I just tested these stunning earbuds — and they Bose and Sony on design and sound

Tom's Guide

8 hours ago

Noble's new Fokus Amadeus earbuds are certainly eye-catching with their red, metal-topped charging case that's meant to echo their namesake's red coat, and the crimson, jewel-like earbuds that are housed within.
There's more to these premium buds than their fancy looks, of course. There's some interesting audio gear inside, along with extra features that mean they take the fight to the likes of the Sony WF-1000XM5 and the Bose QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds. Think ANC that blocks out all the noise, incredible sound and features galore.
If you can get hold of a pair. Let's find out more about Noble's latest premium wireless earbuds.
Price $320/£279Connectivity Bluetooth 5.4ANC YesBattery 8 hours (ANC on) 12 hours (ANC off) 42 hours (Case)Colors RedCodec support SBC, AAC, aptX Adaptive, LDACCompatibility iOS, AndroidFrequency response 20Hz – 20kHz
As with pretty much everything that Noble makes, it's annoying to get hold of the Amadeus. That's not to say there aren't plenty of places to buy them.
If you don't mind avoiding Amazon, there are plenty of outlets that stock the buds and sell them for their MSRP, including Noble itself. That's not the issue — it's that there just aren't all that many of them in the wild.
Noble makes stuff in smaller production runs, on account of being a much smaller company than the likes of Sony or Bose. That lends the air of exclusivity to some degree, but it does mean they're generally sold out almost everywhere.
They do get restocked, so you're not completely out of luck, but if you've got your heart set on a pair of Noble (anything), you might want to find some way to make stock alerts for the Noble website, or a more niche audio site.
Thankfully, you'll be paying a reasonable price to get hold of a pair. They're priced at $320 in the US, making them a mite more expensive than the Sony and Bose options.
Buyers in the UK get an excellent deal, however, as they undercut the competition by a few pounds. They cost £279 at most outlets, and you're definitely getting a better pair of buds for the price.
Let's get the one problem out of the way first — the carrying case is, for lack of a better term, unwieldy. It's too tall, a little too wide, and features too many edges for it to comfortably pass my 'jeans pocket' test.
The choice of crimson that makes up the lid of the charging case is striking, and it contrasts well with the rest of the black chassis
If they're going to live in a backpack or a handbag, this isn't going to be that much of an issue, but fellow 'earbuds into my pocket' people might want to think about investing in some cargo pants. Or a fanny pack.
With that all dealt with, we can take a closer look at the package itself. And it's a bit good-looking, isn't it? The choice of crimson that makes up the lid of the charging case is striking, and it contrasts well with the rest of the black chassis. I like how the whole thing isn't red; otherwise, the whole thing might become overwhelmingly vermilion.
Open that red lid and you'll find the buds within. Just like other Noble earbuds, they're something of a work of art. The touch panels on each bud are covered by a swirling red resin, inlaid with the Noble logo for a jewel-like finish. They shine in the light, and reveal new shades with the changing shadows. They look lovely.
There are plenty of small details as well, including the metal Noble inlay inside the eartips. It all adds up to a pair of earbuds that look unlike just about everything else you can buy for a similar price, separating them from the Sony and Bose options.
It helps that they're built well, too. The buds themselves are extremely solid-feeling, with few seamlines to give away how they're constructed. The case opens and closes with a satisfying 'snap', and it feels like it will survive anything you might throw at it. Considering they are going to be portable audio companions to take everywhere, the build is excellent.
Comfort it is good too, thanks to the multitude of fitting options in the box. There are six different eartips housed in their own little plastic case (another nice touch), including three standard options, and then three double flanged options.
My preference is for the medium-sized double flanged buds because they passively block more noise, although your mileage may vary.
Just like their more expensive cousins, the Fokus Rex5, the Amadeus are packed with Audiodo personalized audio.
I'm generally not a massive fan of personalized audio systems, with small changes that don't make much of a difference when it comes to my ears. Audiodo however, is slightly different — it gives my mismatched ears a better bet when it comes to listening to my music.
It's easy enough to initiate. Head into the app, and select the 'Personal EQ' button. From there, you'll be instructed to listen to some beeps and boops that play between your ears, and then you're done.
I found the sound afterward not only slightly more detailed but also more spacious overall. It's a good extra, and something I'd like to see implemented on more earbuds and headphones.
The app itself is very simple to use and perhaps looks a little dated, but it's otherwise a solid piece of software for controlling your earbuds. There are loads of different options to be found, including a very robust 10-band EQ, which can be manipulated even if you've gone through the Audiodo personalized sound.
Beyond the 10 Band EW, there's also something called 'EQ curve', which lets you dial in a warmer or more detailed tone. It's a nice, quick customization feature that doesn't need too much fiddling with to find a sound that works.
You can also customize the touch controls built into the buds through the app, update the firmware, check the battery, control music playback, and disconnect the buds from your device. The app is available for both Android and iPhone, although I've found the EQ easier to use on Android devices.
Despite costing less, Noble seems to have stepped up the ANC in the Amadeus over the Rex5. There's more passive noise blocking now, although some sound will get in when the music isn't playing or when it's quiet. It's not quite up there with the Bose or Sony ANC, but it does get treacherously close.
If you want the best ANC possible from the Amadeus, you should opt for the flanged tips. They're better at creating a passive seal, keeping the sound out much better than the traditional tips.
They are slightly more invasive in your ears, however, something you should bear in mind if you're particularly sensitive in the ear area.
