There are huge threads you can research...
That said, I'm going to say something that is for sure pretty controversial, but I'm going to say it anyway - I've been here a decade and seen some crazy stuff.
There's been alot of cult-of-personality typess on Head-fi, some over time have proven to be (all IMO) good - (Schitt, Ray Samuels, Audio-GD), some bad (MIkail/Singlepower, Smeggy/Thunderpants... actually alot of very fly-by-night operations have come and gone), some neutral (VModa, Xin).
JH Audio has roots back to the beginning. For years when I first joined head-fi the UE10 was *it*. The triple-fi was a consumer class earphone that is legendary - and of course JH left that association and formed JH Audio. Out of all the products, which ones didn't quite make the mark? The JH-3? But down to their core competancy, actually producing in-ear monitors what flops are there, really? The UE-18 was released after he had left the company. This guy has been doing this for 20 years, heck he pioneered the multi-driver custom in-ear monitor.
People are still rocking 5 year old JH13s and they hold up - not top of the line anymore, but they're still competant workhorses. No one's going "yeah, in hindsight, those weren't as good as oringally hyped".
Sure, business skills, customer service, etc, are not the forte of that operation. That's true of alot of small companies that have an enthusiast base. But they've been around and aren't going anywhere. They're not going to take your money and head for the hills, and leave you with a sub-par product and wash their hands of it. Yet frustration might be a part of a experience.
Now Heir... the 4 series. Head-fi was *ablaze* with excitement and accolades over this monitor. It was flavor of the month to the third power. How does it fare now? Wow, that huge null null spot in the mids. Yeah, pretty ho-hum. How about the TZar 350? Interesting experiment, yeah? The 8a? Well, the Heir devoted sung its praises, but now it's overly thick and sluggish, not good. The 5? You get my drift. What models from the company can anyone say in hindsight that the hype was justified?
John Moulton is certainly a cool dude, he's a Dr. of Audiology, and his designs are mind-bogingly beautiful. Massive props to that. And I fully believe the K10 is a killer unit. But I can't help but feel there's that hype train somehow continuing to fuel the good emotions behind the current products (which people very strongly like to say are distanced from the original Heir line, some of the same people who said they were all that and a bag of chips back then). But at these prices... I'd be hesistant. Guys like Joker and VivZero are saying the Noble stuff kicks ass, and that goes a long way. But I'd either push to listen to a demo before a purchase (which I'm looking forward to as Noble will be at the big LA show), or wait longer - at least 6 mos, to get more impressions rolling in between those who own both.
In short, empirical evidence says JH Audio is the sure shot. But Noble may really be in the midst of taking the lead.
