Aurisonics Forte In-ear Headphones (Garnet Red)

Aurisonics Forte – initial impressions
I picked up the Aurisonics Fortes recently on eBay to try out the Bravo series “sound” – I currently own the ASG 2.5, and have previously owned and sold or traded the Rockets, Eva and ASG 1Plus (which were my first foray into proper mid-tier IEMs). I find their IEMS generally sit quite well with my musical preferences due to their tuning for their main target audience (stage musicians).
About me: newly minted audiophile, late 30s, long time music fan and aspiring to be a reasonably inept drummer. Listen to at least 2 hours of music a day on my commute to work – prefer IEMs for out and about, and a large pair of headphones when I have the house to myself and a glass in my hand. Recently started converting my library to FLAC and 320kbps MP3, and do most of my other listening through Spotify or Tidal HiFi. I am a fan of rock, acoustic (apart from folk) and sarcasm. Oh yeah, and a small amount of electronica. Not a basshead, but I do love a sound with some body to it. Please take all views expressed below with a pinch of salt – all my reviews are a work in progress based on my own perceptions and personal preferences, and your own ears may tell you a different story.

Tech specs
·       Driver: Custom 9.25mm precision rare-earth dynamic + single Hybrid Dynamic tuned Balanced Armature (HDBA) tweeter
·       Frequency response: 8Hz - 24kHz
·       Impedance: 18 ohm +/- 10% @ 1kHz
·       Sensitivity: 121dB @ 1mW
·       Passive noise attenuation: NRR 22db
·       Construction: Digital Hybrid Technology (DHT™) shell fits 95% of ears like a custom (Hybrid custom/universal fit derived from thousands of ears scanned… and counting).
·       Cable: Detachable MMCXi™ silver-plated low oxygen copper cable
 

Unboxing
The packaging is nice and simple, with a white plastic box in an oval shape containing the product name and details, and a transparent top section at the top which contains the garnet red IEMs, displayed as if they are suspended in the middle. It is a nice clean presentation, and a little reminiscent of how you see electronics being displayed behind glass in a high street store. Inside the box, you get a small clamshell case for the IEMS (a very nice pocketable size, and has a cable winder inside to help with storing the IEMs and cable in the small space), a standard CIEM style detachable cable, a wax cleaning tool and Aurisonics in-house SureSeal tips in four different sizes.

Build quality and ergonomics
The Forte is built using Aurisonics patented “Digital Hybrid Technology” 3D printing process for an almost custom fit. The manufacturer claim to have scanned the ear geometry of thousands of people, and 3D print the IEM shells to provide a fit that is as close to a genuine custom-IEM as possible for 95% of the population. In practice, this holds true (at least for me) – the shells are slightly smaller than the ASG series (while still being larger than a “normal” IEM), and fit very comfortably into my ears without any discomfort. For users of the previous ASG series, you will notice that the stem of the earphones has been made slightly longer and thinner, moving down one size when using Comply foam tips from T500s to T400s. This can help for those people with smaller ear canals, and lends itself to a very comfortable fit. Noise reduction is almost on par with the ASG series at around the 22db level when securely fitted. In real terms, this means that once you have a good seal, they do a very good job of blocking out a lot of the outside world, in part because of the semi-custom fit, and also helped by the fact that the shells do take up a large part of the outer ear. They can be worn quite comfortably for train and plane commuting without having to crank the volume too much higher than normal, which is an added bonus. As with previous Aurisonics models, the  overall impression is one of a comfortable, quality piece of kit which will take a good beating and carry on working fine, so don’t need to be babied as much as their price tag would otherwise indicate.
Due to the custom IEM “shape” of the Fortes, they do stick out slightly from the ear in use due to the size of the housing, even with the snuggest of fits. This doesn’t impact comfort, but may stop you using these in bed if you lay on your side. You also can’t get away with slipping these in during a boring lecture/morning office meeting/tedious family get together and expect not to get rumbled. You have been warned.
The included cable is a classic CIEM style braided cable with ear-guides – the connection type used for the Bravo series is MMCX rather than the standard CIEM 2-pin cables supplied and used by the previous Aurisonics ranges, but apart form that the cables are practically identical. Aurisonics have made a small adjustment to the MMCX connection itself (which they call MMCXi) , and the actual MMCX jack is now square, which apparently helps musicians (their target audience) detach the cables more easily in a sweaty live environment. The connector also rotates freely, making fitting the earpieces and attached ear guides slightly easier for those people who wear glasses. The Aurisonics earguides, while not being revolutionary, are a well-implemented example of how to do it right, being thin and flexible enough to bend into a very secure fit with relative ease, while having enough rigidity to stay in place afterwards.

