Hello, I just joined, primarily for the audiophile products. Looking at purchasing the NHT C3 speakers for our new living room. Space is about 15 feet wide by 33 long and they will fire long ways. Space is just for general listening, music room with all equipment is downstairs, so hoping they will fill it with sound nicely. Cheers.
Mar 18, 2024
Noble X is overpriced and overrated. It sounds like a $130-160 IEM at most and you're mostly still paying for the Noble branding. (All noble IEMs are garbage except for the K10/K10E/Katana and even those are overpriced)
Jupiter is very good, their B-Stocks IMO are among the best quad driver BA IEMs you can get at that price ($500-550). Lyra is among the best dynamic driver IEMs at the $500 along with the JVC wood series and the Sony 7550/Ex1000. I find them comparable to Sennheiser's IE800 as well as DITA's Answer and even exceed them in certain aspects.
With both Noble and Campfire you're going to be paying a premium for the branding and in Campfire's case, the outstanding build quality. Just like I think Jupiter isn't worth its original MSRP of $1300 (first release) ->$800 (current) and the Lyra II isn't worth $700, with discounts and depending on your music tastes I think the Lyra II is worthy at $500.
Lyra has a fuller sound and in comparison the bass and mids sound thick compared to the Jupiters' quick and precise response. I personally felt the upper mid dip on the Jupiters threw off the timbre and tonal accuracy a bit which doesn't really happen on the Lyras. Soundstage on Lyra is more closed in, similar to a jazz club type setting, yet instrument placement is spot on. Neither have sibilance/harshness for me but depending on your fit and tips that may change.
I'd say overall the Lyra is a good complement to the Jupiter/Andromedas since their approach to sound is a bit different yet very enjoyable for listening. They're more on the musical side whereas Jupiter is more on the analytical side, but I'd say that detail retrieval on the Lyras are still very good. If the price were $700 (MSRP) vs the $800 current MSRP of Jupiter I'd rather spend the extra 100 on the Jupiter; but for $500 I think the Lyra is worth a try depending on your music tastes. B-stock jupiters at $550 are practically a steal IMO but bassheads probably won't like them
I buy BA based sets mostly for analytical listening, whereas with dynamic drivers I don't care as much about resolution but more for dynamics and a colored/fun signature. With the Noble X I felt that it lacked the technical abilities that I found in similarly priced sets, especially features that are generally unique to BA such as speed and separation. For example, I felt that the ATH-LS200 which costed about the same as the X offered better treble extension and control and an overall more detailed sound, and even the Pinnacle P1 which is a dynamic set offered levels of performance very close if not equal to the X for $50 less. The mids and fit of the Noble X were the only two things I liked about it.
But hey, even if I didn't like it for $250, that shouldn't stop you from buying or trying it out. The $130-$160 rating I gave them is what I would personally pay for them based on my experience with that set. I didn't like the IE800 but that's my opinion and doesn't make it a universal fact that they're bad.