Noble Audio FokusPro Review

“What does the Noble Audio FokusPro really sound like? Are they worth my money? “

I suppose I can at least try to give to you an answer. For the $349 for this set I could get a great set of wired iems and I am very well aware of this fact. Truth is, I love an underdog, always have. Tws most certainly is the underdog and the black sheep of the audio world. I like the fact that out of this little portable pocket sized case I have a device that can replay music to my ears, whether taking a walk, working, working out or just maxin n’ relaxin in my bed. Also, I love the fact that TWS are actually….. Getting better. They come in nice little packages that can be very functional and convenient. That said, this isn’t a testament to how well tws has matured… No… This is a mini review of a set of tws that bucks the trend, or breaks the mold or whatever loose term describing something unexpectedly good. The Noble Audio Fokus Pro are not hype trains or the next new thing and they aren’t some cash grab either; but instead a culmination of great audio minds in a very successful company (Noble Audio) which set out to bring high quality audio, using high quality parts and pieces with professional tuning to the few of us willing to shell out a good chunk of change to have that quality. I’ve had too many tws in the last 4-6 years, too many to name. I’ve always wanted a set that could get me as close as possible to a “wired” sound yet in tws form. I love wired iems much more and likely always will but when I want audio on the go with richness and detail……. Noble Audio Fokus Pro.

Before I get into the review of Noble Audio FokusPro I have to add… People, I am a simple guy who loves this hobby in every form that it comes in. I am no expert and truthfully I hope I never consider myself one (that’ll never happen). I love music, it brings an element of joy to my life and I’ve been listening to the music I love for a very long time. I know what my music should sound like to MY EARS and for ME. I am not a professional and would never confuse myself with one….so….please understand I only write these for my fellow nerds in this audio game so that we can converse about what we all love. I like that part of this hobby and I love the fact that we have a platform to do that so… There’s that. Probably the biggest reason of writing a review here… It may be able to help someone out. Also, during the review part of my listening Noble Audio FokusPro I do not use EQ at all and the tips I used were Kbear 07 tips. This set does seem to need burn-in as well. I gave them a good 20 hrs of listening and about 10 hrs actually burning them in with the “1more Assistant” app.

The Noble Audio FokusPro come in a decent package. Noble provides a lil black cloth bag to put your NFP tws case inside to hopefully prevent scratches and nicks. The case which houses the beautifully crafted Fokus Pro iems is made out of. .. I’m guessing… Aluminum? They added something of a powder coating in a matte blue on black mature looking paint to the design. Not the smallest and most pocket friendly case but easily pocketable. Not too large either, it’s… Just…Eh.. Fine. Also in the package you get 3 pairs of double flange silicone tips with a wide bore and 3 pairs of regular silicon tips which are really not bad and the tips come in a handy lil tip case. They have a medium bore and pretty firm stem and flange. Enough with the packaging, this is meant to be short and simple. The NFP are a 3 Driver Hybrid iem with a 8.2mm Noble Custom Dynamic Driver along with two Knowles Balanced Armature Drivers. The NFP are using Bluetooth 5.2 on a Qualcomm QCC3040 chipset supporting SBC, AAC, APTX & APTX Adaptive codecs. Battery life is good considering there is 3 drivers with a decent 7.5 hrs on a single charge and roughly 4 more full charges within the case. The beautiful shells are a 3D printed design with some very nice artistic blue/white mixed marble looking artwork in the Face plates and the Noble Audio Logo centered all spiffy looking. Really these just POP! Just DOPE looking. Also something which cannot be overlooked is the great app that Noble uses.

The App is specific for the Noble Audio FokusPro and gives us an opportunity to change the eq with a 10 band Graphic Equalizer from 31hz to 16 kHz. The Fokus Pro react very well with EQ and the driver inside can take any amount of eq without any huge distortion within reasonable values and volume levels. Also, in the app you get a place to pick what touch commands you want; 1, 2 or 3 taps and the Noble Audio FokusPro can control everything from the Buds themselves. There is a hearing test as well to provide the best starting point for your own ears and you can firmware upgrade the NFP thru the app also. Now, you would think that the Fokus Pros would come with all the bells and whistles that we’ve come accustomed to in today’s crop of tws but… Nah. No ANC, no Ambient mode… Not even wireless charging. What gives!!?? $349 Noble!!?? They may not have ANC but the passive noise isolation at least for me is actually better than many of my tws that have ANC. Anyways, I cannot explain away the lack of features but I can tell you that this set of tws iems aren’t here to showcase the technological advances in the Earbud game but rather are here to give an “audiophile” type approach to an Ill-respected form of audio… True Wireless. I can tell you that I haven’t had any issue with calls from this set, no complaints, nothing that sounds as though I am stuck inside of a box so… I guess that’s something. There is only 1 mic on each Earbud so I can’t imagine the NFP are slaying in the phone call arena but… no complaints. What does stand out is the absolutley BOSS look of these! I haven’t seen any regular wired iem look so good. Blue on white marble with the logo looking TOUGH! No doubt these are some of the best looking iems out there, of course this is my subjective opinion.

