NuraTrue Wire-Free Earbuds Review: Just for you

Everyone's ears are different. Factors like bone structure and hearing damage impact how music and headphones sound. In theory, the broad strokes should be similar. Bassy headphones should sound bassy to most, but there's a good chance I'm going to hear a song at least slightly differently to how you would.

Nura's NuraTrue wireless earbuds try to change that. The manufacturer says its headphones adapt to how you hear in order to provide a better listening experience and a balanced sound. In theory, the NuraTrues adapt to you to ensure you're getting as much detail as possible from your songs as you can. A spokesperson said they can even account for some hearing damage. All in all, it's a rather intriguing prospect.

Before you can actually listen to anything on the NuraTrues, you'll need to go through a somewhat intense setup process. I had to register an account, run a firmware update (which required giving the buds a top-up first), and then going through the personalisation process. The NuraTrues will beep and boop into your ears for about a minute, after which you're left with a personalised sound profile. They're not quite plug and play. (Your sound profile will carry across to other devices once its setup, however.)

The effort is worth it, however. The NuraTrues are above all, clear and detailed. It's easy to pick to pick out individual instruments in complicated mixes or pick out subtle embellishments. It's an impressive level of clarity for earbuds. The sound itself definitely leans toward neutral rather than having a specific sonic signature. It's quite balanced, and doesn't really highlight bass or treble. The companion app doesn't have any EQ customisation settings either.

I was curious about how much of a difference the NuraTrue personalisation process actually makes. There's an out of the box "natural" profile, but my hunch is that it's bad for dramatic effect. Without your personalisation in place, the NuraTrues sound shallow and tinny, to the point where you'd return them buds immediately. It's a bit of theatre to make your personalisation more special, rather than a feature you'd ever use.

As such, I got my partner to set up her own hearing profile and I was surprised by how different it sounded to mine. To my ears, it's treble heavy to the point of being sibilant despite coming through as balanced for her. When my partner tried using my profile, she described it as being bass heavy. This certainly isn't the case to my ears. It's clear Nura's tuning process is genuinely doing something.

Ultimately, whether the NuraTrue is right for you comes down to whether you're happy with clarity at the expense of personality. I prefer the warm low-end emphasis of the Sony WF-1000XM4s, for example. Of course, what Nura has achieved is nothing to scoff at. Despite being cheaper than AirPods Pros, the NuraTrues offer increased detail when compared to Apple's iconic white sticks. If you have trouble finding headphones you genuinely like the sound of, Nura's personalisation could be just the thing.

The NuraTrues also feature solid noise-cancellation, and a surprisingly good transparency mode. Transparency mode filters in ambient sounds from the world around you, so you can still listen out for traffic or your doorbell if you're expecting a courier. Many transparency modes have an artificial twang to them, while Nura's managed to achieve a natural effect.

The NuraTrues are on the bulkier side of the wire-free headphone world. They almost look like plug earrings, and they weigh in at 7.4g per bud. Despite this, they're surprisingly comfy for extended day-to-day use thanks to the wing tip stabilisers that prop them up in your ear. The out of the box wing should be good for most, but I swapped to the larger option for extra stability when running. They came too close to falling out of my ears when using the smaller wing. There are also five different tip options in the box. Four of these are silicon, and one is foam. I'm fairly confident most should be able to find a fit that works for them.

While the NuraTrues are rated IPX4 for sweat resistance, they wouldn't be my first choice for exercise headphones. The weight is noticeable, even if they never felt uncomfortable.

Given the size of the buds, it's not surprising the NuraTrues offer better than average battery life. You should get up to six hours of playback with noise-cancelling on. Most other wire-free buds struggle to hit five. The bundled charging case takes this to a total of 24 hours before you need to top up.

NuraTrue Wire-Free Earbuds - Final Thoughts

At $299.99, the NuraTrues are great value wire-free headphones that tick all the boxes when it comes to sound quality, battery life, noise-cancellation, and comfort. They're clear and detailed, they last longer than most, they'll block out a good chunk of noise, and thanks to all the included tips and wings, it shouldn't be too hard to find a good fit - even if they're on the bulky side. The NuraTrues are a good option for anyone considering a premium pair of wireless headphones but especially so if you've had trouble finding buds that sound right to you.

Alex Choros

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Alex Choros is the Managing Editor of WhistleOut Australia and an award-winning journalist. He's been writing about consumer technology for over a decade and is an expert on the Australian telco sector, to the point where he knows far too many phone and internet plans by heart. In addition to leading the WhistleOut editorial team, Alex is responsible for ruining the office Sonos with his troubled taste in music.

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