Massdrop Nobel X Earphones

This story originally appeared at InnerFidelity.com

Dag nab it! I got so busy last week with the Focal Utopia measurements that I neglected to get the new Massdrop Noble X measured and listened to for a quick report before the drop. Sorry about that.

The Massdrop Noble X is a dandy dual balanced armature driver in-ear monitor. The $249 IEMs come with five different tips, a cleaning tool, and a small cylindrical plastic carry case. A Lightning cable is available separately for $40!

The sound is polite and mildly warm. Bass is modestly boosted and bleeds slightly into the mids. The the presence and low treble area from about 1kHz to 5kHz is a bit low in level giving these cans a laid back and somewhat distant sound. The treble regains sparkle from 5kHz to 12kHz, but drops off in the very top octave reducing the sense of air a bit. Overall, it's a pleasing, mildly warm IEM without any offensive treble issues...and a pretty darn good deal at $249.

My only caution would be for those with small ears or ear canals; the headphone snout and tips are a little on the large size for me. I've got rather small in diameter ear canals and one has a hard turn in it. I did have some troubles with all but the larger foam tip. Too bad, because evidently this earphone is somewhat sensitive to which tips are used. I suggest those interested in a deeper dive check out this Nobel X thread on superbestaudiofriends.org.

Less than 100 left, you can check out the Massdrop here!

Ed Note: My apologies to Noble for misspelling the company name. It's been corrected in the post, but I can't change the title unfortunately.

Measurements

Click on graphs image to download .pdf for closer inspection.
COMPANY INFO

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