Naenka Nank Runner Diver2 Pro Review – Rank my Nank, Yank
The $160 Nank Diver2 Pro was sent to us for review by Naenka and can be purchased here: https://naenka.com/products/nank-runner-diver2-pro-multifunctional-sports-headphones
A lot of manufacturers ghost us after we give less-than-glowing reviews of their products, and a few have gotten outright hostile. Naenka, on the other hand, seems genuinely interested in getting honest feedback, and despite our decidedly mixed reviews of their prior bone conduction models was happy to send on their latest, the $160 Runner Diver2 Pro.
Nicely packaged and presented, with a very pretty girl athlete on the box. Naenka has stepped up their game from the standpoint of build quality, with higher quality silicons and a more durable-feeling frame than previous iterations like the Runner Pro (review here). BT 5.4 provides for more stable connection, and memory on the inboard MP3 player has been upped to 32GB. Unfortunately, Naenka continues to place the tiny control buttons on the underside of the earpieces—they’re responsive but difficult to access. There’s a clever noise-cancelling feature which is enabled by folding the earpieces inward and which works pretty well.
Sound quality of the Diver2 Pro isn’t vastly dissimilar to its predecessors—warm, smooth and mid-forward, with a quite natural sounding timbre, but the Diver2 Pro is overall an improvement, with more midrange presence and body and better stereo spread. For all that, the Diver2 continues to be afflicted by the inherent limitations of bone conduction designs; specifically a low maximum volume and lack of much useable bass below 150hZ or so.
Utilizing the included earplugs and (esp.) wearing the phones underwater (in my case, in the tub) significantly increases low-end quantity and gives the Diver2 Pro the visceral push which is absent when worn without the plugs, albeit at the expense of some detail and instrument separation. (Note that only the MP3 mode works reliably in the water). There’s still not a ton of extension at either end; the overall effect is cohesive and free from stridency or artifacts but it’s still pleasant background listening—you won’t hear much snap in the percussion or sting from an electric guitar.
Once again, the Diver2 Pro cannot compare sonically to good open-ear models like the Oladance and Baseus, both of which are fuller sounding, louder and present sharper detail. Query, too, whether Naenka would be better served to create a new design rather than to continue to make incremental enhancements to its old one. However, The Diver2 does capably fill a niche for swimmers and for the narrow class of users who prefer this around-the-head form factor.
I can see filling its MP3 storage with Serge Gainsbourg and taking it on my next Ibiza beach jaunt; it’s a professionally executed product and a definite step forward. TBH, though, its pricetag seems over-ambitious considering its audio qualities. Here’s to future versions being louder, bassier and bolder.
We genuinely appreciate their trust.
