NF ACOUS NM20 REVIEW

>>I am brazilian and I speak portuguese, so forgive my english, I’ll use translation tools to help<<

INTRO:

NF AUDIO is now NF ACOUS! The company has changed its name but the quality of its products remains the same, that is, everything is of excellent quality, from the packaging to the design of the IEMs.

I recently reviewed the RA15, and I confess that I really liked the IEM, so I am here with very high expectations to be able to review the brand’s new IEM, the NF ACOUS NM20. The NM20 thus appears as the successor to the NM2 (which unfortunately I didn’t have the opportunity to review).

Price: $119 USD
Color: Grey, Blue, Pink
Cable: Without Mic

NF Acous reviews: NA3 (in portuguese), RA15 (in english)

NF ACOUS LINKS:

https://amzn.to/41R3JWp

https://nfacous.com/products/nm20

https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_DEEjf9b

SPECIFICATIONS:

Single DD:

• (1) Dynamic Driver (DD) MC2L-100M Beryllium plated

– Frequency: 9Hz – 40kHz
– Effective frequency: 20Hz – 20kHz
– Impedance: 32Ω
– Sensitivity: 108dB/mW
– THD: <1%
– SPL max: 125dB
– Passive isolation: 25dB
– Termination plug: 3.5mm (straight design)
– Connectors: 2pin 0.78mm QDC (detachable)
– Cable size: 1.2m
– Cable: Silver-Plated Copper 5N OFC
– Shell: Plastic + aluminum
– IEM weight: 3.7g (one side)(without eartips)
– Cable weight: 16.8g
– Total weight (packaging, iems, etc): 311.7g
– Packaging size: 13cm [H] x 15cm [W] x 8.7cm [D]

UNBOXING:

PHYSICAL ASPECTS:

Construction: The first thing we see in an IEM is always the design, and I really liked the design of the NM20. I thought the color combination was really cool, the mix of silver and blue… not only this model but the other colors available as well. Everyone knows that I’m not an IEM collector, but if I were, I would certainly make room for the NM20 in my collection.

The IEM has a plastic shell, and the edge of the faceplate is coated in metal (aluminum). The nozzle of the IEM is also made of metal. Here again, the design of the IEM stands out for having a transparent body, so we can see the internal components. Another great highlight is the lightness of the IEM, since it’s a plastic IEM, it is known that the weight is always very low… and that was the case here with the NM20, the IEM weighs only 3.7g! Speaking of plastic, the quality of the plastic used is of great quality.

Eartips: Just like the RA15, once again we have the excellent MS42. I really like these eartips, they are very soft and have a “normal” diameter, which is a bit rare to find these days… usually the ones on the market are either very closed or wide bore. The kit available comes in sizes XS/S/M/L. These are proprietary eartips from NF Acous, and they can be purchased separately. At the time I reviewed the RA15, they were only available at ShenzhenAudio, but now that I’m writing about the NM20, they’ve also appeared at BrightAudioStore, so I’ll put the link here too: NF ACOUS MS42. I reviewed the MS42 in size M. I usually use size M, and the M ones from the MS42 were compatible.

Cable: Excellent cable! If I already thought the RA15 cable was good, this one from the NM20 managed to be even better. Basically, the change in the braided style made the product better (in my opinion). It’s a very light and thin cable, so I like it a lot because I always get more comfort. Aesthetically, silver cables are very pleasing to me, but beyond that, the cable has great features: it doesn’t tangle easily, it doesn’t have ‘memory’ (wavys), it doesn’t have microphonics, and it’s easy to roll up for storage. The chin slider works well. The earhooks are smooth, which makes it the best option in terms of comfort. The connectors are of the “QDC” type 0.78mm 2-pin. Honestly, maybe that’s the only thing to note about this cable, the connectors being “QDC”… I prefer the normal 2-pin model, although the “QDC” is much safer.

Fit and comfort: Another very positive point of the NM20, the IEM disappear in the ear! The stability is great, the IEM fit very well in my ear. The IEM are very discreet, there are no protruding parts. The comfort is 100%, the body of the earphones is very anatomical, classic style of semi-custom IEM. As I said before, the weight of the IEM is indeed the biggest advantage. You practically don’t even notice that you’re wearing IEM because they’re so light. These are definitely great IEM to wear for long hours. I also think they’re good for small ears. I found the isolation to be good and the insertion to be average.

Accessories: Among the included accessories, the NM20 comes with a semi-rigid case with a zipper closure, and a P2>P10 adapter (3.5mm to 6.35mm). As for the carrying case, it’s not very sophisticated, but it’s a customized case. Some parts have NF Acous emblems, so you can see that there was an investment in the accessory. Most importantly, they improved what I criticized about the RA15 carrying case.

SOUND ASPECTS:

I understood the sound of the NF ACOUS NM20 as a V-Shape with an emphasis on the upper-mids region. The NM20 has a sound that I found to be quite different from the RA15, and the company itself separates the IEMs into two lines: the NM20 has a side for more professional use, while the RA15 is part of the musical line. If the RA15 has a more neutral sound, here in the NM20 the sound is more “forward”, more lively, and we can even say that it is “energetic”. Now, look, it isn’t a fun IEM, or one that seeks to have a lot of emphasis on the bass, on the contrary, it has a more “raw” and direct sound.

When I say “raw” and “direct”, I am referring to a clean, more analytical sound, which is basically what musicians need to monitor their instrument (whatever it may be), so they need to hear in a clearer and defined way how their instrument is performing. I think that’s exactly what the NM20 wanted to bring here, an IEM that serves as a work tool. It’s obvious that there are hundreds of musical instruments, and that not every IEM will be ideal for extracting the maximum potential of the instrument, but I think that in terms of the classic Rock formation – voice, guitar, bass, drums, and keyboard – the NM20 performs these with great perfection.

