Sound: Nail 2×2
The only other micro armature earphones with which I have long experience are Jays’s new Q-Jays and my old favourite, the Audio Technica CK10.
Compared to both, 2×2’s upper midrange is calm. Not mountain stream calm: gentle rapids calm. Highs extend far, but with less peaky bits than the Jays, and less shine than CK10. Consequently, hard core TWFK micro armature fans may at first think 2×2 veiled.
Give it two minutes.
By no stretch of the imagination is 2×2 veiled. But mids stick out more against the highs in the 2×2 than they do on the CK10. Ditto for the new Q-Jays. Tonally, 2×2 nails acoustic guitar. There’s no comparison with the Jays or the CK10. It’s unaccented, dry, but authoritative. Not warm, not smarmy. Cymbals don’t splash, and despite the 2×2 not casting a large 3D stage, upper mids energise a unique space.
To my ear, bass falls in sound pressure just barely against mids. It’s not as spacious, but it is clear, resists smearing, and it beats out in a clearly delineated space. Trance and hard EDM? Very good.
To be honest, 2×2 really surprised me. At first I wanted it to be something else. I wanted more sparkle, more peak. But that expectation was borne out of my experience with the CK10. At this point, I would happily plug my ears with the 2×2 instead. It is less peaky where peaky isn’t good, but equally as high-mid energetic, if lacking the same immense sense of space.
For tight trance it is right on. For live music, it simultaneously spits clarity and sophistication. It only lacks deep separation between instruments. More Grado than Beyer if you ask me.
Sound: Nail3
This bad boy is both more sensitive and stuffy than the 2×2. Stuffy in that highs don’t extend as far with the same sound pressure, and thanks to a slight depression in bass, mids jump forward.
When listening to fast death metal, nimbus decays shimmer just this side of neutral around leading percussion and vocal edges. Next to them upper mid voiced guitars soften up. It reminds me a bit of a cloudy 1960’s lens: really nice colouration, but at the expense of crisp edges and sharp contrast between gradients. It’s a sound that, for the right genre, and the right mood, is beautiful. But it’s not one for which I that often for my music. If it was a bit richer I’d use the Nail 3 in the Audiofly’s AF78 stead as an intimate, beautiful earphone.
At the ear, mids jump to the fore, pushing down bass and suppressing highs. Highs reach pretty far, but at several-decibel depression against a 0dB base line. Which is likely the reason high-voiced and nimbus-y percussion appears to bloom more than it actually does.
Decidedly, Nail3 gives off a live vibe: speedy, but minorly sloppy. It’s an earphone you put in like a favourite, or eclectic record: you whip it out for those moments when no other sound will do.
And for those moments, which in my case, include live recordings of Dire Straits and U2, are about once or twice a fortnight. 2×2’s more typical sound I can recommend without pause for just about any music. The 3 is more a specialist. 3 puts bass down a bit farther, pulls out mids farther, and closes highs down faster, which tends to classic up most music.
Just like an old Leica lens.
End words
In general I’m a fan of over-the-ear wear and great neck cinches, features which neither nail boasts. Once in the ear, Nail is super comfy. But it’s always there. It doesn’t disappear. Its cable is a bit microphonic, and you may need new ear pieces. Nail 2×2 sounds especially good – especially for electronic, and broadly for and all-genre bashes. Nail 3 is a very good, but not perfect option for an intimate listen.
If you’re and ER4 owner looking to branch out, I submit to you the Nail 2×2. If you’re a lover of early-gen HD650s and warm valves, may I offer the Nail 3, which at least from a mids and highs perspective is a pretty good approximation.
Barun C
Great stuff Nathan. Looks like a very good budget IEM with top notch construction. I have to ask, was it an intentional Metallica Garage Inc. reference in the beginning of the article, cause that is an awesome Metal Cover album.
ohm image
Perhaps our understandings of ‘budget’ stretch the definition somewhat. But in the grand audiophile scheme of things, sure: budget works.
As to the reference, indeed. Garage Days (EP from before Metallica Metallica) was a favourite spin of mine from back in the day. I’ve not heard Garage Inc.
Barun C
Well yes, budget is an important topic to talk about, you should write something about it at Ohm or Headfonia.
As far as my definition of the word “budget” goes in the sphere of headphone gear world, “When something tickles an audiophile/enthusiast’s fancy and it is within the consideration, which is tucked away somewhere out of the periodic cash flow one needs to survive is called budget”. During my student years I had no budget, it was whatever I can get. Now I can afford to have one. BTW by budget I don’t mean “cheap”. To me cheap is something ranging from $10-50
Anyway I have sent you a PM at HF.