Review: Massdrop x nuforce EDC – Personal Chauvinism

Disclaimer: Massdrop sent me this earphone in exchange for a review. I paid nothing for it. It’s got a single 8mm dynamic driver inside. It goes for 59$ USD. Crazy. Here’s more info about it: Massdrop x NuForce EDC In-Ear Monitors.

Having penned four hundred words just Sunday, I’m not sure what’s left to say about the EDC. Nuance, I’m told, writhes and flows between the lines. As do I, a semi-frequent queuer, tuber, and threader of turnstiles. I learn to nuance the city once a month. And there’s no better city to nuance than Tokyo, the world’s largest. Like Nuforce’s HEM series, EDC is brilliantly able to shut out Tokyo’s myriad high-volume advertisements, political campaigns, and horrendous announcements. And its middlingly pretty face attracts no unnecessary attention.

Its zippered pouch keep its comply tips, silicon flanges, and cable clip, neatly away.

Let me explain a personal chauvinism. I hate the letter X. I hate it in cameras, in cars, in phones, and in Massdrop coops. The Grace m9xx -> phenomenal machine but named like a prototype iPhone killer. I’ve owned several Fujifilm X cameras; the X-Pro 1, the X-T1, and now the GFX. Each sounds like a grade school advertising assignment. X was damn cool in the 1990s. Today it’s comical. From X-Men Apocalypse, to X-Men Dark Phoenix and Gambit, this is literally the case. EDC’s single x singly triggers my personal x-rated chauvinism.

The EDC goes for peanuts. If you’re clever and want to stock up for Christmas, it’s a shoo-in for anything from a confidence booster in parallel to a poorly chosen main present to a stocking stuffer, or b-day present for your niece or nephew. It’s a 59$ that goes a long way.

Because it looks so much like the HEM2, I expected HEM2 sound. Its twisty cable is a bit better than the HEM2’s is. It takes more than baby strength to rend its cable in two. Or three. Or four. Or five. Unfortunately, looking like the HEM series means it shares the same raised, sleeved cable port, which, while compatible with most aftermarket two-pin cables, doesn’t sturdily fasten to like a flush body would. If you have a mass of expensive two-pin cables lying about, think twice before plugging them in. When properly supported, pin snaps are rare; when they aren’t supported, they’re not.

All of that is to say that, as much as I love the HEM body style, I wish the EDC could have been a bit different. And, yes, that is a foolish wish. Massdrops are aimed at enthusiast quick purchases based on predetermined volume and discount. I don’t know how many they sell in a single lot, but their mass market penetration is smaller than non-Massdrop sales, and therefore harder to clinch a design change. Massdrop and Nuforce worked with what they had, and overall, I think they have put together a palatable package.

Sound and more after the jump: