[Rat Salad]

The site says between 25th and 28th of November

 

[wood1030]

Latest update as of this morning:

Dear Insiders,

The container with the first 5000 sets of SuperBuds was a week late departing; this is a shipping company issue, not factory related. It's due to the West Coast port slow downs over labor contract issues. We got word yesterday the ship is in Los Angeles, then will move on to the port of Oakland, but this often takes two weeks (not time sailing, rather mostly time sitting and waiting). We are attempting to off-load the container in LA and truck it to N. California. We have not yet learned if we can accomplish this. If not, we could be looking at a mid-December arrival.

We are very disappointed and feeling pretty helpless. We will however ship all backorders the day we get them in. Thank you for your patience, it won't be much longer and we will send another update when we have a target date. We think these buds are great and will be worth the wait, and hope you will too.

Yours truly,
NHT

These little buggar's better be worth the wait!

 

[doublea71]

Coupon code no longer works.

 

[wood1030]

Code was discontinued in September. It was only a limited time, preorder special with code.
Maybe because of all the delays, if we're lucky, they may bring it back...but don't hold your breath on that.
Also, there is a sale on NHT gear, but I saw nothing mentioned about the superbuds included in that sale.
Maybe after they actually start shipping there might be a sale on the iem's., but I'm no authority on inside info so, take that with a grain of salt.

Cheers and Happy Thanksgiving to all!

 

[Rat Salad]

Latest e-mail
 
Great news! The first shipment of SuperBuds will arrive at our warehouse tomorrow (December 9). We will start shipping Wednesday and expect to fill all orders by Friday.

If you're thinking of sending some of these as holiday gifts and haven't ordered yet, now's the time to get them going.

We appreciate your patience and understanding while we worked to get these first units in. We can't wait to hear what you think, so as you get them please let us know and help spread the word by posting up on Facebook and/or writing a review on the SuperBuds web page. Thank you!

Cheers,
NHT

 

[M Coupe]

NHT...now that is a blast from the past! When I first got into hi-fi, I bought the NHT 3.3 towers. They were really cool looking and great for home theater. When I upgraded, I gave the entire NHT setup to my Father. He still uses it today and it still serves its purpose very well. I don't think NHT makes that high of end products anymore but I sure hope this earbud is a good start back towards the products they are capable of.

 

[wood1030]

I got a shipping notification on Monday (12-8). They should be here any day now. I'm in California, so it shouldn't take long.

 

[wood1030]

NHT...now that is a blast from the past! When I first got into hi-fi, I bought the NHT 3.3 towers. They were really cool looking and great for home theater. When I upgraded, I gave the entire NHT setup to my Father. He still uses it today and it still serves its purpose very well. I don't think NHT makes that high of end products anymore but I sure hope this earbud is a good start back towards the products they are capable of.

I assure you, they still make reasonably priced, High End products. I have a house full of NHT speakers including a full Classic 3, 5.2 (subs by Hsu), set up and a pair of Absolute Towers and also a Classic Two, 5.1 set up in my bedroom. They all sound fantastic and have, and will continue to provide many years of high quality sound.
 
Cheers

 

[chetbreneau]

Received mine today. As you would expect, the quality far exceeds the full-price price tag, and at the pre-order price they are unbelievable. When I first put them on (in?) and started listening, I was a little disappointed--kind of fat and processed sounding. Then I realized I had an EQ on to compensate for my previous Klipsch earbuds that cost the same amount! EQ set to flat and so far they sound great with everything from Emilie-Claire Barlow to pop. I haven't had a chance to play them with anything other than my iPhone yet, but expect a nice transparent soundstage, the classic "NHT sound" and a ton of versatility. The isolating foam tips being Comply tips and not some brand-specific standard is nice too. Enjoy!  

 

[scheiderichdmd]

Just got mine in today also. Only started listening using an HTC one as the source. Build quality looks very good. I do like the fabric cased cable, as it won't tangle. The comfort and isolation seem to be above average. The buds are weighty, but feel comfortable in with the installed tips, but also come with comply which is nice. Also packaged with a small zippered hard case. Sound quality seems very good with my initial impressions. Nice clean midrange, and the highs are nice and sparkly, but not overbearing. The bass seems a little bloated for my taste, and these are bass forward. I'll post more impressions later after I've had some time with them.

 

[wood1030]

Congrats on the new Superbuds, guys. Still waiting for mine to arrive...it's been a week since i got the shipping notice. I think they might be walking from central to southern Cali to hand deliver mine...geez.

Anyway, hopefully they're in my mailbox when i arrive home tonight. It's been a long wait to finally have these delivered to people.

I hope the wait was well worth it...I'm beginning to get a good feeling about this. And speaking of 'the wait well worth it', so glad that I and others jumped on the pre-release special discount price when we did, i got an extra pair that's gonna make a great xmas present

Cheers

 

[wood1030]

Well,I finally got my Superbuds a few of days ago after what seemed like forever since first ordering them when they were announced back in September at the pre-release special discount price. It took them an additional 8 days to arrive after I got the first shipping notification, which seemed pretty slow since I live in southern California, same state as NHT.
 
Needless to say, I was filled with anticipation, checking my email regularly for updates and notices for any word on when they might actually get here. So, when I saw this wrapped package in my mailbox when I arrived home on Monday, I knew it had to be them...it was...YIPEE!
 
Time to crack open the box and give them a spin:
 




 
So, the first thing I noticed after opening the box and actually picking up the IEM's was DAMN, these things have some weight to 'em.
the construction of the 'Buds is solid, metal body, fabric, tangle free cord, the 1/8' plug is also metal with rubberized bend going into the metal body of it...nice.
 
