Noble FoKus Rex5: Two-minute review
The Noble FoKus Rex5 true wireless in-ear is the latest model with which the company intends to disrupt a market that’s already full to bursting. From its base in Texas, North America, Noble has been turning out singular, and singularly expensive, headphones for a little over a decade now and the Rex5 are no exception.
There are notable points of difference here, mind you. The Rex5 are exhaustively specified, with five drivers per earbud, Bluetooth 5.4 with aptX Adaptive and LDAC codec compatibility, and a single option where finish is concerned that’s as green as a very green thing. Oh, and relatively speaking they cost an arm and a leg.
The Rex5 are a strong performer, though, no two ways about it. The sound they produce is open and unified, rigorously defined, rapid and detailed. Other earbuds offer a bit more low-end heft, it’s true, but very very few have the sort of powers of resolution and insight that are on offer here.
Whether that’s enough to justify either the asking price or a place in the best wireless earbuds, though, especially when you add in ANC and battery life that is really nothing remarkable, is a different question…
Noble FoKus Rex5 review: Price and release date
- Released in November 2024
- Costs $449 / £419 / AU$699
You have been able to buy the Noble FoKus Rex5 for $449 / £419 / AU$699 since November 2024, which puts them right at the top end of price point for true wireless earbuds.
For that price, you’re looking for best-in-class performance almost across the board, something along the lines of the Technics EAH-AZ100 or Bowers & Wilkins Pi8, both of which are cheaper than the Rex5.
Noble FoKus Rex5 review: Specs
| Drivers | 10mm dynamic; 6mm planar magnetic; 3 x balanced armature |
| Active noise cancellation | Yes |
| Quoted battery life | 5 hours (buds, ANC on)7 x full charges (charging case) |
| Weight | 9.6g (earbud); 31.5g (case) |
| Connectivity | Bluetooth 5.4; aptX Adaptive and LDAC compatibility |
| Frequency response | 20Hz – 40kHz |
| Control | Touch; voice; app |
Noble FoKus Rex5 review: Features
- 10mm dynamic, 6mm planar magnetic, 3 x balanced armature per earbud
- Bluetooth 5.4 with aptX Adaptive and LDAC compatibility
- Multipoint connectivity
There is one minor exception, but in the broadest terms the Noble FoKus Rex5 have the sort of feature set that an asking price this lofty demands. There’s really no arguing with the lengths Noble has gone to here.
Take, for example, wireless connectivity. The Rex5 use top-of-the-shop Bluetooth 5.4 and are compatible with both aptX Adaptive and LDAC codecs – so lossy hi-res content is on the wireless menu. Multipoint connectivity is available, too, so the earbuds can connect to a couple of sources simultaneously and switch seamlessly between them.
And when the audio information is on board, it is served up by no fewer than five drivers per earbud. Three balanced armatures, a 6mm planar magnetic and a 10mm dynamic free-edge driver contribute to produce a claimed frequency response of 20Hz – 40kHz.
Control is available using responsive and accurate capacitive touch controls on the top surface of each earbud, and the feed-forward/feed-back twin mic array of each earbud allows interaction with your source player’s native voice assistant. The mics also take care of active noise-cancellation, of course, which is a three-position system (‘on’, ‘off’ and ‘ambient’).
You’ve also the option of the Noble FoKus control app that’s available for iOS and Android. There are only the most basic playback controls available (play/pause and skip forwards/backwards) but it lets you scroll through your ANC options, investigate some EQ presets as well as define some of your own, rearrange some of the functions of the touch controls, and check on battery life.
The app also includes a listening/hearing test courtesy of Audiodo, and thanks to the onboard QCC3091 chip, the earbuds can remember your hearing profile without needing the app to be open.
Battery life, then, is the only area in which the FoKus Rex5 looking anything less than profoundly impressive. With ANC switched off, the earbuds are good for seven hours or so of playback, which ain’t bad – switch ANC on and that number drops to more like five hours, which is so-so at best. There’s plenty of back-up in the charging case, though – as many as seven full charges are available, which is well above the market average.
