Expert’s Rating
Pros
Cons
Our Verdict
Best Prices Today: IQbuds Boost true wireless earphones
Nuheara ’s IQbuds Boostare expensive — even at their current street toll of $ 399 ( $ 100 off the MSRP of $ 499 ) , they still cost sight of money . By comparison , the B&O Beoplay E8 , our current pickax forbest - sounding true wireless earbuds , can be had for $ 299 .
That said , $ 399 ( or even $ 499 ) is n’t exorbitant for a auditory sense augmentation appliance . In fact , audiologist - prescribe hearing aids often be thousands of dollars . The IQbuds Boost are designed to boost one ’s audience for a fraction of the price of a traditional hearing aid , making them a enticing leverage for anyone who has trouble earreach , but has n’t yet committed to stringent examination and ultra - expensive ironware .
Can the IQbuds Boost really replace bonafide hearing aid ? And how do they execute as true wireless earphones for music playback ? I spent a week listening to the IQbuds Boost for several hours a 24-hour interval to find out .
Specs and size
Each IQbuds Boost earbud weighs0.28ounces and has a proportion of 0.8 x 1.0 x 0.6 inches . This is n’t svelte for a unfeigned wireless earbud , and you ’ll right away notice their heft when reserve both earbuds in your hand . When they ’re packed into your skull , it ask a little longer to feel the weight unit , but you ’ll get there . In fact , I happen that after an hour of use , the IQbuds Boost became uncomfortable to wear .
All that say , everyone ’s spike are regulate differently , so your mileage will vary . And should you find the IQbuds Boost intolerable to wear out , you may always exercise Nuheara ’s 30 - day coming back policy . Comfort away , I was impressed to find eight unlike size of Si ear backsheesh included , along with three different sizing of Comply froth ear tips . This made it a pushover to rule a lot of confidential information that ’d provide a tight seal against international noise .
The Nuheara case is big . Really bragging . Because the earbuds themselves arereally braggy .
Where many true wireless earphone come outfit with literal control buttons , the IQbuds Boost rely on skin senses - raw launch area , and it ’s a welcome feature . A gentle tap on the rightfield or allow earbud will take on or break your music , activate Siri , change your audio mass or spark the headphone ’s audio augmentation capability . you could customize the pat trigger for these functions via a gratuitous companion smartphone app .
The IQbuds cost increase are water- and travail - resistant with an IPX7 rating . That ’s sound enough keep them live if you get stuck in a downpour , but you’re able to forget about wearing them in the puddle or shower .
magnanimous earbuds require a large character , and the one that Nuheara ships with the IQbuds Boost is friggin ’ Brobdingnagian . At 4x2x1 in and weighing in at 72 grams , you may forget about sliding the casing into your hip air hole . As half the charm of lawful wireless earbuds is their portability , this is disappointing . But at least Nuheara take good economic consumption of the case ’s buirdly dimensions : In improver to the 8 hours of audio streaming or 12 hours of hearing augmentation per charge that the earbuds offer , the 1140mAh assault and battery in the charging case can stretch these figures to 20 hours and 32 hour , severally .
In orderliness to use the IQbuds Boost to augment your poor hearing , you ’ll need to install Nuheara ’s gratuitous fellow traveller app on your iPhone . Once loaded , you ’ll copulate the earbuds with your handset and take a hearing test that assesses your hearing .
Nuheara ’s capitulum ID test can be completed in around 10 minutes and will help improve your IQbuds Boost listening experience
The test last about 10 hour , and is interchangeable to what you may have when visiting an audiologist . With the earbuds screwed into your skull , you ’ll be feed a series of shade at various volumes and frequencies . When you find out a tone , you push an on - CRT screen clitoris . Done . The app then put up the IQbuds Boost ’s audio signature to compensate for the oftenness that you were ineffective to hear during the test . Once the app has calibrate the earbuds to your personal aural needs , they ’re ready to be used .
Audio quality during music playback
allow ’s first discuss sound quality for traditional music playback . Using my audio testing playlist and other music over a 7 - day menstruum , I found the Nuheara IQbuds Boost offer good - than - mean wakeless timber , but they were n’t thebest - sounding true wireless earphones I ’ve used .
The earbuds put up an grand soundstage , with adequate audio separation . For instance , the tenor voice banjo and mandolin in The Tossers ’ “ Movin ’ On ” each had their own voice , despite bet the same melody . Unfortunately , lower frequency audio , while miss distortion even at mellow volumes , always sound flat .
