NOVA 1DD+4BA in-Ear Headphone (NOVA)…

Truthear have developed a stellar reputation in a very short amount of time for producing high quality IEMs with excellent crowd-pleasing tuning for the mass market at an affordable price point. The Truthear Nova however is Truthear's first product not aimed at the mass market, and its pricing reflects that. Checking out the frequency graph measurements online gives away what this IEM is really for: it's trying to eat the Moondrop Variations' lunch for a third of the cost, and possibly also the Blessing 3's for half the price of that model as well. I have never tried either the Moondrop Variations nor Blessing 3 so I will not be able to compare these products for you myself. What is clear though is that the Nova is Truthear's take on this distinct sound signature with a cult following, so before we can continue we need to explain what this signature is all about. The audible frequency range between 250 and 500Hz is one of the most frequently used in music, where the most commonly played bass notes, their overtones and the lowest treble notes all fall into, as well as most male vocals. Because this range is so busy and hectic in even a moderately complex music track, the separate instruments and vocals can start awkwardly masking each other and muffling each other into an incoherent, muddy mess. This region is therefore commonly called the "mud" region. Deliberately surpressing this region by even a few dB has the effect of making everything sound very "clean", as though all the mud was stripped away. Either you like that gritty, muddy feel or you don't. The Nova is strictly for people who hate mud and demand a very clean and clear signature sound. Fortunately for me, I am one of those people. If you aren't then the Nova is a very hard sell and you should probably look elsewhere. Although the upper bass is deliberately surpressed slightly in the Nova, it's by no means absent and the set makes up for it by extending well into the infrasonic (<20Hz) range. So long as these are sealing properly on your ears, these will go as low as your ears can detect and you will feel that sub-bass rumble. To ensure that clean signature feel, the treble (2-8KHz) is extremely smooth and consistent, avoiding awkward peaks and dips in the response that plague many IEMs including other Truthear products. A lot of attention seems to have been paid to getting this region right in the Nova and the work shows in the final result. For me personally, this is about as perfect a sound signature as I could expect to hear in an IEM not tuned specifically for my head. Your mileage may vary, of course - I don't really like the Truthear X Crinacle Zero, so I'm in the minority there. If you are still not satisfied, the Nova EQs very well so you can tailor the sound to your taste with little trouble. The Nova is also quite sensitive and can be fully driven by a modern phone, to the extent that you might need to turn them down a bit to spare your ears! The IEMs themselves superficially resemble the Zeros but have a more carefully tapered shape than other Truthear models. As always, make sure the product will fit your ears before purchasing, because nothing ruins the experience of an IEM faster than a bad fit. For me, the Novas are a very snug fit on my ears, with the small protrusion towards the nozzle fitting right into the gap in my ear lobe. The effect is that the IEM grips onto your entire ear instead of just the ear canal and is much more comfortable and stable like this - assuming, of course, that they fit you as well as they fit me. Part of this change in shape is out of sheer necessity, as there are five distinct drivers producing sound in each unit and the Novas are noticeably bulkier than their cheaper cousins because of it. The Dynamic Driver in the Nova handles 1050Hz and below, giving everything a familiar and natural timbre. Two pairs of Balanced Armature drivers handle the midrange and highs respectively, which helps the Nova to properly reproduce multiple distinct layers to the music you hear, simply because there are literally three distinct layers to the sound reproduction, with their own dedicated ports on the nozzles. (For comparison, the Zeros have two distinct Dynamic Drivers in each ear, one dedicated to <200Hz and the other handling everything else. The Hexas and Novas share the same configuration except the Nova has one extra BA in each ear.) The tips supplied with the Nova are interesting, as they're better quality than in other Truthear products and are more varied - this was my first experience with double-flange tips. The Nova has a tapered nozzle to make it more compatible with a wider range of aftermarket tips, but that comes at the cost of there being no "lip" holding the tips in place, so if a tip is too big it is highly likely to pop off in your ear when removing the IEM, so take care when trying out different tips. I stopped having this issue when I found tips that were the correct size for my ears, however. Third-party tips are worth serious consideration - all of the tips included with the Nova seem to de-emphasise bass which might actually be to the product's detriment! While I would have been able to live with using just the provided tips, I have had a better experience with a third-party set that already work well for me on other products and gave me a better overall bass response to boot, so I've stuck with those. I hate foam tips and it's not for me, but I tried the provided set just in case and can see the appeal as they really help to smooth out the frequency response of the Nova if you're especially sensitive to peaks and dips. The provided cable is a significant step up from the one provided with cheaper Truthear products and is also roughly 25cm longer than the industry average, so 1.5m long. This is just long enough to let me fully recline in my office chair when listening, so this is a massive improvement for me. The cable is still vulnerable to tangling, unfortunately, but nowhere near as bad as the cheaper Truthear cable. The zipper bag provided with the Nova is excellent and another step up from the already very good bag included with the Zero, feeling very secure and functional too with its backpack hook on the back for ease of use when travelling. Whether the Nova is a good buy for you or not is really going to come down to whether you're interested in that clean sound signature or not. If you're not, it's going to be very difficult to justify the price of these over the Zero:RED, which is the closest match to the Nova tuning-wise. The Nova has better mids than the Zero but that alone isn't so much better that it's worth paying three times the price for the Nova. The Hexa is a very different beast from the rest of Truthear's range all over again so if you like the Hexa you'll probably hate the rest of Truthear's products and vice-versa, so people looking at the Nova expecting a Hexa upgrade will come away disappointed - these are two very different products. If you are interested in that clean signature however, the Nova executes on its design goal superbly and is well worth the price of admission.

