It’s finally here, folks. The Falcon has landed. The Wizard’s first attempt at True Wireless has been hotly anticipated, and the buzz been through the roof. An audiophile-level true wireless earbud at a consumer-level price? We’ll see if it lives up to the hype.
Noble Audio Falcon TWS Review
Design
Noble Audio has never been a slouch in the aesthetic department, and the Falcon is no exception. Packaging has a sleek, techie feel and rocks a blue and black color scheme. The accessory box is decorated with images reminiscent of a high-tech subway system, contains a very nice suede carrying case, USB-C cable and two extra silicone eartips.
The charging case is small, which is a big plus. But it is totally plastic, and therefore feels cheap. But it does increase the 10 hour battery life to 40 hours, which is nothing to complain about. This competes with the reigning champ of battery life: the Audio-Technica ATH-CKS5TW, and runs circles around battery in the RHA TrueConnect (though the RHA has a nice metal case). Just for reference, both of those TWS earbuds run for $169; the Falcon is a competitive $156.
Fit
The nozzle on the Falcon is long; one of the longest I’ve seen on a true wireless earbud. And the earbuds are molded, with no attachments to secure the fit to your ear. So even though they have an IPX7 waterproof rating and can be submerged in 1m of water, I wouldn’t take them for a workout for fear of falling out.
The fit is okay for me, but be warned that they protrude significantly from your ear. They do not sit as flush as the Sennheiser Momentum TWS or even the RHA TrueConnect. I think this was an intentional design choice coordinated with the design of the multi-function button, which I’ll get to below. But it may work for some ears better than others.
Functionality
The Falcon has one button on each earpiece that covers all the Bluetooth 5 functions. It’s in that dreaded position where pushing on it means pushing the Falcon further into your ear. True wireless designers still haven’t been able to completely avoid that one. But on the Falcon, the nozzle is so long it actually gives your ear canal some breathing room while pushing the button. Yes, you will push it further into your ear canal, but not painfully so. I found it to be a decent workaround.
The controls themselves I found a little odd. Two right clicks for skip forward, three right clicks to skip back. Two left clicks for volume up, and three left clicks for volume down. They were well enough responsive, but I didn’t find the configuration very intuitive, except for the 1 click play/pause. Everything works, but the scheme didn’t mesh with my personal control preferences. It might mesh with yours though! Who knows.
Sound
Overall, the sound quality ends up being the Falcon’s strong point. 6mm Dual-Layered Carbon drivers tuned by the Wizard himself, plus a DSP processor gives the Falcon a level of detail that hits well above the price-point.
Lows
If you are looking for bass that really blasts your ear holes, I would steer you towards Audio Technica, or a higher-end model from Sennheiser or Klipsch. The Falcon has what I’d call a tasteful amount of bass. It’s there. It’s thumping. But it isn’t the main focus. There’s a lot more emphasis on the mids and highs, creating a brighter sound signature overall. But the Falcon still has more bass than the RHA TrueConnect, for example.
Mids
Ah, the midrange. This is where the Falcon really shines. Shimmering, clear, and clean. Not too thin sounding, not too thick, but just right. Surprising amounts of depth, and a great subtlety of detail that compete with even the high-end true wireless models. It might actually lean towards an upper-mid emphasis, but the feeling while listening is balanced. This is accomplished perhaps by the ‘just right’ amount of thickness from the low end.
Highs
Pretty much all the true wireless earbuds I’ve tried suffer from a blunted high-end. The Falcon still can’t compete with an old school wired connection, but it brings a lot more to the high-end than I was expecting. Maybe it’s that DSP at work, but the ultra-highs actually have some resolution here. The delicacy up in this range makes the Falcon a formidable choice for classical, jazz, folk, and other genres that true wireless usually leaves behind.
Conclusion
I’ll be straight up: the Falcon sounds better than any other true wireless earbuds in the under $200 price range. The only reasons I can think of for not getting these would be if 1) you are a insatiable bass fiend, or 2) you want a better fit. That’s it. These earbuds are cheaper and have a much better high end and midrange than the competition. Good job, Noble.
Pros- They sound better than any other sub-$200 true wireless earbud.
Cons- They DO NOT have the fattest dankest bass in the land, and the fit and controls are a little meh.
Get the Noble Falcon at Audio46
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You say they sound better than sub-$200 TWS, are there a pair of TWS above $200 that sound better than these? Of course the Sennheiser Momentums are the comparison people are thinking of. Thanks for the detailed review!