Nord Monitors V2 vs. iLoud Micro Monitors - Sound Comparison Review

Nord Monitors V2 vs. iLoud Micro Monitors - Sound Comparison Review

[@MartinSc76]

Hi Luis, thank you very much for putting this information together in such a understandable way. I watched this video almost a 3/4 year ago and it was part if my decision making process. In the meantime and after some iterative ins and outs I settled at a configuration which satisfies my needs in terms of clarity at low volumes. You gave me a happy laugh at the end of your video with your conclusion…because…I had a 9 inch subwoofer included since the beginning for exactly the reason you mentioned. Letting the two monitorscfly around in theis dpace and let the sub do his teritory. It‘s awesome when the sub starts enriching the sound gradually starting at appr. c3 and growing below without dominating. It makes things so realistic that you start feeling and smelling wood intuitively 😄😁…seriously. So again thank you for putting this out, I can 100% confirm the experience, especially the decent sub quintessence. All the best, Martin!

[@TheRealJohnHooper]

I got the iLoud Micro Monitors for my Plasma TV as Stereo speakers.. They are incredible.. Very interesting to see your feedback as a professional

[@dentReviews]

for the size and price they really are pretty remarkable

[@luisgregoriojr762]

Just bought the Ilouds micro with my Nord Stage 4 76 keys and it sounds amazing!!!

[@nomad1517]

Another great thing about the Ilouds is that you can screw in mic stands and adjust them to your preferred height.

[@DavidIzquierdoAzzouz]

Very helpful, thanks Luis

[@farronavey4661]

I want to hear what some Behringer TRUTH B3031A's sound like with your setup. Behringer vs. JBL maybe. Love your piano!

[@dmcowles]

Thanks, this was a spot on review. I have hearing loss and I really have trouble with the higher frequency on the Nord V2 monitors. I’m a fan of the iLoud monitors due to the linearity and reproduction of the higher frequencies on the piano. I would totally be interested in a video where you try a couple different ideal setups between 8 - 12 inch subwoofers that are felt and the 100 Hz drop off, and not rumblers without a cause…and possibly the Alesis setup you mention in this video. Buying a couple of sets of iLoud monitors for my TVs. For the piano setup I need a little more power than either of these setups, even for my small near-field playing experience. Loved the Yanni, keep rocking! Also, it’s almost creepy how similar my setup looks to where your studio room in this video.

[@luisdent]

Yeah, the alesis i have are definitely better, but the challenge for most will be the room. I have my alesis in a room i treated with sound absorption and diffusion at strategic points to eliminate various frequency issues. if you're in a bedroom or living room in a normal house you probably won't be lucky enough to hear anywhere NEAR what they can sound like in a proper environment. In that case theyr'e still not too expensive, but i may not recommend them for their size. if the iloud aren't powerful enough then sure. but for most people they should be unless you're using them as tv surround sound speakers or something. that would be pushing them. If your goal with the piano is to make it sound like you're in the room with a real piano, i would opt for some newer yamaha monitors or something like my alesis and a sub-woofer. I'm not up on current subs, but i have a phenomenal infinity alpha subwoofer that hits low AND accurately. but it's very expensive and large and a bit older. if you're looking for precision id look at the 10" size for a subwoofer. Not too rumbly but more precise. and it's smaller form factor. just make sure it has a graph showing good linearity and controls to adjust the cutoff frequency well. (not just a single switch). you may even find a sub with the iloud sounds amazing. the biggest pitfall of the iloud is that at louder volumes the DSP reduces the bass. but with a sub it would probably sound at least decent. for the ultimate piano setup, i'd treat at least part of the room, get linear studio monitors and a 10" sub. that would sound amazing with the nord.

[@Eranrit]

Thanks a lot for the review. Do you think if I play in my home with my nord keyboard and with a double bass and drum players (playing mostly Jazz not that loud ) the ILoud Micro Monitors could have enough volume for that situation?

