First off, new user question. What the devil is up with everything being #159 in headphone reviews??
In all fairness I picked these up at a Goodwill store along with a huge amount of tips and a pair or NR 1's from comply.
First Avoid the NR1's at all costs. I paid 3.99 for them and that was too much. All the tinnyness of dollar store earbuds.
In Brief.
Now to the NR 10's themselves. I am not a huge fan of overstated BASS and these have that in spades. Yet inspite of that fact I find myself going to them more than I would have thought. The fit is excellent thanks to the reknown Comply tips, but I have those for My ER4's (circa 1998 edition ) and for convieinience the Bose psuedo in ear deals were my phone of choice. So why then the NR10's? There is enough detail in these that cutting back on the bass with whatever player you are using makes them quite pleasant to listen to . The highs reappear and the midrange while not overwhelming in clarity is present enough to let you know how the recording was mixed. These are a fair phone for 80 bucks and make a great commuter phone as you wont be crying your eyes out if you forget them somewhere along the way. They do a great job with anything studio recorded, not so well with anything live (Floyd's DSOTM Immersion live disk is definitely off the menu for these little beasts). They are easy enough to drive without an amp from my Galaxy S so you need not be packing extra kit along with your source and the phones. Put through an amp they clean up pretty well, but are by no means reference standard, nor are they meant to be.
If they were labelled Sennheiser or any other big league name they would probably be reviewed as a bargain midrange phone and a delight for bass enthusiasts. As it is with Comply not having the market presence of the others they get lost in the flood as there are just too many other brands out there that deliver the same performance albiet for about 40 bucks more.
If they were priced 20 dollars lower they would be the bargain of the decade in the range but at the current pricing they are simply a fair value that will most likely be overlooked in favour of a big name. Too bad really as I would love to see what the next model Comply came up with would be like. Given the astronomical improvement from NR 1 to NR 10 their next offering could well have been in the must have category. As it stands I doubt the sales will merit more work on the earphone line when the foam tips are selling as fast as they can make them.
Out of 10 in the up to 150 dollar price range I'd rate them a 7 (allow one demerit for my lack of enthusiasm for excess bass and they could have hit the 8 mark).
In all fairness I picked these up at a Goodwill store along with a huge amount of tips and a pair or NR 1's from comply.
First Avoid the NR1's at all costs. I paid 3.99 for them and that was too much. All the tinnyness of dollar store earbuds.
In Brief.
Now to the NR 10's themselves. I am not a huge fan of overstated BASS and these have that in spades. Yet inspite of that fact I find myself going to them more than I would have thought. The fit is excellent thanks to the reknown Comply tips, but I have those for My ER4's (circa 1998 edition ) and for convieinience the Bose psuedo in ear deals were my phone of choice. So why then the NR10's? There is enough detail in these that cutting back on the bass with whatever player you are using makes them quite pleasant to listen to . The highs reappear and the midrange while not overwhelming in clarity is present enough to let you know how the recording was mixed. These are a fair phone for 80 bucks and make a great commuter phone as you wont be crying your eyes out if you forget them somewhere along the way. They do a great job with anything studio recorded, not so well with anything live (Floyd's DSOTM Immersion live disk is definitely off the menu for these little beasts). They are easy enough to drive without an amp from my Galaxy S so you need not be packing extra kit along with your source and the phones. Put through an amp they clean up pretty well, but are by no means reference standard, nor are they meant to be.
If they were labelled Sennheiser or any other big league name they would probably be reviewed as a bargain midrange phone and a delight for bass enthusiasts. As it is with Comply not having the market presence of the others they get lost in the flood as there are just too many other brands out there that deliver the same performance albiet for about 40 bucks more.
If they were priced 20 dollars lower they would be the bargain of the decade in the range but at the current pricing they are simply a fair value that will most likely be overlooked in favour of a big name. Too bad really as I would love to see what the next model Comply came up with would be like. Given the astronomical improvement from NR 1 to NR 10 their next offering could well have been in the must have category. As it stands I doubt the sales will merit more work on the earphone line when the foam tips are selling as fast as they can make them.
Out of 10 in the up to 150 dollar price range I'd rate them a 7 (allow one demerit for my lack of enthusiasm for excess bass and they could have hit the 8 mark).
