brsdrgn
500+ Head-Fier
Creative Aurvana is finally here. Purchased from the Creative website and they sent it very quick.
Before I deep dive into the impressions, I should mention that I had to tame my expectations. Because I honestly read lots of articles and claims about the these new XMEMS drivers and I was pretty much excited about it.
The design of the case is semi transparent and same goes for a portion of the headphones as well that you can see inside. Fit is not nice with the tips they sent and looks like I have to use the tips from my collection.
Before I go to the sound impressions, i should mention the user experience. Because Creative is terrible with their app. 2.7/5 on play store. My phone smoothly connected any headphones, bt 5.3 and supports all the newest aptx technologies including aptx lossless. However, the app cannot pair them. Keeps telling me to put them in pairing mode even though they are in pairing mode already. They should blink red and blue continuously and even telling me that they're in pairing mode. However, the s... app sees it but can't connect. I can perfectly pair them through the Bluetooth setting on my phone. But then the app doesn't see it anymore. I don't know how many times I had to unpair and try pairing them through the app so that I can use the features / change settings. Nothing worked. Resetting the headphones didn't help either. I honestly regret buying these and seeing that I'm not the only one(based on the reviews on play store and reddit) pulling hairs while trying to use their app. What a terrible start...
Going into the Adaptive anc. Nothing different, even worse than sony xm4 due to the short nozzle and their strange shape causing a bad passive isolation.
Ambient sound is bad. Muffled, there's continuous noise in the background that I believe coming from the XMEMS drivers with their ability and sensitivity.
Going into the sound. Skip these. If you're planning to buy a pair of tws, then wait for a better implementation. The DD they added is simply putting too much bass. It's not even a tasty quality bass. Lacks agility, feeling quite slow next to the xmems as some might expect. XMEMS arebsuper fast drivers comparing them to any other driver out there and they should have used a better DD with these.
The mids sound nasal slightly and recessive. The vocals lack emotion. They sound cold. I believe this is coming from the characteristics of XMEMS as being suggested to have quite flat frequency response. They should be tuned or managed through an equalizer to give a better experience.
Lastly treble, where the XMEMS shine. The technicality and resolution is quite good. Transitions are fast and can keep up with anything. But, but, not a huge difference next to BAs honestly. I heard even thicker sounding BAs than these giving me that full experience. I have to pay an extra attention to here every bit of details.
Soundstage is okay. But I'm not having that great holographic experience that I have from final audio ze3000. Ze3000 is a bliss. I was honestly quite impressed when I first give a listen to ze3000 but i can't say the same for Aurvana Ace 2. Considering that Ze3000 costs much less with the lack of good slamming bass, I'm planning to return Ace2 if they can't solve their issue with the app. I didn't mind to have a slamming bass when I heard the holographic soundstage experience and pinpoint imaging Ze3000 has. But Ace 2 could do a lot better.
Long story short. Wait before buying. I had to buy these after reading all these articles but seems like wasn't a good shot. Hopefully, the listening experience will get better and they will solve the issue with their app. Then maybe I'll come back here with better impressions.
So, that's all. Hopefully will help some who's planning to order.
Wishing everyone and their loved ones a happy(maybe satisfactory
) new year.
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