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Accessories Review of Noble Audio Savant IEM and BTS wireless apt-X module w/lots of pics!!!

twister6

Android Expert
This is Review of Noble Savant Wizard edition IEM. http://nobleaudio.com/en/shop/universal/

Would you believe that a company, as well known as Noble Audio, with one of the most complete portfolios of 3/4/5/6/8/10 driver IEMs (Custom and Universal) recently released a new model named Savant with a clear message of “undisclosed balanced armature configuration”? In today’s premium IEM market filled with many exotic driver configurations, the actual number of drivers plays an important role in marketing and pricing of the headphones. So it made me wonder about the driving force behind “undisclosed” configuration from a company known worldwide for their acclaimed K10 CIEM/UIEM. After some thinking I came to a conclusion with a very simple explanation – CONFIDENCE!!! I’m pretty sure I’m gonna eat my words if I get a chance to test/review K10, but it takes a lot of confidence as well as knowledge and experience to prove to the world that you don’t need to have half a dozen to a dozen of drivers to make IEM sound good. Noble Savant is the living proof of it.

Noble Audio is quite an established name in audiophile world. If you ever visited any of CanJam events, various Audio trade shows, or Head-Fi community meets – there is a good chance you ran into a stand with a complete selection of their headphones, and got a chance to meet their very enthusiastic spokesperson, Brannan Mason. As a co-owner and a successful business manager of the company, he wears a lot of hats (and apparently fills in a lot of ears to make impressions during the shows!!!), and I found him to be very professional and knowledgeable in our email exchange. But despite all that, only Dr John Moulton (the other co-owner) is allowed to wear the Wizard hat because he is the one with magical powers to create Noble Audio in-ear masterpieces. To get a better idea, I highly recommend you to visit their Lookbook page (http://nobleaudio.com/en/lookbook/) to see some of their exquisite creations. By definition, Custom IEMs have a degree of customization beyond a “custom” mold fitment where most of the companies allow you to choose different material colors, finishes, and faceplates, but nobody comes even close to a caliber of exotic materials and space age finishes like these guys. It does come at a premium price, but once you see how it looks – you will quickly realize why.

Another unique feature of Noble Audio products is being able to offer most of their in-ear monitors in both Universal and Custom fitments. Custom IEM requires a preparation of going to audiologist to get a mold of your inner/outer ear anatomy, waiting for manufacturing of your earpieces, and then dealing with a fact that it won’t be easy to sell it in the future, though Noble offers a unique ownership transfer service to remold the shell for a reasonable fee. But the end result is a perfect fitment and isolation and the unique customization artwork to make your CIEM stand out from the crowd. Universal fitment requires less preparation work and no commitment in case if you want to sell it later, but the only level of customization you get with Noble is in a form of different color screws. Luckily this has changed with introduction of Savant, still having a universal fitment but now offered in uniform version and in Wizard skin. My Noble Savant (NS) review unit arrived with a unique artwork style noted as Lot 7, #10 according to their product page. But NS is not just about eye-candy look, thus I would also like to share with you about other important aspects of its build quality and sound characteristics.

Unboxing and Accessories.

Arrived in a gift box package, you can get a sense of premium quality just by feeling the texture of the box material with a swirled pattern and a glossy black "NOBLE" with their signature crown symbol. The box also had a Wizard signature stamped on the sides which added a nice custom touch to the packaging. There is no spec or any other details about the design or accessories, just a mysterious "Undisclosed balanced armature configuration", the one I have mentioned about before. With the box cover off, you will see a genuine Pelican 1010 case which contains the product and all the included accessories.

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It is very rare to see Pelican case with Universal IEMs which became a signature "case" for CIEMs. I just assume that Noble Audio is trying to keep packaging similar between all of their models to simplify the logistics. But either way, it's just a nice bonus with a superior protection when packing your UIEM/CIEM along with other accessories. For everyday use when you don't need this extra carry on protection, Noble also included a velvet draw-string pouch with a company logo/symbol. Other accessories include a carabiner clip for Pelican case, a cleaning tool for the shell, 2 rubber bands for securing external amp to your DAP, a pair of "crown" stickers with Wizard signature, ownership info card, and lots of eartips.

