IEMs I own and have used extensively before: Vsonic GR07 (single dynamic), Vsonic VC1000 (dual BA), Etymotic HF5 (single BA) (all around or slightly above $100).
Fit and Comfort
The housings were smaller than I was expecting, very light-weight. The cable closest to the housing has a metal wire that you can bend to your desired shape around your ear. The IEMs are not ventilated, so can create a vaccuum feel in your ears with some tips. I am sensitive to this though and it did not bother me with these IEMs. Depth of insertion can be quite shallow if desired, no need to shove them in deep to get a good sound.
Wearing a hat over them might put uncomfortable pressure on the housing into your ear. I tend to use mine only at home, and my GR07 are my on-the-move IEM, with smaller housing, and an angled plug for mobile use.
Included Cable
Very good feeling cable. Feels very strong (supposedly is very strong), virtually no memory at all, won't tangle easily, terminates in straight metal-covered 3.5mm jack. No shirt clip included, I was able to get the wire over an old Soundmagic shirt clip (wire is 4 smaller wires braided, with some careful manouvering you can get 2 or more wires over even smaller shirt clips). Shirt cinch exists, a transparent plastic tube that can be slid up and down.
Overall Frequency Response
Very very neutral. You can make some slightly adjustments depending on tip choice. Lowest bass is represented, but slightly rolled off in terms of volume. From mid-bass up they are very neutral sounding across the range. Nothing pokes out, nothing dips down. Very well balanced, I would not hesitate to do critical listening with these.
Bass
Quality is great, very textured and fast decay as per usual with BA drivers. Midbass is capable of rough "hard" texture and rumble with good attack when called for. Bass rarely takes centre stage in terms of volume, is mostly fills in underneath the mids and treble in a quite airy, layered way, surprisingly spacious and "stereo" at times. For most acoustic and orchestral stuff I feel the bass amount of pretty much spot on for creating a realistic presentation without overly emphasising the bass. For most orchestral stuff again, bass perfectly fills out the lower midrange and can provide a great sense of body and depth to sounds, but it's always in moderation and with a sense of slight shyness.
Mids
Very very good. The decay and clarity in the midrange is one of the highlights of the Noble 4 Universal. Quite present midrange, with superb dynamic integrity and transparency. Moments in soundtracks in films where the orchestra calls for sudden stabs of brass or strings really do jump out with body and weight.
Treble
Very detailed and transparent aswell, very natural extension from the mids. They can provide a slight textured bite in lower and high treble when called for, however are also capable of very realistic, natural, presentation. Despite the neutral frequency response, they render distorted guitars with very good crisp texture when called for. Can be aggressive or smooth on the surface depending on material. Very versatile.
Dynamics
Excellent dynamics with a very clear, fast feel across the range. Compared to the Vsonic GR07 the Noble 4U has much superior texturing, speed and layering in the mids and lower mids and bass, and the precision and capability both in soft, distant sounds and snappy, loud close-proximity sounds is very lifelike and impressive and adds to the effortless depth. I did notice when first using the Noble 4U that the treble texture and overall slightly dry and scratchy "feel" on metal music really reminded me of the GR07, but without the uneven frequency emphasis of the GR07.
Soundstage/Presentation
The soundstage (or the integrity of low-level details that help create a sense of room, size and space) of the Noble 4U are capable of is impressively natural, layered and very, very convincing. It has none of the slightly cramped or diffuse depth of the GR07, VC1000 or the Etymotic HF5. It can sound very wide, very deep and very convincing if the material calls for it. Compared to the 3 IEMs I just listed, the Noble 4U is the only one where it will genuinely sound like you are in the space the music presents. The cohesion of the stereo field from left to right is superb, and the excellent clarity and speed makes it very, very transparent. By that I mean, when listening to the Noble 4U, if a song is presenting you a big orchestral room, you can clearly "see" all the way to the back of the room, nothing obscuring subtle reflections or nuances in sounds. The GR07, VC1000 or Etymotic HF5 all feel like there's a slightly layer of smoke in the room, and while you can make out what the room looks like when you listen to them, you generally only see clearly the sound that is closer to you.
In short, the presentation of the smallest of nuances in ambience, even when the musical passage is blasting brass or other richly textured sound, is very clear, and you feel and hear so many layers into the distance.
