Got my Nuarl N6 Pro today and have listened to them for about an hour, so here are first impressions:
I like the way they look. They are not too... Blingy, but don't look plain either. I like the placement of the buttons (I still like physical buttons). I will have to say, though that the buttons are so small and sensitive they might as well be touch buttons. I keep hitting them by accident, especially when inserting the buds into my ears. The buds stick out a bit far (think Bose Soundsport Free, but not as wide and tall). I love that they come with the Spinfits, as they provide the "tacky" rubber needed to stay in my ears. I am using medium on the left and small on the right.
With that combination (along with the wings), they will probably stay in my ears till hell freezes over. While in my ears, they are very comfortable and (so far) I don't feel any hot-spots. I can't speak to very long sessions yet, but I am not new to IEMs in general and don't think I will be feeling pain even after a long while (but who knows?).
The first time I put them into my ears I thought they sounded like complete s***! I have never had an IEM/TWS that was SO sensitive with insertion. I can see now (from a few pages back) how someone said they sound like someone turned the bass way down on these. I changed tips and re-inserted them (they really need to go pretty deep), and low and behold the sound is much better. The bass now goes very low, and has some thump to it (even on rock songs).
Keep in mind these are first impressions, and this may change over time (for various reasons). The good: The treble is NOT rolled off, and not quite sibilant (though JUST on the verge, especially with rock or highly compressed music). The bass is not overpowering, though boosted just a bit in the sub bass area. The mids ARE recessed, but are clear if a bit warm. Overall I like them better than most TWS I have listened to. They are similar to the Hifiman TWS600, but with more sub bass.
The bad: There is a HUGE spike in the 4k and a smaller one in the 2k area, and I have to subtract 10 db in 4k and 2 from 2k to correct for this. These areas give higher pitched instruments and vocals a painful quality, not to mention throws the overall tone of instruments off. Now that I have made it less painful, I can see that the treble is very grainy which makes cymbals and that sort of thing sound very thin and dry. It also exacerbates bad recordings. It also sounds a bit funny because the mids are actually pretty warm (it is a stark contrast to the treble to my ears).
The sub bass is boosted but doesn't really overshadow the mids (even though the mids are recessed), but I think it is mainly because there is very little mid bass, and even less upper bass. While talking about sub bass, the other problem with it is that it is not very resolving at all. Also, with some rap (or music that has huge rumbling bass) there is quite a bit of distortion.
So far it seems that soundstage and imaging are not very big at all. When there are a lot (or complicated parts) of instruments these DO sound congested. They DO sound great with music that has very few instruments though. I think that overall (and with some EQ), I like the sound signature. I think they were trying to go for more analytical (less fun), but failed to do that. With the right amount of EQ I might be able to make them fun sounding though. Time will tell!
Those are my impressions for now, I will report back after listening to them longer, with different types of music.
