>>I am brazilian and I speak portuguese, so forgive my english, I’ll use translation tools to help<<
INTRO:
That brand with more vowels than consonants is back… ZiiGaat! The first opportunity I had with the company was reviewing the ZiiGaat Cinno, a hybrid IEM that left a good impression, it was competing with the Simgot EM6L as one of the best hybrid IEMs in the US$100 dollar range. Now it’s time to test the ZiiGaat Nuo, a single DD IEM that is the entry-level product of the brand.
The ZIIGAAT NUO was sent by LINSOUL, one of the main distributors of ZIIGAAT products, as well as several other brands and audio products. More information on the links below.
PS: For those who don’t know, LINSOUL is the same DD-Audio Store on AliExpress.
Price: $29 USD
Colors: Black
ZiiGaat Reviews: Cinno
LINSOUL LINKS:
https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_DlxORb5
https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_Dd7sY6n
SPECIFICATIONS:
– (1) 10mm Dynamic Driver (DD) LPC per side
– Frequency range: 20Hz – 20kHz
– Sensitivity: 117dB SPL/mW
– Impedance: 32Ω
– THD: <0.5% (@1KHz)
– Rated power: 5mW
– Max power: 10mW
– Termination Plug: 3.5mm (straight design)
– Connectors: 2pin 0.78mm
– Cable size: 1.2m (detachable)
– Cable: OFC copper
– Shell: Resin + metal
– Earphone weight: 3.8g (one side)(without eartips)
– Cable weight: 13.5g
– Total weight (packaging, iems, etc): 93.8g
– Packaging size: 11.5cm [H] x 8.5cm [W] x 3cm [D]
UNBOXING:
PHYSICAL ASPECTS:
Construction: The ZiiGaat Nuo is the company’s entry-level earphone, so we have a construction very similar to the earphones we see from KZ or TRN. Half resin shell and metal faceplate, the nozzle is also made of metal. I must say that the earphone is simple, but very well crafted. The unboxing experience is quite simple, but at least the price of the earphone isn’t very expensive… unlike what happened with the Cinno, which in my view, should have a few more accessories.
Just an addendum… The AliExpress ad and the product packaging say it’s 117dB, while the Linsoul website says it’s 107 dB… which one is right and which one is wrong? I don’t know, when in doubt, I went by what’s on the box.
Eartips: As I evaluated the Cinno before the Nuo, I already know these Nuo eartips, because they are exactly the same as those that came with the more expensive IEM. Anyway, they are eartips that I found very good, very soft, they differ from the generic eartips that other earphones have, they remind me a lot of the Sony EP-EX11. Despite being simple, they are eartips that fulfill the objective, so I don’t see the need for extra eartips (of course, this is quite subjective). I did the review with the stock eartips in size M.
Cable: I found it to be a good cable, but let’s follow the analysis till the end… Besides matching the earphone design, it’s very minimalist. Here on the Nuo, the cable is very lightweight, has great earhooks, it’s easy to roll up to store. It’s made of a material like those “soft rubbers”, I don’t really know what this material is called, but it’s a PVC that is very soft, slides on contact with the skin. On the not so positive points, I found that it generates a bit of microphonics (the usual for wired earphones), and the chin slider I didn’t find to be 100% efficient, it can slip. Now a very negative point, the cable of my unit presented some defect, it’s generating a bad contact and losing the sound on the right side. I can’t affirm that all Nuo are with the cable like this, but my unit came like this. The earphones are perfect, because I changed the cable and the sound returned to normal, that’s why I was able to perform the sound review. But then, for the price of the earphone, changing the cable can cost half the value of the product, so, it’s worth noting.
Fit and comfort: Very good fit. Indeed, it falls behind a Truthear Hola or a Kiwi Cadenza, but this is quite subjective, it’s a standard design, it will certainly fit well with most people. If you compare it with the fit of the Cinno, the Cinno is better, and consequently the comfort is also better on the Cinno (in my opinion). The stability was great, the earphone doesn’t shake. The isolation is good. I found the insertion to be average. The Nuo is very comfortable, it’s a very light earphone, it weighs only 3.8g (without eartips). Very good earphone to spend a lot of time listening to music without getting bothered. The part of the resin that comes into contact with the ear is very well finished.
Accessories: Here is a point that really the Nuo – and the Cinno – leave something to be desired… there are no accessories… In my opinion, if they included a carrying case, the earphone would have gained much more visibility in the market. The lack of accessories and the simpler unboxing gave the product an air of “neglect” with the consumer. In the case of the Nuo, this issue doesn’t become a problem, but for the Cinno, it was a huge slip-up.
SOUND ASPECTS:
First, it’s not easy to review the ZiiGaat Nuo after having evaluated the THIEAUDIO HYPE 2, the differences are quite striking. This can certainly bring an effect of inferiority to the review of the Nuo… but I will try to be as faithful as possible within my perception.