What does the Noble Audio FokusPro sound like?…. If I would categorize the out of the box sound sig of the NFP I would say maybe they are U-shaped and nicely organic considering it is tws leaning more natural than not, even with the added BA Drivers. These are warmer than neutral with a detailed and musical approach. The NFP have a pronounced sub-bass sloping down through the mid-bass with a midrange smooth and forward and a treble which rolls off in a good spot up top without any cringy peirce. Extremely clear and with fantastic resolution throughout with a very dynamic and fun replay as a whole. Smooth yet concise. I just feel the music with these more so than other tws models I’ve tried out or owned. The sound is shockingly full, it is like you are swimming in music. Everything is full, all areas of the spectrum and nothing getting out of hand, unless you detest bass. These honestly remind me of my Fiio FH9’s. Baby FH9’s??? The fullness is so engulfing for a tws. Another great thing with this set which is unlike many tws is the fact that they get very very loud. Louder than all the comparisons I complete in this review except for the Grado Gt220. I like volume headroom.

The Bass is a Monster with this set as the Noble Audio FokusPro reach Low and with richness and they rumble my ears with absolute thunderous and volumous quantity while having control, speed and depth. I haven’t heard wired iems with as much body to the low end. The bass has very nice texture and separation as it isn’t just a mess of boom. There is separation of the bass frequencies adding texture with precise note ends. The Bass is well separated from the mids as their is no encroachment and if the bass is too much…eq it down man. I believe all tws are meant to be eq’d. No shame in that with these people. Eq away! These drivers inside can handle it and respond so well. How easy it is to drastically change the sound sig on this set and what you get is a nice sounding alteration. Anyways, bass… The bass is beautiful but can be a hair too much for me at times on bass heavy tracks. That’s the thing, the bass shows up with gusto in tracks which provide it. Again though, if it’s too much all I have to do is go in the app and bring down the lows juuuuust a smidgen and … Perfect. This set can be a bass lovers dream yet it is tuned so well that this set could be for vocal types as well etc. etc. I’d rather have too much with tws as… they wouldn’t have a built in EQ if they didn’t want you playing around to make the sound your preferred sound. The bass is compact but full, if that makes sense. Great detail and it is colored in a way that isn’t a detriment to an organic sound and the bass actually works with all other frequencies very nicely.

The Mids have presence. They sound forward with a pleasantly thick musicality. There is layers to the Mids and that is saying something for a tws which is bottlenecked tech wise. It’s almost as though you don’t hear that choking point. The Mids are like the bass… full, smooth, concise but also lush yet with good energy as notes arrive and good decay as they end, leaving room for surrounding music. The transient response is good. I know that sounds like a broad thing to say but it’s true. Male vocals are not too thin but instead they are weighty enough and sound realistic. Female vocals are emotional and forward enough to share the stage with everything else and do so with cleanliness and detail. The midrange is thick as instruments timbre is realistic to me. The Mids are nice for a wireless iem, with separation in a big stage… again… For a tws. The Mids come across thick yet they are speedy enough with realistic note ends. The resolution has to be the best that I have heard in any tws to date as well. Vocals sound very nice all around which is something I really value and to have that in a tws is great. I can’t say if these are the best vocal tws iem I’ve heard but coupled with all the other great aspects of the Noble Audio FokusPro’s replay of my Library, let’s just say that I’m impressed.

The treble shares the stage very nicely as it replays in a controlled manner. There is nothing piercing, nothing sibilant, or shouty. Instead with the Noble Audio FokusPro I hear precision within the tws template. Air is all around with this set in the top parts of the frequency. Complicated tracks seem to be no issue to this hybrid setup as the drivers and tech inside offer enough air to separate. There is a great level of resolution here and again I’ll say it…possibly the best I’ve heard from tws. The treble is just as nice as the Mids and Bass; just as weighty, just as airy and just as calculated. Cymbals strike with relative realism and aren’t splashy or tizzy and this goes for any instrument which replays in this area of the mix. The Noble Audio FokusPro’s treble region is also warmer than neutral here and there is a roll off of the top end but not to any detriment to the whole scope of a track. It all comes together and is cohesive and that metallic BA timbre simply isn’t there. Staging/imagingThe stage is pretty wide and even deep as a 3d sound can be heard in this set. Nothing is cramped in my music with the NFP. Instruments are placed as they should and every stage is met with a controlled setup. As I said before, even in complex and crazy songs I do not hear congestion. That is saying alot of how well Noble has done with this iem.

