Tozo NC20 PRO Bluetooth TWS Earphones Review – First TWS With a Smart Touchscreen Case
Tozo NC20 PRO is a $59 USD Bluetooth pair of TWS Earphones / In Ear Monitor IEMs, with a Smart Touchscreen Case, SDLC Technology, ANC Adaptive Hybrid Noise Canceling and LDAC support as well as long 80 hours of battery life. Today we will review NC 20 PRO and broadly explore how it compares to the market.
Introduction
Tozo has been an entry-level company that I keep entertaining and reviewing the products from because they often come with some ingenious ideas and developments, like the NC20 PRO IEMS that we are reviewing today. You can find their products on Amazon, Aliexpress and the main Tozo Store website.
As an Amazon Influencer, I earn from qualifying purchases, and using the purchase links in my reviews helps me maintain this website and Youtube Channel. Audiophile-Heaven has no Ads and our Youtube Channel has no midroll ads, and our work is supported by Affiliate Links and Donations. Huge thanks to Tozo for providing the sample for this review, in exchange for my honest opinion.
Product Link
Amazon – https://amzn.to/4pIvB9T
Official Link – https://www.tozostore.com/products/nc20-pro?variant=52025535103265
Aliexpress – https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_c3c6Ffq1
Build Quality – Design
Tozo made the NC20 PRO with the idea of creating a new pair of TWS Bluetooth earphones, but with a smart case. The earbuds use a Tozo SDLC technology driver, and they come with ANC, Adaptive Hybrid, with a promised total ANC of 52 dB.
There are 6 microphones for ANC and phone calls, and NC20 PRO supports LDAC and wireless charging, having a familiar apple-like earbud design, along with AI assistance (please don’t use it) as well as 16 hours of battery per charge for the earbuds.
WE get IPX8 ingress water resistance and HydroGuard as the earbuds are fully sealed, while using the case you can control Sound Mode, Settings, the ANC, see what song is playing and control playback as well as sound mode, set the volume, or even make the earbuds scream so you can find them more easily.
Subjective Usage
I started very dry and did not think I would like the NC20 PRO, because a lot of the features it has are pure vaporware, or at least so I thought. I love the fact that I don’t have to install any app and that I can control every single setting from the portable case, including enabling LDAC and the special sound mode, Low Latency mode. Battery life is insane, and so is the connection quality.
The earbuds are lightweight, feel a bit cheap and hollow and the touch control is not the worst, but can be annoying if you’re touchy with your earphones and adjust them a lot. Because the earbuds themselves are rather large, they have a shallow fit which tends to fall out of my ears more often than earbuds with a deeper fitting. Being the apple, straight-down style, they have a less secure fit than FiiO UTWs5 adapters or earbuds made for running and sport, making NC20 better for home usage rather than gym and physical exercise.
Connection quality is above average, while the settings are useful. But because the case needs to connect to the earbuds and update with them, for example showing what song is playing, the connection gets worse if you leave the case in a locker room and take just the earbuds for gym. Basically, you need to also carry the case where you carry the buds. The display on the case can work to press play, adjust volume, it is like a mini remote. I feel really guilty for loving it.
Touch rejection is one of the best out there, so despite the fact that I dislike the touch controls, they are not overly sensitive. I immediately disabled the detection for being worn, as I dislike that, but I mean, if you’re just using them casually it might actually be a good thing to have engaged, so if you remove one earpiece, the other pauses while you’re talking with someone.
Sound Quality
Pairings – As this is a bluetooth pair of earphones, I have paired them with my Samsung S24 Ultra, Khadas Mind 1, and FiiO Air Link. It is very stable and does not lose connection even in hard situations, but you have to have the case around as far as I can tell.
Overall Signature – NC20 PRO has a sound tuning that feels right at home, V-Shaped, sharp in the treble, with a big and boofy bass, strong impact and fast speed. Sonically, it is rather excellent, works well for metal, rock, EDM and pop music, being versatile, pleasing and fun to the ear. You can easily engage ANC from the earphones, and it does not change the sound in the slightest.
ANC Quality – Although the transparency mode and ANC will not change the sound at all, ANC is very weak, and while passive noise isolation is around 20 dB, using ANC barely increases that to 25 dB, it is one of the weaker ANC implementations that I heard, and I can clearly hear myself typing and the crickets outside, but it is a good approach I think, as it will not damage the sound one bit. I like that NC20 PRO works well for walking and even wind noise.
