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How many drivers are enough? How many are too many? I don’t know the answer to either question, but when it comes to the Noble FoKus Rex5 earphones, you’ll be wondering the same thing, at least before you hear them. Somehow, inside a slightly large true wireless earbud, Noble has squeezed a 10mm dynamic driver, a 6mm planar magnetic driver, and not one, not two, but three balanced-armature drivers.
The result—spoiler alert—is a fantastic-sounding pair of earphones. The icing on this emerald-green cake is a feature-loaded app, Bluetooth 5.4, and noise canceling, all for just a little more than the big-name TW options, at US$449, CA$649, £419, or €499, as of mid-July.
In the box
Just in case you want to hide the lovely case, the Rex5 earphones come with a pouch that’s large enough to hold them, the cable, and the myriad eartips. I don’t say “myriad” lightly—the Rex5s come with nine pairs, plus one more pre-installed on the earbuds. So, yeah, you’re almost certainly going to be able to find a good fit. Of the ten pairs, three are silicone, two-step “Christmas tree” designs, three are a thin foam with a screen in the opening, and the other four are simple silicone.
Use
I hope you like the Rex5s’ green finish, as that’s the only color option. Personally, I think they’re gorgeous. While a lovely piece of design, they’re not overly flashy, as the outward-facing side is mostly black. The earbuds are a little on the large size, but they fit very well in my conchas and weren’t heavy.
The app lets you customize what the earbud controls do, as well as adjust or enable three EQ options. The first is a ten-band EQ with five presets as well as a custom option that lets you save multiple configurations. Next is EQ Curve, which is more like a tilt function in that it lowers bass while boosting treble—or the opposite, by adjusting a slider labeled Brighter at one end and Heavier at the other. You can adjust where in the treble and bass this happens, and individually by how much, as well as where the midpoint is. It’s pretty user-friendly if you don’t want to mess around with the ten-band EQ.
There’s also a personalized EQ option by Audiodo. I have yet to perform one of these personalized EQs and find I like the result more than the stock tuning. They all seem to just be “here, have a bit more treble,” which you’ll know is the opposite of what I want in headphones or earphones if you’ve read any of my past reviews. It’s there if you want to try it. Everyone’s ears are different.
Sound
To put it simply, the Rex5 earphones sound fantastic. There’s remarkable detail and fidelity in the treble, and lots of deep, low bass. I’d say there’s a bit more upper-midrange than is strictly neutral, but that ends up giving these ’phones a fairly exciting sound.
I started with “Dallas” by Blue Lake (Sun Arcs, 24-bit/96kHz FLAC, Tonal Union / Qobuz), which is an acoustic track with guitars, percussion, and a variety of other string and wind instruments. The opening acoustic guitar had a delicate pluck and strum with an open sense of space. There was a bit more fret noise than I’ve heard on other gear, but not enough to be distracting. The snare was present but didn’t overwhelm the other instruments.
With Simon Preston’s performance of the opening movement, “Toccata,” from J.S. Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D Minor for Organ, BWV 565 (16/44.1 FLAC, Deutsche Grammophon / Qobuz), the thing that stood out the most was how noticeably different the timbres of the various organ stops were. At the risk of sounding trite, I experienced a sense of fidelity that is hard to put a finger on—a clarity in the treble and precision of transients that created an impressive sense of realism. When Preston really started going with the pedals, the Rex5s showed off their deep-bass prowess, but it never overpowered the other frequencies.
Given the Rex5 earphones’ substantial driver complement, you might not expect such a remarkably huge soundstage. With the right material, the left-to-right separation and front-to-back layering were both incredible. With Ottmar Liebert’s “La Luna (binaural)” (Up Close, 16/44.1 FLAC, Spiral Subwave / Qobuz), one guitar seemed above and in front of my right eyeball, a drummer was behind my right ear, and the rhythm guitar was well beyond my left shoulder. I’ve heard open-back headphones that didn’t sound this open.
While I’m not typically a fan of EQs, I did find that certain music, notably dance/EDM/techno tracks like Rihanna’s “We Found Love” (Talk That Talk, 16/44.1 FLAC, Def Jam / Qobuz), with lots of bass and treble sounded better with the EQ Curve set very slightly toward Heavier. This took a bit of the edge off the higher-pitched percussion while accentuating the Rex5s’ excellent bass.
As far as noise canceling goes, I thought it was decent. It will somewhat tame noisy aircraft cabins, but there are far cheaper earbuds that offer better NC. Consider it an “added bonus” here, not a main reason to buy them.
Comparison
I struggled a bit to figure out which ’phones to compare with the Rex5s because I like them a lot more than any of the true wireless earphones I’ve reviewed recently. I settled on the older Bowers & Wilkins Pi7 S2 earphones, as I liked them a ton, and they have a balanced armature as well as a dynamic driver. I also checked the Rex5s against the Meze Alba earphones, which are neither Bluetooth nor anywhere near the Rex5s in price, but they are impressively neutral.
For the Meze Albas, I cued up Jackson Browne’s “Fountain of Sorrow” (Late for the Sky, 24/192 FLAC, Rhino Entertainment / Qobuz). With the Albas, there was more in the vocal range, but less upper-midrange and the treble was more laid-back. There was less deep bass as well. The additional treble of the Rex5s certainly added more liveliness and detail, but also a touch of sibilance. The Rex5s’ soundstage was arguably the most impressive aspect, spread out well beyond my shoulders. This is the soundstage of open-back headphones somehow manifested in closed earbuds. It also goes to show what an absolute bargain the Albas are, holding their own against earphones nearly three times their price.
The Pi7 S2s are far smaller than the Rex5s, and didn’t feel quite as secure in my ears. They sounded bigger in one aspect: bass—so much bass. The Pi7s didn’t have as much treble either, which made them feel a little duller in comparison, despite having plenty of detail in their own right. With the Pi7s, there was an especially noticeable boost in the mid-bass and upper-bass, while the Rex5s had less mid-bass and upper-bass, but more deep bass.
For example, during the opening of Tsuyoshi Yamamoto Trio’s “Midnight Sugar” (A Shade of Blue, 24/192 FLAC, Evosound / Qobuz), Hiroshi Kagawa’s double bass sounded enormous through the Pi7s, as if it were the main instrument. Through the Rex5s, there was still plenty of low end, but the double bass was more clearly just one of three instruments, with its lowest notes seeming to extend into the subharmonic basement. Lastly, I found the B&Ws easier to listen to at higher volumes, since the treble, while less “exciting,” was a little smoother.
Conclusion
I found the Noble Rex5s exceedingly easy to review. When I first connected them to my phone and cued up a song to make sure they were working, I ended up leaning back in my chair and listening to the whole track. There’s a special “fidelity” and realism to instruments as heard through the Rex5s. I always caution against ascribing specific aspects of sound to specific types of drivers, but characteristics I’ve liked in various driver types are all here because, well, all those drivers are here.
There are, of course, some imperfect aspects to the sound, but that’s true of any earphones. Overall, they’re fantastic. They’re among the best Bluetooth earbuds I’ve ever heard, and they’re not even that expensive. What a win.
. . . Geoffrey Morrison
Associated Equipment
- Smartphone: Google Pixel 9 Pro
- PC: iBuyPower Windows 10
- DAC/headphone amplifier: Rotel DX-3
Noble Audio FoKus Rex5 true wireless earphones
Price: US$449, CA$649 CAD, £419, €499
Warranty: One year
Noble Audio
109 Hwy. 110 S.
Whitehouse, TX 75791
USA
Phone: (903) 780-2540
Email:
Website: www.nobleaudio.com
