The California-based firm NuForce is probably best known
within the high-end community for its innovative and very high-performance
preamplifier and power amplifier designs. Over the years, though, NuForce has
branched out to explore other product categories, eventually offering digital
source components and DACs, upper-tier home theatre electronics, budget-priced
earphones and desktop speakers, and even a range of desktop audio and personal audio
electronics. In short, the NuForce team, which is headed by Jason Lim and Casey
Ng, is nothing if not versatile.
Recognising that growing numbers of music lovers are
choosing earphone and headphone-based personal audio rigs as their hi-fi
systems of choice, NuForce has decided that the time is right to release a new
premium-priced and ultra high-performance universal-fit earphone called the
Primo 8 (priced at $499 in the US, with UK pricing yet to be announced). From
the outset, both Lim and Ng envisioned the Primo 8 as a groundbreaking design
that, they hoped, would redefine the state of the earphone-making art.
NuForce Primo 8
earphones
Clearly, NuForce is not alone is recognising the importance
of offering a serious high-end earphone capable of pleasing even the most
demanding of listeners. Other, well established firms – including AKG, Final
Audio Design, Sennheiser, Shure, Ultimate Ears, Westone, and others – have
drawn similar conclusions and accordingly have released top-tier, flagship
earphones of their own. Two questions that arise, then, are these: first, does
the world really need yet another top-tier earphone, and second, does NuForce’s
Primo 8 have what it takes to prevail in a worldwide market segment already
densely populated by a number of strong, well-respected competitors? By way of
tackling those questions, let’s review the highlights of NuForce’s ambitious
new Primo 8 design.
NuForce Primo 8
earbud
The Primo 8 is a three-way universal-fit earphone based on a
driver array comprising a quartet of balanced armaturetype drivers (consisting
of one high-frequency driver, one midrange driver, and a pair of bass drivers).
While quad driver-equipped earphones are relatively uncommon, at least a few
competitors offer superficially similar designs; examples would include
Westone’s W40 and Ultimate Ears’ flagship UE900 earphones. What sets the Primo
8 apart and makes it truly unique, however, is its claim to be the world’s
first – and thus far only – earphone to use a proprietary linear-phase crossover
network said to give the earphone perfectly phase-coherent response from the
bottom to the top of its operating range. As NuForce puts it, the aim of the
Primo 8 is to, “replicate the sound quality of referenceclass, multi-driver,
high-end speakers in your ears,” which is a tall order for this or any other
earphone to fill.
What is more, NuForce’s efforts did not stop with the design
of the Primo 8 earphone proper. Recognising that transducers can only sound as
good as the signal cables with which they are fed, NuForce also developed a
distinctive, proprietary, hybrid silver/copper-conductor-equipped signal cable
specifically for the Primo 8. In a conversation on this subject, Casey Ng
mentioned that NuForce lavished every bit as much care and attention on the
design of the cables as it did on the earphones, themselves.
NuForce Primo 8
box
User comfort was also a very high priority, so that despite
the complicated driver arrays contained within, the Primo 8s feature relatively
compact, oblong earpiece finished in a tasteful shade of matte metallic blue.
Significantly, the earpiece housings feature tiny, snap-fit cable connectors
that enable NuForce to provide detachable, user replaceable signal cables,
Moreover, the snap-fit connectors allow the cables to swivel for greater wearer
comfort. The signal cables also incorporate rubber-clad ear hooks that help
bear the weight of the earpieces while keeping the earphones properly
positioned within the wearers’ ear canals. As a further comfort-minded touch, NuForce
supplies the Primo 8 with an elaborate array of ear tips (including eight pairs
of silicone tips in sizes S, M, L, and XL, plus two pairs of Comply-brand foam
tips in sizes M and L). Topping things off, the Primo 8 comes with a useful set
of accessories including the aforementioned ear tips, a 130cm signal cable with
microphone (a mic-free cable is offered as an option), a 3.5mm to 6.5mm
adapter, an airline adapter, a cleaning tool, a microfibre cleaning cloth, and
a leather carrying pouch.
