[talan7]

Currently at akihabara. Tried the nhr-31and found it too agreessive n sensitive - these will blast at 8-10 volume less than the nhr-21. Yet the 31 was atiguing too - the bass was too forward and the 21 was smoother in comparison. I ended up buying the nhr-21 for 10,000 yen. The nhr-31 was 30,000 yen. I believe the removeable cable of the nhr-31 powers the speaker up like no tomorrow. Edit: i was using sony nwa-35

I agree that the 31 is too sensitive but the removable cable is what I wanted. With stock cable, and level matched, they sound exactly the same. With balanced cables, the 31 really open up in the mids and soundstage. But you're right, they are too sensitive. They need amping even less than the 21.

 

[twiceboss]

Thanks for the clarification. BTW, they are $60 at Costco.com.

Edit: OK twiceboss I just placed an order for the triple Ds. Not talking about a woman's brazier either. Total with tax came to $65. Now the wait begins...

Personally to me, I've just found the best EDM headphone/earphone after i bought this. People said it doesnt have the best sub bass, but to me it is damn good already. Let it burn for at least 24hours, it will be so much difference!

What the most i like for this 1more, the mid bass for EDM songs are really punchy without having fatiguing highs. I always crank up the volume to get the best feeling! While the mids stays there entertain you.

P/s: i have hd800 mids in my mindset which is actually pretty darn high expectations. I could say, 1more mids are enough to satisfy me!

 

[slowpickr]

Personally to me, I've just found the best EDM headphone/earphone after i bought this. People said it doesnt have the best sub bass, but to me it is damn good already. Let it burn for at least 24hours, it will be so much difference!

What the most i like for this 1more, the mid bass for EDM songs are really punchy without having fatiguing highs. I always crank up the volume to get the best feeling! While the mids stays there entertain you.

P/s: i have hd800 mids in my mindset which is actually pretty darn high expectations. I could say, 1more mids are enough to satisfy me!

 
Good to hear.  I should be getting mine tonight unless the weather here delays things.  Which tips did you find to work best?  I read that the stock ones are garbage, so I'll probably start off with spiral dots or spin fits.

 

[twiceboss]

   
Good to hear.  I should be getting mine tonight unless the weather here delays things.  Which tips did you find to work best?  I read that the stock ones are garbage, so I'll probably start off with spiral dots or spin fits.

Yes, the first one is so loose to me. I tried most of the stock tips and found out 13mm silicon works best to me! So i dont need to buy others. Try the stock tips first before invest for another third party tips. The stock is pretty darn a lot to try out before buying a new one. ( like 8+ different type of tips if im not mistaken)

 

[slowpickr]

  Yes, the first one is so loose to me. I tried most of the stock tips and found out 13mm silicon works best to me! So i dont need to buy others. Try the stock tips first before invest for another third party tips. The stock is pretty darn a lot to try out before buying a new one. ( like 8+ different type of tips if im not mistaken)

Ok, I'll try the stock tips first then.  I already have the others on hand so it isn't a big deal.

 

[Gandasaputra]

Here is my impression after 3 weeks of using the Radius NHR21. Earphone has been burned for about 8 hours. At that moment I used Sony Walkman NWA-30.
 
"Bass-head" is all I can say. It is the heaviest, articulating, and textured bass I have ever heard in my collection. It exceeds my bass-heavy collection like JVC FX101, Sony XBA-A3, EPH-100, Carbo Basso, and JVC FX750.
 
It rattles ear-drum on heavy-bass tracks and this is the only earphone in my collection that gives audible bass-rumbles. However it can get nauseating as well, especially for me who's not a bass-head listener. Even the bass dominates on light track. It was fatiguing and too powerful to handle. On top of that the mid was too recessed and sparkle was nearly non-existent - this reminds me of disappointing Yamaha EPH-M200 which I reviewed back and returned.
 
Details were muddied by the bass and clarity is disappointing given that its priced at $100 USD and labeled as "High-Res". Radius NHR21 is a prime example of what a bad-tuned JVC FXZ200 would be, as the FXZ200 is a good warm and balanced earphone with pleasant amount of bass. 
 
Furthermore the earphone is very sensitive and the bass still audible even at small volume. Most people think sensitive earphones tend to get too bright and and thin sounding but this one gives big fat bass at low-volume. l I can't imagine living with the NHR31 which is more sensitive than the NHR21 and 2-3 times more expensive as well.
 
I was at the verge of selling the earphone but I changed my mind when I switched its stock tips with Spin-fit eartips and paired with iBasso DX80. This combination fixes the nauseating bass and muddy clarity. Now the bass smoothen out, bass punch was lighter, midrange and treble lifted up, and sparkles are more existent. In other word, they are all balanced out. 
 
