wireless earbuds with excellent sonic profiles and spatial audio, but a bulky design – TechToday

If the Denon PerL Pro earbuds look suspiciously familiar, that is because they are. But don’t be disheartened! They offer something no other current earbuds can – not even the best noise cancelling earbuds. 

First, let’s get the business bit out of the way: friendly Australian earphone startup Nura has been secured by much-bigger-brand Denon and now, a product that looks very much like Nura’s flagship summer 2022-issue earbuds, the NuraTrue Pro, has been released by Denon under the moniker PerL Pro. There’s also a non-suffixed PerL too, which may or may not be closer to Nura’s slightly older NuraTrue; we haven’t tested this. I think it’s a very positive merge for all involved. 

You see, Denon spotted that Nura’s particular otoacoustic testing is unique in consumer earbuds – and done well, it’s very good indeed. Backtracking just a little: the chief issue of earbud designs from a listening perspective is the shape of the ear canal they have to sit in and project into; those echo-chamber-like cavities, twists and arcs within it. These make all of us hear frequencies differently. Denon’s tests help fix it, then give you the option to nix noise, add spatial audio, bring in immersion or make ambient sound more prominent. And all of this is excellent. 

I should note that there is similar tech out there: Nothing’s Ear (2) personalized hearing tests were a hit when I tried them, but these tests require active input; you have to tap out when you can’t hear a tone (with all of the associated “Wait, could I hear it?” self-doubt). Denon’s is a completely passive experience where all one is required to do is wear them, initiate the test and sit for about 30 seconds in a quiet environment as special sonic tones do their good work.