Introduction

Noble Audio is a family-owned audio brand that began its journey in early 2013. It’s one of very few companies to have lasted this long without losing its US roots, and heading over to this page shows that the current seven-person Noble Audio team has four members with the same last name! John Moulton—nicknamed The Wizard (no relation to our own W1zzard)—is 50% owner of the brand and has a Ph.D. in audiology, and the others have their own specializations to help Noble Audio seemingly go from strength to strength over time. I first met Jim Moulton (the other 50% owner) at CanJam London 2022 where they were extremely patient walking me through the entire IEM lineup they had brought over. This included a literal piece of audio jewelry in the form of a gold-and-diamond version of the Noble Sultan that is valued at over $27,000 and they had no qualms about allowing me to examine it with my gloved hands. This then led to an astonishingly transparent discussion of what Noble Audio can and can’t do, as well as why the company decided early on to leave the more budget-minded market for wired IEMs. They saw the upcoming race to the bottom that we are now seeing with ChiFi audio brands and also the tough competition from TWS earphones for the more mainstream market. As such, Noble Audio’s strategy is to offer premium wired IEMs combined with its own take on the TWS craze too—not a bad business strategy if I say so myself!

Late 2021 saw a statement piece released by Noble Audio in the form of the Noble Viking—an all-Damascus steel set of IEMs, including with the hardware used on the cable, developed in conjunction with master jeweler and craftsman Chris Ploof and his team. The Noble Viking also used an expensive tribrid driver configuration and only 83 units were made to where all these factors combined into making it a set that cost over $7000! Sticker shock aside, the Noble Viking sold out soon and there was pent-up demand for a more mass production-compatible version from fans of the brand. Enter then the all-new flagship for the Noble Audio brand—the Noble Viking Ragnar—and thanks to the company for loaning a unit to TechPowerUp as we examine it closely in our review today beginning with a look at the product specifications in the table below.

Specifications