If you remembered my last tech review on Sudio's Niva that has long been improvised into another model, then I guarantee you that this review may get your fingers tempted to simply hit the "cart out" button as certain points that I mentioned before -- the latest model has it all!
Introducing Sudio's latest wireless earphones, the Sudio NIO -- Ear Phones for the People -- with that one feature that is exclusive to NIO; its winged tips that would remind you of the Apple Air Pods.
I personally am not a fan of having silicon tips stuffed into my ear canals even though that would mean that the earphones would be noise-cancelling, I am happy to go without them.
For this review, we will be going through the following:
Colours
Most of you would have known that I love pink for my items whether is it my iPad cover or frying pan. Though I was feeling pretty "meh" when the NIO did not have pink colour as part of its collection, the colour Sand called out to me.
And the best part? Sand is an exclusive colour only available at the Sudio NIO; being their newest neutral hue colour that is solid, versatile and light.
In addition, white would just be another Apple Air Pods, whereas black and army green did not seem fitting for me, hence I chose Sand as the colour to go for.
Which colour do you prefer?
Check out their range of colours here.
Battery Life
The Sudio NIO comes with 20-hour battery life and 5.5-hour of playtime from a full-charge (90 Minutes)
In a rush? Then a quick charge of 15 minutes can allow you to enjoy a playtime of up to 1-hour!
However, an observation that I made was that even though I have experimented with the Sudio NIO from the day it was delivered in early February till today, despite not having a single charge of its casing at all, the battery life of the earphones was always 100% upon removing it from its casing and as of yesterday, the battery life of the charging case was around 25% or less as reflected via its yellow/orange blinking light.
Unlike my Apple Air Pods where if it's left untouched for some time, the battery life from both the Air Pods and the charging case would be 0%.
In addition, I would prefer if the Sudio NIO would be similar to the Apple Air Pods where the battery level can be checked on the iPhone and Macbook for both its charging case and the earphones itself.
The Sudio NIO's battery level is only viewable on the iPhone/iPad - with the battery level for its charging case being absent and only "detectable" through its blinking lights.
IPX4
The term IPX4 may seem foreign to some, but according to Vava, the term IPX stands for "International Protection" which is a global standard to measure items on their waterproofing abilities. "X" is a placeholder where it is filled with a number from 1-9 (e.g. IPX1 - IPX9) which indicates how much liquid the item can be exposed to without fault.
So you may ask.. what about IPX4 since it seems pretty mid-level based on the numerical order?
Well!
The good news is, it is water and sweat resistant (the earbuds can handle heavy rain, sweat, and the occasional accidental splash as mentioned on Sudio)
That also means that you can now jog with the Sudio NIO, or need not worry when it's drizzling lightly or so.
However, please note that the IPX4 does not apply to its charging case and you have to ensure that you do not place your wet earphones inside the casing itself as damages occurred from this will not be eligible for replacement through their warranty!
Other Features
- Find your Comfortable Fit with its interchangeable wingtips (comes in 4 different sizes including the ones attached to the Sudio NIO when you unbox) that will allow you to create the best listening experience.
Personally, for me, the wingtips that were already attached to the Sudio NIO worked perfectly for me and I haven't tried on the others, but I will definitely update here to see if there is a difference :)
- Enjoy Crystal Clear Vocals with its adaptive dual microphone technology which will allow your voice to be clear during zoom calls or Microsoft teams classes!
I have already tried out the Sudio NIO for Zoom Calls/Interviews and so far the feedback's great and the replay from the recording I did via zoom was AMAZING - I sounded clear and my audience feedbacked that the audio was great too.
Apart from those I mentioned above, the Sudio NIO automatically pairs with your devices (the nearest one with Bluetooth turned on) just like your regular Apple Air Pods and even though it claims to have a 10m range when I left my device at my living room and went to the kitchen which should be about 8m max, the reception became bad and the music got cut off.
This rarely happened when I was using the Apple Airpods, so not sure if it's the same for all kinds of locations but thankfully the music came back when I walked backwards ~3m. So safe to say, 5m+/- range would be more accurate for me.
Comparison with Apple Air Pods
I actually did a comparison with the Apple Air Pods with different songs and making use of the equalizer available from Spotify and iTunes to try out the see if the Sudio NIO would be better since its 10 mm dynamic driver offers a thumping bass, different song genres may not sound as good on the Sudio NIO.
I mainly listen to Mando/Thai/Canto Pop and EDM (Bounce etc) so I tested on some tracks to see if there was a big difference between both the Sudio NIO and Apple Air Pods.
However one of the biggest differences would be the volume - the Apple Air Pods wins in this area.
Somehow, the Sudio NIO sounded pretty soft if you were to be outdoors where there’ll be lots of noises, but at home, it works perfectly and the highest volume felt just right.
