NF Audio RA15 Review

Coming off of NF Audio’s flagship IEM, we’re back to their more inexpensive output with the RA15. It sits at an eighty-dollar price tag, and a lot of IEMs have made a big impression in that range. Let’s find out if the RA15 is one of those IEMs.

What You Get

• RA15 IEMs
• 2-pin 3.5mm cable
• Drawstring pouch
• Four pairs of silicone eartips
• Bright and Warm sound tubes
• User Guide

Look & Feel

The RA15 must be one of the best-constructed IEMs for less than a hundred dollars. While the body of the earphones feels standard for NF Audio, the metal cast shells are very impressive. It brings durability to its structure, helping protect the RA15’s components, especially with its removable nozzles. Although the RA15 sports a great build, I don’t think they have the best seal. The top of the housing seems to always stick out of my ears, requiring me to push them back in a few times before I feel like they sit right.

Design

Inside the RA15 is a dynamic driver that uses a high polymer composite diaphragm. It uses a dual-magnet circuit design with one Tesla of magnetic flux. This increases sensitivity, as well as provides a more significant driving force.

Soundstage

The RA15 joins a few IEMs that give you impressive soundstage and imaging properties for less than a hundred dollars. The recent DUNU Titan S2 is also in this club, as well as the Moondrop Aria. What makes the RA15 stick out is its precision compared to those models. While others might concentrate more on spaciousness and dimension, the RA15 focuses more on true accuracy and stereo width. Most of its imaging feels like a straight line across the sound field, but its presentation is never bland. The instruments and effects still show a satisfying scale in the mix, and although it doesn’t encapsulate your head the RA15 offers a good amount of headspace. I was immersed in its spatial properties without it featuring the greatest depth. Thanks to its excellent localization, everything that came through the RA15 has enough identity to feel believable.

Low End

At first, I thought the lack of bass I was getting had something to do with not having the right tuning nozzle attached. When I switched them, the bass timbre became even less significant. My initial impressions of the bass must have been with the warm tuning nozzles attached, which is a little disappointing. If there is a warmth to this bass, it’s not a texture that you can easily feel when listening to any track.

The warm nozzles have a strong mid-bass focus, but it’s a very tight, surface-level response. I didn’t mind it, but I don’t think the tone is significant enough to label a whole extension for it. The sub-bass feels missing, like there’s no foundation to the sound signature. It has a clear shape, but very little body. The bass has a clear, satisfying presence with the warm nozzles, but it feels too reserved most of the time.

Mids

The midrange is very clean and detailed. Instruments and effects have tons of room to showcase fullness and clarity through a wide range of frequencies. They’re brought a bit more forward than the bass, but they mostly stick to an even level of energy. Some of the upper-mids have the most heat to them but are kept under control. At its best, it can make notes extra punctual, but it also tends to sharpen the tone a bit too much. That’s without the bright nozzles too. There’s tons of finesse to these mids though, and it overall creates a very exciting timbre for the price despite some of its quirks.

Highs

No matter what nozzles you’re using, the RA15 always tends to have bright spots. With the warm nozzle, that brightness is concentrated in the upper-mids and treble range. Using the bright nozzles, the brightness takes up a much larger surface area of high frequencies. The texture of this brightness doesn’t bring much flavor to the performances, it just creates height and more present peaks. It can be a bit overbearing, but the detail is there. I much preferred the highs with the warm nozzles, as the tone is still bright, but the peaks are a bit more under control.

Summary

NF Audio has provided some cool designs that make them stand out among the pack. While the nozzles might not have provided what I expected them to, it’s still a great way to modify the sound to fit your tastes. Aside from some of its peaky highs, the sound of the RA15 is very enjoyable, with its wide soundstage and detailed midrange that emphasizes musicality.

The NF Audio RA15 is available from HiFiGO.