Picture Sunday – CustomArt Fibae 7

Custom Art Fibae 7

Today we’re looking at the FIBAE 7, the brand new reference custom IEM from CustomArt.

 

Disclaimer: This post is part of our Picture Sunday series, you can find all of the previous ones here.

CustomArt

If you’ve been into personal audio these past few years, you’ve surely heard of CustomArt and their FIBAE and other series.  CustomArt is a Polish based company that was founded in May 2012 by Piotr Granicki. Piotr was a reviewer at the time he started his own company and with the experience he had, he was convinced he could make great sounding monitors. The special thing about CustomArt is that they for several models offer the choice between acrylic and soft silicone monitors for several models. Click here to check out the full comparison between silicone and Acrylic.

CustomArt with the Harmony 8.2 and very successful FIBAE series keeps getting more and more popular all over the world and they’ve even had a special Massdrop model.  If you’ve ever listened to one of CA’ monitors, you’ll know why everyone likes them so much.

And it gets even better, all of CA’s models are very affordable and the price quality ratio is excellent. There’s no reason not to love CustomArt.

Fibae series

So what exactly is FIBAE and does it stand for anything? FIBEA is the abbreviation of Flat Impedance Balanced Armature Earphone and it’s the world’s first In-Ear Monitor design providing flat impedance and phase. By changing Balanced Armature driver character from inductive to resistive CustomArt solved one of the oldest problem in the industry – dependence on output impedance of sound source for correct earphone output. With FIBAE™ technology your earphones will always perform best from any DAP.

So basically it means that the FIBAE monitors in theory will sound almost the same no matter what DAP, phone or amplifier you use. You can find the full information on the FIBAE technology right here on CA’s page and there’s also a dedicated FIBAE thread on Head-Fi. Piotr tells us the following:

In early 2016 we stumbled across an interesting occurrence during work on IEM designs, which prompted us to investigate possible applications for In-Ear Monitoring. We discovered that our design resulted in nearly flat impedance and electrical phase plot of a Balanced Armature driver, reducing dramatically the load for audio amplifiers and providing near-identical response (either frequency or CSD) when switching between sound sources with substantial difference in output impedance. In that moment FIBAE technology was born. In mid-2016 we filed for international patent on our Flat Impedance driver.

CustomArt already has multiple FIBAE models: FIBAE 1 – 2 – 3 – 4 and the Black. And then now there is the FIBAE 7 to celibrate CustomArt’s 7th birthday.

You can read our previous FIBAE reviews here:

The FIBAE 4 and BLack review will be posted later as well.

Fibae 7

So yes, now there is a FIBAE 7 and you can find the dedicated web page for it here: https://thecustomart.com/fibae-7/

FIBAE 7 features…seven drivers. What a coincidence! The configuration is as follows: Dual Sub-Low, Single Low-Mid, Dual Mid-High, and Two Top-Firing Tweeters. According to CustomArt, the FIBAE 7 is an epitome of natural sound, delivering even frequency response with immense details without fatigue.

FIBAE 7 incorporates driver modules from across our IEM range to create the most balanced, the most natural and the most exciting IEMs we have done so far.

The new 7 has some impressive numbers as well:

  • 113dB @1kHz @0.1V
  • 5.9 Ohm @1kHz (+-0.75 Ohm 10Hz-20kHz)
  • 10Hz-21000Hz (+-20dB into IEC 60318-4 coupler)

The FIBAE 7 is available in both universal as well as a custom model. Our review sample is a CIEM.

Design – Fit & More

I can’t really remember if I chose the design or if CustomArt did it for me but it turned out very nice. No, it’s better then very nice, it’s really beautiful as you can see in the pictures. I call it “liquid space” and it has a blue-red-purple mix finish. Admitted, it’s not the most original design as others have done it before but, it beautiful and perfectly executed. Face plate-wise they’re a bit darker as that shows the small blue CustomArt logo better. The FIBAE 7 is only available in an acrylic version, just so you know.

When you first see (and fit) the monitor you will notice that they’re incredibly small. It’s not the first time I’ve said this about Piotr’s monitors and I mean this in the most positive way. Compared to some of the other brands, these are ridiculously small and one wonders how on earth he’s fitting 7 drivers in the design. As they’re small they don’t pop out of your ears and you will draw less attention to them. That can be good or bad, depending on what you want to achieve.

Small doesn’t necessarily means the fit is good, but also there this miniature FIBAE 7 surprises. I’d call the fit “comfortably flush” but the seal is intact at all time. And we all know that is critical to get he best possible sound. Small does mean these are also seriously comfortable. The FIBAE 7 disappears in your ear and even after hours of usage, your ears won’t hurt one bit. If you’re not into custom monitors, then there’s good news for you too as these are also available in a universal version. (https://thecustomart.com/shop/acrylic-products/fibae-7-anniversary/)

You want more? Ok, CustomArt will give you more. Instead of the standard cable the “lower” models come with, the FIBAE 7 comes with a more special 4-braid version, with lovely plugs. I don’t really know the specs of the cable at this time besides the fact it is a Null Audio Arete OCC Copper cable, but it’s perfectly built and sounds great. What’s not to like?

The Fibae 7 sells for about €1.100Euro or $1.220USD. The universal and custom version have the same price, though some of the custom design options might increase the price a little. For that money you get the full package:

– Carton box
– Peli 1010 case
– Zipper case
– Wax pick tool
– Drying pellet
– Warranty card
– Ear tips in 4 sizes (universal fit only)

Sound

With 38 monitors in the CIEM collection it is getting very hard to stand out, but the FIBAE 7 has managed to do exactly that. We won’t share all the beans just yet as we’ll keep that for the full review but…
Click here to read our first impressions…
4.5/5 - (136 votes)
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Lieven is living in Europe and he's the leader of the gang. He's running Headfonia as a side project next to his full time day job in Digital Marketing & Consultancy. He's a big fan of tube amps and custom inear monitors and has published hundreds of product reviews over the years.

1 Comment

  • Reply August 7, 2019

    Markus

    Hi Lieven,
    how would you compare CUSTOMART FIBAE 7 vs. Lime Ears Aether R? I’m looking for a TOTL IEM in the EUR 1000,- price range, prefer fairly balanced, but musical sound with slightly forward mids.

    cheers,

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