productred
1000+ Head-Fier
- Joined
- Dec 13, 2006
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Kinda skeptical of the FW1000 outclassing the Noble but the other side of the coin since I love the Be driver in the Kenwood so JVC is capable when they try.
The ZE3000 better than the Noble is an interesting clue hear. A few have had both and I don't think I have heard that on Head-fi or elsewhere. You are in the minority there. There is always the ZE8000 though which should be out in short order.
Have you heard more than one Fokus Pro just to make sure there was no issue? Cause I have only heard the JVC/Victor may be close but never a no contest and IIRC, outside of you, I haven't heard any final TWS sounding better than the Noble.
I have heard not one not two but FOUR Fokus Pros to make sure, two are demoes from different stores, one is mine and one is my pal's. Besides one demo set (which was heard right out of the box when it was first released) all other three set sounds consistent and consistently bleh. Suffers from the same mid hollowness and bass bloat like many other TWS, like there are random troughs everywhere across the board. Overall it is an easy listen, much to their credit (that's part of the reason I still use mine sometimes when I just want some unobtrusive BGM around - most of the time I have both the Noble and the Victor in my bag for different purposes), but definitely not for critical listening or more trained ears. The Victor is way more full and balanced, so is the Final (and actually other Final offerings as well, including my EVA crossover model, bar the 8000 which is still not yet released up to today).
I may be the minority here but I think part of the reason is the popularity of the Noble and the relative obscurity of the Victors (and some conflicting views amongst the few who had tried them, which I put down partly to the need for understanding of the spiral dot tips). Basically no one - NONE - who bothered to try mine doesn't agree (except a couple of non-audio hobbyist who think the Fokus gives more bass slam, which is quite true TBH - mid-bass slam to be exact).
To make things perfectly clear, I listen to mine exclusively through my iPhone XS, and I haven't kept account of what others use when they try my sets. And I am on my second Victor set - my first set was stolen amongst other things, and I spent like a week or two trying my best to settle on the Noble, but in the end I have to buy them again since they are so much better.
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