Hifi earphones dual dynamic review vietnam năm 2024

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I have also tried playing many instruments over the years from piano to sax and have a feel for what's a natural tone, but not the biggest patience in learning to play. My wife has also played many instruments from string to wind instruments.

My current standard in Headphones is ZMF Verite and Beyerdynamic T1 G2.

My current standard in IEMs is AüR Audio Neon Pro and Penon Serial. The Neon Pro has 10 BAs, and has a near perfect tonality for me on the brighter side. The Penon Serial that also has a near perfect tonality for me, that is more relaxing and organic sounding with it is triple DD configuration. Both of them have sound signatures that I can listen to almost all types of music.

Gear used in the main rig is Topping E70 DAC together with the Topping A90 Discrete headphone Amp. I also have a Schiit Lokuis I can swap in if I want to do a little analogue EQ. I also use the Feliks Audio Echo, one of the more silent OTL amps.

Portable gear used during the review: Cayin N7, Hiby R6 III, Quidelix 5k DAC/AMP, FIIO BTR7 and Penon Tail.

I have a good range of cables from Gladiator Cables, ISN, DUNU, Penon, NiceHCK, XINHS and some others.

Who is Aür Audio

AüR Audio is a Singapore brand who makes in-ear monitors and is founded by two friends, Nicholas Teo and Abel Hsu. It is a small business where Abel handles the research and development while Nicholas manages the sales, marketing and distribution.

On the other side of AüR is Nicholas who has his customers in mind, one of the most helpful sellers I have contacted. When I have asked something about their products or recommendation for other audio related gear, he has been more than happy to help me out.

The IEMs are now 3D printed and handmade by Abel from start to end, carefully ensuring that everything is perfect with a quality control that is above the usual chi-fi market. The models from before this were not 3D printed and is a new way for AüR to have higher QC and productivity forward.

https://www.auraudio.store/

Allure 6 BA (Discontinued) Neon 10 BA (Discontinued) Neon Pro 10 BA Aure 8mm DD and 6 BA (Discontinued) Alita 12 BA Aurora 2 DD and 6 BA Ascension Configuration unknown Allusion Configuration unknown

So what is the Aurora

The Aurora is a hybrid IEM with 2 DD and 6 BA, tuned to be neutral in sound with some warmth. This is the first model from AüR Audio that is 3D printed from the start of launch, the other models have also moved to 3D printing. I was sceptical at first when I heard this, but I have nothing to complain about the quality here.

They have focused on selling the Aurora in the cheapest way possible. Accessories and cable are not much, but enough to get you going. The cable is the same as on the Alita, a much nicer cable than the Neon Pro and Aure cable. Silver plated copper with soft and flexible blue fabric, you also get a hard case with some tips.

The form factor is very ergonomic and the shells are average in size, they are also very light. AüR knows how to make comfortable shells, same goes for the nozzles having good length while not too long. It also has a very perfect angle and width so I can use 1 size smaller tip and still get a perfect seal.

The design is changed a little from the hand made Neon Pro and Aure and this should be more ergonomic for more people. The Part going toward the nozzle is slimmer and the ear fin is gone.

My only nit-pick is that I liked the old ergonomic design on NP more, perfect for my ears. The design now is better for the people who tested my Aurora. This is a personal thing for me, I can still use the Aurora for many hours before discomfort.

Taken from the product listing:

Aurora offers a balanced tuning with a detailed and organic midrange. The 2DD+6 balanced armature configuration delivers a wide, spacious and holographic presentation that handles complex recordings with ease. Aurora can handle nearly all genres, the organic tonality and resolving power particularly suit is for all genres of music

50-100 hours of burn in is recommended

GENERAL SPECIFICATIONS

Frequency Response: 20 Hz - 20 kHz

Impedance: 19Ω

Sensitivity: 104dB (@130mV)

DRIVER CONFIGURATION

Bass (2): Dual Opposed 7.5mm PU+PEEK DD with N52 magnet Midrange (4): E-Audio Improved RAB Dual Drivers Treble (2): Knowles Dual Tweeter

