IEM discussion thread (Part 1)

IEMs / Other In-Ear Monitors (IEM)
1109

Yes it is. There are already some reviews on youtube and other audio reviewer websites.

1110

How are they? It seems that one is best for bassheads from what I am seeing so far.

1111

Yeah really curious if itā€™s good or not, seems like something like that would be super hit or miss

1112

I donā€™t really know bcs I donā€™t have them and I didnā€™t watch the reviews, but here are some reviews on YouTube.

1 Like
1113

Nope, doesnā€™t ship to Croatia :confused:

1114

Oh right, yeah they are not for me. Apparently they are too bassy and I am not really a fan of IEMs or Headphones with too much bass. Iā€™ll skip this one.

1115

I have the Noble Audio Sultans for two weeks on loanā€¦ first lets just say for $3k IEM Iā€™m not that impressed. Iā€™ve never been an iem guy as frankly I donā€™t like the feeling of having something jammed in my ear canal to get a seal and these bastards are uncomfortable regardless of tips. In the future Iā€™ll just stick to entry level iems, full size hps, and 2 channel.

4 Likes
1116

Yeah that can happenā€¦HPā€™s = Hot spotā€™s, Clamp force, Weight, Pad contact issues, etcā€¦IEMā€™s have similar issuesā€¦some work for you. some donā€™t :man_shrugging:

$'s donā€™t always = comfort or work with your sources (synergy) etc, that rings true through and through with this hobby lol.

5 Likes
1117

What source did you end up using with them?

Personally I wasnā€™t an iem fan until recently when I found the right tips with my Moondrop SSRs and also my graces which are now my favourites overall

1118

Iā€™ve tried directly from iphone, from FiiO x7, and from my HP setup Holo Spring KTE ā†’ Holo Mammoth KTE (pentacon adapter). They scale a bit with better sources but itā€™s not a great deal different.

Fitment is an issue just like hotspots but with that aside I just donā€™t think the SQ is all the impressive per $ invested; just my initial take. Iā€™ll see after a few weeks if they get any better after I get adjusted to them.

2 Likes
1119

Fair enough, tbh Iā€™ve not heard lots about Noble audio stuff. If I was to look at that price range of IEMs Iā€™d be looking at something like the Rhapsodio Infinity Mk2s, but Iā€™m a while off that sort of price range personally :sweat_smile:

1 Like
1120

You need to tip roll, getting a good pair of tips is essential to get the most of the iem you are using.

1 Like
1121

I guess that inverts some whatā€¦low $ Iemā€™s totally destroy low $ HPā€™s on everything audio imhoā€¦Mid tier thingā€™s get a bit more complicatedā€¦sound stage vā€™s detail and imaginingā€¦higher tier suff then itā€™ll come down personal sound presentation preferences and your systemā€™s synergy with your HP and IEM sets.

1 Like
1122

Honestly Iā€™ve heard similar opinions from those who have tried the sultans as well. It looks neat but personally noble for me at least hasnā€™t really put out much with a compelling value proposition, but I havenā€™t heard the sultans yet so canā€™t comment there. Curious on your longer term impressions though if you continue to listen :+1:

Also yes try out other tips, that can really help both fit and sound, but if you canā€™t stand having something in your ear iems just donā€™t make sense lol

1123

you guys have some favorite tips that you use as suggestion that I can go put in an order for?

1124

Top 3
Final Audio Type E
Elecom EHP-CAP20
Radius Deep mount

The rest are in my database if you are interested.

4 Likes
1125

I will add that for me no 1 for comfort is the Xelastec, no 1 foam is the tripowin grooves one. Also for sound the epro horn shaped tips are good as well, adds to the mids/vocals. I like alot of the same ones listed above too. :smiley:

2 Likes
1126

Would be awesome if you could throw in your own data in those FR comparison tools to compare. Iā€™ve been playing around and I think my preference would look something like this:

Wardy's preference
Wardy's preference1678Ɨ669 28.3 KB

I want the FH3 and the FD5 to make a beautiful baby:

  • The cable of the FD5
  • The vents of the FD5
  • The shell of the FH3
  • The subbass of the FH3
  • The bass of the FD5
  • The mids exactly between the FH3 and FD5
  • The treble of the FD5

EDIT:
And of course a 2-pin :slight_smile:

3 Likes
1127

Thanks all for the suggestionā€¦ I have some Final Audio Type E tips coming in this weekend so will give them a roll.

I also tried all the tips that came with the Noble and none worked for me (probably a dozen types). So I went through all my TWS ear buds and my cheaper IEMS and trying those tips now. Getting much better results and a better seal (although not perfect).

It does seem that the stems on the sultans are extra thick to mount the tips so itā€™s literally stretching out the silicone. I have rather small auditory canals so this is a bit problematic for pure comfort.

Needless to say for $3k itā€™d still be a pass for me to this point again only 24 hours in.

Also thinking about picking up one of these to test with the xlr outputs on my ampā€¦ I assume this will work with the standard 2.5MM balanid termination on the sultans.

1128

Wait until you get better tips before you come to a conclusion with them.

Radius deep mount or Azla sedna earfits are probably the best tips when you just want the damn thing to seal.

2 Likes