Nuforce Primo 8

Like fjhuertasaid, these IEMs are horrible. You can find a $10 ROSS headphone sounding better than these.
No highs, no lows, extremely muddy, no imaging, no nothing. They are selling for $199 and I returned these immediately. I don't know how they are able to sell any at the original price of $499.
I highly doubt any of these highly rated reviews are real. If it is a real legit review, I don't think the reviewer have heard any good headphones in their life.

Lately, I've been reading praise after praise heaped upon pieces of garbage here that don't deserve any accolades at all.

It's here, and it's everywhere. And they are always prefaced by "I got these from the manufacturer in an exchange for an unbiased review..."

Ha. Bull.

Why do you think these guys keep receiving free stuff? Because they say things like they are? Or because they have a following, and manufacturers know that unsuspecting people will eventually buy their crap? I'll give you one chance to answer that question.

The fact is,I've been following the headphone scene for quite a while (22+ years). While at the beginning people were pretty honest about their reviews (having bought their stuff with their own hard earned cash), now manufacturers have realized its far easier to buy a couple of good reviews (from most of the usual sites - except, say, Innerfidelity- ) and a couple of reviewers, who post amazingly good things about pieces of crap.

These are a piece of crap. These are the worst in -ears I've ever listened to . These are $500 in ears. These sound worse than my $10 Samsung in ears. These are awful.

People in these reviews say "they are a hard earphone to get into", but that "in the long run, they shine" or whatever. What a bunch of lies. These sound awful, and the more you listen to them, the more you get used to listen to crap, and think these are listenable. They are not. They are simply, stunningly awful.

No highs. No lows. Weird midrange. Colorations everywhere. They are so incredibly bad I can't even imagine where to start.

This is what happens when marketing people control reviewers and gullible people (including me) on the Internet.

Save your money, and get a real in-ear, with real R&D behind them. Etymotic ER-4SR's. iSine 10's. AKG N20s. Each one far cheaper, and incredibly better performing. If you want to have an idea of how these sounds, buy a $5 in ear at Wal-mart. And no, I'm not kidding.

Not even worth $10. I'm not kidding.

About Me
To get started, let me tell you a little about myself.
I’m a gigging musician (lead guitar/backup vocals), an audio forensic analyst, a novice sound engineer, and an avid music lover with a wide taste in music. Being an audio forensic analyst is a plus I find when reviewing audio products simple because I know what bad audio sounds like and usually know how to correct it. My experience allows me to be familiar with the limitations of my own ears and the equipment I’m using.
For the consumers, my perspective for all my IEM reviews will be based on these things. I won’t sugar coat things or make things sound better than they are. I’m just like you and I want good value for the money I pay for any product.

To the manufacturers, I’ll always give you an option to respond to any concerns such as quality that I have during my review. I’ll contact you directly and will do so before my review is published. I want to provide an honest and tangible review for your prospective customers without being unfair to you as a manufacturer.
I’ll always be fair and my review will be based on my perspective and my experience.
Now on to the important stuff.

About the product/expectations
I purchased these IEM’s for the purpose of reviewing and using these as a backup.


Build/Design
The Primo 8 seems to have a decent build but lacks a bit of firmness. It just seems to light to me and the plastic housing seems thin.


Comfort/Fit
After using them for a few days these are comparable to the Shure SE series in comfort. The shape of them seems very similar and they seat in my ears very similar.

Sound
The sound on these is very good, the soundstage is decent, and seems a little too centered. The lows are present but not overpowering, it seems to be a very neutral bass response and the sub-lows are there just pulled back a little from the rest of the lower end.

The mids are outstanding and in my opinion is where these really shine. Listening to a song like Lorde - Royals makes you feel like she's right in front of you.

The highs are clear and detailed. No harshness or sibilance that I could detect, very natural sounding.

Compared to Shure SE215’s, I found the Primo 8 to have a more neutral response. Instrument separation was much better and light nuances in the sounds could be heard. In AC/DC's Hells Bells the bells in the beginning were so real sounding you could hear the decay of the sound so clearly.

My Westone UM Pro 10’s are my normal listening IEM’s because they give somewhat of a neutral sound in my opinion while being extremely comfortable. I usually forget that I’m even wearing them. Compared to the Westone's the Primo 8 had a better overall presentation and may replace the UM Pro 10's as my everyday listening IEM.

Compared to UE900s I felt the sound signature was very close, however the Primo8 had a narrower soundstage and less sub-lows. I've typically felt the UE900s could stand to have a slight boost in the lows but after comparing them to several "Neutral" sounding IEM's I realize the UE900s actually could just use a little more clarity and resolution in the lows versus a boost. That was clear in this comparison as the Primo8 just did a better job in resolving the low end.

Based on my findings, I felt these were a very good choice for anyone looking for a neutral sounding IEM, especially if comfort is an issue for you. I did compare them briefly to some Shure SE535 and felt the Primo 8 just barely slipped by the SE535 in its ability to resolve across the sound spectrum.

Isolation
Isolation was very good. I used the provided foam tips but felt there was a little less bass. I then used a cheaper "Kinden" foam tip with a larger bore that was modified to fit using the Spinfit nozzle adapters provided with the
SpinFit CP240.

Value
I hesitate when trying to gauge value in any product unless there are issues with build quality or the product is just an outstanding value. Based on what I got for the price I paid though I think these are a really good buy. Probably some of the best in the $150 range.

Conclusion
The NuForce Primo 8 although a few years on the market are a really good purchase. The phase coherence crossover apparently really makes a difference in the sound presentation and overall clarity.