Whereas for the Apple Air Pods, even if I am outdoors, no issues and at home, the highest volume would be too much.
Here comes the exciting part!
I experimented with it first on my Mando/Thai/Canto Pop via the equalizer on Spotify where I played with Acoustic/Vocal Boost/Treble Boost/R&B/Piano and tried to see if the difference was obvious as I switched from setting to setting.
Equalizer on Spotify
Find out how you can turn on your equalizer settings here for both iOS & Android devices on Spotify.
Sudio NIO (on iPhone/iPad)
- The R&B setting doesn't make a huge difference to the Sudio NIO.
- When you choose the Treble Boost/Vocal Booster setting, it sounds like the Apple Air Pods when it's on R&B mode where the vocals are crisper with good bass in the background.
I felt that the Treble is more balanced when I switch to the Treble Boost setting, plus, with the good bass from Sudio NIO, it's the perfect setting to actually prevent the bass from overpowering the mid and the highs.
- The Vocal Booster setting highlights the vocals in the song accompanied with the good bass, but the vocals may seem too "loud" in the song itself if you can hear the difference, else, this may be a preferred setting for some songs.
Apple Air Pods (on iPhone/iPad)
- The Treble Booster setting doesn't make a huge difference to the Apple Air Pods.
- The R&B setting actually resulted in the listening experience of the Apple Air Pods to be similar to the Sudio NIO.
- The Vocal Booster setting sounds more obvious with the Apple Air Pods, but definitely too much for any track with vocals.
In order to be fair and to hear the difference between the audio from a phone/computer, I also tried out the Sudio NIO on the computer via iTunes's Equalizer on the Macbook.
Equalizer on iTunes
Sudio NIO (on Macbook)
- Tested the Sudio NIO on a Vocalised EDM Track (Spectrum, Zedd) with the Treble Booster setting and it sounds perfect.
- The Vocal Booster setting sounded too much when it's on the Macbook. Definitely, way clearer as compared to having the setting on the iPhone/iPad, but overall, it's too much and the bass/treble is then overpowered by the vocals.
- The Bass Booster setting made the vocals sound very muffled.
- The Treble Booster setting remains to be the most ideal one; tested it on a Thai Song with vocals and its melody accompanied by different instruments such as Piano and Guitar.
Overall, the changes are more obvious on the Macbook than the iPhone/iPad, so perhaps, the Sudio NIO listening experience would be better when you EQ it on a computer instead.
Also, I tried to remove the silicon tips to see if there would be a difference for the Sudio NIO.
Without its silicon tips, it sounds a little muffled and just "too much" for certain genres if you do not EQ the track.
Hence, I do recommend that you keep the silicon tips on plus it actually prevents the earphones from falling off too as compared to the Apple Air Pods that fell off when I was tossing and turning at times.
Price
The Sudio NIO is currently priced at $119 SGD which comes with Free Shipping Worldwide (DHL Express - 5-7 Days) and!
If you were to check out with my discount code, "THIRTEENTUESDAY" you will be able to enjoy a 15% discount on the total bill which will lower it down to
$101.15
And you can now benefit from their latest promotion which will end on 14 March 2021 where every purchase will come with a FREE Sudio Care Kit that costs $39!
Do you know that you actually need to clean your earphones especially those with winged tips as the dirt gets stuck inside?
The Sudio NIO comes with the usual 1-year warranty offered by Sudio, however, if you were to sign up for Sudio Sphere, a membership that gives you early access to product releases and personalized offers, you will receive more benefits such as the extended warranty that will allow you to have 3 years warranty instead.
And....
Membership is FREE!
However, do register within 3 months of your purchase and it is only exclusive for purchases from Sudio's Website.
Find out more information about the Sudio Sphere here.
Final Thoughts
I certainly enjoyed using the Sudio NIO and I'm glad to see that even though its design is similar to Apple's Air Pods, it is not just a replica sorta earphones and has its own unique selling point.
However, in the long run, I would think that it may be good for Sudio to offer protective cases or pouches for the charging case?
So even though initially, my impression was that the Sudio NIO is only suitable to be used to listen to specific genres due to its thumping bass effect or to use it for zoom calls, after experimenting and using it for a period of time with the settings actually helped to enhance my listening experience more.
In addition, my earphones will not be falling off/dropping easily anymore with Sudio's silicon tips.
Plus, the price of the Sudio NIO after the discount would not even take up half the cost of the Apple Air Pods.
Hence, should you be looking for an affordable set of earphones that is similar to the Air Pods' design, hesitate no more because the Sudio NIO is definitely the best choice out there with its competitive pricing and promotions and even the extended warranty.
Check out your very own Sudio NIO today with the discount code, "THIRTEENTUESDAY" where you will be able to enjoy a 15% discount on the total bill!
Till the next review xx.
