Check out our full review of the NuForce HP-800 headphones.
So far, we’ve enjoyed what NuForce has had to offer in the field of audio electronics. Its Icon uDAC-2 has a permanent home in our travel bag, as does the highly portable NuForce Cube, which makes for a great little travel speaker. We’re less familiar, however, with Nuforce’s headphone offerings. One thing we do know is that almost all of its previous models have been of the in-ear variety. But today, NuForce announced it has leveraged its expertise to develop its first ever over-the-ear reference monitors, the NuForce HP-800.
The HP-800 has a fairly low-key exterior design, especially when compared to some of the intense and bombastic designs from the likes of Skull Candy, Beats by Dre, and several others that we’ve seen recently. With the HP-800, NuForce is pointing its sights less toward the DJ and urban raver crowd, and more toward the studio professional and/or audiophile subset. And with a price of around $150, the HP-800 is also one of the few models we’ve seen recently that the modern studio might be able to afford purchasing in numbers, especially in today’s tough economy.
Visceral seems to be the buzzword for the HP-800 – NuForce uses it heavily in its product promotion. But aside from its “viscerality”, Nuforce claims the HP-800 will bring a flat frequency response, which is something we definitely would like to see more of from the headphone market these days. The HP-800 boasts a die-cast aluminum frame, 40mm neodymium drivers, a full spectrum frequency response, as well as “breathable skin-like ear cups”. We’re not sure how much we like the “skin-like” description, but we’re hoping that means they are designed with extreme comfortability in mind — a must for cans that will be used all day in the studio.
The real question is: Can Nuforce make a dent in the already glutted market of over-the-ear headphones, or will it be just another model that gets lost in the shuffle. And, more importantly, can the HP-800 bring some needed accuracy and balance to a field in which blasting bass and sharp treble have become the norm? We’ll let you know as soon as we get a chance to try these badboys out. For now, all we can say is we like the price, and we hope Nuforce can deliver on its promises.