Charging takes place using the case’s USB-C slot, and the Noble are compatible with Qi-certified charging pads, too. Some 15 minutes on the power via USB-C should be good for two hours or so of playback, should the worst happen.
Noble FoKus Rex5 review: Design
- Aluminium/acrylic construction
- 9.6g (earbud); 31.5g (charging case)
- 10 pairs of ear-tips
The earbuds, at 9.6g, are among the heavier around. The charging case is a bit of a biffer, and certainly not a candidate for the pocket of your favorite pair of skinny jeans. But the carefully ergonomic shape of the earbuds, along with a selection of 10 ear-tips of various sizes and materials, mean it’s not especially tricky to get a snug and secure fit that will stay comfortable for a good while. That’s always assuming your ears aren’t especially petite, though – these are relatively large earbuds and will prove an earful even for those of us with ‘ordinary’ ears.
‘Green’ is as good a word as any to describe the finish of the FoKus Rex5 – ‘emerald green’ if you’re after specifics. The earbuds are fashioned from aluminium and feature an acrylic top-plate with the company logo, which also appears at the end of the spout where the ear-tips fit, as well as on the lid of the charging case. The case is almost entirely of aluminium – there’s a little plastic patch on the bottom to facilitate wireless charging.
Build quality, it almost goes without saying, is basically impeccable – the Noble package feels expertly constructed and built to last. Whether or not you find the aesthetic appealing is entirely up to you. I can only assure you that no corners seem to have been cut where design, construction and finish are concerned.
Noble FoKus Rex5 review: Sound quality
- Rapid, maneuverable and luxuriously detailed sound
- Seemingly limitless dynamic headroom
- Lack of low-end body won’t suit every listener
Words like ‘accuracy’ and ‘precision’ get bandied around quite a lot when it comes to audio products. Generally I try to avoid them, because both things (which are similar but not the same) are bloody difficult for audio equipment to achieve no matter how expensive it might be. In the case of the Noble FoKus Rex5, though, I’ll be using both and will be doing so unapologetically.
A five-driver arrangement is, of course, tricky to implement and can sometimes end up constituting too much of a good thing. So right from the off, Noble is to be congratulated for the balanced and coherent way the Rex5 perform. They sound unified from the top of the frequency range to the bottom, and their tonality is consistent throughout too. When you consider the number of individual elements that are responsible for this, it’s by no means a given.
What’s almost as quickly striking is the amount of detail the Rex5 can identify, reveal and contextualize in a recording. This is true no matter if they’re playing a 247kbps MP3 of Eartheater’s How to Fight via SBC, a 24bit/192kHz file of The Velvet Underground’s Femme Fatale being compressed by the AAC codec or Desire by Talk Talk as a 2.8MHz DSD file delivered via LDAC. No matter how fleeting, how subtle, how deep in the mix it might be, if it’s there the Noble earbuds pounce on it with something approaching fanaticism. It follows that even the most compressed digital audio files sound complete, and the higher-resolution stuff enjoys the sort of accuracy that eludes the vast majority of alternative designs.
The Rex5 combine substance and attack at the top of the frequency range, giving treble sounds sufficient body to balance against their brilliance. The midrange is similarly accomplished, with the sort of positivity and directness when dealing with vocalists that leaves you in no doubt as to their attitude or intentions. And the size and definition of the soundstage the Noble create gives everyone involved in a recording all the space they need in which to properly express themselves. The stage is defined with real precision, and is easy to follow as a result, even if it’s packed to capacity with contributors.
Dynamic headroom where the broad ‘quiet/LOUD!’ elements of a recording are concerned is approaching ‘unlimited’, so the Rex5 can make the differences in volume and intensity many recordings like to indulge in absolutely obvious. And the bigger the dynamic shifts (Mogwai and Shostakovic, I’m looking at you in particular), the deeper the Noble breath and the greater the gap between them that they describe.
