TONALITY: 7.5/10
TECHNICALITIES: 8.5/10
TIMBRE: 7.5/10
SOUNDSTAGE: 8.5/10
IMAGING: 8.2/10
CONSTRUCTION: 8/10
ACCESSORIES: 7/10
SOUND VALUE: 8.5/10
Creative Lab is a Singaporian audio company founded in 1981 by Sim Wong Hoo. It specialize in wide variety of electronics and audio product including computer sound card, webcam, gaming headphones, IEMs, deskop and laptop speakers as well as TWS buds like the one I will review today.
Since this company was founded before I birth, it's been part of my childhood where everybody seem to use creative 2.1 or 5.1 computer speakers. As well, i was quite enamoured with the Soundblaster X-Fi DAC-AMP that I bought more than 10y ago to bypass stocc sound card of my laptop wich was bad.
I still have this piece of history and it work as well as in 2011.
This affordable DAC-AMP (or external sound card as they say) was ahead of it's time and this is something with Creative Lab, they tend to push sound boundaries and make it accessible to the mass.
This is exactly what they do with the True Wireless in-ear earphones call Creative Aurvana Ace 2 by achieving very first budget TWS buds using xMEMs tweeter in dual driver format with a 10mm dynamic driver.
This is a very big deal because before Ace2, xMEMs driver was mostly used in cabled IEMs above 500$, or flagship TWS buds like Noble Falcon max which is priced 270$ and most likely use either very same dual DD+xMEMs drivers or very similar one.
The difference is in the price, the Ace2 can be found for 130$ (msrp:150$) which make it an entry level TWS buds, but will it surpass it's price range in term of sound quality?
The promise are all on xMEMs micro solid state speakers that promise effortless transient response free of speed control limit due to it's all silicone based diaphragm which has among highest stiffness to achieve ultra sonic extension without breaking point in transient speed, this less to higher transparency and sound info delivery as well as smoother less instable intensity of sound projection. They call it Ultra HD for a good reason here, because this tech will change IEM world forever and this explain my overwhelming excitment about these Ace2, it's all about the obsession to discover the potential of this new piezo and silicone based driver that don't deliver sound like a dynamic driver.
For more info about xMEMs technology, give a read here:
https://xmems.com/blog/solid-state-...ra-high-resolution-mems-speakers-has-arrived/
Now, let see in this review if the Creative Aurvana Ace2 is really something that break new ground in term of wireless IEMs.
CONSTRUCTION&ACCESSORIES
The construction of Ace2 is decent but doesn't feel particularly sturdy and durable so I would be afraid of dropping it on a hard floor or stepping on it.
It’s all made of plastic with the exception of back venting metal mesh.
We have 2 types of plastic, a mate black and semi-transparent housing that permit us to contemplate the big hybrid dynamic driver+xMEMs.
These are true semi-open backs, so expect a bit of sound leakage.
In terms of design, it’s quite common, similar to air pod and Final ZE8000.
My main qualm would be about how short the nozzle is, as well as the fact it has an oval shape that makes the nozzle unfriendly with most eartips. Due to this and the oval shaped housing, it makes the fit very shallow and not always perfect in sealment, which is needed to get proper sound projection. I’ve tried a couple of different eartips, KBear KB07 and Penon Liqueur were both decent matches but have too long nozzles which make music sound distant and dynamic less. At the end, I go back to included eartips even if it is very cheap and too soft in silicone material.
I’m nit picky here since these aren’t uncomfy at all, it's really the limitation of ear-tips that annoy me since i can’t know for certain if stock tips deliver best sound balance and dynamism.
The carrying charging case is all made of same plastic material as transparent part of Ace2 buds, it feel a bit cheap yet we have an insided that is paint in gold to make it look fancy, with mitigate result since i find it a bit out of place. On back of case we have the charging light that go red to green once charged and a button for disconnecting-reconnecting. The plus of this case it's is size, its quite small so you can bring it in your pocket without worry.
In term of extra accessories, their nothing to talk about. We have basic USB-C charging cable and a rubbish amount of 3 pair of eartips. These eartips feel cheap and too soft yet we can't use other one due to oval shape of the super short nozzle.
