Massdrop x Noble X

Discussion in 'IEM Measurements' started by purr1n, Nov 21, 2016.

  1. Vansen

    Vansen Gear Master (retiring)

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    I spent years on silicone tips, too; they need to be replaced as well. Between an ER-6 and ER-4S, I had to replace the stock silicone tips offen. There's a reason the Etys came with several pairs of the same size stock tips: they fall off the earphone after a while.
     
  2. gamerstudent

    gamerstudent Acquaintance

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    Sorry I should have been more specific! I've replacead silicone tips, but only after years of use...some of the IEMS I own I've had the same tips for years. Every foam tip I've used on a daily basis I've had to chuck out after a few months. Don't get me wrong I think foam tips (esp comply) are more comfy and seal better than silicone, but the cost of replacement is quite high.
     
  3. gixxerwimp

    gixxerwimp Professional tricycle rider

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    I tried the Tx-400s I bought for my Andros, and the seal/sound was OK. But I find them a PITA to put in and if u have to pop them out for a second, it's another PITA. You have to compress them and then quickly shove them in before they expand, and then hold them in place while they expand. And when they're already warm, they expand more quickly. And I agree with @gamerstudent that the frequency they need to be replaced is a strike against them for me.

    The stock silicones are OK, but they don't stay sealed for me and I have to keep pushing them in. Tried them at the gym last night and the facial movements one makes when exercising results in a lost seal even sooner.

    Tried the spinfits that came with my Andros and the extra length makes them sound hollow with less bass. Pushing them (or the stock silicones) in deeper doesn't work cuz they immediately slide back out to a shallow seal depth.

    I have a set of fitear dual-flangers I bought to try with the Andros. Have to go past the 2nd bend to get them to stay put. Some fiddling is required to get a balanced L/R sound. but this seems to be the most stable fit so far. However, my R ear is a bit sore from the hard core of one of the silicones being jammed in so deep, so I'll have to wait a while before trying them for an extended period.
    [​IMG]

    I don't think anyone else has complained about upper-mids/lower-treble "stridency" (female vocals a bit shouty), but I tried @Bill-P's Andro trick of some HD650 foam in the ports.
    • Front port doesn't seem to do anything
    • Both ports makes seems to help a bit but bass is dead and muffled
    • Rear port seems to reduce the shout a little bit, probably placebo
     
  4. Kattefjaes

    Kattefjaes Mostly Harmless

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    This nails it. I actually really like Comply tips, they're comfortable and sound really decent, but unless you're going to be completely uninterrupted for long periods, they're a pain in the arse- removing them and reseating while warm is never quite right, and can be annoying. Moreover, it feels like when they're warm, they sustain more wear and tear during this process.

    Until the world changes and people stop doing that (what they assume is) cute "take your headphones out" gesture rather than getting the hint, Comply tips are going to be awkward :)

    My Noble-X are probably somewhere over the Atlantic/in customs, but I will initially try Spinfits and Spiral Dots with them. While they're not quite as good-sounding as Comply tips, they last many times longer, and are way easier to reseat. One or the other usually works well with whichever IEMs I'm using (though I have to use Shure-sized Spinfits for those, as they have very skinny nozzles).

    Also, Spinfits are available in lots of different sizes, so you stand a pretty good chance of getting a really exact, comfortable fit that still seals well.

    Spiral Dots eventually stretch out and start coming off the nozzles easily, so need to be replaced occasionally. Since you get three pairs in a pack, it's not that onerous to get a new pack when you put your last set on- they last some time.
     
    Last edited: Mar 30, 2017
  5. Jjwfr

    Jjwfr New

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    Yes, Noble themselves confirmed that they "should be available again soon."
     
  6. drumline1997

    drumline1997 New

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    Awesome, thank you!
     
  7. gixxerwimp

    gixxerwimp Professional tricycle rider

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    Still having trouble finding the right trips. Went back through the thread from the beginning and found some possibilities.
    Are these the ones? Shown in this review?
    [​IMG]

    Fang posted a mod for an older version of the tip to get more bass. Might try this with my fitear tips as they're a very tight fit if I want to get them deep enough. I'd been hoping for a shallow fit IEM for the gym, but if I need to go this deep with a silicone tip, it's pretty much the same as the ER4P ear-dildo I'm using now.
    [​IMG]

    Are these the ones, from the UE500?
    [​IMG]
    Even at the deepest insertion I've managed so far with the X, I haven't been able to get as much bass as Andros. Many have mentioned that they encourage turning the volume up. I'm finding that I'm doing it to get bass to a reasonable level. Either that or shelve with EQ.

    @Augmentin mentioned a rear ported bass driver. Is this port visible from the outside or is it inside the shell?
     