A cleaning tool is another accessory associated with CIEMs, and it's actually very useful for CIEM-like 2-bore nozzle design of NS, though you do have to realize that silicone eartips will keep away the nozzle from digging into your earwax. And speaking of eartips, Noble went all the way with a whooping 4 sets. You will find a hybrid red stem S/M/L set with a more springy cap (my favorite for the best isolation), another hybrid blue stem S/M/L set with a softer cap and a narrow bar across the bore opening (like in Senns eartips), a set of S/M/L dual flange silicone eartips, and another set of S/M/L soft memory foam eartips (not Comply). The correct selection of eartips is very important with NS to ensure a better seal which improves a low frequency performance and provides earplug quality isolation. I found Savant to provide one of the best passive noise isolations among other universal IEMs I’ve tested in the past.

Overall, this is a decent selection of accessories for a premium set of headphones. If I could offer a suggestion, it would be to make rubber bands bigger since they would be too tight for any modern DAP/amp combo and to use genuine Comply tips because the included ones don't have silicone core thus prone to rip.

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I typically consider a cable to be a part of the design unless if it's a detachable one. If you can replace it, might as well count it as an accessory. I'm personally a cable believer and have a collection of various silver-plated, pure silver, and pure copper cables I like to try with different IEMs/CIEMs, but in order to appreciate the replacement, you always have to start with a stock cable to get used to the original sound intended by the manufacturer.

I was actually pleased with a cable Noble included with NS. The cable itself made out of 4 separate wires/conductors, each one is thin and soft with a tight rubbery jacket, twisted in pairs corresponding to L/R sides and then twisted again after y-slitter going down to a very slim gold-plated 3.5mm connector. Y-splitter is just a clear heat-shrink piece of silicone tube and a chin-slider is another loose piece of the same tubing that slides up/down. It was a wise decision to keep all 4 wires separated and isolated all the way down to the headphone connector, thus preventing a noise coupling of a shared ground below y-splitter. My only negative comment here is a rather slippery housing of the headphone connector, wish they can use something more textured to enhance the grip.

Going up to the earpiece, you have an industry standard 2-pin connector with a slim plastic housing labeled with corresponding blue/red dots to distinguish and ID the Left/Right sides. Connector plug itself is slim enough to work even with other headphones that use recessed socket, though with Noble CIEMs/UIEMs the socket is always surface mounted. Considering ergonomics of over-the-ear cable fitment as intended by NS design, you can also find a short piece of a memory flex wire covered by plastic tubing. Interestingly enough, in comparison to other cables, this is probably the shortest piece of memory wire I have seen, but it works quite well, and I found it to be very comfortable.

As far as the sound quality goes, I will talk more about it later in my review, but to my big surprise I actually preferred this stock cable over my replacement cables. This is a perfect example of taking your time to get to know the sound signature with the original cable. Once I got used to the smooth transparent detailed sound with a stock cable, going to silver-plated or pure silver added extra brightness that I found to take away from smooth organic nature of NS original signature. To my ears the replacement cable usually offers some level of refinement, but I didn't find it to my liking with NS, thus I kept it stock-cabled. I do have to mention there is some microphonics with an included cable, but it wasn't too distracting.

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Design details.

I'm not gonna lie, I'm a big fan of Westone bean-shaped IEMs and consider them to be among the most comfortable I've tried. I never thought I will find anything to rival them, until I tried NS. They fit like a custom Universal IEM, thanks to their small shape, slick rounded body, and comfortable short nozzle. I'm dead serious when I say that with a large hybrid tips they felt like a perfect pair of earplugs that gave me a very impressive level of sound isolation, and were comfortable enough to be used even with my head on the pillow. Due to wire up default fitment, earpieces are obviously not symmetrical so there is no confusion about the sides, and the Right shell has an etched Wizard signature. Also, you can use red/blue cable dot for a quick id.

The housing material of NS feels like a typical acrylic, definitely not some cheap plastic. It's like one molded piece with the only opening being 2 bores at the tip of the nozzle. With these being Wizard edition, instead of a uniform black faceplate with Noble's crown logo and corresponding color screws, my review unit had a very distinct artwork pattern with mosaic pieces "baked" into the faceplate. It definitely added a special touch to their look where you can actually mistake these for CIEM from a distance. The Wizard touch is quite unique, but it also comes at an additional premium cost. Either way, you have a choice depending on your budget. Also keep in mind, whatever you decide will only affect the look, not the actual sound quality.

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Sound analysis.