Ultimately, only the way the Rex5 handle the lower frequencies is likely to prove problematic for some listeners. Tonally, bass sounds are of a piece with everything that’s going on above them, and they’re given a similar sort of emphasis to the rest of the frequency range, too. But there’s not a lot of meat on these low-end bones – if true wireless earbuds were boxers, then the Noble FoKus Rex5 are flyweights in a world of heavyweights. The low frequencies they generate hit respectably hard, and are just as loaded with information regarding tone and texture as the rest of the frequency range. But the trade-off for the straight-edge precision of their control, and the maneuverability and rhythmic positivity that comes as a result, is a relative lack of heft that some listeners are going to confuse with a lack of bass. And sometimes, perception is everything.
Active noise-cancellation is in the ‘good’ rather than the ‘great’ camp but then that’s true of almost every pair of true wireless in-ears that isn’t designed and built by Bose. Wind-noise can be more of an issue than it really should be, too. But call-quality is well up to standard (as long as you’re not somewhere especially windy while you’re attempting to make or receive a call).
Noble FoKus Rex5 review: Value
- Thrillingly complete sound quality
- Humdrum earbud battery life
- Expensive and then some
Part of the value of the Noble FoKus Rex5 – or their perceived value, at least – lies in their rarity. Apple earbuds, Bose earbuds, Sony earbuds… they’re everywhere, aren’t they? If you want to tread the road less traveled, a pair of Rex5 will certainly help you stand out.
Of course, there are also solid and tangible areas in which the Noble represent great value. The quality of their construction and finish is, to all intents and purposes, impeccable. They use premium materials at every point. They’re lavishly specified, have a number of very well-implemented control options, and have so many plus-points to the way they sound that I don’t have space to revisit them here.
There’s an elephant in the room, though, and it’s wearing a $449 / £419 / AU$699 price tag. When audio editor Becky Scarrott reviewed the Bowers & Wilkins Pi8 for this website in September 2024, she loved them despite feeling compelled to observe “they’re not cheap”. Well, suddenly the $399 / £349 / AU$599 they cost at the time seems like a bit of a bargain, doesn’t it?
Should I buy the Noble FoKus Rex5?
| Attributes | Notes | Rating |
|---|---|---|
| Features | Good and plentiful, with multipoint connectivity and a control app. | 4.5/5 |
| Design | A chunky case but superb build quality. Not great for small ears. Green. | 4.5/5 |
| Sound quality | Limitless dynamic headroom but lack of low-end body won’t suit all | 4/5 |
| Value | No getting around it, they’re really very expensive. | 4/5 |
Buy them if…
Don’t buy them if…
Noble FoKus Rex5 review: Also consider
| Drivers | 10mm dynamic; 6mm planar magnetic; 3 x balanced armature |
| Active noise cancellation | Yes |
| Quoted battery life | 5 hours (buds, ANC on)7 x full charges (charging case) |
| Weight | 9.6g (earbud); 31.5g (case) |
| Connectivity | Bluetooth 5.4; aptX Adaptive and LDAC compatibility |
| Frequency response | 20Hz – 40kHz |
| Control | Touch; voice; app |
| Header Cell – Column 0 | Noble FoKus Rex5 | Bowers & Wilkins Pi8 |
|---|---|---|
| Drivers | 10mm dynamic; 6mm planar magnetic; 3 x balanced armature | 12mm |
| Active noise cancellation | Yes | Yes |
| Battery life | 5 hours (buds, ANC on)7 x full charges (charging case) | 6.5 hours (buds); 20 hours (case) |
| Weight | 9.6g (earbud); 31.5g (case) | 7g (buds) 46g (case) |
| Connectivity | Bluetooth 5.4; aptX Adaptive and LDAC compatibility | Bluetooth 5.5 |
How I tested the Noble FoKus Rex5
- With an Apple iPhone 14 Pro, an Apple MacBook Pro and a FiiO M15S
- With a variety of music stored in a variety of file types and resolutions
- Using a number of different Bluetooth codecs
From 5644kbps DSD content via LDAC to 256kbps MP3 via SBC, I listened to as many different standards and types of digital audio content as possible during the course of the week or so I spent with the Rex5 in my ears.
I used a few different sources, too, and from the home office to the South Downs nearby I made sure to listen in a variety of environments. And of course I listened to as many different types of music as I can stomach – I have to draw the line somewhere, though, and so I naturally gave things like ‘barbershop’ the swerve…
- First reviewed in January 2025
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