A great chair but not quite Epic
von MGP
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I'd had my eye on this for some time, and Black Friday created an opportunity too good to ignore. The usual swift delivery process followed although you feel somewhat sorry for the courier lugging an overlarge, nearly 30kg box up narrow office stairs.
Well packaged it was quite easy to assemble, even for one person (two would be easier, if only to move the whole box. Most parts are easily identifiable. Just take your time to match photos especially with orientation of the main seat mount. They really mean it when they say don't touch the seat back level until you have attached the seat back. It's vicious! Oddly the instructions says the seat is rated at only 100kg, but OcUK assure us that is wrong and it should be 180kg.
Once assembled you can lean relax in relative comfort enjoying that new leather smell. Height, tilt, back recline. All offer good range. The armrests move in all sorts of up, down, side to side frontways directions. Nice. Stitching of the leather is fine. I’m about 6’ tall but the medics would suggest I’m in the obese range, and the general fit of the chair to my frame is good. Unlike many gaming chairs, the seat sides do not have especially pronounced bolsters which is great if you have chubby thighs. The seat cushion is very very firm.
But I do have some issues, hence why I cannot give it the full 10 star treatment. The armrest outer release button, allowing vertical movement, is on a thin metal plate that has simply been cut square. The bottom corners are sharp, and a more rounded feel would have been preferred. The shoulder cut outs on the chair are obviously plastic. Not sure what other material might have been used, but this does clash cheaply with the real leather. Armrests are OK, but quite square. A DX racer chair I had felt more rounded and smoother. The back rest and seat once assembled are offset by about 10mm. Perhaps it’s not much, but for a chair usually sold with a standard price approaching £500, good alignment is to be expected. The seat back behind your main spine is almost straight. Most will need some form of lumbar support, but, the cushion supplied is too thick. Indeed I’m surprised that none of these gaming chairs build in a lumbar adjustment in the way that most car seats do. Any finally, the velvet lumbar and headrest cushions look great out of the box, but being un-cleanable how will it be in a few months?
no more back ache!
von jarrah
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As someone who just had a F series DX racer for 3 years the fake leather had worn away sadly. Went for this chair as an upgrade granted is isnt cheap but woahh it's made to last.
Not had a single issue of backache since buying and using this chair and I sit in the thing way too much.
Brilliant chair if you have the money to sepnd!
Only issue I have with it is the stitching aroung the front is extrremely tight and looks like the point where it will fail long before the leather does. Not to mention the thing ways as much as my car!
Cheers Noble
Fully featured with a Premium Feel
von Mr Gareth Harmer
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As a new entrant into the gaming furniture market, noblechairs have pulled a bit of a blinder. The Real Leather Epic promises premium comfort, using cold-cut foam for firm support and high-grade components under your bum. But does it really live up to the marketing spiel, and is it worth that hefty price tag? After parking my rear in it for several 10-hour game sessions, I can confirm that’s a definite yes.
That said, this is a titan of a chair. The shipping box weighed in at a postman-destroying 30 kilos (that’s 66lbs), and is big enough to contain an entire internet of cats. If you’re going to tackle this thing, have a friend on hand to help lift and shift, and clear a space in your gaming lair to uncrate the parts before you build them. No tools are required, but an Alan key set and Philips screwdriver might come in handy.
Starting with the construction, the noblechair Epic is one of the easiest that I’ve built. Most of the lower seat was already assembled, and clear instructions were included showing how to finish the job. There was still the usual case of bolting on the tilt and gas cylinder control, and pushing the castors into the foot, but the arms were already in place. That said, the trickiest part was attaching the backrest while stopping the lower half from rolling away, so having a mate on hand is useful for these moments.
The actual design of the noblechair Epic shouts of the premium choices. Those 60mm castors are bigger than any other chair I’ve built, and contribute to a smoother glide across carpet. I’m also a huge fan of metal five-point feet, particularly after demolishing a few cheaper plastic ones over the years. Hooking it up to the seat, the substantial tilt mechanism bolts onto a sturdy steel frame. The result is a chair that feels firm – there’s no shakes, wiggles or rattles. I also really like that the arms are not attached to the back in any way, as it’s another weak-point that I’ve seen destroy previous chairs.
Visually, this is a classy, refined gaming chair that feels designed with care. Little details, like the double-stitched seams or powder-coated metalwork, go beyond that premium look. Designed in Germany, noblechairs describe the Epic as inspired by the luxury car market, and I’d have to say it works. Less Formula One, more Mercedes Benz
Comfort, though, is the big thing, and this is where the noblechair Epic delivers in spades. The cold-cut upholstery foam is firm to start off with, but gives slowly over time to feel incredibly snug and yet supportive. It’s also more generously shaped than other racing-style chairs, being less of a bucket that tries to hug you. The diamond stitch pattern actually does help to aerate the arse and stop that sweaty sensation part-way through a heavy gaming session, and that’s assisted by the leather used on the seating surfaces. Two booster cushions round off the padding, and although the extra lumbar support didn’t matter to me, the neck cushion was a welcome boost.
This isn’t a perfect chair, though, and there’s definitely room for improvement. The plastic shrouding over the back angle adjustment mechanism seemed to detract from that premium feel, as did the arm pillars and rests, which are very firmly padded with some polyurethane rubber. I can understand the choice – it’s a hardwearing surface that will see the most movement – and going for something more aesthetically premium would likely be a compromise on durability. On other chairs I’ve had, leather armrests are the first to die.
In my opinion, though, the noblechair Epic is worth paying the premium for, over and above the baseline price for other gaming chairs, and that’s simply because of the components, quality and styling involved. Beyond that, pushing the boat out to go for the Real Leather version is more of a personal choice. The real leather of the seating surface blends well with the PU faux leather used on the back and sides, and adds a further touch of soft luxury that feels worth the extra every time I sit in it.
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