Bass – You will hear bass as low as 35 Hz from NC20 PRO, with a strong impact and punch, especially starting with 45 Hz, as it has around 12 dB of bass above the voice, but it is tuned between 40 Hz and 80 Hz, so it is not boomy. This being said, it is a raw impact, not bouncy, nor rounded, but rather it feels like a strong hit, strong pop sound. Bass has no added distortion at higher volumes and you can easily go for the highest level without worrying that the bass will break.
Voicing And Midrange – Voicing is natural, slightly emotional, it works really well for thinner instruments and voices. Pianos sound ethereal, guitar solos are juicy and enjoyable, while female voices are vivid and realistic. Male voices tend to sound a bit thinner and higher pitched than what I consider to be a default, but it works well for most modern music, just not Djent and Death Metal in particular. NC20 PRO has one of the most natural, transparent and detailed sounds you will hear below 100 USD, it is really good.
Treble – With a crisp and sharp top end, NC20 PRO is pleasing to the ear for upbeat music, but it is not a relaxed, but rather engaging sound. It has a bit of burr in the treble, a bit of churn and a bit of upper midrange / lower treble tinge, with a peak range around 9 kHz, and an uplift between 6 kHz and 11 kHz, creating a good treble to keep pop interesting, metal music aggressive and generally a strong V-Shaped tone.
Dynamics And Textures – Dynamic range is fairly compressed, and it brings both loud and quiet sounds to be at the same volume, but this works well for commercial music, and it feels like a radio mix which gives music a bit of extra detail and resolution. In fact, thanks to the way NC20 PRO handles dynamic compression, it has a highly detailed, resolving sound with top emotion and contrast. Texture is generally a bit fast, a bit dry, but it is close enough to natural so it never feels really fatiguing, just detailed and contrasty.
Loudness Saturation Gradient – I was surprised by how loud NC20 PRO can get, it can easily surpass 110 dB, and it has full control, almost zero distortion at max levels. Sound does not change character significantly with level, but it does get slightly more aggressive at higher volumes.
Soundstage – Staging is natural towards wide, and if you engage the Sound Mode -> Spatial Audio, the sound will become much wider, but not deeper, and it scatters voices a bit, so I feel like default music mode is best. I would avoid engaging the Low Latency mode unless needed as it heavily limits the data rate and makes the sound heavily compressed.
Value – Conclusion
Sometimes fresh engineering and a fun new product can come at a low cost, and NC20 PRO is very affordable, almost downright cheap, showing that good products can be made without asking for the earth and the sky from a customer. In fact, NC20PRO has some of the most versatile designs for a cost that’s less than most TWS IEMs we usually review, making them an excellent deal.
At the end of the day, I still feel like the smart case with a display is a bit of a pointless feature, but it is nice to know clearly how much battery is left inside of your IEMS, and with the sound, and otherwise excellent quality Tozo has for their NC20 PRO, it ends up being a fully recommended purchase, a fun little pair of TWs IEMs you can take on a walk, to the gym, and with ANC even for plane flights.
PROs
- Long battery life
- Fairly comfortable
- Good sound quality
- Good ANC
- LED display that actually is somewhat helpful
- Multiple colors available
- LDAC Support
- Tozo App Support
- Because the case has touch control, it makes it possible to use NC20 PRO without ever touching the app on your phone
- You can easily turn off wearing detection
- Display moves really fast and is snappy
- It has low latency mode
- Special sound mode is mildly useful
- Max volume goes hard, above 115 dB with no audible distortion
- The more I write and work on this review the more ashamed I am to admit that I love the case, it is brilliant and actually really useful. I dislike apps on my phone for earbuds and the case is much snappier, everything just works while all android apps are laggy even on s24 Ultra.
Cons
- Wearing detection is very annoying but can be turned off
- Touch control is also annoying but it has high touch rejection
- Dynamic compression and data compression are both present
- Honestly the only serious drawback is that the company is not yet established with the audiophile crowd and you will likely miss this one, yet it is a really good product
- Some users mention that it is hard to get the earbuds out of the case, but I find them easy to get out, yet hard to put back into the case
Product Link
Amazon – https://amzn.to/4pIvB9T
Official Link – https://www.tozostore.com/products/nc20-pro?variant=52025535103265
Aliexpress – https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_c3c6Ffq1
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Full Playlist used for this review
We listened to more songs than those named in this playlist, but those are excellent for identifying a sonic signature. I recommend trying most of the songs from this playlist, especially if you’re searching for new music! The playlists are different for Spotify, Tidal and Youtube, and based on the songs I enjoy and are available on each!
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL_cjBXGmwSHSdGcwuc_bKbBDGHL4QvYBu
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5J3oloz8Riy9LxEGenOjQ0?si=979ba4f082414be7
https://tidal.com/browse/playlist/330fd544-8e5b-4839-bd35-676b2edbb3d5
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