NUARL N6 Pro Review

Introduction:

NUARL is a Japanese company that offers portable audio products such like earphones and True Wireless earphones like the N6 Pro that I will now review for you.

The N6 Pro is an earphone that features a in house developed single NUARL Driver N6 v5 driver, which is a 6mm diameter dynamic driver that has a diaphragm made of two plates, one made of “SWCNT (Single Walled Carbon Nanotube) and one PEEK (Polyetheretherketone) material synthesized with a special vacuum deposition process, which makes it stronger than some exotic materials like grapheme.

The N6 Pro offers also some other remarkable features such like IPX4 grade water resistance, an Omni-directional microphone, the Bluetooth 5.0 capable Qualcomm QCC3020 BT SoC which supports codec’s like aptX, AAC and SBC.

• NUARL Official Website: https://nuarl.com/en/

Disclaimer:

I would like to thank NUARL for providing me the N6 Pro for review purposes. I am not affiliated with NUARL beyond this review and all these words reflect my true and unaltered opinions about the product.

Price:

The MSRP price for the NUARL N6 Pro is 162,00 USD and can be purchased from the link below;

• NUARL N6 Pro on Amazon

Package and Accessories:

The NUARL N6 Pro came in a rectangular box with illustrations of the product and some brandings on the front and details/instructions at the rear side.

This box contains the following items;

• 1 pair x NUARL N6 Pro True Wireless Earphones
• 1 pcs x charging case
• 3 pairs x Spinfit CP360 Silicone Ear Tips (S/M/L)
• 3 pairs x Foam Ear Tips (S/M/L)
• 1 pcs x USB Type-C cable
• 1 pcs x User Manual & Quick Star Guide

The Design, Build Quality, Fit & Comfort:

The NUARL N6 Pro was designed by the famous Japanese Product Designer “Takahashi Masataka” (by BATTLESDESIGN) and is available in two color options which are the one in matte black and the one in red copper color.

The NUARL N6 Pro has a protruding structure same like the Sony WF-1000XM3 but those design choice doesn’t affect the comfort or the optic of the product. The monitor housing is made of plastic and fits perfectly to my medium sized ears while the pre-installed rubber ear-hooks that are removable do offer extra comfort, especially if you want to use the N6Pro on the go or while exercising.

Each earpiece has a 60 mAh build-in battery, weights approx. 7 grams and shows a solid overall build quality.

The front panel is available in red cooper and matte black colors and sport the NUARL brand logo in gold color. The matte black variant has a rubbery surface coating, while the red copper variant shows a nice glossy surface.

Both the left and the right earpiece do have multifunctional buttons for actions like play/pause, volume up/down, next/forward, pairing, call answer, etc.

The buttons and the frame were the buttons are located is made of plastic material with a glossy metallic finish which gives the N6 Pro a premium look. The buttons are a bit small but fairly responsive.

The rear side of the earphone is made of plastic material in black color is the part where you can find the sound nozzle which has a filter on the top to prevent the insertion of unwanted particles like dust, earwax, etc.

On the backside of the monitors are Left or Right markings, LED status lights and the Omni-directional microphones. Here are also the charging ports/connectors on each earpiece that helps to charge the build in battery’s when you put them inside the caring case.

The charging case of the N6 Pro is made of plastic and has a rubbery surface which offers a nice to touch feel when you hold it in your hands. It has dimensions of W72.0 x H37.0x D38.5mm weight approx. 45gr and features a 550 mAh battery that can charge each earpiece up to 4 times.

On the top of the charging case is the NUARL logo while the bottom shows information of the product model and some industrial standards and certification.

On the front of the case is the LED status indicator that gives information like the remaining power of the battery and the charging process.

When you open the case you will see the seats for the earphones the Left / Right markings.

These seats have a magnetic surface to ensure the right connection for the charging process and to avoid that the earphones drop out.

At the rear side is the USB Type-C charging port that can be charged with the cable that comes in the box when you connect it to your PC or with an adaptor to a wall charger.

Some Technical Specifications:

• Driver Type                 : Ø6mm SWCNT Composite diaphragm NUARL DRIVER N6 v5 with HDSS
• Frequency response : 20Hz – 20kHz
• Bluetooth SoC           : Qualcomm QCC3020 BT
• Bluetooth version       : BT5.0
• Audio Codec’s            : aptX, AAC, SBC
• Bluetooth distance      : approx. 10 meters
• Charging case battery: approx 660mAh
• Earphones battery      : 60mAh for each earphone
• Continues Playtime    : 11 Hours (AAC, SBC), 8 Hours (aptX)
• Charging time             : about 1.5 hours
• Dimensions                 : Earphone W26*H30*D20mm, Charging Case W72*H37*D38.5mm

Battery Life:

Each NURAL N6 Pro earphone has a build in 60mAh battery with an average playtime of approx. 8 hours if you do use the aptX codec and about 11 hours with codec’s like AAC or SBC. I can confirm this results that are pretty good for a TWS earphone.