I usually work on a lot of reviews in parallel, often testing multiple headphones and audio sources. Focusing on just one pair of IEMs/CIEMs can get you in a state of brain burn-in which can cloud your judgment, at least that's how I feel. In case of NS, while going back'n'forth with a few other IEMs, I developed a biased opinion where I literally had to stop listening to Savants in order to continue with a more fair judgment of other pair of headphones. I couldn't wait to finish my other headphone review so I can dedicate more "alone" time listening to NS because I was getting addicted to their sound.

To my ears NS has a neutral-balanced smooth signature with a revealing detailed sound that has a high level of transparency. It's not revealing on micro-detailed level but on a level of a natural organic sound where you hear every nuance of the audio presentation without ear fatigue.

Soundstage is slightly above the average in terms of width/depth, and sound itself has a nice layering effect with a good separation where audio performance never gets congested. NS sound tuning takes advantage of this expansion to its full potential where every instrument has a distinct placement in space and you can pin-point accurately the position of each.

Low end has a nice extension down to a smooth textured sub-bass layer with a modest quantity supporting a nicely balanced mid-bass punch. Low end is tight and well controlled without a hint of bloat or spillage into lower mids. The bass itself has a unique characteristic of blending warmth and smoothness of dynamic driver with a moderate speed and punch of BA driver. It strikes a perfect balance where the attack and the decay of the bass give you a more natural smooth bass timbre. It's not too fast, but also not dragging in a slow lush fashion. The quantity itself is a little north of neutral, but not too exaggerated.

Lower mids have a smooth non-bloated body, a perfect balance of being not too thick or too lean, and upper mids have a smooth and detailed presentation. Mids are organic and smooth, and still transparent and revealing without crossing the threshold of analytical harshness. I can sense upper mids being pulled slightly back, not too much and in no way being scooped out like a typical v-shaped sig. Vocal performance, both male and female, is very organic and smooth and detailed, full of emotions, though lacking a little bit of body.

Treble is nicely extended, and well under control to keep airiness and sparkle a bit tamed down. And again, there is a perfect balance where you are not going to hear ear piecing crunch of sibilance, but instead you have a high level of smooth sound definition. I heard a number of headphones that approach this sound level, but not quite hitting it on the head. And that is a reason why I can spend hours listening to NS without a slightest hint of fatigue.

While being a huge fan of replacement cables, I tried NS with pure silver ones, but ended up going back to the stock cable because I wanted to get back to a smooth harmony with a perfect balance without any sharp transient edges.

Also worth mentioning, NS doesn't require any amplification, and it pairs up nicely with a lot of different DAPs, quite forgiving with lower quality audio files, and works great with any music genre.

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In comparison to my other IEMs/CIEMs:

NS vs ES60 - ES60 has a little more sub-bass, faster mid-bass, similar lower mids, a little more upfront upper mids with more body, similar treble extension, and just a little more airiness. NS is more neutral and smoother. ES60 soundstage a little deeper but width is nearly the same, and overall I consider ES60 to be more of a reference quality with a better retrieval of details.

NS vs RE600 - RE600 sounds more neutral and flatter, similar amount of sub-bass but not as textured as NS, mid-bass has a bit faster punch, lower mids have a little less body, upper mids are not as detailed and not as natural/organic in comparison. NS upper mids/treble is smoother and more detailed. Also, after a/b comparison, RE600 vocals sound not as natural. Treble is similar, but not as smooth. RE600 has deeper soundstage. NS sound is more transparent.

NS vs DN2kJ - DN has a little less sub-bass, faster/snappier mid bass, leaner lower mids (less body) and more revealing brighter upper mids that sound harsher and grainier. DN treble has more extension, more airiness, and also more sibilance. NS is a lot smoother and with less ear fatigue during extended listening.

Conclusion.

