[davidmolliere]

@annasoh323 Yeah well not equipped well anymore camera wise, so mine are cheap smartphone shots I wish I still had my OMD E-M1 and macro lens but well my cash is going into audio these days

I’ll try to do best for the FIBAE 4

 

[piotrus-g]

FIBAE 4 review by Hans is up on Audio-ph.ru http://audio-ph.ru/reviews/custom-art-fibae-4-the-victory-comes-from-harmony
Definitely worth checking out

 

[Wyville]

FIBAE 4 review by Hans is up on Audio-ph.ru http://audio-ph.ru/reviews/custom-art-fibae-4-the-victory-comes-from-harmony
Definitely worth checking out

Saw those FIBAE 4 on your Facebook a few days ago and they just looked so delicious. If I had CIEMs like that I would constantly find myself licking them to see what they would taste like...

 

[piotrus-g]

Saw those FIBAE 4 on your Facebook a few days ago and they just looked so delicious. If I had CIEMs like that I would constantly find myself licking them to see what they would taste like...

They look really awesome, they have kinda watermelonish vibe, so yeah I don't know how Hans managed to not eat them yet

 

[chortya]

At last I have joined the cult of CIEMs from Custom Art
Received my Fibae4 today. I always try to describe things as short as possible but still try to cover the essence.

For Fibae4 this short description would be: Augmented reality sound with ultimate comfort. Combination of relaxed, warmish sound signature with microdetailed representation.

They sound exceptional with any source! Brain burn-in is happening and I enjoy them more and more every minute/hour.

Now I want to sell Campfire Audio Solaris and invest into future Custom Art flagship Or into LG G8 and have ultimate sound experience for any use case relevant for me: calls and music. I really hope Note 10 will have a headphone jack and good sound, then I could ditch my WM1A and just enjoy without needing to constantly switch sources... After listening to Fibae4 I understand how sensitive Solaris are: cable, DAP, tips - everything influences SQ so much with them. They are great but so demanding.

---------------------------------------
Addition on source matching.

Sony WM1A - my favorite source for FIBAE4, mid-highs are smoothed slightly. It's a joy to listen to this combo.
RME ADI2Pro - FIBAE4 performs well with this neutral DAC but the mid-highs are a tick harsh
Huawei Mate 20X - this is where FIBAE technology shines, Solaris is way to sensitive for Mate 20X and I hear some component interference and Beyerdynamic Soul Byrd (my daily driver for mobile usage) has slightly too high impedance for the phone to produce good dynamic range and let IEMs react fast. FIBAE4 basically gets maximum out of medium to low quality source.
Fiio BTR3 - at last I was able to appreciate this wireless dongle, non of my previous headphones performed well with BTR3. But I will stay with the cable for now. Microphone of the FIBAE4 standard headset cable is btw more superior compared to built-in BTR3 mic.

My fingers itched and I have ordered LG G8 at relatively good price point from eBay. I hope this will be a perfect match.

 

[HansBarbarossa]

Hi friends!
I will provide you the reduced translation of my review of FIBAE 4

Custom Art FIBAE 4: the victory comes from harmony!

Hi, friends!
Today I am glad to tell you about a remarkable novelty from the Polish company Custom Art, my beloved, that is the FIBAE 4 CIEM model.

I have been watching this brand for a long time and am impressed with its steady development in the field of high-quality sound. Piotr Granicki formed his company in 2012, and in just a few years, CA’s hard work brought impressive results. Among the audio valuers, CIEM / IEM Harmony and the FIBAE line-up have gained much popularity. It so happened that I missed the FIBAE 1 and FIBAE 3 models, but I still enjoy listening to FIBAE 2 and the recently released single-driver BA model FIBAE BLACK.

I can only wish from the pure heart the team of Custom Art to continue to experiment, develop and expand the range of their beautiful CIEMs. And now let's get close to their FIBAE 4.

Specifications
Single Low, Single Full-range, Single proprietary High, Single proprietary Super High
Top Firing Balanced Armature Drivers
Flat Impedance technology
115dB @1kHz @0.1V
8.1 Ohm @1kHz (+-0.95 Ohm 10Hz-20kHz)
Low % THD
0-21000 Hz (+-20dB into IEC 60318-4 coupler)
Custom or Universal fit

FIBAE (flat impedance balanced armature earphone) is a patented technology, thanks to which Custom Art earphones do not depend on the different output impedance of the sound source / amplifier. Whether it is 10 ohm, 3 ohm, 1.8 ohm, or the resistance is generally close to zero - where most low-impedance, multi-driver BA IEM “their face”, FIBAE will sound harmoniously and accurately play the songs.





