Apologies for the long review - I might have gotten carried away.
N6 Pro 2’s arrived Monday and I've been banging them for a few days.
Box - Standard box, earbuds are out of the case and using this nice little clip system to stay in place over the foam. Inside the box smells like a new sneaker box. I liked that.
The first thing I noticed is that pretty much every photo including photos I’ve taken make these look way bigger than they are. Although just like a lot of the Bose Soundsport products you won't be lying on your side with these in.
No Spin fit included. Just standard Block ears +. Not a real problem + I bought the spin fit 360’s for the N6 Mini so I have some ready to go.
Love the colour of the case + the buds, got the
Bordeaux and am happy I did. Case snaps shut nicely with some magnetic function. I think the aesthetic design is fantastic, a big fan of the style.
Comfort/Fit These are
quite comfortable. wingtips cause me discomfort after casual listening for more than an hour on all buds I’ve tried, Generally, wing-tipped TWS are for running where 1-2 hours is the max I will do and have more things on my mind than my ears. But these are the softest I’ve felt so far, I think they would stay in my ears without the wings altogether but you can also get away without putting them in your ear grooves. I forgot they were in on an 8km I went for yesterday. They don't move around and are secure. But I do see how they could be knocked out by hoodies or hats as some users mention above.
Wingtips are very pliable so it is ok that they need to be pushed into my little ear cave.
But smaller extra wings would have been a nice option..
Connection is seamless and simple. Distance is good, connecting across devices is easy. Disconnect from one and then connect on the other.
Now on to
SONIC PERFORMANCE.
This is the reason we got these little burgundy devils. My reference TWS is the N6 Mini, not exactly fair since they use the same drivers as the N6 which is bassier than the N6 pro, and they also don’t come with the HDSS. But enough of that, Let’s just say it how it is.
AMAZING. Yea they sound
fantastic. I’m easy to please. I think I like bass but I don’t think I am a basshead. Goa trance (Like Psytrance + Techno) is my main genre. It isn’t EDM that needs rumbling sub-bass and relies on the low ends at all times. But at 145 BPM’s you want it to be quick, punchy and Deep. It also presents a plethora of layers that stack around each other and do all sorts of twists and turns. Well, These deliver on that no problem. They outperform the N6 Mini, The Fiil T1X/T1XS.
I’ve heard people say that they don’t sound great on poorly mastered tracks. Whose listening to poorly mastered tracks? … That being said I actually think the opposite is true for poorly mastered tracks. Dreamchilds - Manta Ray and Chi A.D’s Earthcrossing album are both notoriously poorly mastered but expertly written, they actually sound better on these with more emotional depth than I'm used to.
No bad tracks here, on A Phauns newest ambient release “Regeneration” I can hear all of the little electric flicks, the drips deep in the background, it only has a few moments of bass but I can say that they are deep and fulfilling. Overall I feel like ‘
elevating’ is the right word for how music sounds on these.
My
usual reference track for headphones is anything by Nibana, this time I chose Moonset. The melody is moving and delicate, the detail is impeccable and there is a sense of being surrounded by the sweet sweet layers.
For me the mids are the most important part. I need detailed, textured forward mids that don’t get lost around a multitude of other layers. In progressive psytrance who is a better
bass monster than the ‘Fabio & Moon’ boys. Pure club trance and the Pro 2’s deliver just fine. Powerful, loud, punchy and energetic kickdrums with a solid bassline.
I’ve also listened to a few songs with mechanical, industrial, cyber sounds and FX. I had to look around to see if someone was operating some equipment near me. The sound stage really is magnificent and quite wide. These are the first IEMS that I have used where the sound didn’t feel like it was coming from the eartips themselves. I got that a little bit with the N6 Mini but it’s on another level here.
For the
rock enthusiasts my reference band was ‘We Lost The Sea - Challenger Part 1’. When the rock finally starts I can hear differences that I never paid much attention to earlier. The clicking together of drum sticks, the clashing of cymbals from forward to back and the riffing of guitar strings all make themselves more known.
Final rock test track is We Lost The Sea - The Last Sun. The final 4 minutes of this 14-minute song usually leave me worried that my speakers or ears are going to explode at any point. On a lot of earphones, the sound muddies and distorts as the track climbs and climbs which probably has a lot to do with the recording too. So how does the Pro 2 stack up? The best of ANY in earbuds I’ve heard so far. During the final few seconds of the apex, I can still distinguish the cymbals from the kick drum from the guitar from the electronic elements. I have no fear for my ears and it didn’t sound like the pro 2’s were going to explode either. . . Which is nice.
Now for a
psychotic Goa trance track, I went with Moksha from Psylent Buddhi and it was a true riot. True the recording was already top notch, even my Pamu buds sound good here but on the Pro 2 it was another entire auditory experience.