Pairing, Navigation, Signal Strength, Latency & Call Quality:

The pairing process of the NUARL N6 was pretty easy, after you put out the earphones form the charging case you need to double click the main button (play button) of the Left earpiece.

After you have done the pairing for the first time, you won’t need to re-pair it once again, the N6Pro will be automatically recognized whenever you put out the earphones from the charging case.

The operating distance of the NUARL N6 Pro is about 10 meters and is very stable in both indoor and outdoor conditions.

The N6 Pro performs pretty well in terms of latency and I didn’t have notice any significant lip sync issue, while I have watched some TV Shows on YouTube and movies on Netflix, paired with my Samsung Galaxy S9 Plus and Apple iPad Air2 tablet.

The call quality on the other hand, paired with the Samsung Galaxy S9 Plus was on of the best I have experienced with any True Wireless IEM/Earphone to date thanks to the well implanted Omni-directional microphones that do support the “cVc noise cancelling” feature. All peoples called from my phone paired with the NURAL N6 Pro did tell me that my voice sounded very clear.

Some Remarkable Features:

a) TrueWireless Stereo Plus:

The NUARL N6 Pro has equipped the Qualcomm’s “TrueWireless Stereo Plus” technology which is a right-and-left independent communication technology. By using a compatible Smartphone, the left and right earphones are connected to the Smartphone independently. As the communication between the left and right disappears, the stability of signal transmission increased and a longer playback time had been accomplished.

b) Water-resistance equal to IPX4

By applying water repellent treatment by nano-coating inside the earphone, it is safe to operate with wet hands.

c) High-quality sound by HDSS

The NUARL N6 Pro adopts a patented technology called “HDSS” which stays for High Definition Sound Standard to reproduce a wide sound field that prevents in-of-head sound localization caused by canalled type earphones, recreating natural sounds with thickness and spatial position.

d) Combining analog and digital tuning：

The driver of the NUARL N6 Pro had been stored in a metal case and modularized to enable the same analog toning as wired earphone. Furthermore, by combining this module with digital toning. NURAL also make full use of the build-in Qualcomm Bluetooth SoC QCC3020.

Equipment’s used for this review:

• IEM’s                          : NUARL N6 Pro, HiFiMAN TWS600
• Source                       : Samsung Galaxy S9+, iPad Air2

Albums & tracks used for this review:

• Audiomachine – Blood and Stone (Spotify)
• Audiomachine – Legends of Destiny (Spotify)
• Armin Van Buuren – Vini Vici (Spotify)
• Lorde – Royal (Flac 24bit/48kHz)
• Photek – The Hidden Camera (Spotify)
• Massive Attack – Angel (Flac 24bit/192kHz)
• Portishead – The Hidden Camera (MP3 320kpbs)
• Gogo Penguin – Raven (Flac 24bit/192kHz)
• Otto Liebert& Luna Negra – The River (DSF) – Binaural Recording
• Vivaldi – Le QuarttroStagioni “The Four Season” (Wav 24bit/88kHz)
• Michael Jackson – Billie Jean (Flac 24bit/96kHz)
• Elton John – Your Song (Flac 24bit/192kHz)
• David Bowie – Black Star (Flac 24bit/96kHz)
• Dave Gahan – Kingdom (Flac 16bit/44.1kHz)
• Eric Clapton – Unplugged Album (Flac 24bit/96kHz)
• B.B. King – Riding With The King (Flac 24bit/96kHz)
• First Aid Kit – My Silver Lining (Flac 16bit/44.1kHz)
• London Grammar – Interlude (Live) (Flac 24bit/88kHz)
• Aretha Franklin – I Say a Little Prayer (Wav 16bit/44.1kHz)
• Diana Krall – So Wonderful (DSF)
• No Doubt – Hella Gut (Spotify)
• Rush’s – Leave That Thing Alone (Flac 16bit/44.1kHz)
• Liquid Tension Experiment 2 – Acid Rain (Flac 16bit/44.1kHz)
• Twerl – Lishu (Spotify)
• U2 – Sunday Bloody Sunday (Flac 16bit/44.1kHz)
• Opeth – Windowpane (Wav 16bit/44kHz)
• Metallica – Sad but True (Flac 24bit/96kHz)
• Megadeth – Sweating Bullets (Flac 24bit/96kHz)
• Slayer – Angel of Death (Flac 24bit/96kHz)

The Sound:

The overall sound performance of the NUARL N6 Pro was a big surprise for me that I didn’t have expected from a TWS earphone/IEM especially at this price range. The N6 Pro shows a sound character with more refinement compared to other TWS Earphones/IEM’s on the market that I have listened before.

The NUARL N6 Pro offers a bass response that is well pronounced, tight and slightly warmish in its tonality, the midrange is transparent and smooth, while the upper midrange & treble region is highlighted and with a good level of extension.

