Review: Nocs NS600 Crush In-Ear Headphones

Swedish vendor Nocs offers up the NS600 Crush, a $149 set of in-ear earphones made of aluminum metal. The silver capsule shaped earbuds are sleek looking and medium in size, while the clear plastic exterior of the cables allows you to see the twisted rope inside. As is expected at this price point, a mic and three button playback and volume control for iPhone, iPad, and iPod are built in.

The audio output of the NS600 Crush is crisp, distinctive, and somewhat baffling. As I’ve observed with other Nocs products, the company tends to favor treble over bass. But in this instance, rather than placing the treble higher in the mix, the Crush has its treble and bass at about equal emphasis but gives its treble something of an over-enunciation. Listen to something high pitched like a cymbal on a rock song, and it’s as it someone pointed not a megaphone at the cymbal, but rather a magnifying glass. If that’s an odd description, it’s because I’ve never heard anything quite like it to compare it to.

The end result is a product that sounds really, really good – and a bit weird. For acoustic genres where the bass is in the background anyway, it makes for a nice listening experience. For rock or hip hop or electronica or anything whose bass is prominent enough to make clear that the bass and treble have such different timbres here, it might be more weird than good. Which is kind of a shame, because if the NS600 Crush had a more normal timbre to them, these earbuds would be among the most recommendable at their price point. As it stands, I’m not sure.

Price: $149 • nocs.se

About Bill Palmer

Bill Palmer is Editor in Chief of Beatweek Magazine. His editorial contributions include interviews with musicians and iPhone industry coverage.