I have to say, I was a bit disappointed by the plastic (as opposed to metal)  play/control button...at first...until i actually put the 'Buds in my ears, then I realized that the weight of the 'Buds in my ears was hefty enough, anymore weight pulling down from the cord might actually begin to be too much for the really weighty ear 'Buds themselves. So I now appreciate that the play/control button is not also metal, it would just add extra weight to an already heavy set up.
 
That being said, there was still a bit of disappointment in the play/control button to be had...THERE IS NO VOLUME CONTROL ON THE CONTROL BUTTON!!! What!!! 

That's right, no volume control, only play, pause, next track (press button 2x's), previous track (press 3x's) also the buttons control calls, answer, hang up, blah blah.
 
The Superbuds are supplied with a variety of tips in 5 different sizes, so unless you have little mouse ears holes or elephant canals, you should be in good shape for sizing. also included are 3 Comply foam tips for even better isolation. I haven't tried those yet but I am using the next to largest size tips which seem to give me the best fit. I tried the next smaller size for a day and they just didn't feel secure in my ears so I went up a size and so far, so good.
 
Also included is the small zippered simi-hard shell case that you can see in the pic. The case is the perfect size to fit in your pocket, front or rear I would even say that putting the case in your rear pocket and sitting on it should be secure enough to protect your 'Buds from any damage...not that these things would be damaged easily, they seem pretty bullet proof...except for the controller... plastic, remember?
 
Onto the sound:
 
At first I was was a little taken back by the sound pushing out of these. Don't get me wrong, they sounded good and seem way more sensitive than the IEM's I was used to (Sennheiser cx890i) and can be driven quite easily, but the sound signature was just different than what I was used to. I don't use an amp, just my iPhone 6, streaming music from the new 'Tidal' music app. I noticed right away that these 'Buds can get LOUD compared to the Senns, which can get loud enough using just my iPhone, but the NHT's seem to get much louder at the same volume level as I was used to with the Senns. 
 
Listening to the band Porcuine Tree's Deadening album on Tidal, Arriving Somewhere But Not Here, (great band, great song, btw 

) I could instantly tell by the bands Orchestral, rocking intro that the NHT's can certainly rock hard, the drums and guitars are very solid, yet smooth, Steve Wilson's voice is slightly forward in the presentation. At about 6:15 (of the 12 minute song) when the guitars distorted rif comes in, it sounds like it should, a rocking, distorted guitar (in a good way), then about 15 seconds later when the bass and drums kick in, it hit's hard and continues thru to a clean melodic treat.   
 
These are definitely a mid-range forward design, no v-shape response here, although the bass is on the heavy side...more on that later.
 
Although I don't have graphs or technical jargon to pass on to you about the specifics of the sound response,  I can tell you that these are some good sounding IEM's, if you don't mind a little bit of heavy bass (not too (Beats) heavy, mind you) and a mid-forward, leaning towards, I would say, the 125-500 Hz range and a bit laid back in the higher freq. range. It's certainly a different sound than what I was used to with the Senns but I'm rapidly adjusting and getting used to this new sound.
 
I mentioned earlier about the bass being on the heavy side, well it is, but at first few listens it was not in a good way. the bass seemed a little bloated and mushy. After listening for a few days now, i can (happily) report that the bass seems to be settling down and it now seems to have tightened up and sound more natural, still hitting hard when needed but not as annoying as it initially seemed right out of the box. I guess a little break-in does wonders for new IEM's...who knew?..lol
 
The NHT's also include a code for a free equalizer app, EQu by elephantcandy, normally $2.99 in the Apple App Store. It's nice that they include that with the 'Bud's, though I really haven't had a chance to use it yet since most of my music listening has been using the Tidal app. The EQu app, as far as I know, is only useful for music you have already stored on your phone. For Android users, they include the code for a different app: Smart Android Pro Eq. 
 
A little plug here for Jailbroken iPhone users:
I use an app from cydia called EqualizerEverywhere which i like better than any other EQ app I've tried, simply because it can be used across and with ANY music program you might have on your smartphone, not just the stock Apple music app. For instance, I can use it with Tidal, Pandora, Spotify, whatever. It's basically a 10 band eq that gets embedded in your Control Center application for easy access whenever you need to make fine adjustments. It works great. I love it! $3 in cydia, it's well worth it.




 
 
So, to wrap things up in this brief, initial review, I'd have to say that these Superbuds are a steal for what I paid ($49) at the initial intro, pre-release price and even their regular price of $99 from NHThifi.com, (I saw them on Amazon for $87), they are a great, still under-priced, set of IEM's that considering their build quality and construction, should last a very long time of musical enjoyment. Their sound signature may not be for everyone, but if you give them a try, at least at $99 investment, it's not that much of risk, but I'm pretty sure most of you will agree that although these are maybe not perfect (read NO VOLUME CONTROL) , they are certainly quite a good sounding pair of headphones.
 
Cheers and Happy Holidays!

 

[alv4426]

I'm still waiting, this is the slowest shipping ever. I live in Nevada and it had only moved like 100mi in California in over a week.

 

[wood1030]

^^^ I agree. Their shipping speed is absolutely at a snails pace...i could have walked to their offices and back to my home in the time it took from delivery notice to showing up in my mailbox 

 

[WNBC]

I'm in Washington state, I guess I should expect my IEMs in January.  I'm amazed too.  NHT used parcel post which is transport via ground.  USPS says parcel post takes up to 14 days, but even that isn't guaranteed.  I guess that's how they got the price down to $50 for early adopters.  They should have just given us the option to upgrade shipping, especially after the delays.
 
 
Quote:

I'm still waiting, this is the slowest shipping ever. I live in Nevada and it had only moved like 100mi in California in over a week.