The earbud market is full of devices designed for everything except listening to music. They come with an app, an account, an AI assistant and 47 touch gestures, and the sound is tuned to impress in a shop for three seconds.
The NL25 was built the other way round. First the sound: a 10 mm dynamic driver for the bass, a separate armature driver for the treble and tuning done by Jasse Kesti's ears. Then everything else: physical buttons that work with gloves on, a charging case smaller than a tin of mints and IPX4 protection built for the Finnish year.
There's no app, because none is needed. io-tech called the soundscape the absolute top of the earbud market, and errori.net summed it up: No gimmicks, just pure sound for those who actually listen to music with intent.
Honesty obliges us to state the limits too: the noise cancelling is moderate and the battery lasts 4.5 hours at a time. If you need aeroplane silence, buy over-ear headphones. If you need music in pocket size, keep reading.
P.S. Travel a lot? Long flights go better with the big cups: headphones for travel.
