Introduction

Custom Art is a Polish audio brand founded in 2012 that has since made a strong name for itself in the enthusiast in-ear monitors (IEMs) community, for both its universal-fit IEMs (UIEMs, which is the default these days) and custom-fit IEMs (CIEMs). We took a detailed look at its current flagship—the FIBAE 7 Unlimited—in CIEM form recently wherein I had mentioned how FIBAE stands for Flat Impedance Balanced Armature Earphone and was the world's first such technology, allowing for flat impedance and phase in IEMs that use balanced armature drivers. This helps address the issue of output impedance affecting the tonality of sensitive all-BA IEMs in particular.


To no surprise then, the FIBAE technology was developed by Custom Art because many of its IEMs used only balanced armature drivers. These were soon accompanied by hybrid driver designs, such as the highly interesting AAW x Custom Art Project 4+2 using dynamic and balanced armature drivers, so it was only a matter of time before Custom Art dipped its feet into the ever-increasing tribrid IEM market in using three different driver types. The vast majority of tribrid IEMs come out of China and tend to use a combination of DD, BA, and EST (electrostatic tweeter) drivers, but Custom Art had something else up its sleeve with the new FIBAE 5 that uses planar magnetic drivers instead for the higher frequencies! Thanks to Custom Art for providing a UIEM sample of the FIBAE 5 to TechPowerUp and we begin our review with a look at the product specifications in the table below.

Specifications

Packaging and Accessories

I have the UIEM version of the Custom Art FIBAE 5 here and thus the packaging and accessories section will differ slightly with the custom-fit fit version, which will not come with ear tips for obvious reasons. Everything else seen here should be representative of either version, and this begins with a relatively simple product box in the form of a glossy blue cardboard sleeve that has the company logo on the front/sides and more information about the company on the back. There is also a sticker here confirming the exact product inside down to the serial number of the unit, which in this case is a demo unit for review. The inner cardboard box can be slid out from either direction to reveal a plain finish with only two branded stickers on the sides that help keep the contents in place during transit. Open the box to reveal more layers, and this time there is protective packaging over the carry case itself.


I like that Custom Art effectively makes a box out of the eventual carry/storage case itself. This is the same case we saw before with the FIBAE 7 Unlimited and It's slightly larger than average, but highly functional to where I certainly would not mind seeing more companies adopt this ideology of allowing the end user to carry the IEMs along with all relevant accessories in the same box. This is a semi-hard EVA (ethyl vinyl acetate) case that is predominantly black in color, with a truncated Custom Art logo applique and two sturdy zippers keeping it closed. The case also has a hang tag to allow you to clip it to another bag using carabiners or even key chains.


Opening the case reveals the IEMs with pre-attached cable neatly placed inside individually cut foam compartments, in a thick foam piece for further protection. The various accessories also come separately packed in the top compartment where we see the case is large enough to accommodate a portable DAC/amp or even a small DAP to pair with these IEMs. Custom Art is likely to provide a few stickers with retail units in addition to a warranty card and a cleaning tool although this demo unit sensibly foregoes them in favor of the more relevant pieces including silicone ear tips in sizes S/M/L that use the more typical single-flange design as well as a pair of double-flange silicone tips too. It would have been nice to see more tips provided here of different compositions and flange/bore dimensions.


We've seen IEMs that use tuning switches, nozzles, even capacitors in cables to give you a few different tonality settings. The FIBAE 5 goes a different route with a physical filter that is actually just a Knowles damper—the 3300 Ω BF-1922-000 to be more precise. Custom Art provides two of these filters in addition to an extraction and fitment tool that simply grasps onto the lip of the filter for installation as we shall see on the next page.


For a closer examination of the IEMs and the cables separately, I had to first remove the cable from the IEMs. A quick look here reveals the use of standard 0.78 mm 2-pin connectors rather than MMCX, so things are simple enough given this is a friction fit. Carefully dislodge the connectors by holding one of the IEM shells in one hand and applying outward pressure on the cable connector with the other, without wiggling things sideways or up/down. Repeat this with the other side and you are done!