AFUL POLAR NIGHT
Let's get started. Firstly, I'd like to thank
HiFiGo for making this set available for review. I am so very appreciative for the opportunity, and my interest is always peaked when it comes to an AFUL offering. I either owned or have auditioned the AFUL Explorer, MagicOne, Performer 5, Performer 7 (5+2), and Cantor. Add the Polar Night to this list. Wait, this is not an IEM?! It's an earbud?! Well, obviously, from the aesthetics, this is very apparent! What I mean is from a sonic presentation, sometimes, you can get lost in the music, and you forget you're listening to an earbud, and you start thinking you got IEMs in your ears. That's not a line of distinction that is blurred with many buds, but in this case, it is. So we're off to a positive start, so buckle your seatbelts and prepare for a 100% unbiased impression with heartfelt observations and thoughts. Now on to the fun stuff.
The unboxing experience is quite standard. Nothing screams out or wows, but sometimes, that's considerate. Box sleeve has nice picture of the buds on the front, with branding, and the back features specs and more information. The box itself is a nicely stated black with AFUL branding at the center, and it's hard, so it would make a great storage box for knick knacks or IEMs? On the inside you find the earbuds themselves and a nice case. AFUL always provides nice cases. This is no exception. The earbud themselves are understated, with the exception of the shiny, sparkly red and blue faceplates that also have AFUL branding. They are relatively small, but thicker than the other earbuds I'm used to. I imagine the thickness is to accommodate the finer tech that can be found on the inside of the shell to boost the bass and fine tune sonics? The stock cable is thin, tightly braided, and a bit stiff, but quite adequate, so even though I did have some nice upgrade cable in MMCX, I decided the cable was workable enough to just keep on the Polar Night, so all listening was done using the stock cable. Build seems sturdy. Hard plastic. Also included are red, blue, and black donut covers. I didn't find them particularly useful, nor did it provide a good outer ear seat, so I replaced them with some standard NiceHCK bass foam covers. This did provide a much firmer seat for my ears, and the bass was presented with a bit more fullness in the process. Also included are a shirt clip, some miniscule black plug looking thingamajiggers (tuning foams), and paperwork. That's the extent of the unboxing experience.
THE SPECS :
AFUL POLAR NIGHT
TECHNICAL INFORMATION :
Frequency Response Graph provided courtesy of AFUL. All rights reserved.
PRICE : $179.99
Available for purchase at
this location.
The Gear :
What did I use for my listening sessions for my review??
This was a smaller source sample than usual. With earbuds, it's all about portability and economy, and so this was my approach as well to source choice. This included several untethered DAPs, including the Cayin N3 Ultra in both Solid State and Modern tube mode and the FiiO JM21 (high gain mode). Tethered sources include the Sony NW-A306 + Dethonray Clarinet (Rock fw) + Dethonray DAC, Hiby R3 II + iBasso Nunchaku (tube mode, high gain) + iBasso DC Elite (not pictured. It's out on loan), and the Sony NW-A55 + FiiO Q3 II with Sony L27 interconnect. Warmth accentuated when required, and still played thru some brighter sources for balanced listening.
Music used for the review and all my reviews in general?
