Pros
Unfatigued sound
Tuning nozzles caters to different sound preferences.
Beautiful Aesthetics
Great All-rounder
Premium build & feel
Cons
BA Timbre
Case sometimes won’t stay close
Nicehck NX7 MK4 review
I am an audiophile from sunny South Africa and I do these reviews to introduce these awesome products to audiophiles in my country and to further this wonderful hobby. This package was sent to me by Nicehck in exchange for my honest opinion and Vivian from Nicehck is such an angel to deal with. This company answers emails over weekends and that is almost unheard of in my country so Nicehck can take that as a win. In-between preparing for a big audio show, these guys got my package to me promptly.
Unboxing
The NX7’4 sell for R1980-00 in my country. They came packaged in a very sturdy black box with white card box wrapper with a very big image of these beautiful monitors. When you open the black box the faceplates of these NX7’4 jump out at you and you think you are staring at a beautiful piece of jewelry. Also visible is the top part of the blue leatherette case and the accessories like ear tips and those wonderful tuning nozzles. There is also a little card board container with your QC checked card and obviously a user manual.
Specs
Brand- NICEHCK
Model- NX7 MK4
Connector- 0.78mm 2Pin
Frequency- 20-28KHz
Impedance- 39Ω
Face Panel- Stabilized Wood
Shell Material- Environmental PC
Plug- 3.5mm/4.4mm Optional
Cable- OCC and Silver-Plated Mixed Cable
Sensitivity- Gold Filter 112dB/mw, Red Filter 113dB/mw, Black Filter 110dB/mw-
Driver Unit- 4BA+10mm Beryllium Plated Composite Dual Dynamic+ Seven Layers PZT Driver, Hybrid 7 Units
Filter Timbre- Gold Balanced, Red Mid High Frequency, Black Heavy Bass
Look & Build
I have to be honest, the thing that sold me on the NX7’4 was the looks. Before I even looked at specs, I wanted these. That stabilized wood faceplate the glitters in the sun is absolutely beautiful. It is as if a jeweler made these. There is golden metal border around the faceplate that reminds me of jewelry and the whole design is exquisitely done. I found myself many times during listening session taking the faceplate itself is stabilized wood but looks like crystal jewelry and has a nice feel to it as well. The case is a beautiful box in blue leatherette. It feels really premium and I like it a lot. I had a few times that the case won’t stay closed but then I would rearrange the NX7’4 and it will remain close. The cable is very stylishly done and with Nicehck also being a producer of aftermarket cables it feels real quality and durable. It also hooks nicely behind the ear and a chin slider is also included for a perfect fit. The tips included are 3 pairs black normal silicone tips and then 4 pairs of white silicone tips. There is really not much to say about the black except that they muffled the sound for me somehow so I did not use them at all. The NX7’4 fits very snugly in your ear and is not heavy at all. Changing the nozzles makes me feel so much more hands on than tuning switches and I prefer tuning nozzles.
Connectivity
The NX7’4 comes in a standard 3.5mm and 4.4mm terminations and my review unit was the standard 3.5mm. I am dying however to hear these on a balanced 4.4mm connection. I spend the most with these connected to my laptop and a Dac/amp. I also tested these with the normal 3.5mm on my Oppo A78 and LG V40 phones. My unit did not come with a mic so I did not test it as a headset.
Sound
One of the nice things about this hobby is you get to discover new music while testing out gear. So, I put the White silicon tips with the yellow inside and I fitted the Black (Heavy bass) nozzle and fired up tidal. Not really knowing what genre to test first I hit play on my Tidal suggestions and man this comes up from no where from a guy in Kazakhstan which I did not know it existed until hearing this song and googling its origin and meaning. The song is Zhurek by Adam and man what a way to kick of this review. In the beginning of the song there is a crackling like you get with vinyl and my first thoughts were, I hope this is not cable microphonics but I tested with other monitors and it’s the way the song is recorded. Even though I could not understand a word the guy was singing the NX7’4 produced that male voice so faithfully it sounded as if the guy was singing to my soul. When music grabs you like this you can be assured that the gear you listening on is top notch.
Carrying with the black bass nozzles I explored some EDM dance music and I can really not recommend these for bass heads. On BANG- Joe Fletcher I was looking for that thick bass sound I am used to and it was not there. There is a lot of emphasis on mid bass and it slams but man I want that sub-bass to come in and support that glorious mid bass. The bass is there but not in a bass head kind of rattle your skull way. This is much more mid bass focused and only when I applied a bass boost did the sub bass come through on a song like Muse-Madness did the sub bass show itself. I immediately realized that these NX7’4 was meant for a different kind of more sophisticated bass like cello’s, organs and the like.
I searched for cello music and stumbled upon Yo-Yo Ma- Bach- Cello suite no. 3 in C major and man was my ears in for a treat. As the cello being the bass voice of the orchestra, I really enjoyed its authority and the NX7’4 faithfully reproducing that authority. One of my favorite classical albums is the TELARC Tchaikovsky 1812. I know that recording on vinyl and digital out of my head and I know how those cannons on the overture should sound like as in my listening room many times listening to 1812 on my Thorens TD-125 through my Dynaco St70 my one friend would always say “Hier kom die kanonne” which means “Here come the canons”.
After writing all this I was determent to see if it was not the seal that was not giving me the bass I was craving because my thoughts were if I only I could get more bass this would be the perfect all-rounder set so I changed tips to the white tips with blue inside and man there was the bass. Still not bass head but satisfactory now. On Soda- Pullin up the bass had a real presence which I totally enjoyed. It seems the smaller size gave me a better seal and now the bass was more prominent but not in an over powering way and this just shows you the importance of seal and tips.
Specifically trying to listen for BA timbre as it a subjective subject for me, I fitted the Gold (Balanced) nozzles. I pulled up Rodrigo Y Gabriela songs as I know those two mad guitarists songs by heart and how those acoustic guitars should sound. On sound maker the higher notes on the guitar sounded really authentic but whenever Rodrigo hits the guitar base with palm of his hand it did not sound natural as I remember it. So, BA timbre is there but as it being subjective it does not bother me at all. From Rodrigo Y Gabriella I went to straight to Falo- Rock me Amadeus (Soleri version) as the violin on there is so familiar to me. There is some BA Timbre there because the violin sounded a bit shrill to me. I really enjoyed the song as the drums came through very nicely and all the instruments blended well together.
For me the highlight of this NX7’4 is definitely treble. I screwed on the Red (Mids. and Highs) nozzle, popped on Pink Floyd- Time and I was exposed to the perfect reproduction of those clocks. The high notes on David Gilmour’s guitar and if you are a Pink Floyd fan then this set is for you. Mids. are definitely boosted and Roger Water’s voice into a Roger Scotch voice with velvety sound to male voices. There is so much treble detail going on in Steely Dan’s debut album that I just had to take the NX7’4 on a tour with those congas, ride cymbal, guiro and electric piano. Boy did the NX7’4 not disappoint, so I can clearly endorse these for treble heads. I ended the last session with these with some Miles Davis as I wanted to check out the attack and the flugelhorn really stood out more than Mile’s trumpet in Sketches of Spain.
Conclusion
If you are the type of a person that just want one pair of headphones, I think this set makes a lot of sense with the included tuning nozzles so you can cater to most music genres. The price is very competitive if you look at what you are getting. Coming in at less than 2k ZAR I think these are worth it. Overall I am very happy with the sound and I would add to these monitors I would definitely buy a more beautiful Nicehck upgrade cable and also experiment with some aftermarket tips as I feel this set is worth it.
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