VIBE BS NVE-300 Earphone Review

We see a lot of earphones touting technologies like noise cancellation and with designs like in-ear to give excellent sound output but South Korea’s Ntech takes a bit different approach with their VIBE NVE-300 earphones. The VIBE NVE-300 (or its more marketable term VIBE BS) is not only differently designed as compared to conventional earphones but also adopts a different way to reach sound to our ears.

With the help of bone conduction and in-built vibration, these VIBE BS earphones claim to make users “Experience Full-Body Sensations!” and obviously, with a good audio quality. We decided to give this thing a try and check if it really delivers or not.

To be precise, the VIBE BS transmits all the sound pressure to eardrums as compared to conventional earphones. The sound is transmitted through auricle and skin without a direct impact on eardrums and thus protecting them. The NVE-300 is sold only in South Korea for now and the minimal packaging includes the VIBE earphone unit with attached amplifier, a USB cable for charging, an AC adapter and a user manual.

The NVE-300 has a pretty distinct look. It is an earring-type earphone and understandably, has to be worn like an earring too. However, some special care needs to be taken while wearing them as it needs to be clipped perfectly in order to enjoy music. Wrong placement could hurt your ear. It took us some practice before we put it effortlessly in the right place.

The earphones has a 3.5mm audio jack which means it works pretty much with most media players and other gadgets. It comes attached with an amplifier that controls the earphones and also features a button that doubles up as on/off and to control the vibration and volume to low/med/high.

Now that we’ve got all the important details, does it work as expected? The short answer is yes. NVE-300 does give the vibrating sensations on every beat in the music and also adjusts well to different levels. The audio quality is pretty good too but if you’re looking to enjoy music without giving a damn to whole world, you may not find these earphones appealing. The reason is due to its way of indirectly transferring music and the fact that it keeps our ears open all the time that makes somewhat a negative in a noisy environment. However, the overall output quality is decent enough if you’re listening in a less noisy or a completely quiet surrounding.

There are some other issues too. The amplifier seems to be heart of the earphones and it works on a battery. Since the amplifier needs a charge after about 10 hours of continuous usage, the attached earphones doesn’t work if the amplifier goes out of battery juice. Another issue seems to be the single button to control functions. The button on the amplifier controls the vibration effects as well as volume and there’s no way alternative to bear strong vibrating effects in order to enjoy loud music. Maybe two different buttons to control vibration and volume or integrating volume on the earphone wire can solve this problem.

Overall, the audio quality is good and though the vibration concept may not entice many users, it’s an innovative way to enjoy music. The VIBE BS earphones are not available internationally for the time being but are sold in South Korea.

Rating:
Pros: Vibration Concept, good sound quality
Cons: Earphones doesn’t work if amplifier is out of battery