Sudio has been an audio company that I have been keeping tabs for a while, I purchased a pair of Vasa Bla wireless earbuds a while ago and still love using them when I hit the gym, though the Creative Outlier Sports have been my more frequent driver recently. When Sudio asked if I would love to try out their latest Niva wireless earbuds, I was really excited to take up the task of checking it out, as I have never liked the wireless earbuds form factor, so I thought it would be a good opportunity to try without buying one. Fortunately, the Niva turns out to be a rather decent pair of earbuds, with a few drawbacks of course.
Like every Sudio products, the Niva comes in a simple packaging which comprises of the charging case, two pairs of ear tips with different sizes, and a short Micro USB cable for charging. I love the leather rope attached to the charging case, as it allows you to hang on to your bag if you want to, the earbuds stay secure in the case with a magnet, so that you won’t lose it easily even if the case accidentally stays open as you are on the move.
While the Niva’s design looks pretty much the same like any wireless earbuds you see in the market, my white color model has a pretty very nice rose gold textured button on both earbuds, though you can’t actually configure them to do different things, you will still be able to pair either pair of earbuds to your phone should you want to use them for making phone calls. Pairing the Niva is as simple as holding on to both power buttons on both earbuds, though it will actually appear as two devices if you set it up for the first time, once you get either one of them connected, they both automatically sync with each other and gives you a voice prompt to confirm that.
The sound signature on previous Sudio products haven’t been to my liking to be honest, as they tend to focus a lot on highs and mids rather than low frequencies. Sudio mentions on its website that it does put a little emphasis on bass on the Niva this time, and true enough, the Niva does tend to produce better bass response than the Vasa Bla I had when playing pop music, it also isolates ambient noise extremely well, hence it is a pretty great pair of audio gear if you are hitting a road trip or commuting in the train. Play Avicii’s “Without You”, and you will immediately realize how the Niva is able to produce impressive sound on the intro, but once you start playing songs like ‘Trouble Maker’ that has both vocals and instruments, the Niva produces slightly muddled and distorted on the drum instruments, but overall it does well in terms of clarity and sound stage.
Sudio’s claim of the Niva’s battery life is rather accurate, my music listening session on the Niva averages at 2 hours, and there was once where I was bingeing on Netflix, the Niva beeped the low battery warning after 3 hours of usage with a consistent 80% volume. The charging case holds 500mAh of juice and can fully recharge the earbuds up to 4 times in my test. What I don’t like about the Niva is the lack of a search feature, as they can easily get lost if you accidentally misplace them, but for the price that the earbuds is being sold, I probably shouldn’t be that picky.
For a first attempt on wireless earbuds, Sudio has done a pretty good job at the Niva, it is one of the best wireless earbuds that you can get for under RM500, though you won’t be getting the convenience of switching between devices like Apple’s Airpods or fitness tracking features like Samsung’s Gear IconX, the Niva is made for those who wants an immersive music listening experience without breaking the bank.
The Sudio Niva retails for the price of RM425, and if you would like to get a pair for yourself, Sudio is offering a 15% discount to our readers, simply head over to Sudio’s Website and enter the code ‘KLGADGET2018‘ at the check out page, there’s no limit on the amount of discount and you can also use it for other Sudio products.
The Good
- Comfortable and great sound quality
- Good build quality
- Reasonably priced
- Elegant charging case
The Not so Good
- No earbuds search feature
- Bass can get a little muddy and distorted when playing certain music
- Battery life may not appeal to everyone