The sound of the ZiiGaat Nuo I understood as a mild V-shape. Classic signature to match many musical genres. Bass, mids and treble with emphasis, but in a moderate level. Only the region of the treble we will see that stands out at some moments. In a way, the tuning of the Nuo is similar to that of the Cinno, but the Cinno is on another level of technicalities, isn’t even possible to compare both, the recommendation between the two is the Cinno, for sure.
Bass:
Quantitative: The bass of the Nuo is at the moderate level. It has presence but it isn’t the star of the show. The measure presented here is quite coherent and brings a balance. I think it won’t be the best choice for bassheads… not that they would be frustrated with what is here, but imagining that they are looking for something more elevated and strong. The Nuo has good sub-bass and good mid-bass, and for me, they are in line, I couldn’t feel audible highlight of one region over the other, both in balance. True, this is not an IEM focused on sub-bass, as I said before, it’s more for balance. I didn’t feel roll-off, the extension is good.
Qualitative: They are linear bass, have good definition, have good articulation, aren’t boomy, aren’t bloated, aren’t muddy, and don’t invade the mids. I think the Nuo doesn’t have much texture, but it’s also not totally devoid of texture. Physicality is also not the biggest characteristic of the bass, it’s something less perceptible. The impact is moderate, it isn’t very strong but it is audible, it isn’t very expansive nor is it very dry. They are very versatile bass, they will accompany the recordings well, now, I think they will do better with songs more oriented to acoustic or MPB (brazilian music), songs where the bass doesn’t need to be the center of attention.
Mids:
Quantitative and qualitative: In my understanding, here we have a balance, they aren’t recessed mids nor mids too forward, the measure was well adjusted. They are “forward” but don’t sound aggressive, just the ideal for the presentation to deliver the necessary information for this region. It is a region that didn’t suffer warmth due to the bass nor sounded too dry/cold because of the treble. Great transparency, clarity and detail, it appears to be a more expensive IEM than what it costs. Voices sound with very good definition, trumpets have life, violins sound with a lot of clarity.
Voices: The battle for me was won by female/high voices, that is, voices of higher timbres. The issue is that I found that for this type of voice the earphone was able to deliver more energy, already for voices of lower timbres (male/bass), the Nuo didn’t deliver so much texture and depth. This goes a lot with how the person likes to listen and what is the musical library of each one… mine for example, most of the voices are of lower timbres.
Treble:
Quantitative: In my understanding, the treble here are at the moderate level, and in a few situations, from moderate to high. Well, complex this?! Yes, it will depend a lot on the music you are listening to… there are recordings that don’t have much activity in the region of the treble, so probably you will have a musical session with more moderate treble, now if you pick a song with more activity in the region of the treble, then the Nuo can deliver more highlight. In my understanding, this issue doesn’t spoil the presentation, I think it still remains comfortable to my ears, maybe those who are very sensitive to the treble, then can find it strange. I didn’t feel roll-off in the treble, the extension is good.
Qualitative: The Nuo seems to have a peak that generates a slight touch of sibilance with some songs, which also makes the sound not so soft (I confess it was very little but I felt it). Question: will this appear in all songs? The answer is: no. There were a few situations where I notice that sound starting to want to sibilate. This can even be an interaction of the eartips with my ear canal, I can’t affirm that for other people it will be like this. But taking away this factor, the earphone then delivers a great performance in the treble, good definition, good airy and good detail.
Soundstage: The sensation of soundstage I found average. I think the spatiality is average in the 3 dimensions: height, width and depth. The Nuo is an IEM that neither sounds closed nor sounds too open, it’s a middle ground. Good is that the songs didn’t feel too closed. As I said at the beginning, it’s a sharp drop when we review a superior IEM and go back to the entry level IEMs. The difference is always greater in this sense than when with two earphones of a higher level.
Imaging: The instrumental separation of the Nuo I found to be average. Indeed the instrumental separation is not the strong point of the Nuo, it’s possible to hear all instruments with good definition, it just will not perform like some hybrid IEMs that show the micro positioning of the instrument. Slower songs it will deliver more, and more agitated songs it will deliver less. Remember that this item has a strong influence from the quality of the recording.
Driver flex test: I didn’t noticed driver flex sound when inserting the earphones in my ears.
Amplification: I used the DAP FiiO M11S to do this review. The output used was the 3.5mm and the DAP in High Gain mode. The Volume was at 70% of the 120% available by the M11S. I can affirm that the ZiiGaat Nuo is an easy to drive earphone, it doesn’t require dedicated amplification. I tested the Nuo on the FiiO KA11 and it played smoothly. You can rest assured that the Nuo will play on smartphones, iPads, and notebooks. But as usual, I suggest that at least the person has a good quality dongle to play the earphones. Currently, I recommend the FiiO KA11 as a good cost/benefit dongle.
PROS AND CONS:
– Affordable price
– Well-constructed
– Popular sound
– Balanced tuning
– Very light earphone
– Great fit and comfort
– Good isolation
– Soft eartips
– Easy to drive
– Slight sibilance
– Cable with bad contact
– Only one type of eartips
– No carrying case
– Simple unboxing
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