March 2021

Noble Falcon Pro True Wireless IEMs
One of the best IEMs I have heard under $400.
Review By Gary Alan Barker

  In the short four years that I have been writing for Headphone.Guru, I have had opportunity to listen to a host of Bluetooth IEMs, several of which I use on a daily basis for telephone communication, but none that I would deign to use for regular music listening despite the significant improvements that have been made to Bluetooth over the last few years, preferring a wired option generally opting for my Noble Katanas or Zephyrs. This all changed when Jim Moulton offered to send me a pair of the new Noble Falcon Pro True Wireless IEMs, flagship model of the FALCON series, utilizing a hybrid driver configuration featuring a 6mm titanium coated driver for impactful sub-bass and bass, and two Knowles BA drivers for mid and high frequencies.

The Falcon Pros are a Bluetooth IEM designed with music foremost in their sights offering performance equal to mid-priced wired IEMs, but they don't stop there and are ready for real-world applications with IPX5 water resistance.

To draw from the Noble website here are a few of the highlights:
Tuning by "Wizard" John Moulton who has a doctorate in audiology. Utilizing his extensive knowledge of auditory science, Dr. John is able to bring an impressive level of sound quality through meticulous tuning.

The Falcon Pro utilizes the QUALCOMM SoC "QCC3040". The QCC3040 chip supports both iPhone AAC and Android SBC with excellent sound quality as well as aptX Adaptive.

Achieves overwhelming high-quality sound by adopting a hybrid configuration of 2BA + 1DD. The Falcon Pro is equipped with the latest generation BA driver "SRDD" made by US Knowles along with a 6mm Tri-layered Titanium-coated Dynamic Driver (TLT Driver).

Equipped with a "hear-through function" that allows you to hear surrounding sounds while wearing earphones allowing you to check the surrounding sounds without removing the earphones from your ears.

Ergonomic design & earpiece that does not easily fall off your ears.

Falcon Pros are shipped with eProeartips, which utilize patented technology to fit tightly to the ear, preventing the earphones from falling from your ears, even during exercise.

Easy connection, auto-pairing compatible with Bluetooth 5.2. Once paired with the player, the next time you open the charging case lid and take your Falcons out, they will automatically enter pairing mode.

IPX5 waterproof design that can withstand submersion.

Achieves outstanding connection stability using High Precision Connect2 Technology Compatible with Bluetooth 5.2, which provides a stable connection under most conditions.

Equipped with master swap function allowing left and right master swap each time the power is turned on, the one with the most remaining battery power is automatically switched to the master earphone to prevent the battery from running out, enabling longer playback time.

The QUALCOMM SoC "QCC3040" and the high-performance battery built into the earphone body enable continuous playback for up to 10 hours.

Supports the latest audio codec aptX Adaptive which automatically adjusts the optimum sound quality and delay so that you can enjoy a wide range of content such as music, videos, and games in various places without stress. The bit rate is automatically adjusted between 279kbps and 420kbps according to the communication environment to ensure connection stability. In addition, by adopting a variable bit rate method using a new compression algorithm, it is possible to transmit 24bit / 48kHz, which is equivalent to aptX HD.

State-of-the-art True Wireless Mirroring support which transmits data to the left and right earphones sharing one Bluetooth address for both the left and right which is displayed as one connection destination on the connection source device when pairing.

Living With The Noble Falcon Pro True Wireless IEMs
Upon opening the picture sleeved slipcase I discovered a tiny charge case alongside the Noble Falcon Pro True Wireless IEMs (a 2" square a little over 1" tall), in fact, the charge case was about half the size of the accessory box containing the extra eProeartips, USB-C cable, and velour carrying bag (which is large enough to carry the Falcon Pros in their charge case while exceeding the standard Noble velour carrying bag by about a ¼"). The Falcon Pros themselves are about half of the size of any other of the true wireless IEMs that I have experienced (smaller in fact than either of the wired Noble IEMs I have) and exhibit a much higher quality of construction (on a par with Noble's universal IEMs).