I’m not big on
EDM but I listened to The Business by Tiesto for you EDMammals. The vocals are airy and balanced with the other layers. Kickdrum is full and tbh I can appreciate the track a lot more than I usually would.
To get some proper
sub bass rumbles I turned to RL Grime - Scylla. The sub bass is where it should be, it isn’t the vibrating underground club experience but it’s exactly where I would want it to be for a TWS. Sitting under the bass while leads toot overhead with force and power.
… I have to retract the above about
sub bass. I just listened to some Kendrick and Kanye West and noticed that the sub-bass is way bigger than I thought it was. But I've already written the above so I'll leave it there for the Electro heads. Blood On The Leaves brings plenty of rumbling vibrations along with it and Kendricks - Hood Politics is deep and brings all sorts of satisfying vibratory enjoyment. All the other track production is spot on and a delight to the senses.
That brings me to buttons. At first I was excited for buttons instead of the almost always unused touch controls. But now I see why manufacturers might be more prone to use a touch function instead. I only use the functions either when at the desk or while running. I have to admit that while running the touch controls are much easier to use. While at the desk the buttons are preferable and this is all just nitpicking based on preference. What isn't nitpicking is the button beep on volume up and down functions. Seems very
unnecessary, who in their right mind wants a beep while messing with volume?
Luckily touch and button functions on TWS are usually not good enough to warrant me using them. Just push the phone button, it ain’t so hard. What's the problem? You’re telling me that we can carry our phones around like an extension of our own bodies that we keep close to us for dear life but we can’t use the volume control when we have earbuds in? Who are we kidding? People here have like 8 + TWS units on them at all times, are we really remembering all of the different button combinations? And quite frankly it wouldn’t hurt for companies to stop enabling us and normalising the use of these functions. Get rid of em, increase your IPX and give people on the internet one less thing to complain about.
Ambient mode, ANC and other things - I find that Natural isolation is good enough on most headphones and TWS that I don’t know what the added benefit of ANC is other than to have a bunch of frequencies shot into your ears that I feel like I can always ‘Feel’. But that’s an opinion, it’s conjecture and irrelevant as there is no ANC. I will say the sound is wide and ‘full’ enough that even at low volumes I can’t hear my very loud wife when she yells directly at me for my attention.
Ambient mode is more useful I will admit and quite good on these. My own voice comes through really well and doesn't do that deep bass annoying thing, and other sounds as well as keyboard clicking come through nicely. All in all, I’d call them office appropriate.
Another point I've noticed from the N6 Mini and is the same here, but you can turn these up quite loud without it feeling ‘painful’ on the ears. My Fiil T1X/XS can only go so high before they start to produce diminishing returns. It’s not that they ‘hurt’ but just that the loudness isn’t enjoyable for whatever reason. I don’t get that on these so far, there is a sweet range from the medium volume to high volume point that produces satisfactory results.
Equalizer - is a bit of a laugh. 2 settings, ‘default’ & ‘flat’. I think default might be my preference. ‘Flat’ brings the sound ‘down’ while default seems to lift it if that makes sense? Maybe saying that ‘default’ spacializes the sound is more accurate, even though that isn’t a real word but you all get it. ‘Flat’ brings the sound closer to you and makes it sound more ‘full’. If you prefer big bass then Flat seems like the better option. Default is better for overall detail and treble.
The rest of the app is fine. You can change the button combos to 4 different presets (Great) for the front and back buttons which is a nice touch. The middle button stays set how it is.
Conclusion - I’m not the type of guy who would say that these are like hearing all your favourite songs for the first time again. But it is like hearing them from all angles with a fun and energetic sound that picks up as many details as my DT770’s or my MSR7B’s. And you get to have a badass looking pair of TWS in your ear while you do it.
Cons (Kinda) - Only one ear wing size, Beeping buttons.
Pro’s - The N6 Pro 2 picks up all of the track details and has one of the best sound stages I have ever heard on a pair of ear buds. Currently these are my favourite in ear buds. The design is lit and the sound is unreal. Everything is textured and positioned extraordinarily well.
@tma6 mentioned on their N6 Pro review that
“the dynamics are also surprisingly good. You can actually hear crescendos when they occur in music, adding nice emotion to what could be perceived as a flat-ish sound signature.”
On the
Pro 2 I see exactly what was meant. Most of the music I listen to tries to dig up some euphoric kind of emotion. On these buds,
That emotion is exacerbated and brought even more to life. I can’t put my finger on exactly what they are doing to elicit this but I have to say, with everything taken into consideration, I
highly recommend giving these a go. I love these things, I’m gonna treat them right and make an honest TWS out of them.
If you like the design and want to experience
auditory delight then I recommend it. If you’re in Australia you can get them from the bad boys over at Earspan.com
Portable/mobile listening has so many challenges to overcome and I think the thought of having perfect playback on the go is really just a pipe dream
This hobby is so subjective and personal one just needs to be happy we have come this far and can still enjoy our music