  8. gixxerwimp

    gixxerwimp Professional tricycle rider

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    To answer my own post :p I went back and tried the fitear double-flangers again, and for some reason they're staying in without having to go as deep as I had to before. Tonal balance is reasonably balanced too. Too bad I sent the other pair I had to @deafdoorknob in a tip swap :oops:.
     
  9. ngohieu191

    ngohieu191 New

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    I dont know if my ears are weird or not but after trying the T600 Comply, I prefer the small silicone tips. the comply tips make everything warmer but the bass is not firm as the silicone. However, the stock silicone is not very comfortable to wear, can you guys recommend me any alternative tips???
     
  10. gixxerwimp

    gixxerwimp Professional tricycle rider

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    Spinfits didn't work at all for me due to their stems being too long. The smaller of the silicone tips w/ red stems worked best of the stock tips, but the fit was too shallow to be secure. As I said above, what I ended up with was the fitear double-flange, though the insertion is a bit finicky to get both sides balanced. I made the mistake of jamming them on too deep when I tried them originally. If you get any other silicone tips to try, put them on so they're just over the lip on the nozzle, leaving more of the tip flexible to fit into your ear. That's what did the trick for me anyway.

    The larger of the 2 stock foam tips wasn't bad soundwise, as others (@MuppetFace) have mentioned earlier in the thread.
     
  11. Pyotr

    Pyotr Acquaintance

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    FWIW I had the best fit with Noble housings using small spinfits and shoving them in deep. Secure enough and stayed in, but with Savanna it made the sound darker and bassier. Not sure if thats something desirable with the X since it looks more downsloping than Savanna.

    Medium spirals also worked for a deep fit, but had a habit of slipping down too much and not staying in place. I cut a little sliver off of a hard stemmed silicone tip and stuck it on there before I put the tip on so it would stay in place. Worked like a charm.
     
  12. Kattefjaes

    Kattefjaes Mostly Harmless

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    (Caveat, very initial impressions- shipping was slow!)

    Ok, wow.. straight out of the box they sound.. decent. I see why people were mentioning the HD650, they have that mid-bassy, slightly rolled-off at both ends easy-going sound. They're reasonably resolving, and reasonably fast- percussion has some actual attack.

    SE out of a WM1A on high gain, they sound a bit subdued to me, maybe a bit dynamically flat. It sounds like there's a slight emphasis somewhere around 11-12kHz, but it's not offensive.. it just makes hats pop a bit.

    The big surprise was driving them right out of a phone- in my case, an ancient Nexus 6 (given how hard the googs have failed to ship Pixels). Straight out of the Nexus 6 with Neutron doing the upsampling/dithering, they really came alive. The sound was big, bold, surprisingly dynamic and lively- and reasonably detailed. The net effect is pretty impressive. I'd say that the Noble-X are a shoo-in for someone who wants "decent headphones" to plug into a phone for decent sound without hassle.

    Right now I'm getting the best results with ML Spiral Dots. I'll try some different Spinfits when I get home. The capsules of the Noble-X are nice and small- the stem is on the longer side, which suits my ears (Andros are too short to work for me- one day I'll get to try the CA Dorados with their monster stems). They're light, and even the stock cable seems reasonably comfortable. That said, if the cable dies, getting connectors to roll your own, or aftermarket replacements, looks reasonably easy.

    So far so impressed. They don't have the extension of my Martians and they're a bit midbassy, but they're terribly easy on the ears. I think they're a keeper- perfect for "grab and go" use when I'm only carrying a phone. They certainly smoke my old SE535 which are my usual backup option. Noble and Massdrop played a bit of a blinder here.
     
    Last edited: Apr 7, 2017
  13. a44100Hz

    a44100Hz Friend

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    Agreed with the above. I think their tuning is especially well suited to modern electronically produced music and pop. Albums with somewhat dubious mixing, like A Tribe Called Quest's "We got it from here...", whose limits can be heard on a well driven HD650 sound much more appetizing on the Noble X; definitely made to be acceptable for golden and tin ears alike.

    That said, with foam tips, the mids are the least engaging part of the sound for me, so that's why I think of these as good for modern production but wouldn't necessarily enjoy listening to 70s rock or female vocals with acoustics alone... at least, not nearly as much on a 650, though perhaps I'm spoiled. Another way to put it is that music with artificially bumped up bass and treble sounds lively and music without much extension can be sort of flat for me.
     
  14. Kattefjaes

    Kattefjaes Mostly Harmless

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    I will have to take "Knives Don't Have Your Back" and some random Suzanne Vega out for a spin, then. So far the Spiral Dots seem to have avoided most big problems.
     
  15. zerodeefex

    zerodeefex SBAF's Imelda Marcos

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    And you assholes didn't believe me. They're amazing.
     