[@seanivrymusic]

Theyr'e definitely not live monitors. I don't know your room acoustics and how loud you all play, but in a pinch it might work. I'd be hesitant to say yes. As you crank them up they will start lowering the bass output the louder you get at a certain point (they are only so large after all). So it depends on your expectations. If you are only putting the nord through them, with live drums, the drums would need to be tame. I mean they have decent output, but they're geared towards basic listening. my recommendation would probably be to go with their next line up (MTM) monitors or something that is rated for more output. But if it isn't your main purpose you could probably manage it and who knows, maybe if you are playing quiet enough they would work. But I wouldn't want to give you false hopes. With some people I play with I think they are capable. But everyone is different...

[@1mikechung]

Hi, I have a nord grand. Krk 6 and sub krk70s . I have a Yamaha c1s grande acoustic. Why can I never get a satisfactory sound from my nord. Am I expecting to much. I am focusing on piano sounds. What else can I buy for the amp setup.

[@9lifes979]

MA-100 adapter for the microphone stands will fit

[@nomad1517]

Take into consideration. The Ilouds are designed for artists on the go as well as for basic reference in studios. For the money, it doesn't get any better than that.

[@AngelMartinez-qs3cf]

Great review! I am torn between these two speakers. I am an Electric Guitar player who plays Classic Rock, i.e., AC/DC. i use amp modeling software like Amplitube 5, Tonex, Positive Grid Bis. classic rocks use a lot of bass. I am the iRig HD2 to connect my guitar to the software. i am using the iPad 10. which would recommend? Thank you.

[@DiamondLifer]

I use the ilouds and I play heavily distorted downturned baritones and they handle that perfectly. Very transparent.

[@farronavey4661]

They both sound good, but that obvious improvement when those NORDs were turned on is why I would choose the NORD if I had the cash. You aught to treat your ears to good sound.

[@seanivrymusic]

true, but i went with iloud because they're compact, sound great and save a crap ton of cash. :-) if the prices were equal i would have the nords.

[@romerbass2813]

Very helpful!!! Thx! What is your audio interface? Looks very interesting...

[@seanivrymusic]

sound devices mixpre 10m. it is used for all my studio work. it's overkill for just a keyboard. :-P

[@seanivrymusic]

@davidmurphy1974 it sure is. but i use it for multitrack field recordings of musicians.

[@Gump-tion]

Great video and set up. Whats the song you're playing at <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="499">8:19</a>?

[@luisdent]

the end of august by yanni.

[@Gump-tion]

@@luisdent Thank you. I've just purchased the Nord Grand and ordered the Nord monitors. Not sure I'll keep the speakers tho, but wanted try them out for myself.

[@pfjan]

Hi! I have a spectific question, I don't know if you'll have the answer here. I'm currently transforming an acoustic piano (upright) into a piano shell for my nord stage 3. I would like to keep the sound board and the chords of the piano, as well as esthetic reasons than acoustic reasons (chord resonance). What do you thing about using iLoud Monitor "embodied" into the piano shell to get my Nord amplified (not on the top of the piano, but into the piano) ?

[@dentReviews]

it would make the sound muffled. part of what makes a piano tone is the cabinet the soundboard is in. that is already what the nord is reproducing. so putting a relatively accurate reproduction of that "in" the piano will just make it sound weird and muffled.that best you could do is maybe cut fake "filters" or holes into the piano and place the speakers facing through them out of the piano if you didn't want to see the speakers.

[@Radaep1]

Thanks for that.

[@musem6006]

Nice! You still demo Yanni song in 2021, love your demo despite I'm no longer owing keyboard.

[@luisdent]

ha. of course! it remains one of the most beautiful piano songs of all time!

[@musem6006]

@@luisdent and sound good on Yamaha piano sample and certain musicians like Joe Hisaishi played on Steinway D is incredible listening nice. Glad that I manage to catch both of their live performance in concert in Singapore.

[@luisdent]

@@musem6006 awesome. Yeah, i have no major preference. Yamaha is sort of well rounded. steinway has a more bell like tone. my personal favorite is schimmel.

[@goncalomusic1296]

I'm thinking of getting the iLouds, I don't have any room sound treatment, so you have any other suggestions at the price they re listed? Thank you so much man!

