[REVIEW] Aurisonics AS-2's - Like being a kid in a candy store with a bag full of quarters

[Pick Punch]

First post so hi.
Well I was at Summer NAMM this year in Nashville and tested out their IEMs at their booth and after about five minutes playing around with them I sat in the ear doctor's chair filled my ears with goop and ordered a pair of the Rhodium AS-2s (after listening to them I would believe anything they told me so I just went for it and got the Rhodiums)
anyway let me tell you a few things:
I am thrilled with the quality of these IEMs.  Yeah it is high for Rhodium plating but I spent 150 bucks last night at the Cheesecake Factory for two adults and three kids and its literally all crap now so what is a few hundred bucks anymore for something not many people have.  I am with you all with why it costs so much especially when you plate something it goes on in microns thick.  I would think an ounce of gold would plate an entire skyscraper but anyway.  I don't plate with precious metals so maybe it is more expensive to do?
I will update you guys when i get mine to see how the custom fitting ended up but for now I am super happy with these guys.  I am 95% sure they have a solid winner here.  If durability, fit and service hold up they have me at 100%
Von Luhmann
Owner Pick Punch LLC

 

[FlySweep]

Glad they worked out for you.. I look forward to reading your thoughts on their sound quality!

 

[jrkong]

Quote:

First post so hi.
Well I was at Summer NAMM this year in Nashville and tested out their IEMs at their booth and after about five minutes playing around with them I sat in the ear doctor's chair filled my ears with goop and ordered a pair of the Rhodium AS-2s (after listening to them I would believe anything they told me so I just went for it and got the Rhodiums)
anyway let me tell you a few things:
I am thrilled with the quality of these IEMs.  Yeah it is high for Rhodium plating but I spent 150 bucks last night at the Cheesecake Factory for two adults and three kids and its literally all crap now so what is a few hundred bucks anymore for something not many people have.  I am with you all with why it costs so much especially when you plate something it goes on in microns thick.  I would think an ounce of gold would plate an entire skyscraper but anyway.  I don't plate with precious metals so maybe it is more expensive to do?
I will update you guys when i get mine to see how the custom fitting ended up but for now I am super happy with these guys.  I am 95% sure they have a solid winner here.  If durability, fit and service hold up they have me at 100%
Von Luhmann
Owner Pick Punch LLC

Sounds fun! I'm thinking it may have to do with the fact that each plate has to be done individually and all the extra work that will most likely have to go into it that will contribute to the extra cost. I'm fairly sure this isn't done in house, but I could be wrong.

 

[kenman345]

Congrats, Fit is something they pride themselves on. Their entire digital process ensures that the mold they get from an Audiologist is taken precisely and cut to size to be printed out. I'm sure if Aurisonics hired the audiologist then you should get a perfect fit. I was a bit unsure at first if I was going to get a perfect fit but I don't even have the hyper-coating and they stay in perfectly. Hopefully ou opted for the black cable, I bet it'll look sick. 
Quote:

First post so hi.
Well I was at Summer NAMM this year in Nashville and tested out their IEMs at their booth and after about five minutes playing around with them I sat in the ear doctor's chair filled my ears with goop and ordered a pair of the Rhodium AS-2s (after listening to them I would believe anything they told me so I just went for it and got the Rhodiums)
anyway let me tell you a few things:
I am thrilled with the quality of these IEMs.  Yeah it is high for Rhodium plating but I spent 150 bucks last night at the Cheesecake Factory for two adults and three kids and its literally all crap now so what is a few hundred bucks anymore for something not many people have.  I am with you all with why it costs so much especially when you plate something it goes on in microns thick.  I would think an ounce of gold would plate an entire skyscraper but anyway.  I don't plate with precious metals so maybe it is more expensive to do?
I will update you guys when i get mine to see how the custom fitting ended up but for now I am super happy with these guys.  I am 95% sure they have a solid winner here.  If durability, fit and service hold up they have me at 100%
Von Luhmann
Owner Pick Punch LLC

 

[Emospence]

Quote:

First post so hi.
Well I was at Summer NAMM this year in Nashville and tested out their IEMs at their booth and after about five minutes playing around with them I sat in the ear doctor's chair filled my ears with goop and ordered a pair of the Rhodium AS-2s (after listening to them I would believe anything they told me so I just went for it and got the Rhodiums)
anyway let me tell you a few things:
I am thrilled with the quality of these IEMs.  Yeah it is high for Rhodium plating but I spent 150 bucks last night at the Cheesecake Factory for two adults and three kids and its literally all crap now so what is a few hundred bucks anymore for something not many people have.  I am with you all with why it costs so much especially when you plate something it goes on in microns thick.  I would think an ounce of gold would plate an entire skyscraper but anyway.  I don't plate with precious metals so maybe it is more expensive to do?
I will update you guys when i get mine to see how the custom fitting ended up but for now I am super happy with these guys.  I am 95% sure they have a solid winner here.  If durability, fit and service hold up they have me at 100%
Von Luhmann
Owner Pick Punch LLC

 
Thanks for helping me justify any of my future purchases!

 

[Pick Punch]

I do have one question for you guys.  What amp should I get for my iphone4 to use with these IEMs?.  I want portable almost to the point I don't know I have it but I would rather go larger if it means a big difference in sound quality.   
Also I only use regular Itunes files.  Should I be buying these in a better format or can you get these or upgrade your songs to higher quality with Itunes?

