NuraTrue Pro Wireless Lossless Audio – Can You Hear The Difference?

Most informal music followers now love the liberty that wi-fi earphones have introduced, however by way of audio high quality it has meant a downturn

Nonetheless, a couple of months in the past I bought an opportunity to check out the NuraTrue Professional headphones – wi-fi earbuds with a singular promoting level: CD-quality lossless audio.

Wi-fi headphones scale back high quality in comparison with wired as a result of limitations of the quantity of knowledge that may be transferred over Bluetooth and the compression format (codec) used to encode the audio.

The default Bluetooth audio codec, sub-band coding (SBC), provides audio high quality as much as 16-bit 48Khz at bitrates of 328 kbps – all units assist this, however it’s ample, however no extra. Higher is the AAC codec utilized in all iPhones, which helps as much as 24-bit 48Khz as much as 264 kbps, after which subsequent finest is aptX HD, which is a Qualcomm proprietary, discovered in lots of Android units, which helps 24-bit 48Khz, as much as a better bitrate of 576 kbits/s. The difficulty is that every one of those codecs are lossy, which implies the compression format throws away info in an effort to ship it over the air extra effectively.

What the Nuratrue Professional headphones carry is assist for AptX Lossless, which, you’ve guessed it, sends information with out throwing something away – in order that’s as much as 16-bit, 44KHz, at a bit price of as much as 1,411 kbps. That’s CD high quality, over wi-fi, for the very first time. Cool.

Nonetheless, it’s not so simple as getting the headphones; the supply additionally must assist aptX Lossless. Nura says that units that function Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 Cell Platform, ought to assist it, (although it can’t assure it is going to be current – you need to verify the specs per system. As of writing, the one confirmed handsets which have it are the:

· Motorola Edge 30 Professional

· Asus ROG6

· Asus Zenfone 9

What about iPhone customers? Nicely, they’re out of luck. Apple helps AAC completely, and there appears little probability it is going to ever undertake a third-party resolution. We will solely hope that Apple is working by itself resolution and can finally carry it to iPhones. It was late to the social gathering with lossless audio however now provides it with Apple Music, so, it appears logical that it’s going to wish to full the circle, particularly because it was the one which began the transfer to wi-fi earphones by ditching the headphone jack from the iPhone.

This then is a long-winded clarification of why, as an iPhone consumer, I couldn’t take a look at the headline function of the NuraTrue Professional earbuds once I first bought them. Nonetheless, having been despatched an Asus Zenfone 9, I lastly had an opportunity to search out out what I used to be lacking out on if something. Let’s pay attention.

To check, I listened to music in a quiet room on each an Asus Zenfone 9 and an iPhone 12 Professional Max. I used Amazon Music HD on each units, because it helps content material in CD-quality HD and excessive decision and shows the bitrate and pattern price of the content material you’re taking part in – so you’ll be able to see if it’s 16-bit 44KHz or greater.

I used the NuraTrue Professional’s multi-point function to simply change between them. I solely examined with stereo music, fairly than Dolby Atmos content material, which is all the time compressed. I additionally turned off the headphone’s spatial audio function in addition to the lively noise canceling to maintain the output as pure as attainable.

In fact, each the Zen Telephone and the iPhone will show tracks a 16-bit 44KHz in Amazon Music, solely the Zenfone will likely be taking part in it again losslessly courtesy of AptX Lossless.

Whereas the iPhone will even playback at this high quality notice that with the Nurafone and Zenfone 9 mixture that is being despatched uncompressed. Was there a distinction to my ears?

The reply is… sure, however you might want to be listening rigorously. I’d liken it to wanting via a barely foggy window that had been cleaned. On the iPhone, the sound was all the time good, however with shut comparability, it was a contact thicker. The dancing saxophone on Miles Davis’s Freddie Freeloader on the Form of Blue album was clearer and a tad extra “3D” (even with no Spacial setting utilized).

For me, the monitor that exposed the distinction most definitively for me was Unfinished Sympathy by Huge Assault. About ten seconds in you’ll be able to hear what appears like a xylophone-type instrument within the background and I might denote these extra clearly and with extra element. The strings had been additionally fuller and richer than on the iPhone. It’s an identical story with Frozen, by Madonna, the place background instrumentation might be delineated simply that bit extra exactly, enhancing the entire composition.

It made me considerably upset to comprehend that when I returned the Zenfone 9 if I wished to get the identical high quality sound from my iPhone I’d have to change to a wired pair of headphones.

One other enchancment since I first reviewed the Nura’s is that it has up to date the firmware to introduce the promised Professional EQ setting which lets you tweak the sound to your desire nonetheless additional, which is a function that offers it an edge over the usual NureTrue’s.

Total, I’d nonetheless suggest the NuraTrue Professional even to iPhone house owners, as they’re glorious, well-featured headphones. However in case you have entry to a cellphone with Aptx Lossless they’re now an much more interesting prospect.