Overview

The TOZO NC9 Pro are a remarkably small and comfortable true wireless headphone, with excellent performance considering their price. At a street price of around US$49, they offer good sound, active noise cancellation, an app with EQ and other controls, they're excellent value. They aren't trying to compete with flagship headphones, but they offer an impressive feature set for the money. The NC9 Pro support Bluetooth 5.3, and have an IPX6 rating.

This is an early review, which will be updated in a couple of weeks.

Comfort

Comfort is one of the biggest strengths of the NC9 Pro. They're relatively small and sit neatly in the ear without pushing against the concha, the bowl-shaped part of the outer ear. That makes a significant difference for me, as larger true wireless earbuds can become painful after relatively short periods. The NC9 Pro are much easier to wear for extended periods than much more expensive models.

Sound Quality

The sound quality is impressive for a pair of earbuds at this price. Bass is strong and enjoyable, while the midrange has good clarity and quality, making vocals and other instruments easy to follow. The highs are somewhat recessed, but not unpleasant, and a little equalization can bring them up if you prefer a brighter more detailed sound. The overall sound signature is different from the Golden X1, but the general quality is fairly close. For everyday music listening, podcasts and other audio, the NC9 Pro sound considerably better than their price might suggest.

I haven't had a chance to test the microphones yet.

Noise Cancellation

Noise cancellation is an improvement over the Golden X1, particularly with steady sounds such as air conditioning and the drone of an aircraft. It's less effective against more variable sounds such as cars passing nearby, and while it's not the best noise cancellation on the market it's certainly better than having no noise cancellation at all and it does well for the price.

There's a separate wind noise reduction mode that works effectively outdoors, even in windy Wellington. Unfortunately you have to run the app and manually select wind noise reduction, it can't be selected from the earbuds themselves, which is the same as every Tozo earbud I've used. Having two separate noise cancellation modes is less convenient than having one system that handles both types of noise, but the wind reduction is useful when you need it.

Usability

The NC9 Pro are generally straightforward to use, with the TOZO app providing access to EQ, noise cancellation and other settings. There is, however, one particularly odd annoyance. When you open the app, sometimes TOZO displays advertising for its other products before you can get into the app itself. This is unusual for a manufacturer's headphone app and is especially frustrating when you are simply trying to change a setting - and with wind noise cancellation only accessible via the app I do need to start the app reasonably often.

The earbuds case has a small display. I'm not really sure what it's for, given most people will pair the headphones with their phones. I found it so small that I could barely see it and turned it off. Fortunately, once the display is turned off, it stays off, so you can simply use the app instead.

The touch controls work well, but there is not much scope for customization of buttons. This is one area where the NC9 Pro feel more budget-oriented. I would prefer to see more configurable controls and the ability to switch on wind noise reduction directly from the earbuds.

Summary

At around US$49, the NC9 Pro offer excellent value. They deliver good quality sound, useful noise cancellation, excellent comfort and a surprisingly capable feature set for the price. You do make some compromises, particularly with noise cancellation performance and control flexibility, but I think those are reasonable compromises at this price. The NC9 are comfortable, capable and inexpensive, making them a very good all-round option for everyday listening.