boAt is known for producing affordable audio products and its latest offering in the Nirvana series, the Nirvana Ivy is another such option. At Rs 3,299, these look quite captivating; you get 360-degree Spatial Audio support and it’s not even a gimmick (more on this later). So, is this the place of ‘Nirvana’ for you? I have spent some time with them to find out.
What Is Good?
- Spatial Audio support
- Easy-to-navigate companion app
- Easy-to-clean charging case
- Good sound quality
- Reliable battery life
What Is Bad?
- Unimpressive bass performance
- Slow charging
Design and Build
The Nirvana Ivy has a standard in-ear design but the charging case comes with a welcome change. The clamshell design felt more comfortable to use. Also, cleaning it is a lot easier (I have had moments of difficulty in cleaning the flip-top cases of the likes of the AirPods Pro 2). There’s no magnetic effect, though, so opening and closing the case isn’t as satisfying.
The case and the earbuds come with silver accents, which can be perceived differently. While some may find it tacky, others may consider it an ‘oomph’ factor. The build quality is decent but I won’t call it the best as it doesn’t appear premium. However, the price tag justifies this completely. It comes in White, Black, and Cyan colours. The White colourway looks classy but attracts a lot of dust.
These are aptly comfortable and have rarely fallen off my ears. The earbuds come with three ear tip options as a standard offering and I tend to use two different sizes for ears but you can choose whatever suits your needs. The earbuds also come with an IPX5 rating, which keeps them protected from water sprays and even sweat droplets.
Sound Performance
The boAt Nirvana Ivy’s pairing process is quite smooth. Pairing it up with an iPhone is also not an issue. As for the performance, the earbuds are meant to be rich in the lower ends, but this was a hit-and-miss for the earbuds. Most bass segments felt a little distorted and had an annoying thumping effect, especially when the volume was high. Speaking of which, the earbuds are loud enough and there has hardly been the need to go upwards of 60%.
| Technical Specifications | boAt Nirvana Ivy |
| Drivers | 11mm Dynamic Drivers (2) |
| ANC | Up to 50 dB (three levels) |
| Bluetooth | 5.3 |
| Low Latency Mode | Yes (60ms) |
boAt’s companion app has several EQ settings but its default one felt jarring. I was inclined towards the Balanced option, which made things much better, especially for bass-centric songs. The highs also had the same story but when it comes to the vocals, the earbuds performed fine. In fact for songs with a balanced output, the Nirvana Ivy bodes well for me. Here’s a glance at what I observed for several songs across genres:
| Songs | Remarks |
| Gula – Deadmau5 | The bass segment was distorted and so were the highs. This felt a little better with the Balanced mode on. |
| Choomantar | The overall song feels a little flat and lacks richness. The female vocals were distorted. |
| O’Meri Laila | The song is balanced and most parts feel nice to hear. However, it would feel chaotic if the volume exceeds the 60 or 70% mark. |
| Something Just Like This | The bass felt distorted but the overall song was enjoyable. The Pop EQ setting enhanced the experience. |
| Kinni Kinni | The song feels balanced but the Pop setting makes it more enjoyable while the Balanced setting makes it apt for casual listeners. |
ANC and Mic quality
The 50dB ANC mode does a nice job, as expected and easily kept me away from the voices of people talking or background noises in a market. However, I could still hear water splashes or high-pitched sounds. The transparency mode is also a good option to keep the flow of sounds, particularly when you want to be aware of what’s happening. The call quality has been nice too without noticeable muffled sounds. The audio was clear and there wasn’t any problem in communicating.
However, there was always a need to switch to the earbuds while taking calls, which felt annoying.
Spatial Audio
This can easily be the saving grace of the earbuds. While it falls flat in delivering the best audio output, the inclusion of 360-degree Spatial Audio with head-tracking is commendable at this price range. It’s easy to enable and when it does, it truly creates the surround sound experience and doesn’t feel like there’s one music stream. This is especially noticeable with head-tracking enabled when you move your head from left to right, or, vice-versa. While high-end headphones and earbuds would nail this aspect, the Nirvana Ivy does a fair job, given its price tag and will astonish many using the feature for the first time.
Companion app
There’s the boAt Hearables app, available for Android and iOS. The app is useful and easy to navigate and has tons of options. You get to change the ANC and Spatial Audio settings. The EQ settings include Default, Balanced, Rock, Pop, Classic, and Club, and these felt quite apt to me. There’s also the option to personalise the sound based on a simple test, which is quite insightful.
You can change the touch controls, enable/disable in-ear detection, multipoint connectivity (to pair the earbuds with two devices at the same time, which works well), and even look for system updates.
Battery life
The earbuds have a 40mAh battery (each) and the charging case has a 400mAh battery. The earbuds were my music companions for many days; with everyday usage lasting for four hours for six days. This is also when the ANC was periodically enabled. Even after that, there’s still juice left.
The charging takes close to two hours to fully charge but the ASAP Charge tech can provide at least an hour’s charge in 10 minutes of charging time. However, I wish the charging cables coming with the earbuds start getting a little longer.
Verdict
The boAt Nirvana Ivy is just another pair of TWS that you can easily grab for under Rs 4,000. This will suffice for casual listeners, who don’t get too much into the technicality. However, audiophiles will have some trouble, especially for those looking for a bass-heavy output. While the earbuds deliver a nice, balanced output in most songs, the bass-heavy songs go for a toss in most cases. However, support for Spatial Audio aces it all and if this is what you are looking for on a budget, the boAt Nirvana Ivy should be considered. That said, this feature alone can’t be a reason to buy these earphones.
If you want better audio quality, options like the OnePlus Nord Buds 3 Pro are better and offer good value for money.