HOUSING MATERIAL Shell: 3D Printed Resin

CABLE SPECIFICATIONS

Wire Material: 2 Core, High-Purity, Monocrystalline, Silver-Plated Copper Length: 1.2 ± 0.1 Connector: 2-Pin (0.78 mm) Monitor plug: 4.4mm

https://www.auraudio.store/product-page/aurora

Timbre

First off, what is Timbre? From the Wikipedia: The Acoustical Society of America (ASA) Acoustical Terminology definition 12.09 of timbre describes it as "that attribute of auditory sensation which enables a listener to judge that two nonidentical sounds, similarly presented and having the same loudness and pitch, are dissimilar", adding, "Timbre depends primarily upon the frequency spectrum, although it also depends upon the sound pressure and the temporal characteristics of the sound"

First minutes of trying a new set of gear, what I always listen to is how natural and musical it sounds. Much of this goes down to how I perceive the Timbre.

The sound of the Aurora is neutral with great extension in both the lowest and highest frequencies. Mids is in focus and is very clear on both instruments and vocals, there is no bass bleeding into mids. Bass is on the warm side with great nuance and impact, very good balance of decay and speed. The upper mids and treble has no problem peaks and is also clear and relaxing at same time.

So the Aurora is neutral sounding with a slight bass boost, making music sound very natural.

Going to use the ranges here in review:

Details and soundstage

One of the best parts of Aurora is maybe how detailed it is while not relying on boosted frequency areas. When I got the Aurora I had no need to reset my ears to the sound, immediately I noticed a detailed and clear sound. The neutral balanced timbre helps everything to be resolving, without any part taking over. Even with just two BAs for the treble it is plenty of air and detail.

Soundstage is also quite deep and wide, great layering and separation so imaging is very spot on. I have heard larger soundstage than this, but it is not a big difference and it is still above average sets. I would say the sound is circular with a little more width than depth, it has very accurate imaging cues in all directions. Depending on the recording it sounds more like some rows back on a performance.

Bass

I read some first impressions from Nicolas' visit to Vietnam, I was not expecting to be totally satisfied from the bass when reading the impressions. I got an impression of the type of music they listened to, most likely Asian vocal oriented music or classical. This helped take my expectations down a few steps, what I expected was good bass that would be too light for my taste.

Good for me, the bass performance is much better than my expectations. The Aurora has more than a neutral amount of bass, with superb extension. Not by any mean bass head level, it is more a level that should satisfy both camps.

First thing that impressed me was how detailed the bass is, lots of resolvement on each drum hit or bass pluck. The resolution is most likely higher than all IEMs I have tried, bold statement but it is what I believe going from memory.

Another thing is how visceral each bass hit is, usually I associate great slam with more bass than this. But here Aurora has great impacting bass that has a very natural decay not making it feel slow or too fast where it gets dry.

Bass is more focused on the sub bass than mid bass, so music using the sub bass range is going to give you some great rumble. When the music is centered more on mid bass the Aurora lacks a little mid bass for me personally, but also after having used it for a while this amount is very correct. This makes some music have less of the WOW factor that some want, but in exchange give you a more detailed mid range without any bleed.

Mids

The mid range of the Aurora truly shines, and is one of the Aurora’s biggest calling cards. Everything is super clear and detailed, and can show everything that is in the recording be it soft or intense. My expectations were actually to get something similar to the Aure, but this is different.

Clean forward female vocals is perhaps the best thing here, it is very nuanced with airyness when called for. If you have ever heard people complain about vocals being veiled due to bass, this is the sound they are striving for. It is also good with males and darker females, but if you are used to a sound with more mid bass the vocals will sound thinner than what you are used to. Some time to reset your hearing will help, and then it will sound full and you will not lack anything.

How midrange is tuned make this a very good IEM for Asian focused tracks like J-Pop, never fatiguing or too thick. Instruments are also on the resolving side, and just sound very natural. I have experienced some eye opening moments with piano arrangements or just classical music in general. Hard to explain in detail, but especially on piano it sounds so real to life. Never to hot brass instruments and this is a big one for me, I am often sensitive to the upper midrange.

Treble

The treble is detailed but also relaxing with plenty of air, extension is really good. I have a feeling this treble is very similar to the AüR Audio Alita treble amount, but probably less resolving.

Since the treble is not as forward you can increase the volume more without getting fatigued, this also makes the bass and mids come forward more.

