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Nuheara Iqbuds2 MAX $399 Delivered ($499 RRP) @ Nuheara

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Posting this as there doesn't seem to be much noise about this excellent product from an Aussie company, and I wanna keep it in business so I can keep using their stuff.

This is good for those with mild hearing loss, who wants modern bluetooth (with aptX low latency) noise cancelling earphones, combined with something that can also work like hearing aid. It has pretty good passive and active noise cancelling (the ANC is not quite as good as the Bose NC700, but still pretty damn good for something that does so much. The Bose doesn't amplify or support aptX).

I have tinnitus, but don't have a hearing aid, so I can't say how well this compares to a real medical hearing aid, but my wife and kids already like it because I don't ask them to repeat themselves as often during conversations. It's not magic, but it helps.

It's got a pretty cool EarID hearing test that visually shows your hearing loss at 6 different frequencies, which it uses to EQ in world and speech mode. World mode makes everything sound a bit tinny but that is the whole point - I have hearing loss in the higher frequencies, and that is just what I need to hear consonants. Maybe that is what normal hearing is supposed to sound like.

The annoying thing with all earbuds with a good seal is that you can hear yourself talk and chew really loudly. I prefer an over-the-ear headphone model if such a thing exists.

The EarID EQ doesn't seem to be used in bluetooth audio - listening to music/movies sound the same as other earphones, so I use subtitles when I can.

The packaging and charging case is really slick. It comes with 6 different ear buds (3 sizes, foam/silicon variants) which is generous so I got to experiment which one fits more comfortably.

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  • +8

    bit sus ain't gonna lie

    • Yeah, I'm a lurker. I don't usually post about anything.

    • I'm a bit sus as well. But hey a deal is a deal. It's 20% off rpp

  • Sounds similar to what NURA does. I wonder how they compare.

    • These came before NURA. They're legit

    • I don't have NURA - do they do noise amplification?

      In my household we have a Sennheiser PXC 550, Bose NC700, and the IQbuds2 Max.
      I would rate Sennheiser PXC 550 more comfortable than Bose NC700 because of the bigger earcups. It's got a really cool, twist to turn on/off so you can tell easily if it's on/off, but I hate the tap once to play/pause. Everytime I stretched my arms I turn something on by accident.

      Bose NC700 has the best active noise cancelling, and it's double tap to play/pause which is much better. But the headphone twists the wrong way (eg, when you hang it on your neck, the drivers point out. ([Edited for clarification: Because the headphones twist the wrong way, it] makes the headphone slip out when lying down - I watch movies in bed.). I prefer the drivers pointing in - I actually un-soldered the Bose headphone to swap them around (14 wires!). Now, I have the best NC700 in the entire world.

      IQbuds2 Max gets a bit uncomfortable after a while because my ear canal gets itchy with earbuds (but I use what I can). It's also a bit too deep to use comfortably sideways in bed.

      • correction: I misremembered, the bose headphone had 17 wires per side.

      • The IQbuds2 max has better noise cancelling than the Sennheiser PXC 550. The Bose NC800 is only slightly better with active noise cancelling.

  • I had IQ buds 1, gotta say I almost never used them, they were terrible. By comparison I got the Airpods Pro and they've been amazing, both in noise cancellation and transparency mode. Transparency mode feels almost similar to the amplification mode of the original IQbuds.

    • I have owned all 3 generations and they’ve evolved dramatically with each iteration. The latest version in my opinion is best in the market by a long way. The functionality is of this current version is absolutely amazing leaves AirPods & AirPods Pro miles behind. I read they’ve done a deal with HP (Hewlett-Packard) for an OEM supply deal.

      • Agree. The current gen (Max) is vastly better in every aspect. You wont be disappointed. If you do, you can also take advantage of 30 days return policy.

        After experiencing the features Max offers any other earbud feels second rate.

      • stop making new accounts on here to post good reviews lol

  • +2

    They are an Australian company, on the ASX actually NUH.AX if you want to look them up (I am not a shareholder).
    I find them interesting as they have been innovating with the app, using essentially the bluetooth earbud concept with more flexibility in tuning the frequency-specific amplification, with clever DSP and app approach, to cater for those with mild hearing loss.
    My doubts are mainly on how the company can survive at the price point they are at when e.g. galaxy buds+/live have ambient mode that is only an app update away from trying to offer the same feature. (hopefully Nuheara have strong IP protection).
    Worst case for them would be when the entry level Soundpeats etc models start offering amplification features on sub $100 buds.

    IQ buds are a clever idea, but I think they are too exposed competitively - I would love to be proved wrong though.

  • How natural/realistic is the amplification mode? Can it operate like the transparency/passthrough modes on some other headphones?

    • The "world mode" is a bit like the "transparency" mode on the other headphones. But Nuheara's selling point is that you can also toggle a speech mode (called "SINC") which does speech processing so it amplifies more speech and less background noise. It also got a directional microphone "focus" mode.

      I don't have Airpods Pro to compare against, but I did play around with all the settings once in a relatively small ramen restaurant (so the background noise wasn't too loud), and I found turning on the speech mode made everything quieter. The speech got a little quieter and the background noise got much more quieter, and you can dial how much background noise you hear. I'm undecided whether I could hear better with just normal "world mode" or with the speech mode - I guess it depends on how noisy the background noise is.

      The focus changed things somewhat, but again, I couldn't tell if it was better or worse.

      I guess it's nice to have the option in case it does help in that particular noise environment.
      It's not magic though. It's not like all the background noise magically disappeared without affecting any of the speech.

      • I think the "world mode" by itself does more than "transparency" because they also apply the hearing test EQ - which is precisely what I wanted in my earphones.
        The speech and focus modes are bonus extras.

  • +1

    All these are wearables, including Nuheara & NURA, NOT hearing aids for many reasons, blah blah blah.
    If you feel these helped your hearing, trial some hearing aids will give you good comparisons.

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