Bass:

The bass quantity and intensity of the NUARL N6 Pro is on a pretty good level for a TWS earphone with a 6mm dynamic driver and is also quite successful in terms of speed, detail and tightness.

The subbass depth is on an average level and shows a moderate intensity of rumble. But where the N6 Pro really shines is the bass response with its pretty fast and accurate presentation, which makes it successful while listen to natural instruments like guitars and violas.

The midbass region of the N6 Pro is fairly tight in its presentation with a moderate level of impact. A big plus point goes to the control of the midbass that doesn’t bleed in to the midrange and that performs pretty well  with instruments like drums in fast passages of genres like metal music.

The general bass character of the NUARL N6 Pro can be described as clear and controlled with an average level of depth and extension that should be enough for most modern genres like Pop, Rock and for songs in the Acoustic music category.

Midrange:

The midrange of the NUARL N6 Pro is quite transparent, airy and mildly recessed with a touch of warmth and fullness that comes from the lower midrange. The midrange shows a performance that is above its price tag, especially in terms of transparency, airiness and resolution. The naturalness, energy and detail level of the midrange really surprised me!

The lower midrange shows a moderate level of depth and extension, while the fullness of this region is on a sufficient level which makes vocals fairly musical and natural to listen to. The level of clarity and detail is one of the highlights of the NUARL N6 Pro.

The upper midrange on the other hand is quite accented and detailed with a decent level of extension for a TWS earphone.  Female vocals do sound transparent and musical without to be sibilant or harsh.

The NUARL N6 Pro is also pretty successful TWS earphone when it comes to the separation of instrument and vocal. Guitars do sound a tad warm, bassy and fairly detailed. Violins are slightly bright without to sound harsh or sibilant, while the violas are pretty emotional.

Upper Midrange & Treble:

The upper midrange and treble region of the NUARL N6 Pro is highlighted with a peak in the upper treble range around the 8 kHz region. The upper midrange transitions are fairly controlled and detailed without to show remarkable sibilance or sharpness while listen to female vocals or instruments like violins or pianos.

The upper treble range is slightly more pronounced compared to the lower treble range (presence) and is also a bit more detailed. The treble performance of the N6 Pro in terms of airiness, speed and control is maybe the best I have heard from any TWS earphone/IEM and can even outperform some wired IEM’s in the same price range.

Instruments like hi-hats do come slightly from the background and do show a good level of intensity and extension. Other instruments like crash cymbal do sound pretty good in terms of speed and control.

The upper midrange and treble region of the NUARL N6 Pro is in general pretty crisp and clear and surprised me a lot with its overall performance.

Soundstage:

The NUARL N6 Pro offers a nice holographic soundstage performance with a good level of width and depth that will satisfy with most music genres.  The separation of instruments and vocals is pretty good for a product at this price level, especially compared to traditional TWS product on the market.

Comparison:

 NUARL N6 Pro versus HiFiMAN TWS600:

The HiFiMAN TWS600 has a quite different and a bit unnatural tonality and presentation compared to the NUARL N6 Pro. The TWS600 has a brighter, thinner/leaner and more neutral tonality compared to the NUARL N6 Pro, which shows a warmer and fuller presentation. The bass character of the TWS600 is in general pretty linear, while the NUARL N6 Pro is superior in terms of subbass depth and extension. The midbass region of both In-Ear Monitors is quite successful in terms of control and speed, while the N6 Pro has the upper hand in terms of impact and intensity.

The midrange of the HiFiMAN TWS600 shows a more sterile, neutral and slightly dry tonality compared to the warmer, a bit fuller and more musical tuning of the NUARL N6 Pro. The lower midrange of the N6 Pro has more depth and intensity, while the upper midrange of both earphones do offer a quite detailed and transparent. Both male and female vocals do sound more natural and musical with the N6 Pro that shows a more accurate character.

The upper midrange of the HiFiMAN TWS600 is more noticeably more highlighted compared to the NUARL N6 Pro and offers higher level of extension. Both the lower and upper treble of the N6 Pro is superior in terms intensity, detail and extension compared to the TWS600 which shows a noticeable roll-off in this area.

When it comes to soundstage performance, I can confirm that the NUARL N6 Pro has the upper hand in terms of width and while the HiFiMAN TWS600 has a slightly advantage for the depth of the stage.  

Conclusion:

NURAL N6 Pro is a very good example of how well wireless headphones have become in terms of sound performance. The N6 Pro offers a quite mature sound tuning with its pretty fast and controlled bass response, transparent and fairly detailed midrange and a treble range that shows a quite good level of extension and airiness for a TWS earphone.

All of these sound features are crowned with a high build quality, great battery performance, and good signal strength and many more.

Pros & Cons: 

• + Overall Sound Performance for a TWS Earphone
• + Great Battery Life
• + Good Signal Strength & Voice Transmission
• + Comfort & Build Quality

• – A tad more depth and intensity of the lows would be welcome
• – No Active Noise Cancellation (ANC)