boAt held its first-ever tech launch event last month where it unveiled the Nirvana 525 ANC. During this event, the company made a lot of noise for these neckband earphones and even showcased some of its notable features like Hybrid Active Noise Cancellation in a special booth. But is it overpriced at 2,799 INR (roughly $34)? And do the world’s first Dolby Audio-powered neckband earphones actually sound good? Find out in our comprehensive review to see if they’re worth the hype.
What’s in the Box?
The hearables arrive in a surprisingly premium packaging box that opens up like a book. On the inside, you can find the wireless neckband earphones along with a 1-year warranty card, extra silicon tips, USB Type-C charging cable, and boAt stickers.
Design
The Nirvana 525 ANC arrives in three color options, namely Space Black, Cosmic Grey, and Celestial Blue. We reviewed the black variant, which also features red accents just below the earbuds. Since it features a neckband design, the company primarily employs silicon for the portion that wraps around your neck.
The ends of the silicone band on the right feature plastic that houses the buttons which include the volume rockers, the power button, the USB-Type C port, and the button dedicated to switching between the various modes. These buttons feel tactile and responsive and support custom mapping for additional functionalities.
The build quality won’t offer a premium feel, but the earphones do not feel cheap or flimsy at all and have a sleek look. As they offer a snug fit, you can expect good noise isolation even without ANC enabled. It was comfortable with longer periods of use as well, and the magnetic tips on the earbuds helped prevent the earphones from falling off when not in use.
But one feature that was sorely missed was the magnetic pairing feature. In recent neckband earphones, the device goes on pairing mode when the earbuds are separated and turn off when connected together. This can be found in earphones that are much cheaper, so it is odd that this wasn’t included.
Sound & Call Quality
For the Nirvana 525 ANC, boAt partnered up with Dolby to bring the world’s first Dolby Audio-powered neckband earphones. The signature boAt sound profile makes its way to these earphones as well, which basically means that bass heads are going to love this one. boAt always placed an emphasis on offering punchy and powerful bass and the 11mm drivers on the Nirvana 525 ANC delivers. Thankfully, the bass did not drown out the vocals, which were clear and stood out.
However, I found the highs of the Nirvana 525 ANC to be slightly distorted and compressed at higher levels while mids just blended in with the bass. The earphones had a one-of-a-kind sound profile, as the songs I listened to had pronounced vocals and an emphasis on bass and lows. Meaning, audiophiles might not appreciate this model, but bass lovers in India are in for a treat as the beats on their favorite tracks will have new energy in them. These were also quite loud and I rarely crossed 60 percent volume levels.
I tested out the earphones while mainly using the Dolby Audio mode out of the box. Although, you can also play around with the EQ from the boAt Wearables app. The Adaptive EQ on this app brings intelligent tests to create a personalized EQ profile for you, which is a nice feature to have. But apart from this, there are two custom presets, namely Natural mode and Movie mode. Note that selecting either of the two will disable Dolby Audio.
By default, the Nirvana 525 ANC runs on an SBC codec, so you’ll need to manually switch to AAC for higher quality. It supports Bluetooth 5.2 as well as dual pairing which is handy when switching between two different devices.
The calling experience from the Nirvana 525 ANC was solid with no issues in terms of audio clarity or connection. The ENx technology from boAt was also great in cutting out noise when in an outdoor environment. So the people on the other side were never bothered by traffic or any other jarring noises during calls. But there were times when the audio from Nirvana’s mic was muffled if the background noise got too loud.
Active Noise Cancellation
The Nirvana 525 ANC features good ANC (Active Noise Cancellation) for its sub-3000 INR price tag. As per official notes, it can lower sound by up to 42 decibels and the ANC was undoubtedly one of its strong suits. The Hybrid Active Noise Cancellation feature is powered by 4 microphones. Whenever I’m on a flight, my go-to audio product is a pair of over-the-ear headphones that feature ANC. These help in drowning out the engine sound or any crying babies on the flight.
But this time around, I tested the Nirvana 525 ANC in the same situation. Even without a track playing, the earphones made me a lot more comfortable by tuning out the noise while the ambient sound completely disappeared after the music started playing. The earphones feature an Ambient mode, which was decent but I recommend not using it on a busy street. A dedicated button lets you cycle through ANC, Ambient, or turn off both of them.
Battery
The company claims a battery life of 40 hours of battery life on a single full charge and I managed to get around 25 to 30 hours with ANC turned on. The fast charging feature is also pretty nifty since a few minutes of charging can get you a couple of hours of playback easily. I was never really worried about it being out of juice and small bursts of charging were always good enough for the day. It charges via a USB-Type C port that is housed right next to the buttons, under a protective flap.
Verdict
With a price tag of 2,799 INR, the boAt Nirvana 525 ANC may not be for everyone. If you’re looking for a more balanced audio listening experience, the earphones aren’t for you since the songs’ audio quality gets muddled at high volumes. However, boAt is cleverly leveraging the Indian market, since many in the region prefer loud bass over everything else. Just make sure to tinker with the equalizer to get the most out of these earphones.
To conclude, as I said before, this is going to be a hit with bass fans. But personally, I feel these earphones might have been a better deal if they cost around 2,000 INR. Dropping Dolby Audio might have helped in reducing cost since it isn’t too effective either.
You can get the boAt Nirvana 525 ANC earphones for around 2499 on Amazon right now.
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