I generally have a safe approach to buying audio gear - I mainly go for well known brands and models that have been around for some time, that have been reviewed extensively, with their issues, strengths and weaknesses identified. The first time I took a leap of faith was on FiR as I have been speaking to Bogdan Belonozhko for a while and he's given me a lot of confidence in their brand. Boy am I glad that I did though.



Anyways, a couple of days ago I received the FiR Audio M5, a TOTL tri-brid IEM by Bogdan Belonozhko himself. FiR is a relatively new entrant in the market, and so far they've mostly been known for the Headphone Vac as well as a number of IEM maintenance and diagnostic tools. Well, that's about to change very quickly.

They've been working on a lineup of tubeless IEMs and CIEMs (yes, you read that right - FiR actually makes tubeless customs) - the customs have been around for some time now, but the final version of the universals is now entering the market. They're using a completely new connector, called the FiRCon (or RCX if I'm not mistaken), which promises up to 5000 inserts compared to the current industry standard of about 1000 for MMCX and 2pin. They're also using thicker shells of about 1.1-1.2mm which significantly improves the durability of the customs. Most of these changes are geared towards the pro market, but I'm sure audiophiles would be able to appreciate that as well. FiR also has a lot of confidence in their product and offers a 3 year standard warranty on all their FiRCon products - almost every other company I've come across offers either 1 or 2 years depending on the region you're in.

Enough about the company and onto their flagship - the M5. It uses a DD for the lows, 2 BAs for the mids, and another one BA + an Estat for the highs. A relatively safe choice in terms of driver choice, nothing too unusual or surprising there.



I got an early adopter packaging, so just a box, a cable and the IEMs - I can't say what the final packaging will be like. The cable is an 8 wire SPC, excellent build quality, very flexible and durable, no complaints regarding the microphonics either - generally speaking one of the better stock cables I've received with an IEM - very similar to the 64 Noir upgraded cable if you've seen that one. The IEMs have a black aluminium body, and a rose gold faceplate with the FiR logo on one side, and "M5" on the other. When I saw the IEMs on a photo pre-purchase they seemed a bit too plain for my liking, but in person they look absolutely lovely, and look exceptional once worn - two little jewels. Can't comment on the durability just yet as I have luckily not dropped them, but I doubt there will be issues in that department. The connectors also feel absolutely amazing compared to 2pin and MMCX, with a much more solid insertion, no rotations, no bent pins on the cables or any of that usual trouble. The only trouble is that most aftermarket cable manufacturers don't stock FiRCon just yet but hopefully that'll change soon.

Describing the sound of these is pretty tricky - I listened to them extensively the past 4 days and only today did I find the words to describe it adequately. "Perfectly balanced as all things should be" are the words that came to mind, because of the absolutely exceptional coherency. Too often I see tribrids that emphasise either the lows or the highs (or both), leaving a rather unnecessary V shape, where the mids are heavily recessed. I personally dislike that tuning, and I dislike it even more when you have DD bass and Estat highs which are both extremely dominant, leaving you with these vocals that are barely audible in the background. The other trend that I'm not a huge fan of is co-flagships, or multiple TOTLs - for example the U18t and the Noir from 64 - they feel like they are built to complement each other, and to be able to fully cover my rather large number of genres, I'd need to have both. EDM on the U18t is a big no-go, jazz on the Noir just loses some of that harshness and charm. I'm extremely happy to say that the M5 is 1) largely neutral, and extremely coherent and 2) I feel like it was made to be a single TOTL, able to perform anything you throw at it. At least it sounded spectacular with all of my genres and test tracks.

The lows: the bass in the M5 is an extremely pronounced quality over quantity - just the way I like it. Tuning a dynamic driver is rather risky because you can end up with extremely heavy bass that becomes the only noticeable element of an IEM (CA Polaris II I'm looking at you). FiR have used the dynamic driver for texture, detail and definition of the lows, while keeping the quantity appropriate to the rest of the IEM, without overemphasising it or completely omitting it.

Lower mids: the lower mids are very organic and natural, and I feel like the dynamic driver is helping there too - they have a certain dynamism - male vocals sound really intimate and realistic.

Upper mids: this is one of the strongest points of the M5. Female vocals sound absolutely ****ing exceptional. they are gentle, they are intimate, they take centre stage when they need to and produce an absolutely euphoric experience. They remind me of the Empire EVR, which to this day has the most beautiful female vocals I've heard.

The highs: hands down best highs I've heard in an IEM. They have that Andromeda sparkle, they have the detail and definition on top of that and they can get sharp and almost painful when you really push them. If you are a treble head like me, this will send you straight in a coma. Violins sound like they've come from a completely different dimension - I'd say the upper mids are the best part of this IEM if it wasn't for the absolutely outstanding treble. You can really feel that the estat is working overtime to deliver such an outstanding result. I've also become heavily addicted to the highs of the M5, and find myself missing them in almost every other IEM I listen to.

Soundstage: the M5 places you in the middle of the stage - you can hear the vocals dead in front of you, instruments left, right and behind you. This is quite heavily contrasted to the U18t, which places you in the crowd, a few rows back too. It is most certainly an intimate soundstage - extreme detail in instrument placement, without reaching extremely far out. The soundstage is very important to me and while I would probably prefer for it to be a bit larger to give me that feeling of being a bit further away from the music, I can't say I have been left dissatisfied.

Instrumental separation: Some of the best I've heard, only second to the U18t. Each instrument is an entity of its own, carefully placed and executed.