Appearance, kit and ergonomics


The earphones can be ordered as a custom (CIEM, and in a universal (IEM) version.

A few words about the standard procedure for CIEM:
In order to start working on your CIEM, you must first go to the center of hearing, take a impressions/imprints and send it to the CA laboratory. After that, it remains only to look forward to when the finished product comes to you.

FIBAE 4 comes in a small black cardboard box. Inside there is a transparent plastic case “PELI CASE” with all the charms and an additional black zipper case for storing and conveniently transporting earphones. In the case we find: the CIEM with a replaceable cable, a drying pellet, a wax brush for the care of sound pipes and guarantee documents-instructions.


Design for your CIEM, you can choose to your exquisite taste. In my case, it is a transparent green-red shell that smells like spring greens and is saturated with the rays of the May sun!

Everything is done exceptionally high quality, and the acrylic shell of the earphones is so beautiful that it is impossible to just put it in your ear without a long adoration before. It is practically an art object.


In each earphone about four BA receivers/drivers went in: one is responsible for low frequencies, the second - for all frequency range, the third and fourth – for Highs.

On the front of the earphone's shell there are two sound pipes. On the back of the case has a brand logo.

The cable is 4-wire, silver, with "separate ground". It is extremely convenient and light, length 1.2 meters, standard plug (2pin, 0.78mm), 3.5 mm corner jack.

And now it is time to listen to music!




Sound

Listening (audio testing) was conducted on: MyST DAC 1866OCU V.2, Lotoo paw Gold, iBasso DX220 (AMP1 MK2), iFI xDSD, iFI micro iDSD Black Lable, Cayin N3 & QLS QA-361.

With all sources, the FIBAE 4 played at a high level.


The sound of FIBAE 4 is well balanced, smooth, with excellent working out of micro and macro nuances, accurate massive impact in the sub bass area, thick and bass relief, even naturalistic middle and reliable, amazingly clean high frequency range.

The low-frequency range is neatly forced, due to which the FIBAE 4 produce a massive and organic picture with striking elaboration of timbres and a contrasting transfer of the depth of space. The musical canvas emerges in a dense and naturalistic manner, with a slightly darkened background and a powerful, well articulated, rolling bass.


Accurate and full-blown drums punch right up to goosebumps and respond throughout the body. Wow, that's cool!

The mids are fed smoothly, evenly and thoroughly, in an analog manner. Here, each sound has its own weight, volume and texture. This is a thick and very musical manner, with an amazing drawing of the contrast and all the details of the composition.

The positioning of musical instruments in virtual space verified and realistic. Each sound image is clearly in place. Vocal parts do not disturb the ear with sharp bursts and do not grieve with failures, they sound smooth, pure, natural and at ease.

Guitars sound massively and vigorously, with proper pressure and expression, with their rumbling manner they blow up a musical act.

The mids is slightly bogged down in a dense and massive manner of the low-frequency range and clearly interacts with it.

High frequencies are transmitted cleanly, clearly and precisely, in a smooth and comfortable manner. They are moderately restrained, charming, with good articulation and an elegant light accent. They do not have excessive brightness, and there is a great working out of the range, with enviable correctness and a natural, extremely musical sound. It is possible that someone in some compositions will not get a bit of gloss and sparkling, but personally I rather like it, and I don’t want to change anything. Here quality takes precedence over quantity, and this is more important.

The musical material FIBAE 4 is given in an easy V-shaped manner, the main domination falls on area of low-frequency range, here the sub-bass reverberation clearly outlines the volume of the picture, and the high-frequency register unobtrusively and elegantly tints it, as if competently set backlight in the photograph. The middle remains smooth and slightly detached. Everything together turns into an organic, authentic and very musical picture, with a massive and comfortable manner.


The virtual scene is quite voluminous, it is proportionally arranged both in width and in depth.

It is also worth noting excellent coherence of drivers and lack of phase distortions in these CIEM. It’s really great.

The bottom line

Lows - timbre rich, with a powerful clap, but without busting, a bump in relief and a well articulated, harmonious bass.

Mids - detailed, clean, smooth, unobtrusive, with a good transfer of textures. Neutral and naturalistic.

Highs - accurate, clean and smooth, without a hint of scattering and distortion, sound elegant, comfortable and natural.

Conclusion

Well what can I say, I once again applaud Custom Art while standing!

FIBAE 4 is a striking model. CA again set the bar for portable audio as high as possible, and they did it not by increasing the number of drivers, but by delicacy in the development of each component of the headphones and their complete harmonization. How can you not remember the Latin expression Victoria Concordia Crescit - “Victory comes from harmony”!

