For just slightly more than a decade now, Noble (straight outta Texas) has been turning out singular headphone designs of lesser or greater expense – and with its new FoKus Rex5 true wireless it's definitely nailed the 'greater expense' thing. How about the rest of the package though?

The Noble FoKus Rex5 true wireless in-ear headphones are on sale now, and in the United Kingdom they sell for £419 a pair. The going rate in the United States is $449, while in Australia you'll have to part with AU$699.

This is, as they like to say in football, 'top, top' money for even a pair of the best true wireless earbuds. When you're asking a chunk more than celebrated class leaders from the likes of Bowers & Wilkins and Technics, there had better be a good reason…

'Thorough' is the word I'm going with here. The Noble FoKus Rex5 are thoroughly specified, and have a feature-set in excess of what might seem necessary. For instance, they use Bluetooth 5.4 for wireless connectivity, and are compatible with both aptX Adaptive and LDAC codecs. And they have multipoint connectivity too, so can switch seamlessly between a couple of sources of sound as and when you require.