Sound quality
Test gear:
LG G Flex 2 (with and without Brainwavz AP001 mini-amp)
Sansa Clip+ (Rockboxed, amped as above)
Microsoft Surface Pro 2 (straight from the output jack)
Test tracks (mainly 320kbps MP3 or FLAC/Tidal HiFi):
Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats – S.O.B. / Wasting Time
Blackberry Smoke – The Whipporwill (album)
Slash – Shadow Life / Bad Rain (my reference tracks for bass impact and attack, guitar “crunch”)
Slash & Beth Hart – Mother Maria (vocal tone)
Richie Kotzen – Come On Free (bass tone)
Otis Redding – various
Elvis – various
Leon Bridges – Coming Home (album)
Foy Vance – various
Blues Traveler
Daft Punk – Random Access Memories (album)
Sigma - various
Rudimental – various
Rodrigo y Gabriela – various
Mavis Staples – Livin’ On A High Note

General impressions on the sound signature
The Forte is based on a hybrid design, with a 9.25mm dynamic driver (with custom venting) providing the bass and mid-range, and a balanced armature tweeter providing the high frequencies. The overall tuning is thick in the lower range with a little bite up top, with a wide soundstage and excellent separation. Despite downsizing the driver from the ASG series from its final 14.2mm iteration to a positively slimline 9.25mm model, the overall signature provides plenty of the famous Aurisonics grunt, with a smooth and neutral  midrange which is a little less forward than the usual Aurisonics fare and a little counterpoint of sharpness in the highs. The overall sound is on the darker side of balanced, and edges more towards the ethos of the previous ASG 1.5 than the 1Plus in terms of the tuning. Overall, this won’t be an IEM for treble-obsessives, but it does provide a musical and enjoyable tuning with a nice warm upper half.