 

[kenman345]

iPhone 4? I have yet to try that with them. I have tried an iPhone 4S and found it to be adequate but sometimes just a little on the dry side compared to the amount of depth and power I get from using an amp. I use my Pico Slim with everything, but I would imagine most amps should do. Things to look for is a digital volume control. Analog volume control systems seem to have an imbalance on all the ones I've heard at low levels. Unless of course it's a microprocessor controlled analog attenuator, which I am still figuring out how well they pair. It can be overcome, but the digital Potentiometer on my Pico Slim is quite convenient so it is something I would advise. Something that can relay the music in a flat response is also good. I've been trying to find the best amp to give the most open soundstage and the best compatibility. Not much information to be found on the ones I'm looking into. I've been talking around with people and am interested in the TTVJ Slim, iBasso T5, maybe the Arrow 5g? (if it has a digital potentiometer), and some others. I'll let people know if I get any of them. Was also considering getting the ALO Rx MK2. 
Quote:

I do have one question for you guys.  What amp should I get for my iphone4 to use with these IEMs?.  I want portable almost to the point I don't know I have it but I would rather go larger if it means a big difference in sound quality.   
Also I only use regular Itunes files.  Should I be buying these in a better format or can you get these or upgrade your songs to higher quality with Itunes?

 
EDIT: So music eh? well, I can tell you this much, I am a fan of owning the CD's and i usually get 1-2 CD's a month. Since getting the AS-2's, i've gone hungry for the best source i can get, so i've bought 15 CD's in the last 2.5 months of owning them. The better the source file, the better it will sound. I won't listen to anything less than 256kbps on my AS-2's because you can definitely instantly hear the difference between a lossless file and a 256kbps file of the same song. any lower and you'll definitely notice the difference between <256kbps and 320kbps. I've literally thought songs were recorded with clouds of static and grainyness. Turns out it was the AS-2's being their uber revealing self. 85% of my music library is currently in lossless (if you exclude podcasts and hour long mixes which I can only get in low quality)

 

[Cassadian]

I would just like to state that although my previous comments have been negative, they in no way are meant to be malicious nor tarnish the excellent fidelity that I am sure the AS-2 entails.

 

[kenman345]

Don't worry, Aurisonics is not spiteful. Thy only hope to bring the best product to market they can, and they have already managed to fall short of the demand seeing as they are so busy. IT is reasonable to believe them that they will get to the group buy eventually, but seeing as that's going to be a discounted thing for people, they need to not be as busy in order for that to happen. 
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I would just like to state that although my previous comments have been negative, they in no way are meant to be malicious nor tarnish the excellent fidelity that I am sure the AS-2 entails.

 

[AudioDwebe]

Quote:

I would just like to state that although my previous comments have been negative, they in no way are meant to be malicious nor tarnish the excellent fidelity that I am sure the AS-2 entails.

Suggest you forget about your 580 post count or your user name and close out the current account.  Start anew, fresh, like you've never heard of head-fi.  Go as far as reintroduce yourself as a noobie somewhere.  Make it look real.
 
Otherwise, you may never see any CIEM you order from Aurisonics.  They might go as for as providing your name to all their distributors, forbidding them from selling anything Aurisonics to you (that's if you've ever given Dale your name).
 
Come to think of it, you might consider legally changing your name before you become a new (wink, wink) member here. 
 
 
Good luck.

 

[Kunlun]

Quote:

I do have one question for you guys.  What amp should I get for my iphone4 to use with these IEMs?.  I want portable almost to the point I don't know I have it but I would rather go larger if it means a big difference in sound quality.   
Also I only use regular Itunes files.  Should I be buying these in a better format or can you get these or upgrade your songs to higher quality with Itunes?

I have a TTVJ Slim and it's very nice. Try to use the best quality files you can, I thought itunes let people pick between larger or smaller files? You'd want the larger, better quality ones.

 

[kenman345]

Did you try them with the ASG-2 prototype? I believe I remember you had them at one point. I was greatly considering that amp as one to get. 
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I have a TTVJ Slim and it's very nice. Try to use the best quality files you can, I thought itunes let people pick between larger or smaller files? You'd want the larger, better quality ones.

 

[Kunlun]

Quote:

Did you try them with the ASG-2 prototype? I believe I remember you had them at one point. I was greatly considering that amp as one to get. 

No, I'll be trying them with the AS-2, hopefully. The AS-1b sounded great with the TTVJ Slim. The TTVJ Slim is a lovely balance of detailed and musical, in a well-designed package. Plus, Todd is like Dale in terms of excellent customer service.

 

[kenman345]

Comparison to Dale kinda sold me. Now to finance such a purchase. Obviously not as expensive as the AS-2's, but still a sizeable amount. I think I am going to use the 30-day money back guarantee many of the amp makers I'm interested in have when I have the money in total for any one of them. Then I'll cycle through them if I don't find something I like. I wanna get the TTVJ Slim w/ DAC since I like the idea of having something I can use for portable audio with my computer that'll sound mostly like my portable rig.
Quote:

No, I'll be trying them with the AS-2, hopefully. The AS-1b sounded great with the TTVJ Slim. The TTVJ Slim is a lovely balance of detailed and musical, in a well-designed package. Plus, Todd is like Dale in terms of excellent customer service.

 

[Cassadian]

Quote:

Suggest you forget about your 580 post count or your user name and close out the current account.  Start anew, fresh, like you've never heard of head-fi.  Go as far as reintroduce yourself as a noobie somewhere.  Make it look real.
 
Otherwise, you may never see any CIEM you order from Aurisonics.  They might go as for as providing your name to all their distributors, forbidding them from selling anything Aurisonics to you (that's if you've ever given Dale your name).
 
Come to think of it, you might consider legally changing your name before you become a new (wink, wink) member here. 
 
 
Good luck.

 
Right.  You see, I understand that was a joke yet I don't find the humour in it.