The Nuraphone was launched in 2018 to rave reviews and has received multiple awards including the CES Best of Innovation Award, Red Dot’s Best of the Best and SXSW’s Music and Audio Innovation Award. In 2019 Nura launched NuraNow, a subscription service which allows everyone to experience the award-winning Nuraphone plus a host of exclusive. To set up your Nuraphones, you’ll need to download the Nura app onto your mobile device. After you’ve downloaded the Nura app, you’ll also need to upgrade your Nuraphone’s software to get all the new Nuraphone features, including active noise cancellation (ANC), Social Mode and more. With the Nura app, you can: Choose your Immersion. I am currently in the hunt for a new smartphone with AptX HD. I pre-ordered the Nuraloop and it seems like it's finally coming next week. I currently have a 3 year old Samsung S8 so I have been meaning to upgrade but I don't want to spend thousands of dollars on a new flagship phone. The nuraphone is the world's only headphone that automatically learns and adapts to your hearing. Featuring CleanANC which combines active noise cancellation (ANC) with double-passive isolation for truly quiet listening. While ANC actively cancels outside sounds, the double-passive isolation is two physical barriers, the ear tips and ear cups, which stop outside sounds getting in. The nuraphone plays a range of tones into the ear, and then measures a very faint sound that your ear generates in response to these tones called the Otoacoustic Emission (OAE). This tiny signal originates in the cochlea and vibrates the ear drum, turning it into a speaker and playing sound back out of your ear.
The Nuraphone are among the smartest headphones around. You can read all about them in our full review but, to briefly summarise, they’ll analyse your hearing, create a unique listening profile and deliver it via an innovative combination of in-ear and over-ear drivers. Oh, and they’ll reduce distractions using active noise cancellation, too.
About the only thing they couldn’t do was double up as a gaming headset… until now. The Nura Gaming Microphone, a new detachable accessory, transforms the Nuraphone into a communication device compatible with all gaming platforms. But does it elevate the Nuraphone to God-tier levels of gaming greatness? Or are you better off sticking with one of the entries from our best PC, PS4 and Xbox or wireless gaming headset lists?
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Nuraphone Gaming Microphone review: How much does it cost?
There are two ways to get your hands on the Nuraphone Gaming Microphone. Nuraphone owners can pick one up as a standalone accessory for £50, or you can buy it with the headphones as a bundle. The bundle typically retails for £370 but you can currently get it for £296 thanks to a 20% limited time discount. At full price, it's among the priciest gaming headsets going but does have the distinct advantage of being a very capable pair of noise-cancelling Bluetooth headphones, too.
Buy now from Nura
Nuraphone Gaming Microphone review: Design and controls
The Nuraphone Gaming Microphone is a wired mic that plugs into the port on the right earcup of the Nuraphone and connects to your PC, laptop or controller via a 3.5mm audio jack. Once attached, you won’t be able to use the Nuraphone’s Bluetooth connection but your audio profile and any settings you have active in the Nura app are carried over.
The mic itself is a pleasingly minimalist affair. It’s a touch under 12cm long and the boom is flexible, allowing for easy adjustment. By attaching the included plastic clip to the outside of the right earcup you can fasten the mic in place and ensure it never comes loose from the headphones, which is a nice touch.
The Nuraphone Gaming Mic’s cable is a generous two metres long, which is great if you’re plugging into a laptop or PC tower as it means you don’t have to sit too close to your screen. When connected to a controller, however, I found it a little too long and once pulled the cable free from my DualShock 4 after it got caught on the arm of my chair. It would have been great if Nura had incorporated some way to shorten the cable – even a small velcro tie would have done the job.
An in-line remote located roughly 30cm from the mic features a volume dial and mute slider switch and it’s easy to tell when you’re muted thanks to a section of red plastic visible under the slider. Aside from adjusting your audio settings via the output device, the remote is the only way to control the volume on the Nuraphone when it’s being used as a gaming headset: the headphones’ touch controls are only available while connected via Bluetooth.
This is the area that Nura really needed to nail and I’m pleased to say, it has. The clarity with which my voice was picked up while gaming online was nothing short of superb. I was heard word perfectly while a fellow Expert Reviewer and I took down the mighty black dragon Alatreon in Monster Hunter World: Iceborne. Said colleague reported that I came through like a football commentator, not because of my gloriously detailed description of the fight but due to how crisp and well-articulated my voice sounded.
Nura doesn’t mention anything about the mic having noise-cancelling capabilities but the amount of background noise it picks up is minimal. Voice isolation is effective, and even with lots of environmental sound around me, conversations continued unimpeded.
Although its ability to pick up your voice is top-notch, the Nuraphone Gaming Microphone is a little limited when compared with dedicated gaming headsets. There’s no way to adjust the game audio-chat balance, for instance, and there’s no mic monitoring either, so you can’t hear your own voice in the headphones.
Nuraphone Gaming Microphone review: Sound quality
Despite this being a review of the microphone, it would be remiss not to comment on the Nuraphone audio experience. I was blown away by how my personalised profile sounded when I reviewed the NuraLoop earphones and it works just as well when enjoying your favourite games.
For those who have experienced Nura sound, it’s the individually-tailored audio you know and love brought to your favourite gaming titles. The in-ear speakers that fill your ear canals deliver mids and treble, while the over-ear drivers hammer home bass and low-end frequencies.
The Immersion feature, which employs haptic vibrations, further boosts the bass delivery and really boosts the game playing experience. Thunderous roars and cannons had such an impact that I had to dial back the immersion level in the Nura app to avoid being overwhelmed as I took on Fatalis in Monster Hunter. The same proved true in first-person shooters where non-stop gunplay and explosions are the name of the game.
