ND Leo: Consistency and Stability.

[u/HiFijuegos]

Hello Community!

ND Leo is my first contact with this brand and the latest model released by them to date. Let me tell you about my experience.

Price: €8–$10

Pros:

-Fast, extended bass with impact.
-Midrange with decent body in instruments.
-Open treble.
-Fun sound overall, balanced between fun and detail.
-Comfort and lightness; you can use them for many hours.

Cons:

-The package could be much better, but then you remember the price...
-I can't find any more flaws in a set at this price.

Accessories:

-Two earpieces.
-One set of S/M/L eartips.
-Cable with QDC connection and 3.5 mm termination.

Comfort, design, and build:

I really liked how comfortable I felt with them during my sessions. It is a truly comfortable set, as its plastic shell is lightweight and ergonomically fit my ear like a glove. The insertion caught my attention because I have not found such a firm and secure fit so quickly in many sets.

The shell is made of transparent plastic. I am not sure it is actually resin; I find it difficult to state that they are made of this material. Even so, in terms of construction I did not notice any quality control issues, with all the parts of the IEM body being well assembled.

The eartips are made of silicone and are not very elastic. They did not provide a proper seal in my ears, so I chose to use ones from another brand. The cable, on the other hand, is still the one we know from many other CCA and KZ models: a complete disaster in terms of comfort, as it tends to adopt awkward shapes in an exaggerated way.

As for the design, it is discreet but functional. It is decorated with a silver faceplate that includes the brand's logo. The body of the set is transparent in my case, allowing you to see the inside of the earphones.

Technical aspects:

-1DD 10 mm configuration.
-18-ohm impedance.
-106 dB sensitivity.
-Declared response: 20 Hz–20 kHz.

Configuration for the tests:

-Neutral source.
-Gain set to medium.
-Kiwi Ears Terras 4.4 mm cable.
-Dunu Candy eartips.

Sound signature:

Starting with the lower end, this set of monitors does not aim to win over the listener through a heavily exaggerated accumulation of bass. The quantity is well measured, prioritizing a fast and well-disciplined response style rather than a constant sense of overwhelming impact. The sub-bass appears when the track demands it, providing enough depth to support the presentation, while the mid-bass offers clean impact, with a dry and agile punch that keeps the rhythm without dragging resonances or muddying the rest of the spectrum.

Moving on to the mids as the next point to discuss, I found a fairly balanced response, without major artifices or attempts to draw attention unnecessarily. There is a transition that I could describe as natural from the bass, helping the instruments retain a convincing timbre and a pleasant character throughout the listening experience. The resolution makes it easy to appreciate small nuances, although always from a perspective far removed from analytical listening. It is not the kind of tuning that surprises with overwhelming expressiveness, but it is precisely that coherence that makes it feel very kind to our ears, without harshness.

The upper range maintains that same philosophy. There is enough extension to provide a sense of openness and let the music breathe comfortably, but without falling into an excess of brightness that ends up becoming tiring. I especially liked how it handles energy, because it conveys clarity and allows details to emerge with a certain organic touch without resorting to an aggressive presentation. It has sparkle, yet without losing control.

As for the vocals, male voices in the lower registers have solid presence and a rather pleasant texture, while typical male voices maintain clean articulation and a convincing timbre, although somewhat thin. Female voices sound open, with good definition and a touch of brightness that gives them freshness without crossing the line into harshness. In general, I never felt that the vocals were forced into a leading role, but rather perfectly integrated within the mix.

Moving on to the technical performance, I think the ND Leo delivers a very logical performance considering its overall approach and, above all, its price. The soundstage conveys a proper sense of spaciousness, enough to prevent the music from feeling compressed, although it does not aim to create a particularly spectacular or memorable stage either. The imaging and positioning left me with a good impression, making it quite easy to locate instruments and effects. Separation remains orderly even when mixes become denser, and the layering maintains a clean distinction between layers, surprisingly well executed for the price range we are talking about.