Ordering FIBAE 4 is possible both in universal (IEM) and in custom (CIEM) version. On the official website of thecustomart.com the price for this model is approximately 725 Euro. Yes, not cheap, but I can assure you that it is worth it! Well, against the background of today's trends in the audio market, this amount for such an exceptional sound looks quite humane.

Pros
Sound, ergonomics, design, workmanship.

Cons
Price (although against the background of competitors it is quite democratic)

Thanks!

 

[killaHz]

The musical material FIBAE 4 is given in an easy V-shaped manner

And the other review I've seen referred to it as (IIRC) "an unapologetic V-shaped monster." Man, I'm curious how this sounds.

 

[HansBarbarossa]

And the other review I've seen referred to it as (IIRC) "an unapologetic V-shaped monster." Man, I'm curious how this sounds.

As I also wrote in the review, the emphasis goes on area of the low-frequency register more here

But my sources of a sound have neutral sounding. If your DAP or DAC/AMP has more expressed Low/Highs, respectively you receive more V-shaped frequency characteristic. But anyway it will not be a bright sound.

 

[McCol]

Eager to receive mine - ordered on the 9th Feb, 14 weeks ago!!

 

[Deezel177]

And the other review I've seen referred to it as (IIRC) "an unapologetic V-shaped monster." Man, I'm curious how this sounds.

Having just heard the custom version, the FIBAE 4 is a quite a bit less v-shaped than the universal demo may suggest. This is especially true along the low-end, which is a lot warmer and fuller on the demo from memory.

 

[HansBarbarossa]

Having just heard the custom version, the FIBAE 4 is a quite a bit less v-shaped than the universal demo may suggest. This is especially true along the low-end, which is a lot warmer and fuller on the demo from memory.

Yes, Exactly.

 

[davidmolliere]

Having just heard the custom version, the FIBAE 4 is a quite a bit less v-shaped than the universal demo may suggest. This is especially true along the low-end, which is a lot warmer and fuller on the demo from memory.

Then I am glad for the custom, I find it has plenty of fullness and warmth down low, although my opinion is that the mids are not exceedingly warm, nor are they really that recessed. Vocals have good presence, sounds like a « rounded » W to me if that makes any sense. Not too much lower mids or upper mids. Treble has more upper treble focus, lower treble is pretty « safe » IMHO. But I need more time with them...

 

[davidcotton]

Then I am glad for the custom, I find it has plenty of fullness and warmth down low, although my opinion is that the mids are not exceedingly warm, nor are they really that recessed. Vocals have good presence, sounds like a « rounded » W to me if that makes any sense. Not too much lower mids or upper mids. Treble has more upper treble focus, lower treble is pretty « safe » IMHO. But I need more time with them...

How are they for (progressive) rock and metal?

In other news (and other threads) should be getting my blacks back on monday. God I've missed them.

 

[neatokino]

OK, so I finally received my Fibae 4's yesterday, after a long journey from Poland to Los Angeles via UPS. These are my first customs, and all I can say is 'WOW.' These things are truly marvelous and are bringing nothing but great joy to my old ears. I'm not one to describe sound signatures or try to articulate in words what I hear in my head, but as a person with very eclectic musical tastes, I can say after my first few hours that they present everything I listen to beautifully, from classical to jazz to driving rock to electronica, are extremely musical and not at all fatiguing.

The ordering process with Piotr and Kamil at Custom Art was terrific, and they were very helpful advising me on getting decent impressions of my (oddly shaped) ear canals. Now, if I can only learn how to quickly take them out...

A quick snapshot from my iphone here:



Congrats and thanks to everyone at Custom Art for excellent service and amazing products!

 

[davidcotton]

OK, so I finally received my Fibae 4's yesterday, after a long journey from Poland to Los Angeles via UPS. These are my first customs, and all I can say is 'WOW.' These things are truly marvelous and are bringing nothing but great joy to my old ears. I'm not one to describe sound signatures or try to articulate in words what I hear in my head, but as a person with very eclectic musical tastes, I can say after my first few hours that they present everything I listen to beautifully, from classical to jazz to driving rock to electronica, are extremely musical and not at all fatiguing.

The ordering process with Piotr and Kamil at Custom Art was terrific, and they were very helpful advising me on getting decent impressions of my (oddly shaped) ear canals. Now, if I can only learn how to quickly take them out...

A quick snapshot from my iphone here:



Congrats and thanks to everyone at Custom Art for excellent service and amazing products!

You get used to it pretty quickly.