Pros:

Great ergonomical fit

Warm signature

For music lovers

V-shape tuning done right

Cons:

No 4.4mm balanced option

No ear-tip choice

NFACOUS NA20 review- Warm amber color meets warm sound.

I am an audiophile from sunny South Africa and with it being winter here in my country, I was hoping the NFACOUS NA20 would bring some warmth to my life. I reviewed the NM20 a while ago and it is still in my own personal collection getting lots of playtime. The NM20 is also one of my reviewer friend’s favorite earphones. With that being said and how impressed I was with the NM20, it left a big expectation when the NA20 was shipped to me by the wonderful people at NFACOUS. The package took around 21 days to reach me here in South Africa. The NA20 was sent to me in turn for my honest opinion and I will aim to please.  What I really like about NFACOUS is their involvement with stage musicians. I like brands that work closely with the guys who actually make the music we listen to.

Unboxing:

The NA20 sells for $118 and I just love the packaging as it is the same packaging with a different color scheme as the NM20. The NA20 comes packaged in a rectangular cardboard box with a cover that pulls off to one side. On the front you have a nice picture of the earphones and also the words “music” as the NM20 was geared to a more pro-sound and the NA20 more towards music lovers. The black cardboard box folds open and you are greeted with the still cool in my eye’s cd design. When you lift the cd looking foam housing the shells out, you find a nice holder with your ear tips underneath. On the other folded open side you will find your manual, hard carrying case and cable. There is also a 3.5mm to 6.35 mm adapter included. The packaging reflects like a pair of monitors you will buy in a pro music store.

Look & Build:

Built for long listening hours the shells are very light and from a high-strength polycarbonate. The new smoky amber look fits the warmer NA20 perfectly and gives you a semi glimpse of the electronics inside. NFACOUS reminds me a lot about one of my favorite audio brands NAD. They don’t worry about looks. They put the design budget where it matters. In the sound, longevity and comfort and that is a big plus for me. The cable is thin but not in a flimsy way. Reminds me of the Linum cables I have which are geared towards stage musicians. The 3.5mm plug is metal the whole cables feels like it would last a long time. The ear-tips are normal silicon and to me looks like a mix between wide and narrow bore. A sort of in the middle bore if I may call it that. I prefer a hard carrying case in the canvas type material like the one for the NA20 than all these fake leather ones we are getting.

Specs:

Model- NA20

Dimensions- 150 × 132 × 83mm

Package Weight- 300g

Driver- Dynamic Driver

Cable- 0.78mm dual pin 6N OFC

Sensitivity- 109 dB / mW

Impedance- 32Ω

Sound Insulation- 25dB

Frequency Response- 9-40kHz

Distortion- < 1%

Max SPL- 125dB

Connector- 3.5mm

Connectivity:

With the 3.5mm termination you can hook the NA20 up to any source with a 3.mm socket like tablet, phone, laptop, desktop and Dap. I used the NA20 the most connected to just my Oppo A78+ phone and I will still be using it after this review this way. There is also a 3.5mm to 6.35mm adapter for the cable so you can plug it into your desktop headphone amp or audio-interface.

Sound:

I ran into a stumble block evaluating the NA20’s sound as there is something about the sound that made me want to listen to music like my Favorites collection instead of my Critical listening music the whole time. There is a naturalness to the sound that made me dug out some old favorites as well. The warmth draws you in and as we all know that certain songs invoke certain emotions, so you will find yourself enjoying your old favorites a lot with the NA20. I understand now why the NM20 is the music edition as it definitely makes you want to listen to music.

Bass:

I found that the bass in rock and alternative music sounded better than the bass of EDM music. The bass for me is just to warm and thick to keep up with the fast, punchy bass EDM music produces. The sub-bass extension is very good though and it is more forward than the Mid-bass.  I also found by giving the NM20 more power with my Lint Audio Revival desktop headphone amplifier, that the Beryllium coated driver thrives on more. The only thing with more power is, I picked up some static on my audio interface hooked up to my pc. On Poem of Chinese drum by Hok-man Yim which is one of my reference songs for testing bass the drums sounded very deep and powerful. The slow strokes on the big drum sounded especially powerful and controlled.  

Mids:

One thing I like to do is watch music videos on YouTube music and I used the NA20 to watch a few videos mostly live videos like Dua Lipa- Be the One (Glastonbury 2024) who sang with a lot of emotion that night and I felt it. You can even almost sense the emotion in the crowd and the mids is reproduced very well with Dua’s voice floating in her own time and sound in that big crowd. A song that hits a few nerves within in me is Imagine Dragons-Demons. The live performance ft Halsey at Welcome 2017 made me realize two things. The NA20 is much better with female vocals and I highly recommend the NA20 if you enjoy live music concert videos. The other thing I noticed is that vocals sounded brilliant on most genre’s even with some rap music like Eminem- Not Afraid. The instruments in the midrange sounded really great. The lower and middle mids sounded especially good while listening to David Gilmour’s acoustic guitar on the live in Pompei album.

Treble:

Not as bright as the NM20 and the treble is presented in a very smooth way. The NA20 is so warm I did not want to go and listen to some cold classical piece to evaluate the treble. I rather went upbeat and listened to the Lindsey Stirling self-titled 2012 album. There is a lot of PRAT present and you find yourself foot tapping or moving with the beat with the NA20. The song Zi-Zi’s Journey starts with very high violin sounds and on a bright earphone it can be ear piercing but the NA20 toned it down a notch and it sounded very enjoyable with just the right amount of sparkle. The right side of the piano sounded very smooth as well on Gary Jules- Mad World. I also found that anything with a synthesizer like Synth-Pop’s Yazoo-Don’t Go sounded sublime

Soundstage:

Soundstage is not very big and was always between my ears and deeper than it was wider. If a drummer was in the back in the middle, I could still hear them clearly in the recording. The soundstage on the Michael Jackson- Thriller sounded like it sounds when I am listening to a pair of monitor headphones like my Sennheiser HD25.

Conclusion:

For me personally the NA20 takes me from an audiophile listening to the gear, to a music lover digging out my old collections. Something I never do is take earphones to my motorcycle workshop and guess what? The NA20 tagged along plugged into my phone during the day. If you want a durable workhorse that you know is built for comfort and musical enjoyment then this is for you. I also use the NA20 to reset my ears now in-between reviews. I also feel that I will upgrade the NA20 with a nice balanced 4.4mm warm sounding cable and maybe some tips like the Penon Liqueur Orange tips. To my South African readers, the NA20 is like that blond girl you meet at a birthday braai on the East rand and you know she is trouble but you still can’t get her out of your head.