[@dougmarkham]

Don't, they are disappointing for stage piano, especially in the bass...just awful. Try instead Focal Alpha 50 or something better still.

[@seanivrymusic]

@@dougmarkham bass will be the weakest point, although they are very accurate down to at least 60-80 hz, but bass is also where the room modes will be the worst acoustically if you are in a square room. no speaker will fix this. so if you have the room acoustics for it, you can go bigger, but otherwise, these do offer two bass settings designed to eliminate a bit of those reflections. of course alphas are good, but they're $350 each! not a good comparison. maybe to the nord, but not to the iloud.

[@helsinkioslo836]

I can hear the sympathetic resonance on nord. The ilouds got a bit too much on the low mids.

[@luisdent]

that is the room acoustics coming into play. the iloud have a bass adjustment on the back that could help. but in a decent room the nord monitors have a lot more bass and fullness. But the iloud could easily sound boomy and mediocre if the room mode/reflections are working against them... you can try moving them farther or closer to the wall and switching the desk mode bass eq oni the back and you might get a better response. just some ideas.

[@colesweet8478]

Please tell me the song that you're playing at <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="207">3:27</a> I absolutely have to know it's beautiful

[@seanivrymusic]

merry christmas mr. lawrence by ryuichi sakamoto

[@michaelasselin5425]

Not 400.00 worth of difference. For my money iLoud sound great. I’ve had iLoud speakers for my Nord stage 3 for around 3 years now and they still sound wonderful. Great for home or small studio.Thanks, Great video

[@dentReviews]

agreed.

[@AnomieDomine]

What about when they're $250 for micro and $500 for MTM pair like the current sale?

[@Jazzcat1980Rip]

I was wondering if you also tried the iLoud MTM 100 Studio Monitors. The equalizer is more robust vs the 40 Watt unit.

[@seanivrymusic]

i have not tried those.

[@tedturner03]

Night and day!!!!! The first set (Iloud) sounds like the sound is stuck in a plastic box! Nords - OMG! Getting them!!!

[@luisdent]

at louder volumes you can definitely hear the difference in resonance from the plastic vs particle board/metal. at low to medium volumes it isn't noticeable. so it would definitely make aense to get a better monitor for a large room or where loudness is needed..

[@semihonyer1128]

Hi, is it possible to connect Nord grand directly to IK iloud as STEREO? And how? Thank you

[@luisdent]

yes. the ik loud have a 3.5 input as well as rca inputs. the easiest eay is to connect the nord headphone output to the ik loud with a normal aux 3.5 cable. you just need an adapted to make it 1/4" for the nord headphone. or you can use a 3.5 to 1/4" stereo cable to connect the ik loud to the nord left and right outputs. the benefit of this method is that you can always simple leave the ik loud off and use headphones with the nord. otherwise you need to constantly swap between the headphones and ik loud if you use the headphone jack...

[@semihonyer1128]

@@luisdent thanks very much. How can you connect sound card without Bluetooth as stereo? Is it sane way as you suggested 3.5 to 1/4" stereo cable?

[@luisdent]

@@semihonyer1128 most normal soundcards will use this, yes. but you would just need to checm your soundcard outputs.

[@semihonyer1128]

Hi again thanks for information that you gave. I bought IK iloud today. But When I open it there is “FISSSS” noise. I recorded a video. May I send you for compare and take your idea? How can I send the video of noise, mail?

[@luisdent]

@@semihonyer1128 the most likely cause is a bad cable or the audio output. are you using the basic audio output of your computer? try plugging the ik into your phone, or use Bluetooth to connect to them. if that works it is the computer output. if the bluetooth works but the phone with cable doesn't it is the cable. if none of them remove the hiss it is the speakers or a power problem.

[@LibertyWarrior68]

What is the song you play at <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="198">3:18</a>?

[@seanivrymusic]

merry christmas mr. lawrence by ryuichi sakamoto.