Comparisons (All comparisons with Noble Audio FokusPro will only be reffering to Sound Quality alone… all I really care about)These comparisons were done with iems I feel are close in Sound quality for less. However you could skip this part and just know… Noble Audio FokusPro wins. There are many tws iems you may think should be in this comparison. I have tried many of the top tier tws for SQ but not all of them. I can only speak on what i have actually spent time using or own. Either that or I just don’t think the other top sets stack up. For instance, the Sony Wf-1000xm4…. I didn’t like them at all and for me not even close to the NFP.

Devialet Gemini are priced at $300 and heiled as one of the best SQ tws around…. Ya didn’t like em. Anyways I could go on and on but the point is the comparisons here are more affordable tws iems of good sound quality. If you want to know more about other features you should check out their respective reviews online.

Lypertek Pureplay Z7 ($149-199) The Z7 from Lypertek is a phenomenal achievement in an iem that retails $150 less than the Fokus Pros. However you could argue it is the better deal. The sound of this set deserves a review by themselves. These too are a 3 driver hybrid setup (1DD / 2BA) with deep and controlled bass, slightly recessed but clean and clear midrange and slightly boosted treble. That said I would definitely call the Z7 a slight V-shape. The NFP have a more controlled low end, not by much though. Also there is just more authority than the Z7 in the bass dept with better attack and more quantity. This isn’t a gripe about the Z7 as they truly have fantastic bass but it is just presented differently. The midrange of the NFP is a bit more full and forward as well and the treble region is slightly better with better placement of instruments and a hair more realistic timbre and I would also say the treble region is a bit smoother. The stage of the Noble Audio FokusPro is also a bit wider and has better depth. I do have to say, if any of you want an absolutly wonderful set of tws and you have $150-200 to spare…. Get yourself a set of the Lypertek Pureplay Z7. Imo the best SQ in tws at that price, at least that I have heard. Also, I would not be surprised to hear someone preferring the Z7 over the Fokus Pro… It wouldn’t surprise me at all.

Nura Nuratrue ($199) The Nuratrue could almost go toe-to-toe with the Z7’s above yet lose out in the control dept. Really they are very impressive though and very very fun and engaging. Out the box these are rather dull however, but once you edge up the “Immersion” (get them and you’ll find out) these become dynamic and bold in every way. These have Ok ANC, ambient mode, and an amazing app. However these are about the size and shape exactly of the “7HZ Timeless” with a disc that sits almost flush with the ear. They either fit or they don’t. For me they fit like a glove. These are very musical with very big bass, lush mids and decent highs, everything can be tweaked via the app as well. Buuuut next to the Noble Audio FokusPro they show their weaknesses. For $200 they are top of the SQ food chain but against a set like the NFP they are more congested, less tight or airy with a closed in stage and slightly worse tonality. They are very nice and I don’t want that to go unsaid, in fact they easily take on sets much pricier. The NFP are just more mature and more audiophile with seemingly better hardware and drivers internally and just generally across the board more polished and better tuned.

AKG N400NC ($47-250)This is a set which goes on massive sale frequently. I believe it retailed at launch around $300 but that was a couple years ago. This set was way ahead of its time. A very Harman sound which follows a Harman tuning better than almost…. Well…. Anything. I actually purchased these for $47 freaking dollars on the AKG website. The N400NC’s are a single Dynamic Driver and built so beautifully. I don’t know what I like better as far as build quality and looks. The case and the Iems scream premium and class all the way. It feels good to hold. Anc is great, calls are great, ambient is great. But this is strictly a SQ comparison. Anyways these are hands down one of the best tuned tws iems I’ve encountered. The one thing that sticks out to me in comparison with the Noble Audio FokusPro is the AKG’s are more thin throughout the spectrum and simply not as dynamic. Just not as full and all encompassing of a sound. Volume headroom is quite a bit lower as well. The imaging is similar, separation is similar and detail retrieval is pretty good though hampered by the AAC codec a hair. It’s the fullness that distinguishes a difference and with that fullness the Noble Audio FokusPro still have stellar technicalities which is a great achievement for a wireless iem. However I’d be lying if I said I don’t carry the AKG everywhere with me as they do everything so well. If you can get them at anything under $150….its a fantastic deal let alone for the $47 I paid, that is just freaking bonkers!! These are two years old and still amazing for their quality and features. Great sound, great features and great app. If you can find them… Get em. These too deserve a review of their own. Noble Audio FokusPro just sound better.