Violins, Cymbals and Wind instruments sound good and true to life, never having any of the piercing character some sets have that is overly boosted in the highs.

The upper air is also very good but lacks some of the little extra that EST driver's show, still this is very good considering that it is only using two balanced armatures for the treble.

Synergies

A small part about what gear I have been enjoying the most with the Aurora.

All my dongles or amps have sounded good with Aurora, be it based on ESS, AKM or CS chips in the DACs. The resolving Penon Tail has clearly been the most resolving and full sounding dongle for Aurora. Going into DAPs and AMPs, the Cayin N7 in Class A does give the Aurora more warmth and make it sound more organic and lively. Even better than my desktop dac amp being highly resolving and also musical.

As for tips most of my open bore tips work perfect, but what I have used that is the best for the Aurora is Canal Works CWU-GDECS gel tips. This is wide bore tips with gel between the bore and outer layer. Making bass more prominent and even tighter, while retaining full mid and treble presence. As for cable I first used my Gladiator Cables in copper, delivering great bass and resolution. Then tried to use my Penon Mix, this cable does seem to push the treble more forward and give more detail. Then I landed on my DUNU DUW-03, which is a hybrid cable. I loved this one also, but I still prefer my Gladiator. All of them are great cables to use with Aurora and I can go for each of them.

Music

I will just talk about some of the music I have used for the evaluation, the music I mention here are some of my reference tracks. When I am listening to music and not evaluating, I prefer to listen to whole albums. That goes for most of the songs here, all of them have great albums. When doing the comparing I have used the tracks listed here, together with some more music.

Aurora - Runaway

First track from Aurora’s debut album, if you are from Norway, you have likely heard this hundreds of times on radio. Her voice is ethereal at parts, and the track has a wide range of expressions.

At start you get a nice slow decaying bass kick accompanied by vocalizing, the start is so nice and you get dragged in. When she starts to sing you get entranced by both her voice and the lyrics. In general this track is perfect for checking vocal capability, never any sense of sibilance on Aurora that some other sets show here. Amount of detail is at a high level, and has some warmth in both the vocal and instruments. The silent parts are very black, when it is pushed it is full sounding. As for details it is a few parts where the recording is not perfect, and the Aurora shows it when it happens. So even if the Aurora is more relaxed in pinna gain and upper treble it does not hide a bad recording, not that runaway is bad recording it is just not perfect.

Jacob Gurevitsch - Lovers in Paris

Danish artist who plays the Spanish guitar, his guitar technique is sublime. Mexican margarita was recommended by Akros, and has stuck with me as one of my best test tracks. Perfect for evaluating how capable a set is in its dynamic range and expression, I bet I can use this one track alone and know if I like a set or not.

Aurora is very technical here and you can hear every detail going on, no doubt about that. If I go straight from a more thick sounding set like EST50 I hear more nuances and a more light presentation. Not in attack but more in the thickness of the guitar and rest, and the more I have become accustomed to the sound of the Aurora I like it more on this than EST50.

I advise checking the track out, technical and perfect for evaluating or comparing. Or just enjoy it, it is with few instruments but also complex and magical. Main focus for me is here on the guitar playing, but need to say that both the bass and drum is also perfect and make the track whole.

Dominique Fils-Aimé - Birds

The perfect song to show how emotional and breath-taking the vocal presentation of how the Aure is. The song has Dominique's voice with some acapella, a cello and some clapping going on. Nothing more but sounds so perfect and full, I get moved by this song.

I also used this track in Aure review, it was spectacular on the Aure. But what I see here is that it is equally good with even more detail going on, just a change in warmth. The stage is quite different, here it is larger with more depth. For Example how the clapping appear much more to the sides and decay further out. The different vocal parts have a wide range of layering, more than the other sets I compare with in this review.

The double bass is so nuanced and in harmony with vocals, a breath-taking track. I find the amount of bass and mids to give everything a very correct timbre, very organic and true to life presentation.

Alba by Søren Bebe Trio

Jazz trio from Denmark introduced by my friend Carlos, they use piano, drums and double bass. Beautiful arrangement with great dynamic sound, nice small nuances all over. Like how the cymbals are hit or how the bass is plucked, really great emotion in everything and it is not done at random. The piano is gently played, with high resolution from the recording.