In term of control, it’s quite easy to use. It’s quite responsive too and I don't have the issue to raise or lower volume with L and R 2sec pressing, nor to tap 3 time R buds to change track. If it wasn’t perfect in responsiveness (like FInal ZE8000) this would be hell to change track, thanks god it’s not the case here. The fact the pressing spot is at upper top of the buds avoid shaky hit or miss pressing. To note that we don’t have control for the previous track, I'll take this instead of google assistant control (3 pressing L side). Nonetheless, smooth and responsive control that isn’t frustrating.
When it come to connectivity, this is a child game. You pair it one time and it will connect instantly next time. I can’t find option to choose bluetooth codec so I think it will be automatically selected by your phone. It says it’s compatible with aptX, but I haven't seen any confirmation of this on both my phone and laptop. We can say it is always into ‘’Connectivity priority’’ mode and in the regard Ace2 are probably the best i’ve ever tested (ok out of 10 TWS buds but still).
Simply put: I’ve never ever encountered any sound cutting due to the connectivity struggle with Ace2 and that…even if I try too. I wandered around my big place with a lot of walls and no sound cutting. I go wander outside, walk and walk ... .in my gigantic backyard, can’t create sound cutting.
Then I decided to walk as far as possible from my phone on the street. When I reach about 50 meters it’s when sound cutting happens. True experience. And this is incredible, this means you're fully free with those TWS in terms of connectivity stability range, you don’t need to be near your phone or laptop at all.
Then when it comes to single charge battery life, ACE2 isn’t as glorious as I wish, yet unless you're into non stop music listening at max volume for more than 5H, it shouldn’t be an issue. The small carrying case charges the buds, so everytime you take a listening pause just don’t forget to put them in and you’ll be able to achieve 16h to 24h depending on volume level and if you use active noise cancellation.
Now for the Creative App, this is very minimalist and don't really worth the caring since you can use Noise cancelation and everything without it. Only plus should be the EQ and it's preset but it's a bad EQ, it can create distortion faster than both EQ and PEQ of Hiby Music app which I suggest you to use.
Ok, their something valid about Creative App and is to custom touch control, this is usefull for those wanting to bypass Google Assistant annoyancy. And put Previous Track pressing choice instead.
Then how good is Active Noise Canceling (ANC)? Well, some passive isolation of universal custom In-ear I own is superior to block loud noise. This ANC isn't bad, in fact music sound louder with this mode, as for noise it will not fully cancel the loud motor rumbling of a motorcycle but distant sound and fans and people talking near by will be mostly block. In fact, Creative use AI to analyze outside noise and modify level of isolation which I think EQ music dynamic and loudness at same time.
As for Ambient mode, AI again will inflict on it, selecting valuable noise and rejecting other.
AI is used too for phone call mic, it will boost vocal range and clarity and reject unwanted noise, this make the call very impressive in intelligibility.
SOUND IMPRESSIONS
The ACE2 offers a bassy and highly resolved musicality within a soft U shaped tonal balance with warm boosted sub bass bottom, lean, bright, transparent and open mids instrument and vocal and crisp treble that is fast in attack yet delicate in intensity.
We can say that Ace2 has 2 persona, with beat heavy music bass will dominate with it’s dynamic wide boom while with acoustic music this sub bass boost will benefit instrument note weight and density of extended low pitch instrument like cello which sound truly marvelous with those.
Due to it’s 2 drivers being very different in dynamic rendering as well as transparency of timbre and overall delivery of sound envelope which has more edge and texture with xMems, the overall musical experience can be perceive as listening to ultra HD monitor speaker with a subwoofer that feel creamier and warmer in tone.
But this BASS doesn’t hit intensely hard and offers well controlled mellow slam with a juicy warm sustain to it. The sub bass is a notch more boosted than mid bass so an acoustic kick drum that doesn’t have as low fundamental (than cello or electric bass or variety or toms and digital kick drum) will feel leaner and less weighty and lively in attack energy and impact intensity.
In other words, dynamic driver bass feel slightly slower in attack and add warmth that can veil and cream lower mids and kick instead of feeding their presence fullness.
This type of bass do better with pulled string instrument like double bass, cello and electric bass than hard hitting one needed proper attack bite and lead, this make the macro dynamic a bit imprevisible and a mix of guilty pleasure boomy bass with crisp mids and treble that can be clean and open when the music is bass less and instrument.
This means the Ace2 excel with classical, live performance, jazz, folk and ambient music rather than fast hitting bass like rap, IDM, Drum & Bass, R&B etc.
While bassy, those never induce headbanging reaction in my case since apart from the bass, overall musicality of Ace2 is rather cerebral and contemplative.