Naysayers could impute this want of bass to my 42 - year - old ears , which have been disclose to loud , scummy - relative frequency vocalize over a life-time of tawdry music . But , no ! According to the earbuds ’ companion app , my listening is perfect . So , if you know bass - heavy music or are looking for a pair of earbuds to work out with , the IQbuds Boost may not be for you .
And here ’s another concern : During testing , I feel infrequent but prolonged signal interruptions . Audio streaming from my iPhone 7 Plus would at first stutter and then cease completely . I eventually discovered the only agency to get the IQbuds cost increase exploit again was by site them back in their example , and force cycling them .
Audio augmentation
Like a number of other honest wireless earphones , the IQBud Boost boast “ audio foil , ” meaning you may hear what ’s find in the environment around youwhileyou listen to euphony . And just like those other earbuds , the ambient sound recording appropriate by the IQbuds Boost ’s microphones sounds , well , off .
silence are amplified into a droning bombination , and with the feature engage , I could hear myself breathe . Tapping one of the earbuds to convert a track result in a earsplitting boom . It ’s a trouble that plagues most in - ear headphone equipped with audio transparence , but in the typesetter’s case of the IQBud Boost , it ’s an effect that colors almost all of its audio augmentation feature of speech , save one : When you’renotstreaming music from your smartphone , the earbuds can be used to amplify the sounds of the universe around you , much like a earshot aid .
And , indeed , with the IQbuds Boost in my ears , conversations with my married woman were louder . I also found that I could listen to the radio at a lower volume , and still hear the evening news show . Using the IQbuds Boost ’s fellow traveller app , you’re able to even customize ambient audio with various scenario - based sound profile , such as Home , Office and Restaurant .
Each visibility is designed to repress unlike sorts of background noise while advance the audio spirit level of others . The amount of sound suppression the headphone offer does n’t derive closely to anything offer by a just twosome of ANC headphones , but I did detect a pocket-size divergence in dissonance levels between each of the app ’s presets .
No matter which preset I used , however , I was never able eliminate the can can quality inherent to audio foil tech — Nuheara ’s microphones are simply too small to allow for more naturalistic audio frequency . On the flipside , I appreciated the IQBud Boost ’s ability to match with Bluetooth - equipped television sets . television set audio was exculpated as a bell , and almost always in sync with what was happening onscreen .
Should you buy the IQbuds Boost?
I can see how these earphones would be tantalising , audio wart and all , for someone with impaired earreach . Again , $ 499 is an absolute steal compared to the cost of many full - fledged hearing aids . And if the IQBuds Boostcangive what you demand — and free you from purchasing exorbitantly expensive hearing hardware — then they ’re an unbelievable mountain .
That said , iOS 12 ’s LiveListen feature supply an even cheaper hearing augmentation solution than the IQBuds Boost , at least for iPhone users . bouncy Listenmakes it possible to pipe microphone - boosted ambient randomness captured by your iPhone a twain of $ 159 AirPods . So , if you ’re hard of earshot , just kill in your AirPods , plant your iPhone on the mesa and , boom , you ’ve got amplified audio of the conversations around you . The feature work somewhat well , and a bent of AirPods can be had for half of what a pair of IQBuds Boost cost .
Beyond the IQBuds Boost ’s dubious value , I was unhappy with their firmware updating necessity : You have to download an app to your Mac , as the update ca n’t be done via the IQbuds Boost ’s fluid app . give way that many mass do n’t even own a computer in this old age of smartphones and tablets , this palpate like a serious oversight . My disdain for Nuheara ’s desktop app run even deeply when , after multiple attempts , I was unable to download a novel firmware rendering to the earbuds .
Even if you get these bud on sales agreement for $ 399 , it ’s difficult to recommend the Nuheara IQbuds Boost . They ’re not prosperous , and the quality of medicine playback they bring home the bacon does n’t apologise their cost . Their ability to boost ambient sound is an attractive feature for the hearing impaired , but if you ’re an iPhone user , we recommend using LiveListen with a couplet of much cheaper AirPods . certain , an Android phone user may still find time value in the IQbuds Boost — but Google could soon exhaust its own version of Live Listen .
Bottom pedigree : The IQbuds Boost have a imposing aim but just are n’t a sensible leverage .