I have been a lover of jazz music for a long time, I can say that I never heard an IEM I like more for jazz. At first listening to Aurora I had moments of euphoric pleasure, the upper tuning makes it a joy. The amount of expression going on, and how the Aurora picks up all the emotional playing is at high end level. The tonality of Aurora has just the perfect tuning for this, relaxed but detailed.

How piano is played is magical, be it the low notes or higher it sounds natural and true to life. The drums are great, cymbals sound real and have nice shimmer to it. Double bass have great detail, and you hear subtle changes. I can not ask for more, unless I want to have more warmth for jazz.

Symbolico - Gaian Portal

Thanks Alberto for introducing Symbolic, been into similar music for a long time but this group has gone past me. Psychedelic electronica or glitch hop, but genre doesn't matter. What matters is how good this guy from Israel is at mixing together into something magical.

The beat is addicting, you do get into a trance-like state of mind listening to this. This was one of the first tracks I tested with Aurora, at first when I read about Aurora I never thought it would have a satisfying sound for electronica. I was so wrong and it's maybe my favourite set now for most electronica.

Bass is tactile and the DD truly shines on every bass kick, perfection is the word I want to use. I can be a true basshead, and here I am satisfied without it being bloated or taking over the rest of tonality. All the sounds in the mid and treble range are resolving and not peaky, and again make the bass shine even if it is not super elevated.

Just how all the sound cues go together is effortless, resolution is top notch. I am guilty in that I maybe turn the volume up more here than what is safe for long listening sessions.

The Comet is Coming - Birth of Creation

Nu jazz from London, a group consisting of King Shabaka on sax, Danalogue on keyboard and Betamax on drums. This album is special and has been in my listening rotation since it came out, the track Birth of Creation is one of the best tracks on the album.

Sax is played with finesse and has a mellow and dark sound, almost like a voice singing. The drums gave a nice mix of sparkling cymbals, hits and nice kicks. While the keyboard makes this more of a mix between electronica and jazz, it's a cool track with a story being told.

First off this music is spectacular on Aurora, neutral sound that is not so bright is excellent here. Amount of sub and mid bass is perfect, every drum hit is nice. Sax is played more mellow but it is not veiled. I have another set I like very much I am reviewing later this year, that can not do this song justice and is a veiled and muddy experience.

SHAUN - Shooting Star

I have had some interest in Korean music the last months, lots of good tracks to choose from. But this track is one that has the power to make me happy and I feel good listening to it.

The tonality of the Aurora makes vocals shine, his voice is mesmerizing and you don't want it to stop. Drums are nice with great tactile bass feedback, and the bass guitar sounds good. Same for the acoustic guitar and keyboard while they stay more in the background behind the drums and voice. Great layering of all the instruments and no thick veil, and it sounds almost like a live recording where he stands singing in front of me.

Dead Can Dance - Anabasis

The vocals and spatial cues are epic and also perfect for checking soundstage and microdetail. With the AuroraI the space is very large. The drum here is supposed to sound big and heavy, it is an epic experience on the Aurora. Reminds me almost of a ritual about to happen, with many drums being hit in unison.

Her vocal when it starts is powerful and clear, emotional in a way that for example Neon Pro can not do.

Soundstage is on the larger side with perfect imaging capability, I would almost say the soundstage is wider than deep. It's not the biggest I have heard but above your average set, but again I know that soundstage is affected by our perception and ear canal. So keep this in mind.

It is a super nice track, and can quite easily show differences in your sets.

Ihsahn - South Winds

This is a Prog Metal track I like very much and also the whole album for that matter, I use South Winds for something weird. I check how much I need to increase the volume to get a satisfying bass kick at the start of the track, then to see how intense the rest is.

When it gets intense later I need to turn down the volume on some sets, the Aurora can be turned up here without any need to turn it down later. This is maybe a given due to the upper mids and treble not being too hot, so the Aurora passed my little check with a full score.

As for the music, I find the vocals here stellar and the tuning of Aurora do the track justice. I do not always understand why some types of metal are better than others with the Aurora, but this album works great.

Black Sabbath - N.I.B

Always been a fan of the earlier works from Black Sabbath, this is a classic that many have heard before. Music like this I prefer on more thick sounding sets like the Penon Serial making it all sound fuller.