These were the first IEM's ive purchased and i wasnt sure what tonality i would like. When i first listened to them i was impressed by the soundstage, but the mids sounded a bit thin for my liking and treble sounded a bit shouty, and i was contemplating returning. After minor adjustments to the EQ (very easy to tune) and using the foam tips, it fixed both issues and they sound amazing. Due to the fact that they were minor adjustments and the bass and clarity are fantastic, they won me over. I've always been more of a over-the-ear headphones fan with my DT770's (32 ohm and 80 ohm) and WH-1000XM5's, but i have been pleasantly surprised with the performance of these IEM's. I currently have them paired with my Hiby R4 and i occasionally use them with my iFi Zen DAC v2, and they sound great on both.

It’s probably the closest harman tuned iem you can get for the price. Put them in your ears and then forget they’re there while you enjoy your music. It’d be 5 stars but the cable can be a bit hypophonic which means the fabric covered cable can rub on your clothes and travel up the cable and into your ears. Other than that it’s a great iem with enough bass but not too much so that it covers the mids.

My second IEM coming from using the truthear Zero and was very pleased with sound quality coming from using headphones most of these years. Quality - Being made of resin made me a bit worried but it holds up great without issue Comfort - Major improvement from the zero which gave me pain from their large bore and these fit great. Sound quality - While i'm not a person that can tell much different is quality when it's minor however i do notice improvements as i listen to music in general but also in games. Cable - This is anther major improvement, great quality, good looks and in general a good feel.

These have a very big reputation but unfortunately I was left disappointed, especially given the price. When compared to Sennheiser IE200, there's night and day. Poor detail, muddy in busy songs and overbearing bass. I tried to like these but couldn't. They are a beautiful IEM, one of the best looking I've seen and the cable looks awesome too (blue and black fabric). Unfortunately the unit is also very big and did not suit my small ears at all. They did a job when listening to dance tracks, but rock and detailed songs were very poor. When listening to hi res sources, you know detail is missing. I messed about with EQ too and couldn't get to like these. Unboxing experience is good and has a funky anime style outer box if that's your thing. Nice range of ear tips too. If you like bass heavy IEMs, these will suit you, but I found the Moondrop Chu 2 to be better than these, which are nearly 4 times cheaper!

Must have if your mastering music on a pc.

Look stunning better than some sets costing a lot more, sound wise they are excellent a lot better than I expected. Bass is on point and mud free, there’s plenty of bass where it’s needed and the vocals are clear, worthy addition to my collection even to the £1000 category 👍

On arrival a great sound, but after some time two tiny white cups came out, one from each device and now the sound quality is disappointing, the highs are now overwhelming. May have been a one off, as other reviews don't mention this. I would find it hard to purchase another pair due to this.

Yes it's a lot of money for a cabled earbud, but it's absolutely worth it. The "V-Shaped" sound signature is absolutely everywhere, and never done very well; the Bass and treble are always blown out. These iems put everything else to shame. They are extremely clear and strong sounding without the woofiness you might get out of a lesser set. Separation between instruments is clean, and remains detailed through to the end of the audio spectrum. Will it be at out a $500 pair? Absolutely not, but it does get very close. Fit is fine. The included ear tips were a bit small, but that's a me issue that's fixed with a different set I know fits me better. The shell despite being a bit chunky is comfortable. The epoxy faceplates look great. My only issue is that it does not have a mesh filter below the tips, so you can have some earwax buildup eventually clogging the set of driver holes. All and all, these are wonderful and are a nice "dessert" iem when I get bored or too used to my normal sets.