Bass:

Quantitative: The amount of bass on the NM20 is moderate for me. By “moderate” I understand it as an IEM that has a good amount of bass, but that manages to play without exaggeration. For me, “moderate” or “moderate to high” is ideal, more than that would be a basshead IEM… which, by the way, isn’t the case with the NM20. In terms of sub-bass and mid-bass, the NM20 manages to have a good presence of subs, although the mid-bass region is slightly more prominent, the difference is small indeed. Having a little less sub-bass is what makes the NM20 a good IEM for Rock and its derivatives, the presentation is clean. The bass extension is good, I didn’t notice any roll-off.

In my opinion, I would use the NM20 for genres that don’t need a lot of bass, such as Rock, Indie, Alternative, 80’s Pop, New Wave… but for genres like EDM, Hip-Hop, I don’t think it’s really my taste… but it’s not even because of the bass, but because of the upper-mids, we’ll see in the paragraph more ahead.

Qualitative: The first thing we notice about the NM20’s bass is that it’s very clean and fast. It’s bass that seeks definition more than physicality and texture. It’s a more “slim” bass, it’s not the most prominent part of the IEM. Now, don’t take this as if the bass is “dry” or “thin”. That’s not the case, it’s just that they’re not that massive bass, that is, they always accompany the recording and don’t invade the mids. For example, a Truthear Hexa has a very boost in the sub-bass, while the Tanchjim 4U lacks subs, so I would say that the NM20 would be an IEM in between these two. Therefore, we have well-harmonized and balanced bass.

Mids:

Quantitative and qualitative: This is certainly the region that stands out the most in the NM20… Even though it’s a V-shape IEM, it has an emphasis on the upper-mids region, so we’ll have a part of the presentation that is much more “forward”… but before you start thinking the wrong thing, no, I didn’t feel any harshness or aggressiveness here, it’s an IEM that managed to give a good frontality to the mids but nothing went overboard. It’s true, you need to be careful about the size of the eartips you’re going to use. It’s known that the wrong size can result in poor isolation, which in turn reduces the bass region and increases the upper-mids region.

For me, the NM20 has great clarity in the mids, as well as great transparency and definition. Instead of “hiding”, the NM20 presents the sounds in this region with greater proximity, and thus, the presentation is more palpable. The highlight was undoubtedly the fact that it better highlighted some instruments such as guitar, piano, and even vocals. And about the EDM and Hip-Hop genres, it’s because, for me, I prefer this region of pinna gain to be lower, it generates more comfort in some electronic beats that these genres have (subjective).

Voices: It’s certainly an IEM that, in my opinion, puts female/high-pitched voices in the spotlight. When the pinna gain region is more prominent, higher-pitched voices generally achieve greater projection, and when the sub-bass region is more emphasized, lower-pitched voices gain more body and texture. The NM20 is algo very good with whisper-style voices.

Treble:

Quantitative: I consider the NM20’s treble to be moderate. If you look at the frequency response graph, you’ll probably think there’s a lot of treble, but listening to them here I didn’t find anything that caught my attention. I think the emphasis is on the upper-mids. If you’re someone who prefers darker IEMs, then this might be a warning, but in terms of treble, I found the NM20 to be quite safe. The Tanchjim 4U is an IEM that I found to have more treble than the NM20. The extension is good, I didn’t feel any roll-off.

Qualitative: The treble are versatile, controlled, linear, without peaks, without coloration. Has sparkle, airy, and also have great definition. Since it’s a V-Shape IEM, it’s obvious that we’re going to have an IEM with treble, but to my ears – as I said – it’s the upper-mids that stand out more than the treble. In fact, I think the RA15 has a level of detail that I consider to be slightly better than the NM20, but it’s not that the NM20 doesn’t have detail, it does have good detail, but I think the RA15 has more. I didn’t notice any sibilance, shrillness, or harshness. For me, the treble are lively without sounding out of the curve. The NM20 treble perform very well, from the highest piano notes to the ride cymbals.

Soundstage: I found the soundstage to be good. As mentioned, the IEM have upper-mids more forward, and so it always gives a part of the sound a closer sensation, a stage in which the sound projects in a more triangular way, the vocals more frontal, and the band positioned in the back. The good thing is that V-Shape IEMs always deliver a bit more spatiality, and this made the NM20 have more amplitude in the sound. Of the 3 dimensions, it is better in height and width, but in depth it’s only average.

Imaging: I found the instrumental separation to be good. The IEM have a clean and clear sound, which makes it very easy to identify the instruments in the presentation. I found the sense of space between the instruments to be good, nothing sounds congested. It’s worth remembering that this aspect is strongly influenced by the quality of the recordings. I always think that IEMs with multiple drivers can perform a little better in this aspect of imaging.

Driver flex test: I didn’t heard any driver flex sound when inserting the IEM in my ears.

Amplification: I used the FiiO KA11 dongle connected to my computer to perform this review. The volume was at 20% of the 100% available through Windows. I can say that the NF Acous NM20 is an easy-to-play IEM, and doesn’t require dedicated amplification. The NM20 will play well on smartphones, iPads, and notebooks. As usual, I recommend that the person at least have a good quality dongle to play the IEMs. Currently, I recommend the FiiO KA11 as a good cost/benefit dongle.

PROS AND CONS:

GRAPHS BY HI-END PORTABLE:

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