Did anyone else see that video where a youtuber pwned Noble Audio's savant? Link?

If you don't know the video - there was this video on youtube where this guy takes the Noble Audio Savant apart and shows that it contains only 2 drivers, two cheap Knowles drivers, a basic and stock (not at all sophisticated) ohm resistor functioning as a cross-over, and some stock filters. His argument seemed to be that this was a cash-cow for Noble Audio, since it only costs like $50 to make.

I can't find it by searching for some reason

I have a friend who wants to buy a Noble Audio IEM, and I want to send it to him. I've always felt that Noble Audio was overrated and not as good as JH Audio.

 

n/m found it. looks like it's private now.

https://www.reddit.com/r/headphones/comments/3nqc19/noble_savant_teardown_thoughts/

 

Some of us have already talked about it; the discussion starts here.

I saw the video. I'm glad Luke did it, but the way he did it makes me question his motives and I partly disagree with his conclusion.

I strongly suspect Luke's right that Noble is overcharging for the Savant, but in the current market it's by nowhere near so much as he contended. (One might argue that they're undercharging for their other IEMs, which gives the false impression that they're overcharging this time. Not that I believe that.)

Noble made a mistake. They can charge whatever they like, but they ought to be honest about the internals. You can only get away with hiding the drivers and dressing it up with gold screws once. I still like them and I hope they don't do that again.

 

There were photos in and around this page of the HF thread:

http://www.head-fi.org/t/684787/noble-audio-the-wizard-returns/15045

http://cdn.head-fi.org/9/9a/9a8a95cd_IMG_5081.jpeg

http://cdn.head-fi.org/6/6b/6b3af581_IMG_5082.jpeg

 

Anybody weirded out by watagump and his incessant obsession with noble

 

The guy who made the video, I guess just wanted to reverse engineer it. He has started working on CIEM and made few.
He was in diy thread and asking for crossover and how to work out crossover and values for low pass and high pass and component values.
Bot sure how he made those CIEMs.

 

This is nonsense on every level.

"Overcharging" compared to what? The notion, that has been abroad in headphone enthusiast circles for as long as I can remember, that charging more than BOM cost plus a tiny markup is gouging has always been profoundly stupid, and it is no less so today. This isn't the right forum for a detailed discussion of microeconomics, but suffice it to say that when a product is flying off the shelves (as the Savant seems to be) at full retail, common sense says it's not overpriced.

How has Noble been "dishonest" about the Savant? Show me the precise statement, on its website or elsewhere, that you find misleading.

 

That's easy. Noble REFUSED to disclose information about their product that their customers wanted to know, and it turned out that this information would have made the Savant look bad and reduced sales. Of course, I'm referring to the fact that it had a mere two drivers. And never mind the fact that they were stock drivers from digikey, using stock filters and a stock ohm resistor. I'm not saying Noble should have disclosed this additional information, but they should have disclosed the fact that it had only two drivers.

 

It just shows you that Noble will use smoke and mirrors when marketing their product; that they will withhold information so as to boost the likelihood of placebo effect.

 

They aren't required to give any information on their products, if you want to go that route. The fact of the matter is that people are enjoying them at the price offered. Knowing what is inside them should really mean nothing in terms of enjoyment.

I like Luke, I don't know if his video was a slam against Noble. I felt it was just an informative video in regards to what went into them and potential cost of creation.

 

I watched it when he posted it on reddit, with no dog in the fight, no interest in buying Noble or any other IEM, just for entertainment. I don't remember every detail but it was really interesting seeing him price all the components and explain what each part would cost with bulk purchasing, assembly...etc.

I didn't perceive it at all as an attack against Noble, nor even as a cautionary video against buying the Savant. He was really level headed about the whole thing and seemed to just genuinely be curious about what was inside the Savant

 

That's not true. I guaranty you that if Noble contacts all Savant buyers, tells them that the IEM only has 2 drivers, and offers a refund or exchange due to the omission -- tons of Savant buyers would take them up on that offer.

 

If people were to lessen their enjoyment of a the Savant after learning it's only a dual driver then those people are superficial and insecure. Driver number doesn't matter, the sound does.

 

I totally disagree. It's not your place to tell people what features they should want to pay for. You should disclose the features and let them decide if they want to pay for it. It's like selling someone a $10,000 bracelet, that looks like it was made of gold, and then having someone take it apart to reveal that it was just goldplated, and then telling the customers that they're insecure if that matters to them.

There is a huge huge amount of placebo and imagination in the headphone community. That's just a fact.

 

Ehhhh, if someone buys something without adequate information, whose fault is that? If I need some information to make an informed decision and for whatever reason the vendor can't or won't provide it, I simply don't buy it. If I went ahead an purchased something without the information to make the decision and ended up disappointed with it, I'm not sure who I'd have to blame other than myself.

Oh, and I actually have a Savant. I didn't much care about the number of drivers (I still like my ER4S which only has one driver). I'm sometimes in the mood for the Savant, sometimes, I'm not. But I don't consider it bad and I'm not disappointed with it. Honestly I prefer them to a number of more "sophisticated" (assuming that you subscribe to the more drivers = more sophisticated theory) earphones like my Westone 4.

Rob

 

If the customers asked the manufacturer about the specific bit of information and the manufacturer refused to tell them, that the manufacturer's fault.

There were tons of messages wondering how many drivers it had and most people speculated at a minimum four and probably six. Numerous people asked Noble according to those post and Noble refused to tell them.​

 

Hasn't the BS in this thread gone on far enough, especially out of @proflitoto? Drop it already, you are not an expert on Noble customer psychology, nor work for any significant audio company to be an expert in pricing policies. You are also not a IEM designer and have no clue what sounds best.

You even mentioned that people thought Savant had four to six drivers per side, so clearly people have no way of telling how many BAs are used, and it is entirely a dick massaging act to have more drivers per ear.