NF ACOUS NH20's Review - Class of its own
General/Build/Comfort/Packaging
NF ACOUS is well known for their focus on musician first products, their product range consist of mostly ‘musician friendly’ tuning be it for monitoring or stage performance, of course there are also some models which are targeted at audiophiles. I have reviewed quite a few of their products and they are unique in the sense where they have their own “house sound”.
Today I have the NH20 headphone with me, It is the brand’s first entry into the headphone space. I must say, the outlook, build quality, as well as packaging are very impressive.
The unit itself is very solid, not to mention it is also very lightweight. Packaging is also very good, very premium-ish packaging style, it came with a hard storage case with compartment to store your cables
In terms of comfort, the clamping force is just right, not too tight nor loose, the earpads are also very soft and have the properties of memory foam. I have no issue listening to it for several hours, the headband and the earpad’s surface has this suede like kind of texture which i find it to be very soft and does not warm the area around my ears too much
Gears used for this review
Earmen Tradutto DAC + Earmen CH-Amp
xDuoo Link 3
Fiio M33 R2R
NF ACOUS NH20 with NF ACOUS 4.4 Balanced Cable
Foreword
My review is solely based on what I hear via my equipment and I never consider my reviews to be objective in any way rather a subjective approach. Do take into consideration that everyone’s ear anatomy is not the same, so the psychoacoustics perception might be different as well, but i believe it will not stray too far
Sound Impression
NH20 to my ears has a neutral and a slight warm sound profile. The sub bass is quite linear, you can’t really hear it, but rather feel it when the track calls for it, mid bass has good enough punch without bleeding into the mids. The timbre sounds natural to my ears and it doesn’t have any metallic sheen to it.
Bass
Starting with the bass, it’s safe to say the bass has very good speed, linear sub bass extension
It has a good punch, Slipknot’s People = Shit!, especially during the intense drumming during the opening, NH20 has no sweat in keeping up
The sub bass has very good extension, although it doesn’t extend that deep, but considering it being an open backed, it is really impressive
The bass response is not basshead kind of presentation, but to my ears, they are sufficient and will present themselves well when the track calls for it
Bass has good texture overall and doesn’t sound thin
The bass doesn’t bleed into the mids at all
Mids
The mids are quite detailed and lush
Vocal for both male and females has good enough textures
Female vocal has a bit more energy compared to male, but on certain tracks, the female vocal sounds a little unrefined (A Mei’s Vocal on č®°ĺľ—), not as smooth as i’d remember it to be, but this is purely me nitpicking
Upper mids are generally safe to my ears and not shouty even on higher volume
The mid range is good overall, but i do find it to lack a little body at times, but again, this is me nitpicking
Treble
Treble response has plenty of energetic yet it is not harsh nor sibilant, but do bear in mind that everyone has got different level of tolerance for treble, to my ears, they are not harsh nor anywhere near sibilant
Fast and snappy transient response
Very good resolution
Good detail retrieval, micro details can be picked up easily
Soundstage/Imaging
Soundstage is very wide and has good height perception, but slightly lacking in terms of depth perception,
Instruments can be picked up easily where it is coming from,
Good separation and layering
Very good soundstage and imaging overall
Driveability
The NH20 is not hard to drive, but it does scale very well with amplification
Pairing it with a warmer source such as the M33 R2R seems to give more body overall, but this pairing of course is quite colored and some might not like it
Pairing it with a more powerful portable dac/amp such as the xDuoo’s Link 3, the tuning of this dac/amp is leaning towards a more detailed presentation, in my opinion it pairs well with the NH20
Using the full desktop stack, Tradutto+CH-Amp, the experience is taken a step higher, better control in terms of the bass, slightly better texture, the highs are somewhat a little smoother and refined
Comparison (Sony MV1)
First, the build quality, NH20 definitely runs circle around the 660s in terms of build quality and comfort
The Sony is a open back dynamic driver headphones while the NH20 is a closed back dynamic driver headphones
In terms of tuning, i find the Sony’s MV1 to be slightly warmer with better soundstage, both NH20 and MV1 has good timbre reproduction
Bass is light in terms of quantity, sub bass extension is not as good, it does roll off quite early, but mid bass is quite punchy and has good speed and texture
Treble for the MV1 has better energy compared to NH20, but it is not offensive nor harsh at all
Soundstage is rather 2D-ish, just slightly out of your head, but separation and imaging is rather good
Both the MV1 and NH20 are relatively easy to drive
Sound Impression on stock cable vs NF ACOUS Balanced Cable for NH20 (This is highly subjective and if you’re not a cable believer, skip this section)
Bass performance is more or less similar
Soundstage is slightly smaller on stock cable vs bigger soundstage on balanced cable
Treble has slightly more energy compared to the stock cable
Overall, i would say pairing between the balanced cable with NH20, it has a slight different sound signature, a more energetic NH20 whereas the stock cable would render the NH20 a tamer and smoother signature overall
Final Thoughts
The NH20 is definitely one of my favourite dynamic driver headphones that I have tested other than the Grados which I have owned. For a company’s first headphone, they are really good and definitely up to the expectation in terms of sonic performance as well as build quality. and I'm really surprised by its capability in terms of the sonic performance as well as its technicalities. Not to mention that the price is highly competitive as well given what it has to offer. It doesn't require a beefy amp to sound good yet it does scale with better source and amplification. Priced at 199$, the NH20 offers a very good value in terms of price performance ratio, this is a highly recommended headphone from me!
*The NH20 was sent over by NF ACOUS for the purpose of this review, I received no monetary compensation nor was I influenced in any way to produce this review.
If you are interested in getting a pair, head over to their official store to grab one now!
NF ACOUS NH20 Store
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