What the Aurora does well is having a superb instrument performance and giving Ozzy a clear and detailed sound. But I still would have liked more fullness here.

The guitar has a good grunt, and bass guitar is also nicely done. The drums are also very well done, but a little thin for my taste.

It is not bad, while this is not a set I would pick for Black Sabbath, or more heavy black or death metal.

Hikaru Utada - First Love

A popular love song, or heartbreak song is more correct. From the year 2000 when Hikaru was 15 years old, has been well received back then and over time. She wrote the song herself not very normal for one her age, both touching and sad lyrics.

Emotional with high production quality, she sings more deeply than what was usual in Japan. Recorded close to the microphone with superb breathiness and detail, very pleasant and not as high pitched as many female J-Pop artists.

Drum kick here I am quite sure is from a keyboard or synth, gives off a great thump that does not overpower her voice. Strings in the background are also most likely digital, but sound nice. Same for guitar and synth, nice smooth detail not being thick or veiled.

And the best part is how Aurora does her voice, just the amount of emotion going on. The throbbing sound in her voice is super nice and same for her intense parts. As an example the EST50 can not touch this and feel almost lifeless in comparison.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - Lacrimosa

Most likely my favorite classical piece, this recording is superb and Sir Neville Marriner has let it be on the more faithful side to the original. I am not a person who listens much to classical music, but from time to time I do. I often tend to like classical music that has choir in it, or smaller quartets or piano pieces.

Why I include it here is because of how the Aurora is tuned, it is like made for classical. Just how the vocals and instruments are so powerful and emotional, while still not blowing your eardrum to pieces. But I promise you it gets intense with the Aurora also when asked for, the dynamic range is huge. The whole piece starts so gentle and dramatic, building up more to an intense piece. Perfect for showing dynamic range and more complex passages.

The wind instrument portrays such an airy and soft sound that is beautiful. The strings sound so dynamic and real, soft parts are clear and soft while the intensity is intense. The whole orchestral part is a work of art, and the choir and opera part top it to perfect performance.

The resolution is superb and everything is shown clearly, but if I listen with the Neon Pro it is a step above. But at the trade off at more intense sound, and slightly less organic timbre. Soundstage is very similar on both Neon Pro and Aurora, perhaps a very small edge to Neon Pro. But imaging positioning is spot on, and perhaps a step above NP for me, how you clearly hear exactly where they are performing from.

Comparisons

When evaluating the sets I use experience from the past and fresh comparing, it takes a long time and not done in one sitting. The most critical comparison is done on my desktop setup that is highly resolving, with volume matching through a microphone to take away loudness variance. I am using the same silicone ear tip Kbear 07, and a XINHS SPC wire on all sets.

AüR Audio Neon Pro

Neon Pro is a IEM from AüR Audio that has 10 balanced armatures per side, it is maybe my favorite set and my standard in coherent tonality.

Overall resolution is good with both, I do put the Neon Pro a step ahead on everything except the low frequencies and low mid range.

None of them have pronounced sibilance. But if you listen to music that is already on the bright side where sibilance is naturally present, the Aurora is the most pleasing with less upper energy.

The dynamic driver of the Aurora beats the Neon Pro in bass with switch on and off, when looking at quality and resolvement of the lower part of frequencies.

Aurora seems to have more sub bass in comparison to the Neon Pro, the slam is stronger on the Aurora with more natural decay. Mid bass is similar in amount, but the increased sub bass on the Aurora makes it less noticeable than the Neon Pro. The tuning switch ON with NP does turn it around making it more sub and mid bass on the Neon Pro. Great versatility and give extra fullness for some music, at the cost of also thickening the mids.

Mid range on the Aurora is better than Neon Pro, both on vocals and on instruments. It just seems to have the upper hand in the low mids detail and how it is pushed more forward in the mix. Both have detailed and clear midrange, just something extra on the Aurora that also makes it sound more natural.

Aurora has very clear and forward female and male vocals, it has good balance so it's not shouty or tiresome. Neon Pro lacks some of the emotion that Aurora has with voices, the Neon Pro is similar in forwardness but the extra mid bass and treble shadow it to a small degree.