The mids are extremely well resolved and open, with top notch note transients and excellent transparency that benefit its imaging capacity. The first time I listen to Ace2 my mind focus on xMEMs upper mids and treble, even when the bass can distract me, I know their high amount of sound info going on but the rendering is flat and not energetic in rendering, this is good for avoiding hearing fatigue but affect balance naturalness by making lower range pushing more air. I think Creative tried to avoid this with its semi-open back design but it still stole silence around instrument presence and definition, this made the mix heterogenous and opaque.
Without this background bass bleed, you can fully enjoy the xMEMs goodness and it truly bluffed me in terms of next level hyper realism and resolution that restitute fine texture details smoothly without affecting transparency of presence which is top notch.
Sure, the attack is light in dynamic, but it’s super speedy and well controlled, it’s more about lead of note impact that feel tamed in intensity, lacking a bit of accent that would benefit articulation of melodic line, but even with 10x pricier IEMs, it’s rare i can see so clearly the piano note resonance extending as long as the recording dictate, that i can pick up string vibrancy micro details or bypass it if I want too since it’s no impose on the listener, all this crispness feel organic and cozy, never harsh, distorted or spiky.
Those are mids with focused presence, they aren’t lush nor thick, vocals are airy, wide and open, rich in texture and highly intelligible, but non colored and a bit clinical. Trumpet can sound boxy because of this, it’s only instrument i truly find problematic with Ace2, saxophone isn’t as dense and colorful as I love and it’s the same for violin, which underline differential treatment instrument of different range can get cause I was blown away by cello lushness meet high resolution. For the violin, we lack this hint of warm air that benefits tone naturalness but the resolution is crisp in presence.
Then there comes the highlight of the show: the incredibly technical and delicate treble response that goes up in high sky to 20kHz and surely further. It’s airy, sparkly, speedy and superbly controlled, free of transient distortion as well as intensity harshness.
I’ve never heard anything similar apart from the sonion EST driver but here it covers a wider treble range so nothing feels too sharp in ultra highs nor too boosted in metallic brilliance even if crisp sparkles are plenty here.
Listening to Ballaké Sissoko magnificent Kora is an otherworldly clean and scintillating experience where you can perceive sharply every note lead attack and release, with natural smooth and transparence air resonance. You can pick up micro details at it’s finest in the upper range too and there's plenty of air around it that magnifies the sense of crispness. With some IEM, Kora can sound spiky in attack here it isn’t even if super snappy.
The percussion has similar treatment, whatever the speed they are played it’s fully readable and it flows cleanly in the background in a lean way, without overbearing mid range instrument.
SOme might find highs a bit thin, and it is hearable with acoustic guitar that can lack natural density in harmony due to scooped lower mids (fundamental), but this make note cleaner and crisper too, sharper in articulation, which is beneficial for complex classical guitar composition and finger picking shine more than chord stroke. Listening to Scarlatti classical guitar composition is pure bliss with Ace2.
The soundstage is quite impressive. Wide, tall, deep and airy, it’s a bit like being in an open concert hall in the sense center stage is not forwarded, you contemplate music more than being part of it.
This mean imaging is improved with extra instrument and vocal crispness and a transparent layering that permits good positioning cues. If you listen to a big beat, the imaging will go darker and less precise, the soundstage will feel less deep too.
All in all, the musicality of Ace2 can be consider as smoothly analytical with next level resolution that lack of high bit rate codec don't affect too much, it's not noisy nor distorted apart in bass part which is main drawback, it's airy, fully open with great transparency of layering that permit the listener to actively dig into soundscape and pull of texture fine details novelty. It's a contemplative and cerebral music experience that captivate you, that give eyes to your mind.
COMPARISONS
VS FINAL ZE8000
The ZE8K is warmer and darker, more neutral and natural in timbre and balance, notably inferior in technical performance like imaging, resolution capacity and soundstage openness. Ace2 is notably cleaner, crisper and more open sounding, more bassy U shape in balance too.
The ZE8K bass is chunkier and more weighty in punch, it bleeds more into the mids but has leaner and less boomy sub bass impact and extension, it’s more natural in transient and texture. The kick is better rounded and punchier, sub bass is less boomy and more elastic.
The mids are smoother, fuller and lusher, darker too and less open and crisp (and lean) than Ace2. I enjoy the female vocal with ZE, it’s less plasticky and thin in timbre, less boosted in texture details too. Lower mids of Ace2 are more scooped. Note weight is heavier with ZE too. Attack isn’t as controlled and speedy though.
