The Custom Art FIBAE 1 is the first custom monitor design featuring the company’s innovative FIBAE technology. Featuring 1 balanced armature driver the FIBAE 1 starts at €300.
Disclaimer: The Custom Art FIBAE 1 sent to us is a sample in exchange for our honest opinion. We thank the team at Custom Art for giving us this opportunity.
To read more about Custom Art products we reviewed on Headfonics click here.
Note, this review follows our new scoring guidelines for 2020 which you can read up on here.
I am a firm admirer of Custom Art’s approach to CIEM designs. They either do something unusual or cutting-edge such as silicone molded 8 driver models like the Harmony 8.2 or the price point is on a very competitive basis. The new FIBAE 1 is no different in that respect, priced at under $400.
However, the FIBAE 1 is not just about funky colors or cheap prices. No sir, this is all about what FIBAE actually stands for and perhaps solving a problem a lot of us come up against when source matching our IEMs.
In short, this is about impedance and how it affects our sound signature as well as the enjoyment of our gear. Until now little cool devices like the iEMatch from iFi were the route to go to cancel out impedance mismatches. A little additional cost so to speak.
Custom Art believes they have the answer to that problem with their FIBAE series of IEMs. The FIBAE 1 is entry-level but it is the first of many with this new design.
What Is The Pitch?
FIBAE Technology
The clue is in the name. FIBAE stands for Flat Impedance Balanced Armature Earphone. This is a patent-pending design Custom Art developed recently and something which I first heard about during CanJam Singapore back in March when CA was at the prototype stage.
Flat Impedance
In summary, FIBAE promises to deliver flat impedance and phase via a series of specially designed balanced armatures to negate the problem of output impedance dependency.
Why is that important? Basically, every headphone jack as an output impedance rating that affects the tonality of your IEM to some degree. Manufacturers have taken strides to reduce this as a factor in their DAPs and amps with a sub-1-ohm impedance being almost the norm.
Inductive To Resistive
However, this is not always the case. Some can range well over 1-ohm such as the Shanling M2s at nearly 5-ohms and many balanced outputs come close to 2-ohms. The FIBAE pitch changes balanced armature designs from inductive to resistive in order to cancel out impedance mismatching and delivers an optimal sound no matter what jack you plug your IEM into.
The Process
New Store
It was almost a year ago I did the review of the Harmony 8.2 CIEM. We mentioned in our writing that Custom Art was indeed updating their website to allow people more control over how they buy their CIEMs.
Previously, buying at CA was old school discussion via email with PDF’s and pictures for a rough guide. Piotr does innovative design work so I just let him have his way and the crazy lava candy design was born which I still love to this day.
Roll on 12 months and now you can purchase, design and produce your own Custom Art CIEM design all on their website. It is a bit similar to the transformation of the old Vision Ears store. It may not be quite as complex as the 64 Audio Store but it does have more realistic pictures and more design options. Going 3-D tends to keep 64 Audio design options too simplistic for my liking.
Using the store is really nice and easy with plenty of design features. You can customize each individual earpiece (left or right) in terms of shell, nozzle, and faceplate. You can also put your own custom artwork and text onto your creation.
Options
There are no less than 13 different shell and tip designs to choose from. After that, you have a huge choice of up to 39 different plate designs. These range from translucent acrylic colors, to exotic woods such as amaranth as well as more modernistic tones such as carbon fiber and aluminum. Note, acrylic is the only choice of shell material as of now for the FIBAE 1 but you can get silicone or acrylic for FIBAE 2.
Pricing
The starting price of the FIBAE 1 is 300 EUR. Of course, these are custom designs so thankfully you have a little interaction with the pricing as you go along and pick out your custom design.
The more premium the options the higher the price. I calculated that each option cost roughly around 13 EUR and only the basic clear shell will keep it pegged at 300. With colored shells and wooden plates and the free logo expect around 350 EUR.
To be honest the pricing is more than reasonable. I have seen some other stores add 100s of dollars to the price for similar plates and designs so kudos to Custom Art for keeping prices reasonably affordable.
Add-Ons
Other options to the right of the screen include cable type and socket type. Recessed will cost you an additional 10 EUR or you can opt for the free non-recessed connector option. Cable choices are 2-pin in grey or black free of charge or an optional grey cable with an inline remote and mic for an additional 25 EUR.
Accessories & Packaging
All Custom Art accessories are the same with each product. It is nothing hugely fancy but it is professional neat and tidy. You get some control over the cable choice during check out but otherwise, you will receive a black elongated carton box with the following additional items:
- Peli 1010 case
- Zipper case
- Wax pick tool
- Drying pellet
- Warranty card
The only pity is the lack of Custom Art branding on the large black shipping box and the Peli 1010 and pill case is still not here in 2017. That is a missed opportunity for brand reinforcement. The final piece of the jigsaw is a small manual on safe listening personalized with your serial number and date of manufacture and the word “Hi” on the front.
Ear Impressions Short Guide
The impressions guide and Q&A from Custom Art is absolutely brilliant. Perhaps one of the best in the business in recent memory. It’s not just a simple do this and that but addresses all your concerns in a few simple question and answer formats.
To quote, simply because I could not say it any better myself:
Impressions have to be made from soft silicone material. Dreve, Egger and Westone brands are recommended. It is suggested to use foam or cotton swabs to protect eardrum.
Impressions have to be made past the second bend and shall include: full concha, helix, crus helix, tragus and antitragus.
Note that Custom Art does require open jaw impressions so bring a bite block to your usual audiologist to keep your jaw steady whilst open to prevent the clay impressions from poorly curing. Then it is a simple case of packing them securely and sending them to Custom Art through your favored courier.
Click on Page 2 below for Build & Sound Impressions