Still I hardly can recommend Radius NHR21. I'd rate 6.5 out of 10 for the sound quality vs price. Earphone was rather big to my ear and slightly protrudes but it is not as big as the gargantuan-sized ATH-CKS1100. If one has bass-heavy earphone like EPH-100, Sony XBA-A3, JVC HA-FX101, or the FXH30 and the FX750, and look for a heavier one, do not even bother with the NHR21. Instead if one look for a good bass-heavy earphone in $100 USD I'd recommend on 1More triple hybrid earphone, which is far more balanced than it.
 
The NHR21 bass is just too excessive to my ear, could it be it was paired with a mismatching player.

 

[talan7]

Here is my impression after 3 weeks of using the Radius NHR21. Earphone has been burned for about 8 hours. At that moment I used Sony Walkman NWA-30.

"Bass-head" is all I can say. It is the heaviest, articulating, and textured bass I have ever heard in my collection. It exceeds my bass-heavy collection like JVC FX101, Sony XBA-A3, EPH-100, Carbo Basso, and JVC FX750.

It rattles ear-drum on heavy-bass tracks and this is the only earphone in my collection that gives audible bass-rumbles. However it can get nauseating as well, especially for me who's not a bass-head listener. Even the bass dominates on light track. It was fatiguing and too powerful to handle. On top of that the mid was too recessed and sparkle was nearly non-existent - this reminds me of disappointing Yamaha EPH-M200 which I reviewed back and returned.

Details were muddied by the bass and clarity is disappointing given that its priced at $100 USD and labeled as "High-Res". Radius NHR21 is a prime example of what a bad-tuned JVC FXZ200 would be, as the FXZ200 is a good warm and balanced earphone with pleasant amount of bass. 

Furthermore the earphone is very sensitive and the bass still audible even at small volume. Most people think sensitive earphones tend to get too bright and and thin sounding but this one gives big fat bass at low-volume. l I can't imagine living with the NHR31 which is more sensitive than the NHR21 and 2-3 times more expensive as well.

I was at the verge of selling the earphone but I changed my mind when I switched its stock tips with Spin-fit eartips and paired with iBasso DX80. This combination fixes the nauseating bass and muddy clarity. Now the bass smoothen out, bass punch was lighter, midrange and treble lifted up, and sparkles are more existent. In other word, they are all balanced out. 

Still I hardly can recommend Radius NHR21. I'd rate 6.5 out of 10 for the sound quality vs price. Earphone was rather big to my ear and slightly protrudes but it is not as big as the gargantuan-sized ATH-CKS1100. If one has bass-heavy earphone like EPH-100, Sony XBA-A3, JVC HA-FX101, or the FXH30 and the FX750, and look for a heavier one, do not even bother with the NHR21. Instead if one look for a good bass-heavy earphone in $100 USD I'd recommend on 1More triple hybrid earphone, which is far more balanced than it.

The NHR21 bass is just too excessive to my ear, could it be it was paired with a mismatching player.

IMO the mids and highs are well done on the 21, I can hear them well. I agree they are very sensitive and the bass can be overwhelming if you amp them too much, and/or eq them too much. Out of my zx2, they sound phenomenal. The 31 is even more sensitive, I don't know why. I can say this, with balanced cables they are unbeatable. The 31 gave me what I wanted more from the 21, soundstage, more mids, and tighter bass. I think the highs are more airy as well. The clarity is there. I must reiterate, with the 31, and balanced cables, you don't need an amp, just a good source.

I see you did get good sound out of the 21 with different tips. Isn't that part of the evaluation, you don't judge until you experiment to find which tip gets you the best sound? Then you base your review with that particular tip. Not just saying they sound bad, not recommending, them only to say later, oh, I got them to sound good. If they sound good, it doesn't matter what tip you use. Regardless, many reviewers here mentioned the mids and highs were well done. One well respected reviewer thinks the mids and treble is better than the Sony xb90ex. You can take that with a grain of salt. I don't think they are considered totl for mids and treble.

These are a basshead iem and that's how I evaluated and presented them here and on the basshead forum.

 

[Gandasaputra]

It could be that my ears need to familiarize with a bass-head earphone 

. This is a first one that has a bass real-hard. I will update my impression by next month or two.
 
I believe this earphone has a potential. I was impressed at my first demo so it must be good.

 

[jrice1996]

I'm ordering the NHR-21, I'll post some thoughts when I get them. Are the stock tips good for sound quality/isolation? Or would some other tips like comply be better? I'm just curious what other owners found to be the best tips for isolation and sound quality

 

[talan7]

I'm ordering the NHR-21, I'll post some thoughts when I get them. Are the stock tips good for sound quality/isolation? Or would some other tips like comply be better? I'm just curious what other owners found to be the best tips for isolation and sound quality

Stock tips work the best. I have the nhr31 and they are basically the same as the NHR21 but with removable cables. I swapped out with fiio balanced cable and the sound quality improved tremendously. Can't wait to try my effect audio Thor II cable when it arrives. If you really just want the 21, I still have mine. I don't use it since I have the nhr31. I'd sell it to you for a good price.