Then there comes the xMEMs treble that changes the technical performance game and is intensely superior to the darker and more limited treble extension of the ZE. Ace2 is more detailed and airy, sparkly even if ZE offers some sparkle percussion, guitar or harp will sound half cooked, unbalanced in harmonic fullness, then the natural resonance will not be as clear and resolved as Ace2. It’s really like comparing an IEM with EST vs single DD, there's just no way it can reach as effortless crispness nor as fast and controlled attack free of harshness due to driver distortion. Cleaner, airier and more analytical and delicate is the treble response of the Ace2.
This extra high extension amplifies clean airyness of spatiality which is notably superior in all departments with the Ace2: its wider, taller and deeper.
Then imaging is crisper with more transparent layering and more accurate spatial cue as well as more space between instruments. Again, Ace2 prevails here.
Apart from a bass part which isn’t as cohesive and natural in rendering as 3x pricier FInal ZE8000, the Ace2 offer superior technical performance from imaging, resolution and soundstage openness. For acoustic music that needs pristine resolution, I'll choose the Ace2. For simple vocal music like pop, rap and R&B, I'll choose the ZE8000.
VS HIFIMAN Svanar TWS
Ok, these are 500$, so it’s a bit unfair. Let’s begin by saying its evident inner DAC-AMP as well as higher bit rate (Ldac) deliver more dynamic and resolved sound as well as reaching louder volume. Here, the dynamic driver feel properly driven while Ace2 hybrid DD+xMEMs feel a bit underfed and not fully awake in proper dynamic rendering.
This makes Svanar sound more energetic and W shape, more impactful in note weight, more natural and expressive in bass rendering as well as notably more open and holographic in spatialization.
The bass is superior both in quality and quantity, and cleaner in impact, more controlled rounder in mid bass punch, less warm and dark in texture, more elastic in rumble sustain and extension. More everything really no competition here Ace is put to shame.
The mids are more intimate and closer to you, timbre is lusher, thicker and more natural, the presence isn’t as boosted in harmonic, so vocal are less sharp in presentation, wider and creamier than leaner crisper Ace2 mids that feel more airy yet thinner and more artificial too, imaging capacity is superior with Ace2, clarity is more effortless but bass can mess up with it.
Treble is where the Svanar takes second step, even if I wish I can unlock full potential of xMems with extra amping and better dac-amp and audio codec.
Ace2 treble is airier, sparklier, more snappy and extended. It digs greater amount of sound info and offers sharper definition edge, percussions are less affected with attack sustain-release noise, highs are more speedy and controlled but more delicate and clinical than lusher Svanar.
SOundstage is notably wider and taller, most of the time deeper too; unless Ace2 plays bassless music, then it will be cleaner and deeper than Svanar.
Imaging while more static with Ace2 is still clearer and more accurate in positioning though sound layers feel closer to each other in Y axis and not as 3D and holographic as warmer Svanar.
All in all, tonality wise i find the Svanar way more musical and enjoyable, more cohesive as a whole and more lively in macro dynamic, yet technical performance even with low BT codec, basic qualcomm DAC-AMP chip, feel superior to Svanar when it come to mids presence and whole treble part (xMems driver), bass is way inferior though.
CONCLUSION
Even if my review might seem very critical, i wil not hide my intense enthusiasm about these marvelous and exotic Ace2. While the musicality might not be nailing high level of emotional response due to slightly clinical mids rendering, I can't hide the fact Creative unlock the potential of xmems driver at an extremely competitive price and achieve a more than Ok tonal balance that favor spatial openess and high resolution rendering
Sure, the bass can become the ''elephant in the room'' with bassy music style and will negatively affect the xmems resolution greatness, but if you listen to instrumental music alot, betting on the Ace2 is a good move, Fans of folk and even slower pop and soul will most likely be tremendously impress by otherworldly crisp resolution these can achieve.
Highly Recommended for those seeking an exoticaly crisp musicality like no other TWS can offer (in this price range).
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PS: I want to thanks Creative for reaching me and accepting my choice to test the Ace2, which was on my must try radar since couple of months. I have no $ incencitive and no affiliation with Creative. This is the curiosity of new sound flavor that make me write this review.
You can order the Aurvana Ace2 for 150$ here:
https://us.creative.com/p/headphones-headsets/creative-aurvana-ace-2#buy-menu