Detail: This is the part that left me most baffled. I've come to associate tubeless with more smoothness, less detail. 64's Noir for example is the smoothest IEM I've heard, but it's detail retrieval is okay at best. The U18t is extremely harsh and surgical, with insane detail retrieval - try to listen to some pop on it though and just give up 20 seconds in. The M5 is able to pick out the smallest details in a track, and reveal them to you with pure precision.

The best all-rounder I've heard: While many IEMs have a clear preference for certain genres, recordings, sources or cables, the M5 has done an absolutely amazing job at playing anything I've asked it to. Going back to the 64 comparison: the U18t has a clear preference for acoustic instruments, live recordings, loads of detail and huge soundstage - I drool every time I listen to any of my jazz playlists on it. The Noir is pure insanity for EDM, pop or any of the more electronic genres and beats. The M5 comfortably competes with both the U18t and the Noir in the areas where each of them really shines. To say it outperforms them would be an exaggeration, but it is certainly up there, at an extremely comparable level. When it comes to the genres where the U18t and the Noir aren't as strong, the M5 is leaps and bounds ahead in a category of its own.

Sound conclusions: The M5 is heavily neutral, with a touch of smoothness, and exceptional highs - though I wouldn't go as far as calling it bright. Insane detail retrieval and an intimate soundstage take it to an overall level of performance I'm yet to hear from another IEM.

Prelude: I got the Sage about 6 months back, as my first proper HiFi purchase. It arrived a week or two later, and honestly, unboxing it was the best part of the experience. Noble really has it down, they come in a big, beautiful box, with as many accessories as you can hope for, boxes, pouches, eartips, the whole experience. I was as happy as a kid on Xmas day.

During this review I am using a Mojo and an upgrade Han Sound Audio cable, the Muse II

The design is beautiful, as are most if not all Noble designs, they really do a good job at giving you a premium feel to them. I put them in my ears and feel like I'm wearing a little jewel on each side. They're somewhat large and might be uncomfortable to some,

Now, the sound is something I am quite divided on. My daily driver is the Andromeda S, which fair enough, is double the price, but when compared at their price levels - the Andro makes more sense than the Sage. At best one can compare it to the Campfire IO, but even the IO outperforms it in terms of neutrality and soundstage and detail.

The Sage feels somewhat rushed, like it is trying to get through the notes and frequencies far too fast and not giving the listener the time to enjoy what is going on. They also lack intimacy somewhat, and while the mids are forward and engaging, they tend to overpower the rest of the frequencies. The mid-bass area is quite decent, they pack plenty of punch, but really lack rumble (mainly because they rush through the bass and make it end far too soon).

The highs are probably it's biggest weakness, as they are quite significantly rolled off in terms of the frequency range, while the ones that do make it through sound somewhat unnatural, which isn't the most pleasant feeling, or sound that I would expect.

The soundstage and separation are quite alright for a dual BA, I couldn't really ask for more given the limitations of an IEM with a small number of armateures.

The Sage is no detail monster, it misses quite a lot of things I'd normally hear with the other headphones/IEMs in my collection.

I myself am a huge mids fan, and really want my vocals to be at the center stage, so the Sage is an IEM I still use quite often, and enjoy my time with it, but would I buy it again? Probably not, as there are far better options at the same price point. The Audeze iSine10 (at a third of the price) comes to mind, so does the Campfire IO. Both of these outperform the Sage on pretty much all accounts, especially the iSine10.

I'm not sure how to conclude this review - on one hand, I do enjoy having them and being able to listen to them every now and then, but I know that if I didn't have them and was looking for an IEM in that mid-price range, the Sage would probably not be my first choice. Overall, I can't say that I would recommend them.

I only had about half an hour with the IO at the Munich High End a few days back, so take this review with a grain of salt.

I am currently using the Andromeda S as my daily driver, and absolutely in love with its sound signature, intensity and neutrality/naturality.

Now, the IO is considerably lighter and as such, somewhat more comfortable as well. It instantly found itself at home in my ears (i didn't even have to change the tips or play with those, just pop and in they went). Their design is also absolutely gorgeous, in a dark red with gold screws, they would fit right into an Iron Man movie. Also they make a fine tribute to good old Tony.

The case that it comes with is absolutely lovely, the cable fits well with the color scheme of the IO and performed adequately when I tested it with my Andromeda S.

Now, onto the sound. My impressions are somewhat limited as I didn't have too much time to spend with them, but I will make sure to go to my local dealer and grab a pair for a proper listen.

I listened to a few tracks and they instantly struck me as a lite version of the Andromeda (also confirmed by the guys at Alo Audio). The instruments and vocals sounded somewhat less intimate than the Andromeda, and certainly more distant. The soundstage was quite impressive for a twin BA design, and there was a certain airy feeling. They certainly punch far above their weight class, easily outperforming the Polaris (which I found to have the same weakness as the IO but the bass was just far too intense and invasive) and the Noble Audio Sage (which can sound somewhat too dense, lacking a more spaced out presentation). On the other hand, the Sage performs quite a bit better in the treble region but lacks in the lows.

I really enjoyed the lows of the IO, as I generally like a tight, accurate and controlled bass that doesn't spill over in the lower mids, which the IO did absolutely great in.

All in all I think the IO can make for one amazing daily driver, something to be listened to at work for example, where the intensity of the Andromeda can be plain distracting and even overwhelming at times. They present a fun, natural sound that very few competitors in that price range can boast.

Certainly would recommend