Ezra Collective - Dance, No One's Watching
Robert Glasper - Canvas
Aki Rissanen Aleatoric - Aleatoric
Mareike Wiening - Reveal
Paul Booth - 44
Bob Marley & the Wailers - Survival
Rob Van Bavel & Joris Teppe - Dutch Connection
Kaisa's Machine - Moving Parts
Esperanza Spalding - Self Titled
Junior Kelly, Bounty Killer, and Capleton - The Good, The Bad, and the Blazin'
Martin, Glasper, 9th Wonder & Washington - Dinner Party
Juan Ibarra - La Casa
Megadeth - Rust in Peace
Drive By Jehu - Self Titled
Cryptosis - Celestial Death
Crownshift - Crownshift
In Aphelion - Reaperdawn
Cradle of Filth - The Screaming of the Valkyries
Shuffled Classic Rock, Reggae, and Pop Music playlist
SOUND IMPRESSIONS :
Dynamics : 4
Resolution : 3
Details : 4
Instrument separation : 4
Imaging : 4.5
Low End Impact : 2 (lacks sub bass)
Sibilance : 1 (No discernible sibilance)
Soundstage : 5
Overall score : 4/5
BASS/MIDRANGE/TREBLE :
The
AFUL Polar Night, is the first earbud offering from stellar IEM maker AFUL. I've had the grand opportunity to hear their entire line of IEMs minus the Performer 8, which to this day has escaped my ears. Hope to remedy that situation in the future, along with get a chance to hear their upcoming quadbrid and planar IEMs? Anyways, I was certainly excited when HiFiGo reached out to review the Polar Night. As always, first impressions are always critical, and my impressions of the bass is that it's got depth and mid bass presence and punch. Now, by depth, i'm talking dimensionality. There's a spatial awareness with this IEM that's very open back headphone like. I do not mean depth as in sub bass rumble shake, as this is an earbudm, and almost no earbud I've ever tried or heard of can do sub bass rumble in any meaningful capacity. It's just not something, due to the very nature of the seating on the ear, and the open backness, that allows for sub bass to flourish. That said, the mid bass has a nice presence, where it's punchy and has heft, and a decent degree of note resolution and snap. It's adequate. I wouldn't say it's a strong suit, but there's enough, along with the note weight and the depth of field, to provide a very satisfying bass response for an earbud. On bassy tracks, you don't feel you're really missing out on much, and that's a positive indictment on the bass implementation of the Polar night. So think a bass that's similar to the AFUL MagicOne, the single balanced armature IEM with the funky cool sound tubes that helps the M1 with it's bass response, which in BA's, is typically anemic. The Polar Night bass is definitely not anemic, and actually provides a refreshing presence, especially the textured and punchy mid bass. It also casts a bit of warmth onto the lower midrange, so it gives the midrange a warm character and some much needed note weight.
The midrange, as mentioned is warm, lush, and forward. It's not a recessed midrange, but it's also not the most resolving. Now I still gave this high marks for detail retrieval, as while listening to some soft jazz, I was able to pick out some voices very faint in the background speaking to one another, obviously in the studio, but it's a detail I hadn't notice before. Now, because the warmth does mask the resolution quite a bit, I wasn't able to make out what they were saying, but the fact I could pick that out in the mix was testament enough. Note weight is excellent, but again, dulled in resolution due to the warmth added to the midrange. That would be my major beef with the Polar Night, would be that there's a sullen, and fluid texture with pianos and keyboards, with a naturalness, but it's a soft weight. There's no sharpness to the midrange, even when you want it. Instrument separation, spatial dues, and imaging are excellent. That's one of the first things that jumped out at me with this bud, was the soundstage, the placement of instruments, and the dimensionality were very headphone reminiscent, and have a lovely flow and placement to them. Depth and width are exceptional, though it does lack a bit of height. It's just nice to listen to an earbud that doesn't have recessed mids, and there's a presence to them, even if it's lacking a bit in sharpness.
The treble region I would describe as politely incisive. There's enough air and shimmer to make you feel you aren't missing out of any detail in the top end, but it's not over the top, overly crisp, or extended. Once again, I'm reminded of the treble region of the MagicOne. This is a very similar approach, but maybe just a touch more naturalness in texture with the Polar Night. There isn't BA sheen or even cheap DD driver metallicness in the treble, but a smoothness and texture that is very pleasing, and incisive. It does shimmer, but not for days. It's a warm refined glow, vs a bright strident one. This is a plus. There's also a noticeable dimensionality to the treble, as there is with the bass. This helps with orbital detail, which is a nice touch. While the midrange is the star of this show, the treble isn't too far behind.
So with a balance from mid bass through mids through treble, and with a 3D dimensionality that helps define instrument placement and details front and back and side to side, there's a funness and wonderment to the musicality of the Polar Night.