I found that the noise canceling did a solid job when I took them on the bus, blocking out annoying crying children and noisy teenagers. The noise of the bus melted away, and the rumbling tires were inaudible.
When walking around outside, some of the ambient noise made its way in, but they were otherwise very impressive.
'Ambient Mode' is the name for transparency here, and it works fine. It's perhaps a little over-eager, pumping more noise in that I might otherwise like when I'm buying a sandwich from the shop, but it let me hear the clerk to make sure I didn't look completely rude.
Every single device from Noble has been the best in class and price when it comes to their sound quality. The Amadeus are no different.
Comparing them to their more expensive cousin, the Rex5, you'll find a different sound profile as opposed to one that's better. While the Rex5 are more focused on revealing detail and keeping everything super tight, the Amadeus want to warm everything up and bring some low-end to the table.
The lacking low-end was something that many weren't enamored with on the Rex5, so it's nice to see that Noble has brought some of it back to the Amadeus. That's not to say they're in any way not detailed or that they lack resolution — far from it, they're a best of both worlds solution. I'd wager, in fact, that more people are going to enjoy the more laid-back, warmer sound over the more in-your-face, forward sound of the Rex5.
I sat down to test the Amadeus with Qobuz, one of the best streaming services. I left the personalized audio on, but I left the EQ settings alone for the most part to gauge their core sound straight out of the box.
Watain's Black Flames March brings the tremolo-picked guitars and blistering double kick drum for some devilish fury, and the Amadeus are more than willing to oblige. Each hit of the kick drum is impactful and meaty, but quick to resolve for the next one. The bass guitar lays its impressive groundwork for the rest of the ensemble, but keeps itself tight and controlled.
The mids are a highlight too, bringing plenty of fury to the triplets of distorted guitar. The cymbals are bright and airy, but not overly so, while the growled and screamed vocals are clear and precise. There's perhaps a touch more warmth than detail heads might like, but it's a wickedly tempting piece of dangerous, frenzied black metal.
Look, they're called the Amadeus, so they have to be tested with some of their namesakes. Mozart's Piano Sonata No.1 I. Allegro is a detailed, endlessly complex piano piece that needs impressive precision to sound its very best. In the 2016 live recording that I used, the dynamics are particularly strong, and the Amadeus kept up impressively.
Every change in volume was well represented through the Noble Fokus Amadeus, with the loudest parts packing plenty of oomph while the quieter parts were delicate and precise. The piano itself sounded excellent, ringing out with a beautiful timbre. As the pianists fingers dart across the piano keyboard, the music moves from left to right. Beautifully handled, with no one frequency taking the spotlight too much.
Japanese Jazz Fusion heroes T.Square bring some much-needed levity to the situation with a funky, multi-layered soundscape with 君と歩こう. The dancing drums pack plenty of impact, while each note of the bass guitar makes itself well known thanks to the low-end weighting of the Amadeus.
The guitar line is well-produced and effortless in its toe-tapping rhythm, and well resolved by the buds. The saxophone is clear and bright, while the rest of the ensemble joins in. You get all funk.
I didn't suffer any kind of malady while testing out the call quality of the Amadeus, giving my friend a call while sitting in a busy cafe. The microphone quality on my end was perfectly clear, and let my call partner hear everything that I had to say. They came through crisp and clear as well.
They're not better for calls than the Sony or the Bose options, but they don't fare badly at all when compared to their established competition.
Touch controls! Forever my nemesis. Even when they work well, I don't like them — I'll always prefer the solid, faithful tactility of a button over a touch panel.
The touch controls here work well, with multiple taps for different functions. It covers the whole outer panel of the bud, so you'll not have to worry about missing anything.
You can customize them in the app as well, so you could have three taps pause the music instead just a single press, or use it to manipulate the volume. If you don't mind touch controls, you'll be well served by the Noble Fokus Amadeus — I simply don't like touch controls. But I live with them, given they're pretty much all we get with in-ears.
Bluetooth 5.4 ensures a very modern suite of connectivity, although there's no Auracast or Bluetooth LE. Oh well. We move on. We do get multi-point connection, which is far more useful, and I found it worked about as well as any other implementation I've tested.
It's not AirPods good, but it's the next best thing. Switching from laptop to phone and back was easy, and I didn't experience any trip-ups.
The Bluetooth connection was very stable as well, surviving the notoriously anti-Bluetooth London underground without kind of dropouts. As for range, I've been able to walk from my office to the other end of the house without any connection hiccups — very solid indeed.
Anything above 6 hours is good in my book, and the Amadeus absolutely trash that figure. Their 8 hours of ANC listening is far more than that which you'll find in the Sony and Bose competition, and the 12 hours of ANC off is even better still.
42 hours out of the case means it's good for about 2 and a half charges, and you get 2 hours of use out of a 10-minute quick charge. You'll not be wanting for battery life, that's for sure. As for real-life battery testing, I discovered I lost about 15% of the buds' battery with ANC turned on after about 2 hours of use.
That would work out about the same as projected, if not slightly more than Noble has proclaimed on all its spec sheets.
The Noble Fokus Amadeus are a better pair of headphones than the Sony and the Bose alternatives. Sure, the others block out marginally more noise and they have wear detect (a feature lacking here), but the Amadeus are far more comfortable, better looking, and more premium feeling for the price than the alternatives.
We'd absolutely have a new list topper for the best wireless earbuds on our hands, if only they weren't so thin on the ground and annoying to get hold of. I can wholeheartedly recommend you go out and buy a pair if you're looking for some buds around the $300 price mark, given that these sound so epic and pack in so much battery life. I just wish you could find them.