Very personal stereo
Headphones that customise their output to match your hearing: it’s a tidy idea, but which of these rival startups does it best?
[Words Richard Purvis]
Nuraphone
What’s the story?
As if they weren’t clever enough already, a summer firmware update has added active noise-cancelling to the skillset of these Australian-designed Bluetooth cans. Their main trick? Evaluating your hearing then adjusting the drivers’ output to boost the frequencies your naughty old ears have been hiding from you. In-ear buds do most of the work, while extra bass depth from the outer cups can be dialled in to taste.
Are they any good?
Testing your hearing with the Nura app is a simple, fully automated process. Sit still, tell the cat to be quiet for a while then listen to a series of bloops and bleeps flitting through the frequency spectrum; the headphones build your profile based on how your ears respond, like a sort of advanced sonar.