Couple this with the dynamics across their range, and they really are great at presenting at immersing you in orchestral and acoustic recordings where the room sounds are featured more prominently. You can close your eyes and just completely be in that space, the neutral FR further helping a very convincing presentation with no unnatural frequency spikes or dips or an overly prominent bass or treble.
There seems to be no noticable phase issues creating an articial sense of space either. For metal material the sense of cohesion in attack and centre stage is superb, no diffusion really noticeable.
Summary
The Noble 4U is a very neutral IEM, impressively so, no area feels emphasised, they don't sound bassy, bright, or overly midrange-focused.
The entire frequency range has immense clarity and ability to create an open, spacious feeling to the sides, in front and even above you. Dynamics are very natural and orchestral material can sound very lifelike and 3-dimensional, both in how the room extends out, and how the instruments will jump out at you when called for. Surface texture can be aggressive when called for thanks to good attack and decay, making metal and other music satisfyingly aggressive sounding.
Perceived cohesion in sound from bass through treble is very good.
The way they very faithfully reproduce the material played without any real coloring is their absolutely strongest attribute. you can be playing songs where you are enjoying the sound, but you might not be impressed. Then you switch to a song where the recording is focused on reproducing the room it was recorded in, and suddenly you realize/remember the capability of the Noble 4U. This is one IEM where once you play something that shows what they can do, you will start aiming to find material and music that has those aspects for the Noble 4U to reproduce. I find myself playing specific songs over and over just because of how well they are recorded and how utterly convincingly it feels like I have a guy 3 feet to my right playing a steel-stringed guitar in a small-ish room.
Overall, I personally consider the Noble 4U to be an extremely satisfying, refined, mature upgrade from the Vsonic GR07, Vsonic VC1000 or the Etymotic HF5. Compared to all these, the Noble 4U is impressively more capable in all areas of their sound, where the others in comparison have very noticeable "deficiencies" in either perceived soundstage, frequency response linearity, or areas of their FR where their drivers are not able to reach nearly the level of clarity or dynamic integrity of the Noble 4U.
I fail to find any weaknesses in their sound whatsoever, subjective or objective. These are spectacularly transparent, neutral, natural, impressive-sounding IEMs.
Fit and Comfort
The housings were smaller than I was expecting, very light-weight. The cable closest to the housing has a metal wire that you can bend to your desired shape around your ear. The IEMs are not ventilated, so can create a vaccuum feel in your ears with some tips. I am sensitive to this though and it did not bother me with these IEMs. Depth of insertion can be quite shallow if desired, no need to shove them in deep to get a good sound.
Wearing a hat over them might put uncomfortable pressure on the housing into your ear. I tend to use mine only at home, and my GR07 are my on-the-move IEM, with smaller housing, and an angled plug for mobile use.
Included Cable
Very good feeling cable. Feels very strong (supposedly is very strong), virtually no memory at all, won't tangle easily, terminates in straight metal-covered 3.5mm jack. No shirt clip included, I was able to get the wire over an old Soundmagic shirt clip (wire is 4 smaller wires braided, with some careful manouvering you can get 2 or more wires over even smaller shirt clips). Shirt cinch exists, a transparent plastic tube that can be slid up and down.
Overall Frequency Response
Very very neutral. You can make some slightly adjustments depending on tip choice. Lowest bass is represented, but slightly rolled off in terms of volume. From mid-bass up they are very neutral sounding across the range. Nothing pokes out, nothing dips down. Very well balanced, I would not hesitate to do critical listening with these.
Bass
Quality is great, very textured and fast decay as per usual with BA drivers. Midbass is capable of rough "hard" texture and rumble with good attack when called for. Bass rarely takes centre stage in terms of volume, is mostly fills in underneath the mids and treble in a quite airy, layered way, surprisingly spacious and "stereo" at times. For most acoustic and orchestral stuff I feel the bass amount of pretty much spot on for creating a realistic presentation without overly emphasising the bass. For most orchestral stuff again, bass perfectly fills out the lower midrange and can provide a great sense of body and depth to sounds, but it's always in moderation and with a sense of slight shyness.
Mids
Very very good. The decay and clarity in the midrange is one of the highlights of the Noble 4 Universal. Quite present midrange, with superb dynamic integrity and transparency. Moments in soundtracks in films where the orchestra calls for sudden stabs of brass or strings really do jump out with body and weight.
Treble
Very detailed and transparent aswell, very natural extension from the mids. They can provide a slight textured bite in lower and high treble when called for, however are also capable of very realistic, natural, presentation. Despite the neutral frequency response, they render distorted guitars with very good crisp texture when called for. Can be aggressive or smooth on the surface depending on material. Very versatile.