Technic AZ60 ($229) The Technic AZ60 are perhaps the biggest hype of the year and for good reason. They do everything and do everything at a top tier level and all for $229. They sound ridiculously good for a tws as they do have LDAC, Aptx, and AAC. With ldac enabled these are clean, crisp and musical. The Noble Audio FokusPro are just better. The AZ60 are an 8mm1DD driver setup iem. They display the whole frequency nicely… When eq’d. The bass is big enough but somewhat hollow. The Mids are balanced with the rest of the mix, maybe recessed a bit, yet sound nice with detail. The upper mids/lower treble was odd to me as it has a metallic feature to it that needs eq to shine. The package these come in is great and the tips are amazing. The NFP is just way more mature and audiophile with way more raw power behind the sound and also volume headroom. The NFP have a much larger soundstage and better technicalities as a whole. Perhaps resolution with ldac brings the AZ60 to the level of the NFP but that’s about the only place the AZ60 compare as far as SQ goes. Now if you take in the whole package and yes the AZ60 is a better deal as they do everything (ANC, Ambient mode, phone calls, awesome app etc etc) better than the NFP feature wise. Also the AZ60 look very nice and are built very well. As a package they just look great.

Soundcore Liberty 3 Pro ($129) Another set that features a hybrid setup (1 DD / 1BA) and also carries LDAC. Perhaps the most feature rich tws iem on the planet that does nothing bad. Everything is done well. I have enjoyed the usage of this set alot. They are big and stick out of your ears a bit but they don’t look bad, I suppose that’s a good thing. The sound with Ldac is great however out of the box these had some of the worst treble I’ve ever heard. Very very very Tinny and tizzy treble. However I promise once you eq these the drivers show you what they are capable of. One of the most resolution focused tws out there. There is certain frequencies which must be brought damn near all the way down and some risen up a few db’s. But you can get these to almost perfect without any hint of distortion. Tws are meant to be Eq’d and please trust… The L3P were horrible out of the box sound wise to me and thus absolutely needed eq. If I put the L3P to thier maximum eq and put them against the NFP though…these get close but I could start to see the disparity pretty quickly. The L3P are clear and clean but again are thin and even nasaly in certain tracks. They have big and Controlled bass that doesn’t Infringe on the Mids at all and the bass is the only place where they can stand next to the NFP. Again, only for Sound Quality, for everything else these kill the NFP.

Grado Gt220 ($259) Save the best for last. My opinion. The Grado Gt220 are very very close in terms of audio to the NFP. These are a 1DD fantastically tuned iem. They aren’t as polished looking as they are a bit less luxurious…. actually by looks alone you could easily confuse these with a $100 tws as the Gt220 are alot less premium looking. Man do these sound amazing though! Just like the NFP this set has the same amount of features… Zero. It seems these audiophile companies aren’t concerned with features and choose to spend that money elsewhere… Namely the sound. I absolutely love the Grado Gt220 as they are the loudest tws I’ve ever heard and they do not distort and hold control masterfully. They actually have a similar sound to the NFP. I would say this… The Grado’s are 90-95% of what the NFP are to my ears. The separation is not there like the NFP and the Grado’s can get congested in complicated tracks unlike the Noble set. This is being really picky though. The Grado’s have a hair less low end than the NFP, but still the Gt220 are in complete control and they do not smear the midrange. They are just not as clean as the NFP, and the soundstage is slightly more closed in. This isn’t a bad thing as the Grado’s are tuned very very well as they have just as good extension both ways with simply a bit worse resolution. The drawback for me… I’ve owned 2 of the Grado’s and each one has issues with connectivity at times. They will just break connection in spurts which prompts me to reset them often. The NFP are most certainly better but the Grado’s give them a run for their money. I could keep going with sets that come close. Like the Cambridge Audio Melomania Touch ($99, retailed for $149)or their smaller sized lil bro the Cambridge Audio Melomania 1+ ($79, retailed for $149) or even the Edifier Neobuds Pro ($99-129) or the Samsung Galaxy Buds Pro ($120-160).

Noble Audio FokusPro Conclusions

To finish, I couldn’t help but to complete some form of a write up regarding the NFP’s. A crazy fun sound (Baby FH9) that is pushing the limits I once thought could not be achieved. However still It could be argued that these are far too expensive, though that is subjective but probably lines up with most opinions. No real features to speak of and relying strictly on their sonic performance doesn’t exactly spring folks to drop these in their Amazon carts. I’m not saying they aren’t worth it to me. Also I’m not saying go out and buy this extremely expensive set of tws. I am writing this to Inform those who care about the best SQ they can get in a portable form (short of the Utws5, ifi go blu, qudelix 5k etc.) that they are getting the best sound from tws that at least my ears have ever heard. These may not be everyone’s favorite sound signature but with how these react to eq within the app its as though you can get pretty close to whatever you prefer with the Noble Audio Fokus Pro. These have made my portable rotation of late and I’m sure something will come along and knock these off their pedestal but until then… These are fun. Take it easy people and take good care.