REVIEW: NuraTrue Pro – Lossless Wonder

We’ve been testing Nura products for a few years now here on TheEffect.Net and have always been impressed with their innovative and comprehensive approach to developing some of the most interesting audio products out there. With their latest creation, the NuraTrue Pro wireless earbuds, Nura has pushed themselves once again and created one of the most future-proofed pair of wireless earbuds available on the market today along with packing in additional improvements over their already impressive NuraTrue earbuds from 2021.

We’ve been testing the new NuraTrue Pro earbuds for a few weeks now and here is what we thought.

Design & Build Quality

When it comes to design, the NuraTrue Pro are very similar to Nura’s first pair of truly wireless earbuds. With their large, disc-like design in the single ‘black’ colour option, the NuraTrue Pro are quite prominent when in your ears, especially if you’re used to smaller, more petite earbuds.

The Pro models do have shinier finish on their exterior rim over the previous model but, otherwise, it would be hard to tell them apart on first glance. Overall, aside from their slightly weightier profile than other popular earbud brands, the NuraTrue Pro earbuds are well built, fit well in the ear, (especially if you go with the foam tips included in the box) and the rubber wings also help towards this, and support a IPX4 rating also.

Features & Nura App Functionality

One of the key standout features in these new earbuds is the jump to Bluetooth 5.3 and the support Qualcomm aptX Lossless audio, thanks to this new and improved Bluetooth codec. What this newest codec allows, when connected to a Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1  powered device running the latest version of Snapdragon Sound, is true lossless audio over Bluetooth. The NuraTrue Pro are actually the first earbuds in the world to support this particular level of Bluetooth connectivity, delivering truly next-level wireless audio quality.

Not only will you need access to one of these new Snapdragon-powered devices, we used the latest OnePlus 10t in our review, you’ll also need access to a high res streaming platform like Amazon Music Unlimited or Tidal, to gain access to full CD-quality audio streams of tracks to really put these new earbuds through their paces.

The Bluetooth 5.3 codec also allows for multi-point connection support, which is very handy for when you want to connect to multiple devices at once. During our testing, we could jump between our Windows PC laptop to our OnePlus 10t for a call without any issues. You’re also able to use each earbud independently, thanks to the implementation of ‘dynamic primary earbud switching’ support. Another handy feature if you have a preferred ear for single earbud use.

Unsurprisingly, Nura has also included their custom-built ‘Sound Personalisation’ technology in their newest earbuds and it’s as impressive as ever. More on this below.

Sound & ANC Quality

Like any top tier pair of earbuds these days, you’ll be expected to download a dedicated app to help you get the most from your new purchase. With Nura, this is even more important than usual as the Nura app unlocks the true capabilities of the NuraTrue Pro earbuds.

When setting up the earbuds for the first time, the process is basically the same as any previous Nura product. In the initial set up stages, the app will guide you through creating your own custom hearing profile to ensure the earbuds are tuned specifically to your ears using a custom EQ preset. When using the earbuds on an AptX Adaptive device, to compare to the previous NuraTrue earbuds, audio quality is fairly similar but that’s definitely not a bad thing.

Lows, mids and highs all shine through at their respective levels and using the immersion slider in the app, which basically adds more ‘oomph’ or bass to your tracks, things sound incredibly rich and full without losing out on the higher details. Once finding the sweet spot on the slider, it’s actually quite hard to go back to different earbuds when you know how good some of your favourite tracks can sound.

When jumping up to Lossless quality audio via Amazon Prime Unlimited on our OnePlus 10t, things definitely moved up a notch on the audio quality front with remastered tracks from the likes of Sam Cooke sounding sensationally details and more life-like. True audiophiles will definitely appreciate the audio clarity capable thanks to the tech built into these earbuds but, for the less discerning ear, the improvements might not be as apparent, that said, there’s nothing wrong in knowing you’re listening to the highest quality wireless stream possible with these new earbuds so everyone’s a winner.

If all of these additional features and options weren’t enough, Nura also included their own take on ‘Spatial Audio’, engineered by Dirac, and try to replicate the experience of fully immersive 360 degree audio. When switching this particular mode on, the music appears to ‘move’ from inside your head to floating around and outside your ears, creating a much wider sounding soundstage. While it might not be for everyone, we really liked using this feature during our testing and would recommend you try it out too to see what you think.

For their ANC efforts, the Pro models are definitely a step up over their predecessors, along with Nura’s ‘Social Mode’, which might be better known as transparency mode, allowing users to let outside audio play in through the earbuds so you can hear what’s happening around you without needing to remove the earbuds.

With the adaptive approach to ANC, surrounding audio suppression is also better managed and the earbuds will even adjust the ANC depending on how they’re positioned in your ear, which is a very clever trick. Using the earbuds as we made our way around the busy city centre streets here in Dublin, things were being managed and muted on the fly to a very impressive level and, in turn, allowed the audio to come through fuller and clearer. One change we would like to see though, and it’s more to do with the apps’ layout, is an quicker way to enable and disable ANC, rather than having to go into the backend of the settings page.

When enabling the social mode, voices are also enhanced and come across clearer than on the NuraTrue but, like most of its competitors also, Nura still have some work to do to match the industry leading capabilities of Apple’s transparency offering.

For voice calls, Nura has managed to include some nice improvements to make the overall experience that bit better for both participants. With the inclusion of extra microphones, along with a bone conduction microphone, voices are better separated from background audio and callers said they could hear us loud and clear when making test calls whilst out and about.

Finally, and exclusively available on the Pro model, Nura has included a ‘Pro EQ’ setting which allows you to tweak the sound to your liking with that bit more control.

Battery Life

When compared to the previous NuraTrue earbuds, the battery size hasn’t changed but, thanks to improved battery efficiency, the overall battery life has improved quite a bit. You can now get up to 8 hours of battery life with ANC enabled, up from the 6 hours in the original NuraTrue earbuds. You’ll also get an additional 24 hours in the case which is an increase from 18 hours in the NuraTrue case. During our testing, we found these battery claims to be spot on and, because of this, would position the NuraTrue Pro at the upper end of the scale when it comes to overall battery life duration, which is an impressive feat.

When the battery does finally run out, Nura have upgraded the case for the Pro model to also include Qi wireless charging support and, if you go with USB-Type C wired charging, the speeds have also doubled which is very handy for when you’re in a pinch and need a quick top up before you run out the door.

Conclusion

With all of their notable upgrades and improvements, especially their AptX Lossless support and improved battery life, the NuraTrue Pro wireless earbuds are some of the most impressive and future-proofed earbuds we’ve tested at TheEffect.Net. Yes, they’re definitely not cheap but if you want to hear the future of wireless audio streaming, the NuraTrue Pro are you only option right now and Nura need to be commended for that.

NuraTrue Pro Pricing & Availability

The NuraTrue Pro Wireless Earbuds are available for pre-order now on Nurasound.com at a promotional price of €299 (RRP of €329)

NuraTrue Pro | TheEffect.Net