With switch on the vocals on the Neon Pro get thicker than Aurora, but not more detailed. The switch also boosts instruments in the lowest frequencies, they can be too overpowering on a few tracks.

Treble is more relaxing on Aurora, but it's not veiled or dark. Just the overall energy is less than the Neon Pro, so naturally Neon Pro is the one with the best clarity and detail. The Neon Pro has more resolution on most brighter instruments, and has also slightly more airiness. The soundstage is on the Neon Pro further out with similar layering, but both have over average soundstage depth. The depth is bigger on Neon Pro but not the width, slightly more oval on the Aurora with wider sides.

Great song to use as an example is N.I.B, the sound on the Aurora is thinner and lacks some energy that the Neon Pro has. But then you try and listen to Ozzy or the distorted guitar and you notice more micro detail going on the Aurora, so both have strengths but I would pick up Neon Pro every day for this. And Switch ON for me here totally changes it, so it is very one sided which I prefer.

Then testing Perceiving all the bass on the Neon Pro is less noticeable than Aurora, and the energy in the treble makes it become tiresome after longer listening. On the Aurora there is never any fatigue and the bass seems bigger as the tonality is different, this can also make me turn the volume up more so the bass hit is even harder.

On First Love Utada voice is more airy on the Neon Pro but also more energetic and tiresome. And there is more detail going on her voice with more emotion on the Aurora, so my pick is the Aurora for J-Pop or K-Pop music in general.

AüR Audio Aure

The Aure is now discontinued by AüR, due to not having more dynamic drivers in good enough quality. They made the Aurora as a new model to replace the gap in their line-up, this is not supposed to be the Aure 2.0.

The Aure is also a hybrid , using 1 DD and 6 BA drivers. The config is quite different, first off the 1 dynamic driver on the Aure and 2 on the Aurora. Aure used 2 BA for midrange and 4 in the treble range, the DD is also used more as full range driver backing up the rest.

Resolution is similar with a slight edge to the Aurora, depending on the song it can be more similar. Soundstage is great on both sets but they have different types of soundstage, on the Aure you are inside the recording and music is closer. So while the soundstage is not the deepest and widest you get an extremely good sense of imaging all around you. So in theory this is like standing on the scene where they are playing, while the Aurora you sit in the audience listening.

The sub bass rumbles and hits harder on Aurora, the decay is also faster than the Aure. Going into the mid bass the Aure has a more full mid bass tonality, so certain music will sound more bassy and full with the Aure.

If you listen to strings that use the lowest octaves, the bass on the Aure is very full and fun. But at the same time it is too much and more than real life, then go to the Aurora and the amount is more correct.

Both are sets that have a really good midrange, Aure is known for its superb vocal capability. Vocals on the Aure are thick and full, with great detail showing every emotion. The Aurora is very similar but it is thinner and shows more nuances, both are great in my book. I would say that the Aure is better on male vocals and the Aurora is better on female, but this can depend on music and your taste. If you try a sibilant song, the Aurora does it better not pushing too much. I consider both great without sibilance, but the extra fullness on the Aure can affect it on a few songs.

Strings have some extra fullness, this is very fun and makes recordings very enjoyable. Strings are still more real to life on the Aurora with more resolving capability. When listening to jazz that uses intense sounding brass parts, the Aure do not tame it as well as the Aurora. But this goes back to how sensitive you are to instruments like sax, trumpet or other instruments.

The treble is more forward and hot on the Aure, so certain songs can be more tiresome. Weird thing is that I find them both to have great treble detail and similar airyness, even with two less drivers on the Aurora.

The track Alba has some great piano playing, and truly shows the extra thickness I'm talking about with the Aure. The Piano is both closer and more in your face than the Aurora, same is for the double bass. But in the end I like it more on the Aurora than Aure.

The track from AURORA Runaway is magical on both sets, I could go both ways to which I prefer. Both have fullness here that is not on the Neon Pro, while it is slightly having more note weight on the Aure. It is more resolving on the Aurora making the separation of the sounds more clear.

Then if I listen to N.I.B I would pick up Aure over the Aurora, as the guitar and Ozzy sound more full. But the other way with South Winds, as the Aure can get to forward sounding.