Dynamics
Excellent dynamics with a very clear, fast feel across the range. Compared to the Vsonic GR07 the Noble 4U has much superior texturing, speed and layering in the mids and lower mids and bass, and the precision and capability both in soft, distant sounds and snappy, loud close-proximity sounds is very lifelike and impressive and adds to the effortless depth. I did notice when first using the Noble 4U that the treble texture and overall slightly dry and scratchy "feel" on metal music really reminded me of the GR07, but without the uneven frequency emphasis of the GR07.
Soundstage/Presentation
The soundstage (or the integrity of low-level details that help create a sense of room, size and space) of the Noble 4U are capable of is impressively natural, layered and very, very convincing. It has none of the slightly cramped or diffuse depth of the GR07, VC1000 or the Etymotic HF5. It can sound very wide, very deep and very convincing if the material calls for it. Compared to the 3 IEMs I just listed, the Noble 4U is the only one where it will genuinely sound like you are in the space the music presents. The cohesion of the stereo field from left to right is superb, and the excellent clarity and speed makes it very, very transparent. By that I mean, when listening to the Noble 4U, if a song is presenting you a big orchestral room, you can clearly "see" all the way to the back of the room, nothing obscuring subtle reflections or nuances in sounds. The GR07, VC1000 or Etymotic HF5 all feel like there's a slightly layer of smoke in the room, and while you can make out what the room looks like when you listen to them, you generally only see clearly the sound that is closer to you.
In short, the presentation of the smallest of nuances in ambience, even when the musical passage is blasting brass or other richly textured sound, is very clear, and you feel and hear so many layers into the distance.
Couple this with the dynamics across their range, and they really are great at presenting at immersing you in orchestral and acoustic recordings where the room sounds are featured more prominently. You can close your eyes and just completely be in that space, the neutral FR further helping a very convincing presentation with no unnatural frequency spikes or dips or an overly prominent bass or treble.
There seems to be no noticable phase issues creating an articial sense of space either. For metal material the sense of cohesion in attack and centre stage is superb, no diffusion really noticeable.
Summary
The Noble 4U is a very neutral IEM, impressively so, no area feels emphasised, they don't sound bassy, bright, or overly midrange-focused.
The entire frequency range has immense clarity and ability to create an open, spacious feeling to the sides, in front and even above you. Dynamics are very natural and orchestral material can sound very lifelike and 3-dimensional, both in how the room extends out, and how the instruments will jump out at you when called for. Surface texture can be aggressive when called for thanks to good attack and decay, making metal and other music satisfyingly aggressive sounding.
Perceived cohesion in sound from bass through treble is very good.
The way they very faithfully reproduce the material played without any real coloring is their absolutely strongest attribute. you can be playing songs where you are enjoying the sound, but you might not be impressed. Then you switch to a song where the recording is focused on reproducing the room it was recorded in, and suddenly you realize/remember the capability of the Noble 4U. This is one IEM where once you play something that shows what they can do, you will start aiming to find material and music that has those aspects for the Noble 4U to reproduce. I find myself playing specific songs over and over just because of how well they are recorded and how utterly convincingly it feels like I have a guy 3 feet to my right playing a steel-stringed guitar in a small-ish room.
Overall, I personally consider the Noble 4U to be an extremely satisfying, refined, mature upgrade from the Vsonic GR07, Vsonic VC1000 or the Etymotic HF5. Compared to all these, the Noble 4U is impressively more capable in all areas of their sound, where the others in comparison have very noticeable "deficiencies" in either perceived soundstage, frequency response linearity, or areas of their FR where their drivers are not able to reach nearly the level of clarity or dynamic integrity of the Noble 4U.
I fail to find any weaknesses in their sound whatsoever, subjective or objective. These are spectacularly transparent, neutral, natural, impressive-sounding IEMs.
Whilst i owned these for a long time and did enjoy them, moving to a top tier dynamic set has really highlighted the weakness that these have. To my ears they are not a dynamic sounding phone at all. Their bass could certainly be better and whilst they sound clear and mostly linear they do not sound like real music. I guess it's all a matter of what you are comparing them too.
They are a good sounding set of earphones, especially for the asking price but go spend a little more and be surprised by how much better you can get, especially of you end up with a quality dynamic driver.