Improving an existing product is always a risk. Not because the result might be worse than the original, but rather because the original is already known for its faults and weaknesses. I bought the original Nocs NS200B a couple of years ago, and I never really liked them. A too rigid plastic cord, hard earbuds and badly designed microphone made me sell them. Needless to say I was somewhat hesitant to the new NS200 Aluminum. Sharing the same name as the predecessor it had a steep hill to climb right away. Thankfully there has been a number of significant improvements propelling the below average into the recommended.
The Nocs NS200 A. is a light set of earphones with a clean, and rather simple design. There is no extra flair, no wow factor, and the branding shows just as small logos on top of the earbuds. What you get from them is quite decent sound at a decent price. Improvements have been made in regards to the cord, and microphone. Perhaps the best reason to get the NS200 A. is because of the overall convenience of the complete package.
The sound is somewhat flat, and listening to ambient and soft music feels uninspired. Hip hop and other bass heavy tunes sound good in treble, and bass but the mid range where the actual rapping goes on is thin. For a lot of fans of the hip hop, dance and techno genres this is a quite good sound setup. Metal and hard rock sounds a bit distanced, and not as powerful as I would like it to be. Where the earphones works best is within the pop, and jazz genres where the registers are more even. Spoken audio such as podcasts, and audio books also sound good.
The microphone is really good as well, and I have never had any problems with the other person hearing me coherently. The placement next to the mouth is excellent, and as it comes with a clip it is easy to keep it in place. Furthermore the Nocs provide excellent noise isolation for both the low impact office noise to the high impact traffic noise.
Having three buttons on the cord is great, and even though the three buttons are unmarked it is easy to find the correct one by position alone. Even thought the buttons are large, and rather easy to operate the proximity to the face means that at least I am not prone to accidentally press them. The cord is semi rigid keeping its shape instead of completely flowing with the clothes. It is not too prone to tangle, and noise transfer is low.
The earbuds come with three different sized sleeves. I have had to use the Large not to feel that the sound becomes tinny in my head. Having in-ear headphones showed too deep in the ear canal distorts the sound, and thankfully there are a selection of sizes. The flanged sleeves that came with the original NS200B is gone, and I kind of miss them. The new NS200 A. has softer sleeves that are more comfortable than those found in for example Tour Beats by Dr Dre. The black sleeves are prone to dust, earwax and other nasty specks of grime. It is important to keep them clean to get the best possible sound.
Nocs NS200 Aluminum is a good communications solution at a decent price. Listening to music can be somewhat flat compared to Tour Beats by Dr Dre, Klipsch S4i, and other more expensive earphones. For everyday use to work, at work and after work the NS200 Aluminum gets the job done.
Final Rating
NS200 Aluminum at Soundearphones.com $69.99
