NiceHCK Tears

 

General Info/Comfort/Build/Packaging

NiceHCK is a well established brand in the market, the product line of the brand consist of entry level cables to high end ones, the same goes for the IEMs. This is my first time testing the IEM from NiceHCK, and I have to say I am very surprised! 

Upon unboxing the unit, the one that I have with me is matte black in color, the finishing is good and build quality is good as well considering the asking price, nothing much to complain to be honest, bundled cable as well as eartips and storage case as standard.

The size of the IEM is on the smaller side of the spectrum, very comfortable to use for long hours without feeling any discomfort.

Gears used for this review

• Nipo A100

• xDuoo Link 3

• Foobar2k Offline DSD Files/Flac, Tidal Streaming

• Tears Stock Cable and Eartip

Sound Impression 

*Prior to the listening test, the unit has gone through the burn in period of approximately 40-50 hours.

Upon first listening, i am really surprised by the sonic performance of Tears, considering the asking price, the tuning is quite balanced and in fact, the performance can even rival other IEMs costing 3-4 times more than the Tears.

Timbre is natural and the noteweight is relatively good, not too thin nor thick

Bass

• The sub bass definitely has enough rumble to it when it’s called for,but it is definitely nowhere near basshead territory, for tracks like Billie Eilish’s bad guy, you can notice that the rumble doesn’t extend that deep

• Mid bass has good slam to it and it doesn’t bleed into the mids, keeping the mid range clean 

• Very good speed for the price, capable to reproducing the drumming of Metallica’s Lux Aeterna’s high speed drumming without sounding muddy

• Bass texture and control is good overall for the asking price

• In terms of speed, it is good for the asking price

Mids

• The mids are clean overall and they’re neither recessed or forward, somewhere in between, but this change with different nozzle

• Vocal positioning is not too forward, but also not overly recessed

• Male vocal especially Zhao Peng who sings at low baritone has good texture, the same goes to female vocal, sweet sounding and with the right texture and tonality, thanks to the slight lift in the upper mids region

• The upper mids as i mentioned earlier, good energy and lively, but never once shouty (this ultimately depends on individual’s tolerance)

Treble

• The treble is neither too energetic nor overly warm, but it is with good enough energy that will never sound offensive

• Detail retrieval is good and can be picked up easily

• Cymbals and hi hats are not prominent due to the nature of the treble, but they are not overly recessed as well with relatively good texture

• The treble is nicely tuned in general and not offensive even when you crank the volume up

Soundstage/Imaging

• Tears soundstage is not overly huge nor 2D-ish, it is slightly wide with good width and depth, this is again depending on the eartips used, with the stock narrow bore eartips, the perceived stage size is slightly narrower, switching to Eletech’s Baroque, the perceived stage size is slightly bigger with wider and taller stage, as well as depth, this is evident especially listening to live recorded songs (Zombie, Live from Bludfest by YungBlud)

• Imaging is good, instruments can be picked up easily even in busy tracks

Driveability

• Tears is not hard to drive, but it does scale with amplification, higher power output dongle does offers a better control in terms of bass, tighter and doesn’t sound as loose, better dynamics overall as well

• With Nipo A100, the staging is wider and bigger than usual due to the nature of the tuning

Cable Rolling (Skip this section if you are a non believer)

• I noticed that swapping out the stock cable with different cable that has different material, it further enhanced the sonic performance of Tears

• Using it with NiceHCK’s Ruby Cat’s cable, i noticed the note weight is slightly thicker, and separation is slightly better, and the sense of space is also bigger

Comparison (Dunu Titan X)

• In terms of tuning, they are slightly different, Titan X is slightly warmer and tame compared to Tears, also costing more than Tears

• Sub bass performance is more or less quite similar to Tears, but mid bass hit harder than Tears

• Build quality is better than Tears, solid and full metal build and weighty

• Titan X sounds a little fuller due to its slight warm nature, whereas Tears has slightly thinner note weight, timber performance for both are equally good

• Soundstage of Titan X is slightly bigger in comparison to Tears

• Go for Titan X if you prefer a warmer and less exciting treble, Tears if you want something more technical and very scalable, also costing much lesser

Final Thoughts

Tears is a solid product overall, it does everything right even the price point, this is not to say that Tears is without any cons, the slight lift in the upper mids region can present itself as a nuisance for those who are overly sensitive to it, but other than that, Tears is a very solid product and it ticks quite a number of checkboxes (Price, performance, scalability)

A solid product in the segment nonetheless, you won’t have much to lose, you are getting several tuning in a single IEM, what more can you ask for? Recommended? Yes!

*a big thanks to NiceHCK for sending this over for the purpose of this review

Head over to their store if you are interested in getting a pair:

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NiceHCK Tears - Non Affiliated