I am very happy with these IEM's except for one thing that started about 2 weeks ago (I bought them early May) and that is that the eartips become lose while in my ear. The first time I was like, why is the sound suddenly different in my right ear. I took the earbuds out but the tip stayed deep in my ear. So deep that I couldn't get it out with my fingers and had to do it with a pincer. After that it happened more often and also the left earpiece started behaving like that. Now I'm not looking forward anymore to wearing them because really each time the tips get lose and I need to grab the pincer, get them out. Attach them again to the earbuds and hope they will stay attached for a while again. I'm using the smallest tips by the way and everything worked fine for about 3 months until this suddenly started happening almost daily, to really every time I use them. I already contacted Truthear twice but am not getting any reply. If they will ever reply and I get a proper solution I'll update this review.

Used them for almost a week for at least 8 hours a day. This is my first higher-end IEM, upgraded from Truthear Gate and I was a little blown away for how good they sound for their price. Everything I write here is very subjective and your mileage may vary. As for the sound - great Harman 2019v2 tuning, if you are a fan of it, get a pair now and skip reading all this. Sound signature is very smooth yet detailed. Some reviews say they sometimes sound shouty/sibilant, not an issue for me, there is plenty bass, maybe a bit much for my taste but it never gets muddy nor bleeds to mids. Some may find mids a bit lacking, especially when moving from midrange focused cans such as LCD-X, AKG 700 and 600 series. Highs are textured and sparkly, definitely smoothes-out with foam pads but I am not a big fan of them. Soundstage is alright, IMO as expected for IEMs or above average - it does not sound inside your head but it does not side like you are in a room with speakers either. What do you get with these? The box itself has anime character theme, not a big fan but could not care less about the packaging, what matters are the contents - it includes a choice of tips - 2 sizes of dual flange tips, 3 sizes of regular silicone tips and single foam tips, a long braided 2 pin 0.78mm to 3.5mm cable and a decent carrying pouch. Had some mixed feelings with cable - it's long (I'd say 2m), which is very nice, has chin slider, interesting design, but it is very microphonic and rubbing against clothing sound really bothered me even the slightest movements. I wanted to give 4/5 stars just for it but for the price I can't really complain too much and to my knowledge many people use aftermarket tips and cables anyway. Now for the comfort. I can see how people with smaller ears might have an issue with these IEMs, I have big ears and I had to fidget them around to figure out the way they sit comfortably in my ear. I am new to IEMs so I did not find any difference between normal silicone tips and dual flange tips apart from deeper insertion on dual flange ones and as for silicone tips they smoothe-out highs and make it less textured/sparkly. Tips are alright, skipped dual flange tips due to too deep insertion and also skipped foam tips because they get dirty very easily and cleaning them is pretty much impossible. Medium tips are a little too small, while large are quite fine for me. The bore is quite wide so if you consider getting aftermarket tips look out for thinner bore material similar to stock silicone tips, I used Azla SednaEarfit MAX ML size (Regular, not TWS ones) and with deeper insertion was a bit uncomfortable after some time, had to insert them not as deep to achieve perfect fit that would remain comfortable for hours. IEMs are very light and once inserted with a good seal, I can't see how they can come out. I could use them for hours with stock and aftermarket tips with no issues. In short: Pros: * Harman 2019v2 Tuning * Smooth yet detailed sound with deep and tight bass, sparkly highs, very forward female vocals * Stock tips selection * Nice packaging and presentation, included carrying pouch * Stock cable is long * Nice shell design * Very light and comfortable Cons: * Harman 2019v2 Tuning * A bit lacking mids, especially lower mids, male vocals sound a bit recessed * Extremely microphonic stock cable, I highly suggest getting after market one * A bit big shell size and wide bore, may be problematic for smaller ears and for thicker material after market eartips Solid 4.5/5

TLDR. You Need EQ With EQ they are as good as any other 1000$ IEM, You just need to know how. But in my opinion all IEMS sounds bad without EQ. I use a Google Pixel 10, JCally JM6 Pro Dongle, PowerAmp. Just copy my EQ, you might need more or less bass

Look very nice work very well good for the price