NiceHCK Traceless review
Throughwork
NiceHCK are a small earphone company. They have a short product line, and most of their products are niche originals. So, aside from the cost, what is strange about their cheap earbud?
Contents
Build
Not bad at all. A straightline chrome plug. Soft, if basic cable. No strain relief anywhere. A fairly hefty, likely stock, earbud housing, My pair was coloured in a deep sparkly blue—good aesthetic.
Sound
A wide volume range. Attack and decay seem accurate and damped. Treble rolls off low, low enough to be heard as damping upper notes. An unlikely amount of (upper) bass. The Traceless stands out for not emphasising any particular frequency. They have some some frequencies they sound a bit duff at, for example they bleat in the brass range, and near cymbals. Colour comes through feels accurate. There’s some of haze round most of the sound. Positions are narrow and dulled.
Reasonable for orchestral, you get some colour and balanced scale within the blur. The weight is good for soundtracks and rock musics too, you get drum strikes. But the rolled top end is a limitation for soundtracks and solo instruments.
Spec
| mic available? | yes |
| cable noise | quiet |
| accessories | One pair of black foams |
| support |
Assess
One pair of black foams. Can’t argue, but if you tear them you’ll be annoyed. Otherwise, even if it’s a stock housing, I like the sparkly blue color.
NiceHTK don’t do normal. An open sound, perhaps even with echo, though hazy. You feel like you are hearing music, even if from the back of the room. They are controlled and, for earbuds, they go low. If you can live with the oddities, they are good for rock and orchestral, especially given the good timing and bass. But the treble rolloff takes out detail, weakens solo instruments, and they are only passable for voice. It’s a dynamic driver, which shows in the heft. And it has a plastic cone, near or the same plastic as a drinks bottle, which may account for the buzz spots.
Do you know what the Traceless remind me of? Sixties HiFi. No, they did not have the modern tweeters, they used distorting sources, but the haze was musical and they knew how to drive a big, light speaker flat. I can’t recommend the Traceless, but I like them. Go figure.