Highs
The custom BA driver that Aurisonics use (carried over from the later models in the ASG series) is a very capable beast, and blends well with the dynamic driver to produce a seamless transition across the frequency spectrum. As there is only one balanced armature carrying the load (rather than two on the top of the series Harmony model, or the previous ASG 2.5 flagship) this doesn’t quite have the smoothness up top of previous Aurisonics offerings, and provides a sharper and more “jagged” feel to the treble on some tracks, with a spike of emphasis in the middle of the treble band which has been commented on negatively by some users on here – personally I don’t find it particularly distracting. Extension is reasonable, but can feel quite sharp in certain frequency ranges depending on the type of music you are listening to. I listen predominantly to rock music, and the sharper tone actually works well for more guitar driven pieces, imparting a nice sense of bite to complex riffs and an almost live rawness to the sound. Despite the sharpness I mention, this never treads into unpleasant (even though I prefer darker tunings, I am not remotely treble sensitive, so more sensitive listeners may find their experience slightly different to mine). As mentioned, the overall tuning is slightly darker than neutral, so the sharp treble sits on a fairly black background without much sense of air – separation and soundstage are both good, but this isn’t an IEM for people who like a more shimmering, open feel to their music. Think more sweaty back room gig in your local music bar/biker clubhouse rather than a concerto in the opera house and you will be on the right track.
Mids
The mids on an Aurisonics product are traditionally one of their strengths, and while the presentation on the Fortes may differ slightly to the other offerings from them I have heard to date, the overall impression of high quality remains. They are less forward than their other models, giving the overall sound a slight V shape as they nestle behind the bass and get slightly outweighed by the sharpness of the mid-treble – I wouldn’t call them recessed, just flat rather than forward. Tonality and timbre (or how the music “feels”) is very good, with vocals coming through loud and clear, and packed with texture. Due to the treble spike mentioned above, I prefer male voices to female on the Forte, as they tend to remain in the smoother parts of the sound range. That isn’t to say that female vocals are bad on this IEM (I truly haven’t heard an Aurisonics product yet that doesn’t know how to do vocals well), but for my personal preferences, the slightly smoother sound the tuning lends to male voices in the lower registers rather than the more “etched” sound it can give to female singers in the higher part of the soundscape sits better with my own personal tastes – as always, your own ears may give you different ideas. For instruments in the midrange, the tuning adds nice weight to the notes, and allows the bass and treble to thicken up the periphery of guitar chords and drum hits nicely rather than getting drowned out by a more forward sound. This lends a nice subtlety to some parts of a song you wouldn’t normally concentrate on, fleshing out complex tracks well. The audible detail level is actually quite good as a result, despite these ‘phones being more musical than analytical – when compared directly to their more expensive sibling the 2.5, the Fortes actually pick out less of the fine “micro-detail” if you are listening critically, but due to the difference in tuning will actually present what they do have in a more noticeable format in the soundscape.
Bass
The Forte uses a 9.25mm dynamic driver for the bass, with a mechanically tuned bass port in the outer shell to let air into the enclosure to aid bass response. Even though this new driver is around 2/3^rd of the size of the previous ASG range bass cannons, Dale and his team in Nashville appear to have beefed up the output from their new slimline driver with some magical audio-steroids to a level that directly competes with their former offerings. The bass is thick, plentiful and beautifully textured, with significant slam when needed and the manners to keep quiet when it isn’t. The ported design adds a great weight to the sub-bass, with drum hits and low bass guitar work firing up rumbling in the driver casing that would do a Michael Bay cinema blockbuster proud. Mid-bass isn’t left legging behind either, with bass drum hits pushing a sizeable gusty of air into your inner ear and flexing your eardrums in time with the music. Listening to something like “Hello, It’s Me” by Sister Hazel, the deep and liquid bass pours in from all sides and coats everything in a sticky glaze of goodness, with the texture and grain from Ken Wall’s voice providing enough grit in the low end to make it truly musical and enjoyable. While the bass is very well controlled, the combination of quality and quantity will lend a warm and darker tone to most types of music, as it will pick up on any bass present in the recording and push it up the soundscape. As mentioned in my initial preamble, I don’t consider myself a basshead, but I do like a warmer sound to my music so this personally doesn’t bother me, but may be worth bearing in mind if you are seeking a more neutral overall tonality (like their micro-driver Rockets from their range, for instance). In terms of extension, the Forte rolls right down into deep sub-bass without any loss of detail, so is perfect for music with a heavy bottom end (didn’t Queen write a song about that)? Overall, if slam and extension are what you are looking for without drowning the whole soundscape with bass, these will fit the bill nicely.
Soundstage/separation
For an IEM, the soundstage is good. It doesn’t extend as far outside my head as the ASG 2.5, but is still comfortably wide enough to provide a good dynamic sweep from left to right for drum fills, and a little depth to aid with the positioning “in the room” of the various instruments. Separation is also very good – the thicker overall presentation sometimes puts a bit of fog in between the main instruments when there is a lot of stuff going on, but you are always able to hear the main body of each instrument or instrumentalist clearly and differentiate between them.
Amping
These are very power-light in terms of amping requirements, with plenty of volume being achievable from even the most puny of sources. They do seem to tighten up a little with a little bit of juice flowing through their veins, but not enough to suggest it is mandatory.
Comparisons
Aurisonics ASG-2.5 – these are my current “at home” listening pair, and very similar in the general sound signature. The Fortes are positioned as the second model in their Bravo series, whereas the 2.5s were the “top of the line” of the previous ASG series, so maybe not a fair fight, but the Fortes do hold their own surprisingly well. In terms of bass, the 2.5s on a ¼ opening of the bass port have the slight edge in bass quantity, with a more enveloping sound and slightly higher sub-bass presence. The mids are more forward on the 2.5, so lend a more vocal-centric tilt to the midrange, and the highs are a lot airier and extended on the 2.5 due to the dual-BA arrangement being used. When A/Bing between them, the 2.5 is better in most areas, but the Fortes aren’t far behind at all in most of them, and do serve as a pretty good substitute in terms of overall signature for considerably less expense if you don’t mind the mid treble spike.
Aurisonics ASG-1Plus – the tuning on the 1Plus is deliberately different to the Fortes, as they are tuned in a far more neutral manner, with extension in the high register and beautiful clarity and forwardness in the mid-range. The Forte have more of a bass presence so come across as a warmer sounding IEM, but suffer in comparison with the mids, with the 1Plus producing a more clear and vivid sound. Despite the use of the same single BA for both models, the Forte are tilted more towards a peak in the mid-treble, whereas the 1Plus have greater extension and airiness and a smoother overall treble sound.
Overall conclusion
It is difficult to write an impartial conclusion to this review due to the similarities with one of favourite IEMs (the ASG-2.5), but when looked at in isolation, the Forte is a very accomplished piece of audio engineering which caters to people looking for a very specific sound. The warm, bass driven presentation with a sharp jag of treble lends itself well to rock music and other similarly aggressive sounds, with the musicality of the mids smoothing the overall feel enough for it never to get too grating. Fans of bright IEMs probably won’t enjoy the lack of upper-treble sounds and the closed in nature of the highs as a whole, but these aren’t tuned for that particular section of the music world. These sit firmly within the stage-monitor “audience” that Aurisonics (and now Fender) is trying to make its own, and as long as you bear that in mind, and the tuning decisions it brings, this is a very capable IEM for the money and overall a very “fun” sound for the right type of music. “Fun” is a good word to describe these – I have awarded them 4 stars out of 5 on the review based on the general impression they leave me with after listening to them, rather than purely on technical merit. Music is about emotion as much as execution, and these IEMs leave me with the feeling of watching a good rowdy punk rock band in concert after listening to them, so I have marked them based on the endorphin rush that produces accordingly, rather than grading them on the technical execution of all the notes that make up the individual track list (where I would potentially think about downgrading them to a 3.5).