[@martinekman]

What song do you play at <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="308">05:08</a>? Some movie right? :)

[@luisdent]

forrest gump... feather theme

[@martinekman]

@@luisdent Thanks! No I can sleep at night! :)

[@ericseuberth]

Hey there, thanks for the video! I just got the nord piano monitors and it hisses. Do yours the same? You would really help me out here.. Greetings from Germany

[@dentReviews]

it shouldn't hiss. are you connecting the nord monitors directly to nord piano? are you using the included cables? do you have any devices next to the cables that also have power running alongside the cables? Make sure you don't have any cell phones anywhere near it. sometimes cell phones can interfere with speakers. Make sure you don't have any severe boost with the EQ on the Nord Piano either Make sure the treble in mids aren't super boosted.

[@ericseuberth]

@@dentReviews Thank you for your fast answer!! 🙂 Yes, I do and I only use the included cables. I also put the speakers in the bedroom where are almost no other interfering devices - and it is still hissing. Even when they aren't connected to the nord.. Guess, I will return them and go for new ones - in hope they won't come with the same issue. Thank you very much! Eric

[@DiamondLifer]

You can actually hear his hiss in this video. 😂

[@luisdent]

@@DiamondLifer my video? there's no hiss from either speakers. if you hear anything it's because i'm recording the room itself. the a/c, outdoors, whatever... but if you hear hiss in yours there is either a problem, the speakers are too loud (turn the source up first not the speakers) or you are getting interference. Also, most powered speakers in general will have noise if you get right up close to them that sounds like amp hiss. unless they use a gate or some processing to remove it...

[@ericseuberth]

​@@luisdent That's what I thought. In my case you could hear the hissing noise not just if you get really close to it. It was there and it is disruptive when you play softer.. Update (a few weeks later): I tested four different speakers (all nord piano monitors, all from Thomann) and all of them had the same issue - the hissing noise. One of them also had a little, I don't know, "sizzle". So In conclusion: I won't go for the nord monitors. Thomann told me, they spoke with nord and they said it's just normal. So anyone who got no hissing nord piano monitors is just lucky, I guess... I bought it four times in total... what a waste of time.

[@osk36190]

What song you play on <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="196">3:16</a>?

[@dentReviews]

merry christmas mr lawrence by ryuichi sakamoto

[@jgsky]

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="287">4:47</a> what song?

[@luisdent]

feather theme from forrest gump by alan silvestri

[@jgsky]

@@luisdent thank you!

[@taurus3973]

The Ilouds are far more pleasant to the ear. Considering the price difference that was a bit embarrassing for the Nords.

[@kukurei]

How did you connect iloud

[@luisdent]

The iloud uses rca to 3.5mm connection into the nord headphone output. Theoretically it could sound better from the 1/4" outputs, but the difference in real life was negligible. Both output sounded practically identical. More than good enough to show the difference in speakers.

[@kukurei]

@@luisdent thank you. Im planning to get this. How do i connect the left and right of the speaker?

[@luisdent]

@@kukurei the headphone output cable goes into the left speaker via two rca plugs. The two speakers are connected together with a cable that comes with the iloud.

[@kukurei]

@@luisdent thank you very much. O can also use a 1/4 to rca adapter correct?

[@luisdent]

@@kukurei yes. If you use the nord 1/4" output you can attach two adapters to make them rca into the iloud.

[@toplespecah666]

Kevin kern

[@dennispena5496]

omg...i used to know how to play that Ryuichi Sakamoto song.... =_=

[@matrixate]

Just from the audio...right away I can tell you...they're both sufficient. No need to compare. They're both good enough. I would pick neither though...just for the record. I don't do little speakers because there's no way in heck you're going to be able to mix subharmonics. So, for that reason, I would pick neither. I just wanted to see your comparison, not that I need these. Good demo my guy.

[@luisdent]

yeah they're not perfect monitors of course, but for the uses most will use them they excel and are an impressive size/value proposition...

[@johnwinchester8537]

What speakers could be suggested better than in the video? I'd wanna take a look might save up money for something good that I can use for a really long time.