I didn't want to spoil the surprise, but I'm sure a lot of you are aware by now that "undisclosed" driver configuration turned out to be a dual BA driver design. As I said in the intro of my review, it takes a lot of knowledge, experience, and confidence to prove to everybody that it's not about the number of drivers, but how you actually tune it. I have reviewed some other dual-BA IEMs in the past, and due to their consistent bright tuning was convinced that I shouldn't expect anything different than a revealing bright sound with a sever lack of sub-bass. Here, NS is a living proof of how far you can push dual BA config while still being able to cover the entire frequency range. I know I haven't addressed a big elephant in the room - the price of these IEMs. These are definitely premium quality IEMs, designed on CIEM level with a build quality, material selection, customized finish, and earplug-like fitment and isolation, and a very impressive sound tuning. The fact I'm comparing it to 6-driver flagship CIEM that cost twice as much should tell you how high I think of them. Of course, I can also go the other way to argue about some other IEMs that cost half of NS price without sounding half as bad. It's nice to have a choice to accommodate your budget. But once you get to the level of high quality UIEMs/CIEMs, you have to accept the fact of diminishing returns where you pay a premium to squeeze out a marginal sound improvement. With Savants, the Wizard of Noble was able to create not only the eye-candy design, but also a fine tuned UIEM with a neutral-balanced perfection that oozes smooth details.

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This is Review of Noble BTS wireless BT4.0 receiver with apt-X support. http://nobleaudio.com/en/shop/wireless/

If the magic of Wizard hat played a role in creation of Savant, I think a magic wand was used to make the Noble Bluetooth Solution (BTS) which transforms any wired headphone into wireless. The idea of such device is not ground breaking, and I have tested a number of similar BT wireless receivers in the past, with and without apt-X codec support. This BTS device doesn't look like anything I have tested because it's slimmer and lighter, and all together looks like another product from the lab of Wizard.

Though the cardboard box it arrived in looks plain from outside, inside you will find a "bird nest" with a shredded packaging material, a short extension headphone cable (about 15.5") with 2-pin connector, a solid quality usb to micro-usb charging cable, a velvet draw-string pouch, and BTS module.

Unboxing.

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Accessories.

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The device itself is very small, measuring about 60mm in length and about 15mm in diameter, and lightweight at about 10 grams. One side of the device has 3.5mm headphone connector and led, while the other side has a rubber flap that seals micro-usb charging port and hides a multi-function power/pair-up/phone button. That button is operated by pressing on the rubber flap itself. When you need to charge BTS, which provides approximate 7-8 hours of continuous playback, you just lift the flap, though I wish it would be a little tighter.

Along the side you have 3 transport rubbery buttons, shaped to be easily ID just by sliding a finger. You have a play/pause in the middle with an obvious functionality, and multi-function volume/skip buttons where short press raises the volume and long press skips the track. Phone/power button is to pick up and hang-up the calls which sound relatively clear thanks to a built-in mic, as long as the device is not hanging down by your waist. I actually appreciate that Phone and Play buttons where not shared since I have ran into a problem with other similar devices where I redial the last phone number instead of starting a playback.

Another clever design element is availability of a clip to attach it to your shirt which makes it convenient in order to keep controls and mic closer to your face. And to take it one step further, you no longer need to worry about your stock 1.2m cable and can use an included short cable instead - a great idea!

Design details.

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Pair up was very easy, and within minutes I was connected to phone and media audio. BTS also supports multi-point connection, meaning two devices at the same time, so you can be paired up to your phone (to pick up calls) and to your tablet (to watch a movie or browse YT). Once paired up, I had no issue maintaining a wireless connection for up to 30 ft in open space.

BT Pair up.

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The big question in here is how does it sound? Thanks to apt-X codec support, I found sound to be very clean and detailed, with soundstage expansion being close to the original wired performance. When it comes to a closer sound analysis, I can hear mids and treble having a very similar retrieval of details in wired and wireless modes while using Savant as my test vehicle. Everything was good except for… low end performance.

Unfortunately, when it comes to sub-bass I hear an effect of low shelf filter. At first I thought maybe it could be an artifact of some impedance mismatch, but it turned out to be consistent with my other IEM and full size headphones. Considering Savant bass is already at its neutral level, such sub-bass reduction didn’t compliment its sound performance. I’m not saying that sub-bass complete disappeared; it’s still there with its original quality, but noticeable reduced in quantity.

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Conclusion.

BTS was a mixed bag of emotions for me. I have tested plenty of wireless headphones and wireless receives to appreciate the design and the functionality offered by Noble wireless solution. This is one compact and lightweight device, almost the size of AA battery, packed with a lot of functionality. I can clearly see that a lot of thought went into its original design, and this is not another rebranded device with a brand name sticker on it. It’s easy to use, has a convenient clip, and thoughtfully includes a short replacement cable. But when it comes to a sonic performance – it falls short due to a reduction in sub-bass frequency content. This might not be a show stopper for some, but it will be for others.
 
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