  16. a44100Hz

    a44100Hz Friend

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    I'm a big fan of the album 154 by Wire, it's 70s/80s UK Punk, and surprisingly detailed, layered and engaging on my 650M system. But little to no emotional response for me using the X. See if you agree.

    Whereas something like the Chemical Brothers is immediately gripping on the X straight from my phone because of how well emphasized bass and reverb effects are on these. They're great for electronic music in general: Aphex Twin, HEALTH, most hip hop, or digitally mixed like Tame Impala and Lorde. But for older mastering methods my reaction is closer to "meh". I wouldn't say it's the opposite of the 650M, there's a big overlap in their Venn diagram, but I definitely prefer live recordings on the Senns and anything made in Ableton better suits the X to my ears. For me this means most music made in the 20th century is wasted on them. That said, they rock for most modern music.
     
    Last edited: Apr 7, 2017
  17. deafdoorknob

    deafdoorknob Almost "Made"

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  18. Mystic

    Mystic Mystique's Spiritual Advisor

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    Having some fit issues. So far out of the included tips, the smallest silicone tips work best, but start to hurt my ears after awhile. The foam tips are giving me a terrible seal and they keep sliding too far up the stem.

    I've never used comply before. T-600 right? As an adult male with smaller than average ear canals, would you guys recommend small or medium comply?
     
  19. Kattefjaes

    Kattefjaes Mostly Harmless

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    I've spent a bit more time with different sources now, and they still seem like decent IEMs.

    They're possibly affected a bit by OI but I can't head nor tail of that. With the tips dialled in, they sound a bit thin on the WM1A (0.94 ohms) but fine on the Jotunheim (less than 0.1 Ohm), and OK on the Mojo (alledgedly 75mOhm, but I tend to deploy pinches of salt for anything Chord claims). They make the headphone out of my Nexus 6 sound almost respectable (NFI, but probably higher than the sources already mentioned). They sounded surprisingly good at all OI settings out of my HP8 Mk.2.

    Maybe it's just that the WM1A doesn't roll off, especially in Direct Source mode, or a funny interaction with that crazy class D output stage. I honestly don't know. It's a slight effect, though- and only really noticable on stuff mastered/mixed quite bright/upper middy (e.g. "Luka" by Suzanne Vega). I'd still be able to listen to that pairing at a pinch. That's a bit of un-HD650like behaviour, at least. Maybe with some foam tips, this could be mitigated a bit, but I'm not a fan of foam tips at all.

    They don't seem overly sensitive- I have to crank the volume on the Nexus 6 quite a lot to get them to a sensible volume (perceptually similar to a measured 78dB or so in HD-25 II). The flip side of this is that they sound surprisingly good out of a desktop amp- even a couple of tube amps that I tried (HP8 Mk,2 and NBM). I didn't notice any hiss- but maybe I should try again late at night where there's more traffic and less domestic noise.

    They sounded really nice out of the Modi Multibit and Jotunheim on low gain- really surprisingly pleasant. They weren't too hot- it'd be interesting to listen to a whole album through the Jot and see if it gets tiring. They were fine out of the Mojo, fed over optical from a reasonable source, though it sounded like the Mojo stopped resolving before the IEMs did, which was a bit of a shock for $249 IEMs.

    Still no real complaints. I spent some time with different tips- it turned out I was using L rather than ML Spiral Dots before. ML didn't achieve as good a seal with the Noble-X, so bass was AWOL. Spinfits were similar, M didn't give me a good seal, but L did. I think Spinfit L just edge out Spiral Dots L on the Noble-X for me, which is great, as I have plenty of those in the box of tips. (I use Spiral Dots L on the Martians, and those funny Shure-specific small bore Spinfit L on the SE535). The relatively long stem on the Noble-X is actually a slight advantage, given the shape of my ears.

    So yes, Noble and Massdrop still smashed it. I wouldn't take them as a first choice for WM1A, but for less demanding use cases like good sound without hassle right out of a phone, they're very respectable and relatively great value. They're lacking a little extension at each end, and they are prone to being midbassy, but it's a very enjoyable ride, all things considered.

    They shame the old (and much more pricey) SE535 with their speed and clarity, too. They're good IEMs, Brent.

    (No, @zerodeefex - it's not that people don't believe you, we just want to hear this shit for ourselves and some of us didn't get advanced loaners. Totally worth the wait, though.)
     
    Last edited: Apr 9, 2017
  20. deafdoorknob

    deafdoorknob Almost "Made"

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    finding them rather easy to like, still fiddling with tips, spinfits fit well but they seem to obscure a bit of the bores... spiral dots are fine until they pop out after a bit... will try the fitear double flange later but the stock double flange are a little too small
     

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