Review - NF ACOUS (NF Audio) RA15

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TLDR version on YouTube: TDLR - NF ACOUS (NF Audio) RA15

The RA15 have been sent to me directly by NF Audio in exchange for the publication of this review. They have not made any requests and I will do my usual attempt at being as unbiased as humanly possible in my review.

You can find the NF Audio official page here, although they don’t seem to feature the RA15 on their site: http://www.nfaudio.cn/en/index.html

As always, this is a non affiliate link.

To avoid being repetitive in my reviews, you can find all the info about how I create the reviews, equipment used, how I receive the products and how to interpret my reviews by visiting: About my reviews

Intro…

First let me address the naming here. Who is NF ACOUS?

Well, the IEMs I am reviewing today were sent to me by NF Audio and they are the NF Audio RA15. However, a few days ago, I received an email saying that they have decided to change their name from NF Audio to NF ACOUS.

Personally, I prefer the name NF Audio but it is not up to me and it doesn't really matter in the course of this review anyway but, just so you are aware, NF ACOUS and NF Audio are the same company. I have also left the NF Audio page link above as I can't find one for NF ACOUS.

I reviewed the NF Audio NM2 around 2 and half years ago and, to be honest, I hadn’t really heard anything else about the brand since then. That was until they reached out to me a few months ago asking is I was interested in reviewing a couple of their newer models, one of them being the RA15.

As I mentioned above, there doesn’t seem to be an official page for these IEMs, although they are available on Amazon and via a couple of other online retailers, such as HifiGo, where they are priced at just under $90.

They feature a dual magnet single dynamic driver along with onboard electronics to tune the IEMs and come with two sets of nozzles, offering different profiles, although the differences are not huge, but we will get to that in a moment.

Presentation…

Arriving a a black and orange box, with the IEMs on the cover, we open it to find the CD shaped card that immediately reminded me of the NM2, holding the IEMs. Beneath this we find the accessories, which are 4 sets of silicone tips, the extra set of nozzles, the cable and a small drawstring storage bag.

Honestly there is nothing really exciting in the contents but they all look aesthetically pleasing and, while the cable is nothing to write home about, do their job.

Build and aesthetics…

The IEMs are a full metal build and are rather small. The nozzle is not overly long either, which, paired with the shallow style tips, make for a fit that is not very deep. I found myself opting for the L sized tips and once fitted, they give a good seal and felt very comfortable.

As they are metal, they are not the lightest IEMs but, due to their size, they are far from being heavy. They are a set that I can easily wear for many hours and not feel them in my ears at all.

Sound…

All tracks mentioned are clickable links that allow you to open the reference track in the streaming service of your choice (YouTube, Tidal, Qobuz, Spotify, etc.)

As mentioned, we get two sets of nozzles and the frequency response is different between them, although they are still fairly similar. Here is the usual graph showing them in relation to my preference curve that I post for reference:

Starting off with the gold nozzles, I found them to be rather neutral with a hint of extra warmth in the midbass which can become just a little boom on certain tracks, such as “Breezeblocks”. However, the upper mids do rise to a peak at 5k which, as I have mentioned many times in the past, is not something that I am a fan of. In fact, I find the peak to be painful many times but in the case of the RA15, with the gold nozzles, it is not actually as bad as I would have thought.

Yes, the peak is noticeable to me as I am very sensitive to that range, yet I do not find it to be piercing like I do on so many other sets.

The treble is not exactly smooth but also doesn’t portray itself as being bad or uneven. I find the general sound to be rather neutral with a hint of bright, something that I don’t mind at all. It is only that boomyness of the midbass focus that can be tiring at times.

Swapping over to the silver nozzles, these bring a bit more presence in the upper mids and take away some of that boomyness in the midbass, although it is still there, just that the focus is shifted to the upper mids.

The thing is that the silver nozzles seem to give everything a more fragile and “thin” sound, especially in the upper ranges. It is not that the tuning is completely different from the gold nozzles, I would still say that we are in the neutral bright zone, but things just sound sharper and not in a good way.

Although there is is more presence between 2kHz and 4kHz, I actually notice the 5kHz peak more with the silver nozzles than I did with the single 5k peak on the gold nozzles. This made the listening experience less enjoyable for me personally.

As far as details, they are pretty decent and there is a nice sensation of sound stage also, with things seeming having plenty of space to breath (except for those tracks where midbass boomyness is experienced). The location of instruments in “La Luna” is pretty good and there is nice space between them, although I do find that width is superior to the depth.

Conclusion…

Honestly, it is nice to see brands that are staying loyal to their tunings and not jumping on the bandwagon of whatever is “in season”, yet, I really can’t say that there is a lot of difference between the NM2 and these, 2 and a half years later.

In fact, I think that I personally prefer the NM2 over these due to the lack of peak in the 5k region.

Saying that, with the gold nozzles, I find them to be a pleasant listen and, while they are not my first pick for IEMs, they do have a sound signature that is not commonly found lately, so they may be interesting to those looking for that neutral bright signature.