 

[jrice1996]

Stock tips work the best. I have the nhr31 and they are basically the same as the NHR21 but with removable cables. I swapped out with fiio balanced cable and the sound quality improved tremendously. Can't wait to try my effect audio Thor II cable when it arrives. If you really just want the 21, I still have mine. I don't use it since I have the nhr31. I'd sell it to you for a good price.

I actually just bought my pair from Gandasaputra on eBay. I appreciate the offer though. Glad to hear the stock tips are good

 

[jrice1996]

I've been listening to the Radius NHR-21 for a few days now. Unamped these headphones have a lot of bass. They shine specifically with rap, but have sounded pretty good with everything I've thrown at them. I've tested them with heavy metal, and the drums and guitar sound awesome. Screamed vocals, if you're into that, sound great as well. The only time I felt they sounded a little off was during heavy metal tracks with fast paced drumming and melodic singing. The instrumentals overshadowed the vocals significantly on those tracks, but I still found it to be an enjoyable listen. I get a good seal with these headphones, although if I move around a lot they start to lose the seal. They are pretty comfortable, although I left them in for about 8 hours while studying and they started to irritate my ears; that's probably the case with any pair of headphones, though. These headphones get very loud if you can handle that. I can't go above 75% volume on my iPhone without it being uncomfortably loud. They also leak a considerable amount of sound if that's a concern. For comparison, the only other in ear headphones I've owned have been the GR07 bass edition and the klipsch s4. Compared to the GR07 the sound is a little less clear, but it's a much fuller sound with the strong bass (the GR07 BE has pretty much non existent bass - I don't recommend them.) Compared to the klipsch s4 there is much more bass and more clarity with the NHR-21. The headphones are well built and seem very durable. If you're looking for a ~$100 pair of headphones with great bass and don't want to deal with an amp, this is a great option.

 

[Gandasaputra]

I've been listening to the Radius NHR-21 for a few days now. Unamped these headphones have a lot of bass. They shine specifically with rap, but have sounded pretty good with everything I've thrown at them. I've tested them with heavy metal, and the drums and guitar sound awesome. Screamed vocals, if you're into that, sound great as well. The only time I felt they sounded a little off was during heavy metal tracks with fast paced drumming and melodic singing. The instrumentals overshadowed the vocals significantly on those tracks, but I still found it to be an enjoyable listen. I get a good seal with these headphones, although if I move around a lot they start to lose the seal. They are pretty comfortable, although I left them in for about 8 hours while studying and they started to irritate my ears; that's probably the case with any pair of headphones, though. These headphones get very loud if you can handle that. I can't go above 75% volume on my iPhone without it being uncomfortably loud. They also leak a considerable amount of sound if that's a concern. For comparison, the only other in ear headphones I've owned have been the GR07 bass edition and the klipsch s4. Compared to the GR07 the sound is a little less clear, but it's a much fuller sound with the strong bass (the GR07 BE has pretty much non existent bass - I don't recommend them.) Compared to the klipsch s4 there is much more bass and more clarity with the NHR-21. The headphones are well built and seem very durable. If you're looking for a ~$100 pair of headphones with great bass and don't want to deal with an amp, this is a great option.

Try using an earphone clipper or putting the cable behind the clothes if the cable bothers you. I find the cable rather stiff and prone to microphonic, though it appears durable. Edit: this is the earphone clip I use, which I bought from Ebay. 
 
On the other hand the NHR-21 is indeed good for metal, like The Shadows Fall's War Within whole album sounds really good on it. My impression was the same like you when I first auditioned it at Akihabara - it synergizes with every songs I played.
 
But some metal album may sound off like Opeth's the Sorceress where the bass from the opening song "Persephone" gets overly bloated and so I had to turn down the volume. I had to use Spinfit tips to reduce the bass tho.
 
I am glad that you like the earphone and you do have strong tolerance to big bass 

. The NHR-21 is indeed bass-head delight's. Listening to it was my 1st attempt on having a bass-head earphone and it was a good experience, though my ears could not last. This is from a person owning a GR07 classic and found that its bass is "right on the spot".

 

[MS1605]

So Gandasaputra just got me looking at these. I see a couple of you guys posted that you just bought some. where are you getting them from? I have never used any kind of proxy. could anyone point me in the direction of learning how to order these off amazon JP?

 

[jrice1996]

So Gandasaputra just got me looking at these. I see a couple of you guys posted that you just bought some. where are you getting them from? I have never used any kind of proxy. could anyone point me in the direction of learning how to order these off amazon JP?

I purchased mine from eBay, but if it's not a used pair the pricing on eBay is very bloated. Ordering from amazon Japan, from what I understand, consists of using a Japanese forwarding service. You have amazon Japan ship it to the forwarding service, who then ships the headphones to you for a fee. Not sure of the cost, nor am I sure of the delivery time. Pricing wise, though, amazon Japan is your best bet