Massdrop x Noble X Measurements and Review (Succinct)



...the drop will officially go live on Thursday, November 24, 2016 at 6 a.m. PST.

Pre-Measurement Subjective Impressions



The Noble X is rather full-bodied sounding IEM. That is full and warm in the bass and lower mids, but not excessively so. The tuning is somewhere that would make most audiophiles and newcomers happy. Not nightclub subwoofer mega bass and not studio monitor neutral like UERM. I found that tip rolling made a huge difference in the amount of bass, more than other IEMs. The Noble X could be made into a bass monster with smaller foam tips with deeper insertion, or it could be made to sound rather mid-centric with the large rubber tips and shallow insertion. There's a healthy dose of the diffuse-field thing going on (a la ER4S) in the mids, but that's about where the similarity ends. The rest of the response toward the treble is gently sloped downwards. The Noble X includes five sets of different tips, all providing a slightly different sound. I cannot emphasize how important rolling tips is with the Noble X. I've already had several conversations with



There's a great sense of space and openness, a good level of separation, and a very good level of microdetail. It's a great entry into audiophile type IEMs where one can experience a bit of the technical abilities of the best IEMs. If I had to nitpick, the bass could be more articulate and there could be a little bit more extension at the extremes, particularly in the last treble octave. But for the price it's probably not fair to expect TOTL level performance. $250 is a no brainer if you are in the market for an IEM with this kind of tonal signature and want close to TOTL IEM technicalities.



Ultimately, I found myself enjoying these quite a bit that I didn't take them off for a while. Those who know me know that doesn't happen unless I find a piece of gear musically engaging. The Noble X is rather full-bodied sounding IEM. That is full and warm in the bass and lower mids, but not excessively so. The tuning is somewhere that would make most audiophiles and newcomers happy. Not nightclub subwoofer mega bass and not studio monitor neutral like UERM. I found that tip rolling made a huge difference in the amount of bass, more than other IEMs. The Noble X could be made into a bass monster with smaller foam tips with deeper insertion, or it could be made to sound rather mid-centric with the large rubber tips and shallow insertion. There's a healthy dose of the diffuse-field thing going on (a la ER4S) in the mids, but that's about where the similarity ends. The rest of the response toward the treble is gently sloped downwards. The Noble X includes five sets of different tips, all providing a slightly different sound. I cannot emphasize how important rolling tips is with the Noble X. I've already had several conversations with @Will and @CEE TEE on this because we were trying to figure out why it sounded so different at times.There's a great sense of space and openness, a good level of separation, and a very good level of microdetail. It's a great entry into audiophile type IEMs where one can experience a bit of the technical abilities of the best IEMs. If I had to nitpick, the bass could be more articulate and there could be a little bit more extension at the extremes, particularly in the last treble octave. But for the price it's probably not fair to expect TOTL level performance. $250 is a no brainer if you are in the market for an IEM with this kind of tonal signature and want close to TOTL IEM technicalities.Ultimately, I found myself enjoying these quite a bit that I didn't take them off for a while. Those who know me know that doesn't happen unless I find a piece of gear musically engaging.

Massdrop Noble X Frequency Response (0db = 100 dbSPL)

Channel matching is superb. It's always nice to see this. A bit of DF compensation (2.5kHz dump), which is necessary because IEMs bypass pinna. Slightly bassy / warm FR with gentle treble.

Massdrop Noble X Distortion (at above levels)

Here are some comparisons to other IEMs. I actually don't have any current Noble IEM measurements other than the Savant. See here for Savant measurements / impressions: http://www.superbestaudiofriends.or...ant-iem-measurements-and-review-succinct.2257 . I've also added the CA Andromeda FR since a lot of us own it or at least are very familiar with it.

Massdrop Noble X Frequency Comparison

to Noble Savant and Campfire Audio Andromeda

Green = Noble X

Purple = Andromeda

Grey = Savant

Moar Pix: