INTRO:-
From the wicked depth of darkness emerges an IEM brand from Singapore which claims to have addictive poison with its tuning along with poisonous designs with its IEMs. Enough of the drama, I am talking about the Nocturnal Audio, one of the best single minded brands in the market. I don’t know if they really do have poison or not but what they have is their mind set at only and only details, nothing else. I reviewed their Avalon couple of years ago and it is still one of the best $500 earphones till date.
Their new Flagship is here to shake the $1000 earphone segment.
In their own words:-
“Agenda”
“The story of Eden echoes the Mesopotamian myth of a king, as a primordial man, who is placed in a divine garden to guard the Tree of Life. The Hebrew Bible depicts Adam and Eve as walking around the Garden of Eden naked due to their innocence. The location of Eden is described in the Book of Genesis as the source of four tributaries.”
The Eden earphones are loaded with details. Priced at $970 for universal version and $1049 for custom version, it houses 5BA drivers per side, one for bass, two for mid range, one for mid-high and one for highs with a 3 way cross over with their own AEX tuning technology the Eden delivers sublime sound quality. Available in both universal and custom version, it faces tough competition from Andromeda, Pola, Meze Rai Penta and many more earphones.
I am reviewing the Universal version of the Eden headphones and will compare the Eden with HYLA TE-5B, UM Mirage, Shozy Pola and Bella V2.
Get one for yourself from these places:-
https://nocaudio.com/order/ciem/
http://store.treoo.com/brands/nocturnal-audio
ACCESSORIES & PACKAGING:-
The Eden is mostly a custom earphone made universal. There is minimal amount of accessories with the universal version and has no retail packaging on any of their earphones. The Whole thing comes in a nicely spacious Nocturnal branded case (I would have liked a deeper case). One can find 3 pairs of silicone tips, cleaning cloth, 6.5mm adapter and a dust cleaning tool in the box.
Nothing fancy here, but I would have liked a few pairs of Foam tips in the list of accessories.
HOW IS THE BUILD QUALITY:-
The build quality of the Eden is fantastic to say the least, it in one of the most well built universal version of a custom earphone, there are not many brands who maintain the quality of the shell. All resin build is very sturdy and feels very solid to the hand. The additional layer of resin makes the faceplate integration flawless.
The only difference from a custom version is the universal nozzle which has a groove to hold the ear tip. Except that the shell is exactly same as a custom version. There are no vents in the body, BA drivers need none.
The 2pin socket is flush on the body and it feels very sturdy. The Nozzle is long and feels very comfortable. There are three bores but every bore opens into the nozzle thanks to their AEX technology.
HOW IS THE CABLE:-
The Flagship deserves a quality cable too and the Eden ships with the Nocturnal NX2 copper litz cable which on its own costs $100. The 4 core cable is of very good quality.
The cable is neither bouncy nor has any memory problem. It’s very supple and there is little to no microphonics. The layer of rubber on the cable is of very good quality and it gives the cable a more premium look.
The Carbon fibre finishes on the 3.5mm jack and the Y splitter gives the cable a classic and intriguing feel.
I will not think twice before saying that the Eden comes with one of the most premium quality cables as far as stock cables are concerned.
HOW DOES IT FEELS INSIDE THE EAR :-
Even when brands don’t tend to get very ergonomical, let it be the TE-5B, Andromeda or UM Mirage, the Nocturnal Eden keeps its semicustom build.
The Nocturnal Eden is one of the most comfortable earphone in its price range, more comfortable than HYLA TE-5B and UM Mirage thanks to its better ergonomics. The semi custom build with a wing on the inner side of the shell gives it one of the best ergonomics. This wing helps with good amount of grip inside the ear and thanks to its smaller size (compared to the Inear Stagediver SD5) it is one of the most comfortable earphones I own.
Even when the nozzle of the Eden is larger than most, at around 5mm, using them with both foam and silicone tips is fairly comfortable. The nozzle doesn’t get deeper into the ear canal. Thanks to its ergonomics the Eden manages to sit inside the ear without falling out.
Those with small ear canals might find the wider than average nozzle of the Eden to be a bit of a problem, it might get slightly uncomfortable with silicone tips and should be fine with silicone tips.
Noise isolation of the Eden with both silicone and foam tips are good, better than both the Polas and are par with Um Mirage.