There were a few audio features I missed which premium gaming headsets such as the HyperX Cloud Orbit S offer, though. There’s no head tracking or 3D audio and although immersion mode goes some way to creating a similar sonic experience, it isn’t quite as enveloping.
You’re also locked into using one of your three created profiles, with no way to switch between them while playing. I found my “Gaming” profile worked excellently across all manner of genres but those that like to switch EQ profiles on the fly based on the game they’re playing may not feel comfortable stuck with just one. Reddit flashlight app mac.
It’s also worth mentioning that, as long as it’s switched on in the app, the Nuraphone’s active noise cancellation is engaged while gaming, which is a huge plus. There aren’t many gaming headsets that have ANC and I found the ability to minimise background distractions very welcome. Battery life is solid at around 20 hours and the Nuraphone don’t get as hot and sweaty as many headsets I’ve tested, which is another bonus.
Buy now from Nura
Nuraphone Gaming Microphone: Should you buy it?
If you own the Nuraphone, are into gaming but don’t already own a premium headset, the Nuraphone Gaming Microphone is an essential purchase. It will transform your highly impressive Bluetooth headphones into a headset offering crystal clear communication and first-rate audio.
Whether you should buy the headphones and mic bundle is less clear cut. If you want a pair of innovative Bluetooth headphones that ably double up as a gaming headset, they’re certainly worth considering. If you’re after a headset solely for gaming, you’re better off buying a device built specifically for that purpose.
On the Monday July 11th 2016 I bought a brand new concept headphone on Kickstarter called Nura (nuraphones).
As an audiophile and having recently finished up Headphones Canada I was still very much the headphone market and had my ears in more cans than a tin of baked beans.
They eventually shipped on Jan 12, 2018. The good news is, they did ship. For some kickstarters the backers never get to see the finished goods for even longer than we all waited.
The concept was awesome and I couldn’t wait to hear how the nuraphone headphones sounded.
Nuraphone Reviews
At the time I already owned the Bose QC 35 as my main travel headphones and a bunch of other headphones including the Drop Fostex TH-X00 which were, and still are, my go to in the office.
The Nura headphones pre-launch videos were so compelling I needed to hear these things. Purchase made.
This week I saw a couple of All Blacks rugby players wearing the nuraphones in to a game and was reminded that I don’t think I ever told you guys about how I found them. Cmake macos app bundle.
Before I explain why this didn’t work me tell you what I DID really like about these headphones.
First off, The sound is great. They sound quite unique but it’s all there. A nice full sound that is completely adjustable via the app.
Second cool thing was the app and the personalised sound profile which is created by magic audio fairies that bounce around in your ear providing some sort of feedback to the app to know how to match and profile the sound to best suit you.
Does the sound profiling actually work on the nuraphones? Yes, it does. I created a profile and then gave them to my wife to listen to. I said “these sound amazing“. She said “these sound terrible“. Game on.
“OK”, I said. “You create your own custom profile and then we’ll compare both to see if they even sound different“. And you know what? They did. I listened to her sound profile and thought it sounded quite strange. My profile, to me, sounded excellent. So…the very cool app and the functions of the headphones to customise your special sound is a legit thing.
Build Quality is really good. The attention to detail in the case and the accessories shows that the nura team really put in a lot of time and effort to do things right. They didn’t take short cuts on anything which anyone who purchases their products will appreciate.
The same can be said for their new nuraloop earphones.
Nura Phone App For Macbook
So, why sell them?
So, the sound was good, the app worked really well as did the noise-cancelling features. The accessories were a great quality and the value for money was excellent. So, why sell them?
The main reason was comfort.
The nuraphone have a unique internal set up where they have a headphone cup that is circumaural (over the ears) and then they also have an earbud that lines up and fits in your ears.
The combination of these feels….odd. It doesn’t feel natural to have a loose fitting earbud and a typical headphone cup. The sound is great, but it was a little sore in my ears after longer listening sessions (1+ hours)
If found them hot, which is strange to say but they seemed to make my ears feel warm at all the contact points including ears and where the earbuds fit in.
Finally the headband felt a little tight and the nuraphones felt heavy.
So while the sound was nice, I couldn’t relax wearing them, they didn’t feel natural and so I had to let them go.
nuraphone vs bose
I’ve decided, again, to stick with my bose. The nuraphone vs bose conversation for me settled on a few main points.
Bose still have best in class noise cancelling which makes it easy to rely on.
The battery life on the Bose has never failed me.
The comfort of the nuraphone vs bose isn’t really a competition. The Bose QC 35 are light, open and keep my ears cool. Adobe creative cloud app mac. Unfortunately the nuraphone could not match them for comfort.
The sound signature difference between the two really comes down to bass. The bass on the nuraphone is good, actually it’s better than the Bose but the rest of the signature doesn’t exceed it sufficiently for a change. The Bose still have an excellent long term open sound stage.
For now, my Bose are still my go to for travel and noise-cancellation. My fostex TH-X00 are still my office go to headphones and my beyerdynamic DT-1990-Pro are still as close to my end game as I have found although I generally use them for mixing and audio editing.
Conclusion
I have no regrets to purchasing the nuraphone and enjoyed my short time with them. I also know thousands of other happy customers are exactly that; happy.
It’s been great to see nura go from strength to strength and now with the nuraloop and the nuraphone gaming headphones they’ll continue to do really well.
The execution of the app was brilliant, the quality of the build and accessories excellent and the sound signature was enjoyable to listen to.
I haven’t said much about them but they also have a million cable options and touch controls on the headphones you can touch to action events.
Sadly, it’s really the comfort that let me down.
I think if you are not planning on extended listening sessions and want a great sound with and adjustable sound signature PLUS the benefit of noise-cancellation then the nuraphones could be a great choice for you.
Sound quality is good
Comfort over longer listening periods is a challenge