During burn-in, which I performed with my FiiO M11 DAP running Qobuz, I regularly achieved over 10 hours playing time on a charge, a significantly longer time than experienced with previous true wireless IEMs. Switching over to my Moto G Power phone I found the hear-through function made phone conversations more pleasant as it wasn't like talking with your ears plugged. To achieve the best gain balance between the Falcon Pros and the Moto I first turned the volume all the way down on the Falcon Pros then controlled the volume from the phone (I'm not sure that this had any effect, but it appeared, like many Bluetooth headphones, as if the Falcon Pros had an internal volume control apart from the digital volume of the phone). There were no complaints from folks on the other end about clarity, so it appears that the microphones and noise-canceling did their job.

I began my serious listening with random tracks on Qobuz starting with Jean Michel Jarre's "Concert From Virtual Notre Dame – Welcome to the Other Side" the Falcon Pros providing a warm and musical sound with a solid bass presentation.

"Shamanism" featuring Ivo Perelman, Matthew Shipp, and Joe Morris offered some very eclectic jazz, the piano rich and immediate in a good-sized hall. The recording was intended to be intimate allowing you to hear the mutes as they lifted and lowered unto the strings. Despite the stridency of the sax notes blended with the blistering guitar, the sound was enjoyable and musical with a fairly natural timbre to the instruments.

An unexpected find was an old favorite The Timelords performing "Doctorin' The Tardis" from the new release from The KLF, "Solid State Logik 1 – KLF Communications 7" Hit Singles 1988-1991". The strong bass of the Falcon Pros was well suited to this classic bit of electronica.

I rounded out my listening with Berliner Philharmoniker's latest performance of Beethoven's "Symphony No. 9 in D Minor, Op.125". The sense of space was immense and the dynamics excellent for this extraordinary performance. The tonality and timbre were amazing for an IEM that sells for less than $400 not to mention a Bluetooth headphone.

As a final test, I brought up the Bandcamp app on my phone and selected one of my own albums ("The Next Album") listening to the song "Orange (vocal)" to test range. Once I had four walls between me and the phone, about a hundred feet, I could hear the apt X Adaptive change resolution to compensate for diminished signal, fantastic range by any definition.

My one complaint is that the command for "hear-through" and "volume down" are the same which caused me a little trouble initially. The tap contact switches seemed a little more responsive than the push buttons on most True Wireless though I'm not completely sold on single button designs (I accept that there is no real alternative for True Wireless designs).

Conclusions on the Noble Falcon Pro True Wireless IEMs
The Noble Falcon Pro True Wireless IEMs are a wonder. That they can fit three drivers, transceiver, amplifier, and battery in such a small package that offers over 10 hours of dynamic musical sound is mind-boggling. The sonic profile is what I would call fun, with excellent clarity, strong bass without boominess, and a warm lush detailed midrange, equally at home with pop music and classical.

Noble has definitely made me rethink my attitudes towards Bluetooth, and wireless IEMs in general, producing in the Falcon Pro an IEM that I could happily use for everyday music listening while out and about without having to resort to a heavy DAP and a limiting cord, ideal for streaming music, watching videos, or playing games via a smartphone or tablet.

To reiterate, the Noble Falcon Pro True Wireless IEMs are one of the best IEMs I have heard under $400 and are flat out the best wireless I have heard to date, well done Noble, a definite thumbs up.

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Specifications
Type: In-ear monitor (IEM)
Chipset: Qualcomm QCC3040 (TrueWireless Mirroring)

Driver: Knowles SRDD BA Drivers & Φ6mm Tri-layered 
Titanium-coated Driver (TLT Driver)

Playback frequency: band 20Hz to 24kHz

Microphone Omni-directional

Qualcomm CVC8.0 with noise canceling Bluetooth specificationsVersion5.2 / Class2 / Multi-pairing support Bluetooth profileA2DP, AVRCP, HSP, HFP

Supported codecs: SBC, AAC, aptX, aptX Adaptive

Power Supply:
Body: DC3.7V 60mAh lithium polymer rechargeable battery (built-in type)

Charging case: DC3.7V 400mAh lithium polymer rechargeable battery (built-in type)

Continuous playback time (maximum): 5.5 hours (at maximum volume) / 10 hours (at 70% volume)

Continuous talk time (maximum): 11 hours (at 70% volume)

Charging time: Earphone about 1 hour / Charging case about 1.5 hours

Operating temperature range Celsius: 10 to 60 degrees (no condensation)

Water resistance: IPX5

Accessories: Charging case, pouch, earpiece (ePro: S / M / L), USB cable User's Guide

Price: $329

Manufacturer
Noble Audio
Website: NobleAudio.com