Comparisons :
Fengru JZ32 ($17.00) : Since I've sold off the majority of my earbuds in the past 6 months (I really had no idea I would be reviewing earbuds, and I didn't really use them that much), I didn't have but one to compare the Polar Night to. Now I have the JZ32 because a few months ago, I ended up getting two ear infections, and some ear tenderness, so to alleviate some of that, I decided I needed a pair of earbuds for when those types of medical situations arise. I didn't want to spend too much, but after some extensive research, the JZ32 came into view, and this was a bullseye purchase. The large Beryllium drivers are plenty capable, and actually have a more resolving midrange and the treble is crisper and more extended, without being sibilance or strident. But that's where the comparisons end. The Polar Night has a fuller and more warm low end, that's also providing more note weight to the midrange. The JZ32 has more snap, and possible a bit more note resolution, but it's drier in that transition from the mid bass into the lower midrange, so cleaner and leaner midrange, and more recessed, Also the spatial cues and the dimensionality are a distance second to the Polar Night, even if the cleaner midrange might make you think it would provide better detail retrieval, it does not, due to the recession. So they kind of balance themselves out. Both buds are using monocrystalline copper cables, with similar built and thickness. The Polar Night is more refineed, fuller, weightier, and the midrange is more forward. If you're aim is to get more note resolution and snap and speed out of your bass (say funk, extreme metal, or acid jazz), then the JZ32 would be your natural reach for these genres, but for hip hop, reggae, rock, Prog, contemporary jazz, or R&B, the Polar Night is a better choice, as the scene is fuller, more dimensional, and musical. Advantage :
AFUL Polar Night.
AFUL MagicOne ($90.00) : This is an IEM!! What are you doing comparing these two?! Well, to answer your question, it's because technically, as well as sonically, these two have a lot in common, at least in execution. Both rely on sound tubes to manipulate the fullness and response of the bass, and in the case of both, the mid bass is punchy and fun, while the sub bass is nigh absent. The midrange of both is the star of the show, with the AFUL MagicOne providing a even more forward presentation, with much greater note resolution throughout the frequencies, but most directly, the midrange. The resolution and incisiveness are greater, with less warmth and lushness. I'd say they are both a measure of musicality, but the Polar Night is thicker and more note weighty, while the M1 has a thinner, leaner note weight and overall tonality. It's not lean, per se, but cleaner. Treble is very similar in extension, control, and air. I think texturally, the Polar Night is better due to the single DD naturalness of the tone and texture vs the BA tone of the MagicOne, which does show itself in the texure and tone on the top end, but it's very controlled, so at no point is it offensive or crispy, just like the Polar Night. I think where the Polar Night truly wins out is in the soundstage and imaging, where you have a very dimensional and spatial stage, whereas the stage of the MagicOne isn't very large, and certainly lacks a bit of dimensionality. The Polar Night is fuller, warmer, more musical, and spatially affirming. Advantage :
AFUL Polar Night.
CONCLUSION :
Warm, musical, and 3D dimensional, with a midrange that shines. Whodda thunk it with a earbud?! Right?! Well, the Polar Night deliver this and more! what a debut show out for AFUL! It's first earbud, and they hit it right out of the park! If you're a fan of AFUL, then you know there should never be any doubt, but in this hobby, you just never know? There's been much hyped product that ended up being stinkers (Tri Star River or Nice HCK F1 Pro anyone?!). Thankfully, in this case, the sonics lived up to the anticipation. The cable is nice enough that you don't need to cable roll if you don't want, and there's enough balance across the board for a bud, that you shouldn't find much want while listening to your libraries, as long as you keep in mind you are listening to an earbud, so there are inherent liabilities to all of them. This is a tiny earbud that plays back like an open back headphone (I'd say these are actually better than my Sennheiser HD599, a legendary open back, and sonically superior to the lean and not very mean closed back Status Audio CB-1). Over time, you do forget that you are using buds, and that's the truest indictment on just how good these are, that as long as you aren't cognizant that you have the Polar Night in your ears, you can't tell the difference sonically, at least in terms of quality playback, to an IEM. This is the pathway forward to my utmost recommendation of this bud. It's BOSS LEVEL sonically, and I've reached for it often, which is everything you need to know about how good they are, even if you skipped this entire review down to this last sentence.
RECOMMENDATION LEVEL : TOTL EARBUD BOSS RELEVANCE - HIGH 9/10.
Thank you so much for reading and remember to be water with your audio luv! When you do...
AUDITORY ZEN UNLOCKED!