Then over to Birth of Creation the Aure is slightly too thick for me and lacks some resolving capability in comparison to the Aurora. Both are great but i am nit picking here, to show the difference.

ISN EST50

The EST50 is a tribrid that I own and love, it fits quite well in here for a comparison. It is priced similarly, and I recently finished my review for it. The sound of the EST50 is more L shaped in the sound signature with the bass taking the spotlight. Price is $449 and you get 1DD for low end, 1 BA for the mids and 1 for the high frequencies. Also for ultra high frequencies you get 2 EST drivers.

The EST50 is not the most resolving set, but it is not doing a bad job at it. Aurora is just more resolving in all aspects, this can be from the bass kicks to all the instruments playing. Soundstage on EST50 is very wide and has an average depth, maybe not the best layering. Aurora is not as wide, but is deeper with better imaging capability to pick up where things are positioned.

Bass is what impressed me the most with the EST50, it is known for its great low end. Providing textured bass that is boosted and reaching very low, almost like a subwoofer backing up a stereo system. Impactful bass kicks that make you smile, at least if you are a bass lover like me. Both have impactful sub bass, but the EST50 is the most bass heavy. This can make certain songs be overbearing if they are already boosted in the sub bass, while the Aurora never does. The special thing is that even if the bass is louder on the EST50, the Aurora slams harder on the sub range. It is more layered and is just a higher resolving low end, and the EST50 is no slouch. Mid bass is the other way and is both thicker and with a more strong kick on the EST50.

Mids on the EST50 has been the weakest link for me, it is not bad but not good enough compared to competition. It is a little affected by bass bleed, making vocals and some string instruments more thick. While some other instruments sound thinner, and also slightly grainy at times. Male vocals are clear and full sounding, while females can at times be sibilant and too thick or even grainy. This depends on music and artist, most music is fine and is mostly noticeable when going from better sets for vocals like the Aurora.

Upper mids and treble are darker on EST50 than the Aurora, and at times can seem shouty when playing some music. Not because of the forwardness but just maybe a part of the driver quality that is starting to show it is age, development of IEMs has moved fast the last few years and the EST50 is now 2 years old. Extension is very good on EST50 and has similar airyness as the Aurora, maybe slightly better due to the ESTs character.

The track Mexican Margarita goes really well with the tonality here, the bass helps the whole thing sound more full and lively. Guitar is highly resolving and the same for the rest of the instruments. But even so the Aurora does make it sound better with more resolving capability, and even if it is leaner in the bass it sounds more forward.

The Runaway track is where I notice the bass being overbearing, slightly affecting both vocal and the bass beat and shadowing some of the rest in the mix. Her vocal can also almost be sibilant at times or grainy.

First Love is perfect to show what I mean about the graininess or sibilant side of EST50, it just lacks the finesse.

Gaian Portal is a song I can go both ways, the extra rumble is fun on the EST50. While the impact of the bass is better and the rest of the sounds is more clear and detailed on the Aurora.

Conclusion

Aurora is a good name for their new IEM, the Aurora light is a natural light occurring in the northern sky and looks magical. The Aurora is a very natural sounding IEM, same as the northern light it brings magic to our music.

I have been impressed by the Aurora, it has lived up to all my expectations and more. You get a sound that is both fun and detailed while never being tiresome. Perfect combination where I can listen for hours. Depending on your taste in sound or music, this might be the perfect set for you.

It is not the sound that blows you off your chair, but more a sound that lures you in and gets you addicted. Except maybe for the bass, perhaps the best low end I have tried when looking at detail and quality. Mids that are detailed and neutral with some warmth, perhaps one of the best sets if you're afraid of veiled or too thick vocals. Treble that have great detail, but remain relaxed and never fatiguing.

AüR Audio has proven that they can make another product that can be unique in their line-up, and I trust that whatever Abel and Nicholas is coming with next will also succeed.

Ranking System

1 Very bad or unlistanable 2 Listenable but not good 3 Average 4 Very good 5 Exceptional or having a special sauce

Going by this ranking system together with my deeper evaluation matrix, the Aurora get a 4.5 in sound qualities. Personal bias and enjoyment pushes it up, together with one of the best vocals out there. So in end deserve for me might deserve 5 star, but it's not perfect. So 4.5 is very correct.