“Boy, do we have problems up here!” This is something I feel a great many people will love to know about. It’s not everyday we see such a price difference in the Bluetooth world for the same brand items, especially when the items are shaped the same way on the outside. All Noble Bluetooth earphones are pretty much shipped like IEMs. It’s a part of their drive and appeal to a great many people. The Rex 5 has aluminum in place for the inner half of their earphones while the Osprey uses plastic shells to shave off prices. And speaking of prices, the Rex 5 is $449 while the Osprey is only $199. Another difference is within the driver count. The Osprey only has two drivers versus five on the Rex 5. But the real question is whether or not these differences make any real difference between the two.
The looks are flat-out gorgeous, no matter which one you pick. Although I believe the blue looks just a tad bit better in my eyes, the aluminum feel is more preferred on the Rex 5. But overall, it’s Noble and Wizard John that made both, so how can anyone truly go wrong with either one of them? They both hold that same quality in looks and details that stand out in the Bluetooth world of earphones.
So what about the case then? Well, they are both the same again in shape. However, internally they are very different. How? Well, the Rex 5 has wireless charging present, while the Osprey again shaves off things to make that price structure, and therefore doesn’t have wireless charging. Then another huge win is the battery life. The Rex 5 has over 45 hours of battery life with the case, while the Osprey only has 35 hours. So that is clearly a win for the Rex 5.
So then we move to the app. The app is pretty much the same as the app with the Rex 5, just having one more option to EQ simpler than the 10-band EQ they each have. Frankly, I don’t see an advantage there in my opinion, so I would have to draw this area personally, but I can still see how it would be a win for the Rex 5 if you don’t like 10-band EQs.
Now, onto the sound. The sound is utterly amazing on both of these earphones. Yes, you get more drivers in the Rex 5 (5 drivers) versus the Osprey (2 drivers), but the results in the sound don’t really reflect that advantage. In fact, most people give the overall sound quality to the Osprey after EQs. But if you don’t like using EQ, then the default sound of the Rex 5 wins in my opinion. However, I truly don’t believe there is a wrong choice here. One could easily say that by that fact alone, it gives the advantage to the cheaper $199 Osprey. If that earphone can beat or even match the more expensive $449 Rex 5, that just gives the advantage to the cheaper one. I just give them a tie for this category.
Phone call quality is the same on both. They both sound fine in a quiet environment, but in a noisy environment, they struggle to focus on your voice over the surrounding noise. This is a limitation all Bluetooth devices have.
Finally, we have ANC/hear-through! Unfortunately, there is no real advantage here between the two. They both have excellent isolation for passive NC, but the real ANC only works decently. Nothing special about it, nor the hear-through modes. These areas are not as mind-blowing as they are on products like Sony and Apple.
At the end of the day, the fact that the sound and fit of the $199 Osprey is so good that it even challenges the $449 Rex 5 is something I can’t overlook. Noble created something I don’t think they intended to create. They have made it very difficult for themselves for the consumer to justify buying the $449 Rex 5. The Osprey is just too good in sound and not bad enough to want to pay more. The biggest advantage I can see on the Rex 5 is the battery life. Having over 45 hours of battery is just flat out sick. The 35 hours of the Osprey is still very impressive, and that $199 price tag easily justifies the 35 hours of battery life for me. So for my money, having the $199 is just more acceptable and pleasing, regardless of the 10 hours more battery life. The Rex 5 just doesn’t have enough differences between its younger brother at $449. And I think that’s a big problem that Noble just made for itself.
Tech-N-Things 