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Nuraphone

Posted: Sun Sep 08, 2019 10:00 pm
by Maurice
I'm sure I've posted about this on here before, but can't find any mention of them.

Click

Many months ago these piqued my interest, however ultimately were written off as being (i) too expensive, and (ii) not practical, as I generally use in-ear phones.

Fancying a change from my RHA MA750s, I noticed the introduction of the NuraLoops, which seemed like a perfect replacement. Placed my order, with delivery initially due this month. Given it's a new product, I emailed Nura's customer service team to see if delivery was on schedule, when I was advised that they had now been delayed until December. Given I've some upcoming long-haul flights, I really didn't fancy the prospect of not having some decent headphones and so enquired about the big boy Nuraphones. Given the delay, they offered me a set for one month free on their NuraNow scheme (£14 quid a month, no minimum term). Very impressed with their customer service so far, with them being very attentive and delivery was quick.

Anyway, they arrived the other day and have had the joy of playing with them over the weekend. For those of you not familiar with the concept, their party trick is to tailor the listening experience to your ears' frequency response by way of Otoacoustic Emission. In essence, it fires reference tones into your ear canal for a minute or so, which in turn vibrates your cochlea. The ear cup is fitted with a super sensitive microphones which then picks up the vibrations reflected back out of your ear canal and can therefore tune a unique hearing profile based on the response. They have a curious in-ear and over-ear configuration - the "in-ear" drivers handling mids and highs, with the "over ear" drivers handling the low end.

Once set up, you then have the ability to listen to music in "neutral" or "personalised" mode. I'm under no illusion that neutral mode will have been set up so as to flatter the personalisation profile, but holy moly what a difference. I've spent quite a bit of time going back over favourite music and the detail and clarity they provide is outstanding. They seem to handle pretty much all types of music with aplomb, with great timing and rhythm.

Another neat feature, if a bit of a gimmick, is Immersion Mode. Being dual driver, they're not exactly short on punch, but in addition they have a (not so subtle) vibrating element in the cups. They definitely tickle the ear at 100% immersion, but the bass becomes somewhat blown out and muddy as a result, much like standing too close too a speaker at a gig or in a club. I think this is probably as a result of the bass not being relative to sound-pressure resulting in a weird sensation. Set at about 40%, it gives just the right amount of oomph whilst still remaining taut.

There's loads of other nice little trick features - active noise-cancelling is excellent, and given they've got six microphones planted in them you can push a button to allow a pass through of the exterior sound if you need to let the outside in for a moment. Each cup has a programmable button which can be assigned a variety of functions based on either a tap or double tap. They automatically switch on and off when you put them on or take them off your head respectively. Build quality seems excellent, with the headband being made of stainless steel and they're very comfortable to wear (albeit odd if you're not used to in-ear monitors). They've even got Tesla valves fitted to allow cooler air into the cups so your lugs don't get all sweaty.

To check whether it's a gimmick or not, I've set myself up three times, with an almost identical profile being created every time. I've also had someone else set up a profile and flicking between our respective profiles we both agreed that the technology seems the real deal. We both each vastly preferred our respective profiles for listening.

All in all, I'm really quite taken with them and almost don't want to send them back when the NuraLoops arrive. If the smaller NuraLoops can even approach the sound quality and overall user experience of the Nuraphones, I'll be very happy indeed.

8-)

Re: Nuraphone

Posted: Sun Sep 08, 2019 10:17 pm
by mik
Nuraphown3d? :?

Re: Nuraphone

Posted: Mon Sep 09, 2019 7:43 am
by RobYob
Interesting idea, I'd honestly never heard of Otoacoustic emissions before.

Did you ever try the old Phillips "Golden Ears" challenge Maurice? It's sadly no longer active but there's a couple of other listening challenge websites out there.

Re: Nuraphone

Posted: Mon Sep 09, 2019 8:06 am
by mik
RobYob wrote: Mon Sep 09, 2019 7:43 am Did you ever try the old Phillips "Golden Ears" challenge Maurice? It's sadly no longer active but there's a couple of other listening challenge websites out there.
Can you link to any? I was talking to the kids about the Golden Ears programme and lamenting that it was no longer there

Re: Nuraphone

Posted: Mon Sep 09, 2019 9:15 am
by RobYob
mik wrote: Mon Sep 09, 2019 8:06 am
RobYob wrote: Mon Sep 09, 2019 7:43 am Did you ever try the old Phillips "Golden Ears" challenge Maurice? It's sadly no longer active but there's a couple of other listening challenge websites out there.
Can you link to any? I was talking to the kids about the Golden Ears programme and lamenting that it was no longer there
Yeah it's such a shame that it was closed by Phillips' new owners. I've had these alternatives I found via reddit in my bookmarks for ages by not made the time for any. Maybe I'll give one a go this evening.

https://www.soundgym.co/
https://pae.izotope.com/
http://harmanhowtolisten.blogspot.com/

Re: Nuraphone

Posted: Mon Sep 09, 2019 10:05 am
by Maurice
RobYob wrote: Mon Sep 09, 2019 7:43 am Interesting idea, I'd honestly never heard of Otoacoustic emissions before.