[@luisdent]

@@johnwinchester8537 if you have the acoustic space for them, alesis makes some excellent relatively affordable monitors with a very good frequency reponse and much more clean power... i use he mk2 bi amp monitors. if i bought something mpre current I'd probably get a yamaha and base it off my budget. the hs7 is excellent for about 300-350 per speaker. if you want some better, it depends a lot on your space, but there are higher models. I'd look for a flat frequency reponse, low distortion, and inputs as the main factors. reviews would usually point these out...

[@LibertyWarrior68]

The Nord sound better.

[@seanivrymusic]

they do, but the ilouds are very very good and a lot cheaper. :) if price doesn't matter, the nords are nice.

[@ZyroPapuchon18]

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[@AnthonyBencomo]

I wasn’t sure but now I’m convinced you live in Willy Wonka’s Chocolate factory and make music for him

[@luisdent]

come with me... and you'll be... in a woooorld of pure imagination...

[@frankhor]

iLoud Micro Monitors are anything but linear. I'm definitely surprised with your description of linear sound coming from a "Pro musician" when the low frequencies are definitely NOT linear at all. The low frequencies of the iLoud Micros are definitely exaggerated and the port noise at low frequency is definitely a flaw in the design. This is my honest opinion since I own a pair myself.

[@dentReviews]

i talked about the low end. a) they don't extend well into sub bass. b) a lot depends on room acoustics. you can find measurements online and the response is indeed very flat down pretty low assuming your room, desk, etc. aren't skewing the response. they even include a pretty useful set of switches on the back to counter desk bass modes from reflections on a desk surface and one or two low or high eq shelves. i have them in a decent room, and whilethe bass isn't perfect by any means, it is very very respectably for the size and price, everything above 100hz for me is very linear. I'd make sure you aren't experiencing any weird room mode issues, etc. but don't expect flat 20hz bass. never claimed that. :-P but i stand by my impressions and will reiterate to anyone buying any speakers that the room is more important than most speakers. so you may still benifit from a high end speaker with a good resposne, but you won't hear nearly what it is designed for without a proper acoustic environment. anyhow, check out some online resources and you can see they measure very linearly overall...

[@frankhor]

@@dentReviews I'm a realistic guy who undertands studio monitors well enough to know limitations of each brand and model in the studios for my music work but iLoud does NOT sound linear at all. Considering your claim that your room is decent then I'm speechless because there's completely no acoustic treatment in your room for this video, with the iLoud monitor sitting 1+ inches from the wall. Well, at least my wall have acoustic panels to even out the reflections of standing waves and I'd still tell you that the iLoud Micro Monitors are NOT linear at all. I'm not one person who totally rely on what people measure because I trust my own ears enough to know when something doesn't sound linear through the years I work in the studios. I will assess the sound through my ears and later do measurement to verify what I hear in order to correct the flaws. For your information, the iLoud is NOT only non linear below 100Hz but also at the mid to high mid area. Do you realise that the iLoud also produce an annoying port noise around 60Hz region or lower??? Heck, even if you do a -3dB LF cut, it still does NOT sound linear. In the future, if you want to do a review please don't base your review on measurement charts online. Use your OWN EARS and use YOUR OWN measurement equipment and measure them yourself so as not to mislead your audience....the iLoud Micro Monitors are definitely not linear at all and I certainly have doubts with people who claim that the iLoud Micro Monitors are linear sounding.

[@dentReviews]

@@frankhor to each his own. i was comparing them in a typical setting for use with a keyboard. and primarily comparing the differences with the nord monitors. i have another pair in my office and i also have a pretty well treated studio attic with absorbers and careful acoustic treatment. i believe your claim about them being non linear is sinply not true. as I said, for the price and size they are excellent. if you diagree that's ok, but i have heard many studio monitors in and out of treated studios. and while these are not as good as a full range monitor of good quality, they are closer than I'd ever have expected given the limitations mentioned. no offense, but i trust my ears more than yours, as i have no idea what your impression of neutral is. espefially when they show to be linear, backed up by measurements. but i digresss. you are free to doubt me if you'd like. have a nice day.

[@frankhor]

@@dentReviews Well I guess you don't exactly understand what neutral means then....never mind.

[@dentReviews]

@@frankhor i guess not. thanks for clarifying. :-P