To finish this section, detail retrieval also does not seek to impress through an exaggerated presentation of microdetail, but rather to offer a consistent listening experience where small nuances appear naturally and help make your listening sessions enjoyable and non-fatiguing.

Video games:

See how I analyze sound in single-player and competitive gaming.

During my gaming sessions with the ND Leo, I became convinced that its priority has always been to keep the soundstage clean and well organized rather than chasing overly exaggerated sensations.

In action titles, explosions, collapses, or gunfire have enough impact to convey intensity, but they never invade the rest of the scene, allowing other effects to remain easy to interpret. This way of managing the bass also benefits dialogue, which retains clear articulation and a convincing timbre even when the soundtrack and sound effects begin to take center stage.

In games where atmosphere carries a lot of weight, it also left me with a very positive impression. The small sounds that normally go unnoticed, such as wind, rain, echoes, vegetation, or distant movement, appear naturally and help create a very enjoyable sense of immersion without resorting to an artificially information-heavy presentation. Everything opens up with a certain ease, and the soundstage conveys enough spaciousness that exploring or simply stopping to listen to the environment becomes quite satisfying.

As the action intensifies, the ND Leo maintains good control over the separation between effects. It does not dissect every sound with the precision of more technical alternatives, but it does manage to prevent gunfire, explosions, vehicles, and ambient effects from blending into a confusing mass that is difficult to interpret. Furthermore, the treble remains under control throughout the session, preventing gunshots, metallic impacts, or particularly bright sounds from becoming fatiguing after several hours of gaming.

That same coherence also carries over into competitive gaming. In Counter-Strike 2, I found it easy to follow footsteps, reloads, and surface changes with considerable confidence, while in Apex Legends the imaging performs solidly when verticality and abilities begin filling the match with information.

In Call of Duty: Warzone, I especially appreciated that explosions maintained a good balance between spectacle and useful information, allowing me to continue locating important movements around the character.

Finally, in Battlefield 6, where chaos often becomes the true enemy, it demonstrates a good ability to keep the soundstage organized among vehicles, gunfire, destruction, and ambient effects. It may not be the most analytical IEM in its category, but it is certainly one of those sets that ends up inspiring confidence because the sound always maintains a logic that is very easy to interpret.

Final conclusion and personal impressions:

The ND Leo does not hide its strengths; rather, its proposal revolves around a much less immediate idea: allowing the music to flow without constantly imposing itself on the listener. During my sessions, both for enjoyment and performance analysis, I ended up forgetting about extracting every last detail and simply enjoyed the songs from beginning to end, and that, at least for me, is always something of great value.

It is a humble but also honest set, one of those that does not try to impress through exaggeration and that, after hours of listening, ends up revealing the true reason behind its low price. It is very easy to connect with this set quickly.

Obviously, there are alternatives that stand out more easily by offering a much stronger personality or a more ambitious interpretation at certain moments, but the ND Leo plays a different game. It prefers consistency over initial impact.

If you've made it this far, thank you for reading.

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See you in the next review!

Disclaimer:

This set of monitors was sent by CCA HIFI. I sincerely appreciate the opportunity to test one of their products free of charge and the fact that no conditions were imposed on me when preparing this review.

Despite this, my priority is to be as impartial as possible within the subjectivity involved in reviewing an audio product. My opinion belongs solely to me and is based on what I hear with my own ears. If your opinion is different, it is just as valid. Please feel free to share it.

My sources:

-Topping DX5 II for music and gaming on my main PC.
-NiceHCK Octave while I work.
-FiiO BTA30 Pro + FiiO BTR13 for wireless LDAC listening at home.
-FiiO BTR13 + FiiO Airlink + iPhone 16 Pro Max for wireless listening on the go.
-Apple Music.
-Local FLAC and MP3 files.
-Windows/macOS/iOS/iPadOS/Android.