Did you ever try the old Phillips "Golden Ears" challenge Maurice? It's sadly no longer active but there's a couple of other listening challenge websites out there.
I seem to recall having had a look at the link before, but never actually doing the test. I’ll have a go at the ones you provided later, where it’ll no doubt tell me that my hearing is shot and I’ve been sold snake oil.

:lol:

Re: Nuraphone

Posted: Mon Sep 09, 2019 10:05 am
by ZedLeg
I looked at the website a wee while ago but mostly because I thought the whole thing looked incredibly gimmicky.

Still can't quite get my head around a monthly subscription for headphones, I wonder if many people have subscribed.

Re: Nuraphone

Posted: Mon Sep 09, 2019 2:16 pm
by RobYob
I had a shot at https://pae.izotope.com/ over lunch, seems like a reasonably well laid out challenge.

First two levels of "equalisation" done.

Re: Nuraphone

Posted: Mon Sep 09, 2019 5:37 pm
by RobYob
FFS Level 3 equalisation challenge is one of those band filter selection things that took me WEEKS (and several pags of notes) to beat in Phillips Golden Ears. :oops:

Re: Nuraphone

Posted: Mon Sep 09, 2019 7:51 pm
by mik
RobYob wrote: Mon Sep 09, 2019 2:16 pm I had a shot at https://pae.izotope.com/ over lunch, seems like a reasonably well laid out challenge.

First two levels of "equalisation" done.
Just had a quick play with that - thanks Rob. :)

Re: Nuraphone

Posted: Mon Sep 09, 2019 9:10 pm
by mik
RobYob wrote: Mon Sep 09, 2019 5:37 pm FFS Level 3 equalisation challenge is one of those band filter selection things that took me WEEKS (and several pags of notes) to beat in Phillips Golden Ears. :oops:
Levels 1 & 2 were fine.

This is a buggar as you just don't get enough time. I've had 4/5 twice now..... :roll:

Re: Nuraphone

Posted: Mon Sep 09, 2019 9:27 pm
by RobYob
mik wrote: Mon Sep 09, 2019 9:10 pm
RobYob wrote: Mon Sep 09, 2019 5:37 pm FFS Level 3 equalisation challenge is one of those band filter selection things that took me WEEKS (and several pags of notes) to beat in Phillips Golden Ears. :oops:
Levels 1 & 2 were fine.

This is a buggar as you just don't get enough time. I've had 4/5 twice now..... :roll:
Yup, you've really got to tune in quickly. But at least it's not as brutal as I remember Golden Ears where failing sent you back a level.

Re: Nuraphone

Posted: Mon Sep 09, 2019 10:09 pm
by RobYob
Round 2 of Equalisation level 3 can FRO. :evil:

Re: Nuraphone

Posted: Tue Nov 12, 2019 8:17 pm
by mik
[mention]Maurice[/mention] Did the loops eventually arrive?

How do they compare?

Edit: just noticed you said delayed til December..... :oops:

Placeholder...... :?

Re: Nuraphone

Posted: Wed Nov 13, 2019 1:34 pm
by Maurice
mik wrote: Tue Nov 12, 2019 8:17 pm @Maurice Did the loops eventually arrive?

How do they compare?

Edit: just noticed you said delayed til December..... :oops:

Placeholder...... :?
Yup, still expecting them to arrive in December at some point. Will report back, although the AirPod pros do look very interesting.

Re: Nuraphone

Posted: Wed Nov 13, 2019 2:23 pm
by JonMad
Maurice wrote: Sun Sep 08, 2019 10:00 pm If the smaller NuraLoops can even approach the sound quality and overall user experience of the Nuraphones, I'll be very happy indeed.
Looking forward to your verdict here, given they are £150 cheaper.

Re: Nuraphone

Posted: Wed Nov 13, 2019 3:05 pm
by JonMad
And 30 mins after posting that (and after looking at their webpage last night) I'm now getting FB ads from Nura :roll:

Re: Nuraphone

Posted: Fri Feb 12, 2021 9:11 am
by mik
@Maurice this is a bit aged now, but I saw mention of Nuraphone somewhere else - did you ever switch to the Nuraloops?

Re: Nuraphone

Posted: Fri Feb 12, 2021 9:19 am
by dan
mik wrote: Fri Feb 12, 2021 9:11 am @Maurice this is a bit aged now, but I saw mention of Nuraphone somewhere else - did you ever switch to the Nuraloops?
I've had some nuraloops since they came out, they're excellent. There were a few niggles initially with the auto on /off function draining the battery, but they released a major update and introduced a manual function for that. No other complaints, and the noise cancelling function is mind blowing :lol:

Re: Nuraphone

Posted: Fri Feb 12, 2021 9:31 am
by GG.
Just looked on their site... not sure about their quote from Forbes:

"NuraLoop are the last earphones you should ever buy"

:lol: :lol:

Maybe they mean the last earphones you will ever buy?? Marketing fail.