we have here is their PRO One (they also have PRO2 and PRO3). The PRO does not stand for professional-grade by the way.
The Promac PRO One earphones is advertised as having a detailed and bass-driven sound signature. For the curious ones, the PRO2 is said to give you warm and bright sound while the PRO3 has an in-line mic. That’s their lineup and they’re taking it slowly by introducing these affordable ones first.
Anyway, back to the Promac PRO One. At first, it looks like your typical in-ear earphones with a high gloss finish. But when you pull it out from its plain-looking packaging, you would see an angled driver design (not meant for over-ear wearing) for a comfort fit and a flat tangle-free cable with a cinch to keep those buds together when not in use.
Comfort fit you say? Yes, the angled design works and it’s one of the most comfortable and “just right fit for my ears” earphone I’ve used. It’s snug, not too tight and not loose either and they have two extra silicon tips too in case the default one doesn’t feel right on your ear.
Performance
To test this Promac PRO One, I have a couple of entry-level buds in the form of the Philips SHE800 and the Superlux HD381 to compare it with and a Nokia phone as my music player.
According to the packaging, the Pro ONE has a detailed and bass-driven sound signature. Well one thing’s for sure, the bass is not that strong. It’s there but the sound is not necessarily bass-driven as they claim. After using it to listen to Kanye West’s Niggas in Paris, it felt that bass was weak compared to the Philips SHE800 which has the same driver size. It’s not that bad though especially if you don’t need those powerful bass. Let’s just say there’s not much bang in T-Pain’s Bang Bang Pow Pow.
Its strength would be in the details. Despite having a not-so big soundstage, you can still clearly hear the details of your music. The mids and the highs are well reproduced and surprisingly crisp for an earphone of this caliber. Wale’s Lotus Flower Bomb sounded rich and vibrant with the synths smoothly flowing from left to right without muddying the treble. Piano and the string instruments on the Christina Perri’s A Thousand Years were spot on although I’m sure it will sound better on a bigger soundstage.
Because of the snug fit, sound isolation is better than your typical entry-level earphones and there’s only a little bit of sound leakage coming from this when worn. I’ve used this at the gym and it does a good job muting the gym’s own music. Although it’s less powerful than the Superlux HD381, the Promac PRO One can keep the music in your ears instead of broadcasting it to the people around you.
Coming from an untested brand with an affordable price, it’s easy to doubt its build quality. Unfortunately, I can’t help you there as I’ve only been using this earphone for two weeks during commutes and workouts. What you’ll get from Promac is a one-year warranty for these and they will even replace it if it’s unrepairable and still falls under warranty terms.
Verdict
What you would like with the Promac PRO One is its snug fit, flat cable and excellent sound details for an earphone that costs only Php499. Yes, it’s costs just half a grand. I’m not going to recommend this to those into hip-hop or rap music or those who don’t want to be seen with the Promac brand on their ears but for other genres and those who don’t care about brands, the Promac PRO One is my new top pick for a budget earphone.
