Product Description

Custom Art FIBAE 4

The Custom Art FIBAE 4 is the company’s latest FIBAE monitor featuring a quad-driver balanced armature design.

Custom Art FIBAE 4 is the next logical step for Poland’s Custom Art in its FIBAE range of custom monitors. However, as with each previous FIBAE launch the company always has a very definite tuning in mind. It would be all too easy to keep a similar tuning and simply up the resolution in line with the driver count. 

FIBAE stands for Flat Impedance Balanced Armature Earphone. This is a patent-pending design Custom Art developed back in 2016 and since then has rolled out FIBAE 1, 2, and 3 monitors with the tech at the heart of each monitor.

Custom Art FIBAE 4 Design

Where Custom Art positively does excel in (outside of their tuning) are their custom build designs.

This particular design is called the  “Galaxy” which is a transparent all-blue shell and faceplate with a sparkling two-tone wave styling on the plate as well as a light glitter finish on the main shell. The bright tone is down a touch from the FIBAE 3 color scheme but still looks stunning and quite original.

You will be a big fan of singular color blends rather than different shell and plate designs so this one hits the mark on a personal level. The CA logo is also neatly on the side of the shell rather than on the top to maximize the impact of the design rather than disrupt it.

The finishing is top-notch also. You will not see any bubbles, blemishes, or inadvertent seams near the plate. The polished finish is immaculate. The design is built on a hollow body acrylic shell and matching faceplate so there is a degree of transparency but not so much as to disrupt the flow of the design itself.

Like the FIBAE 3, the FIBAE 4 uses a dual-bore nozzle design with top-firing dual balanced armature internal designs. Custom Art does not use a horn design to mix the various bandwidth signals in the bore before it hits your ear. Instead, the tubes right the length of the nozzle to the exit points.

The FIBAE 4 configuration is an even split across the main frequency bands; one for the lows, one for the mids, one for the highs, and one for the super highs. On top of this, the FIBAE 4 logically uses Custom Art’s FIBAE™ technology, hence the name.

Optimum Comfort with Custom Art FIBAE 4

The fit is a perfect balance of pressure and comfort being neither too relaxed nor short, or deep and tight. it does a slightly better job for passive isolation compared to the previous one also.

With the slight increase in lateral pressure, the fit is now very secure and a little further away from what the term a ‘relaxed fitting’ which is where felt the FIBAE 3 fitting is going. The FIBAE 1 and 2 are also closer to the FIBAE 4 for lateral pressure and depth of the fit.

The FIBAE 4 still uses a fairly wide and shortish custom nozzle rather than deeper penetrating versions such as M-Fidelity and 64 Audio designs. Those two have a greater emphasis on accuracy and depth as opposed to lateral pressure.

Last thought about FIBAE 4

Custom Art pulls absolutely no punches in delivering a magnificently V-shaped but smooth-sounding monitor with the FIBAE 4. If you love your bass weighted, full-sounding, and just darn right malevolent in intent then have a demo of this monitor if you can, especially if you have a rack of hardcore synth wave or dubstep in your collection.

Custom Art FIBAE 4 Specification

• Single Low, Single Full-range, Single proprietary High, Single proprietary Super High
• Top Firing Balanced Armature Drivers
• Flat Impedance technology
• 115dB @1kHz @0.1V
• 8.1 Ohm @1kHz (+-0.95 Ohm 10Hz-20kHz)
• Low % THD
• 0-21000 Hz (+-20dB into IEC 60318-4 coupler)
• Custom or Universal fit