TechRadar Verdict
Pros
- +
Great sound
- +
Good looks
Cons
- -
Tangle easily, No noise cancelling
- -
No noise isolation
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There are few things quite as subject to personal opinion as sound quality.
Some people will maintain that vinyl records give the best aural experience, while others would rather have Mr Blonde give them a close shave than listen to a standard bitrate MP3 file.
Some will also happily potter around with the sub-standard headphones bundled with most media players/modern phones and be perfectly happy with the experience.
If that's you then there's very little I can say that might entice you to spend £100 on a set of third-party headphones; if you're someone for whom the bundled headphones are a source of aural discontent then I think we can make a case.
Creative's latest Aurvana headphones eschews the standard in-ear setup of the other Aurvana set in favour of a sleekly-designed clip that slots behind the ear, pushing the earphone in to cover the ear canal.
Personally I'm a big fan of the noise-cancelling and sound qualities of the standard in-ear solutions, having owned and loved a set of beautiful Shure 'phones and currently enjoying an ear-pleasing Sennheiser set
Because of this I really wasn't expecting to get on with the Aurvana Air, but I was wrong.
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Sound quality
The sound quality is excellent, piping deep bass sounds and crisp high notes into your ear with ease and comfort.
A feat that's made doubly impressive by the fact that the 'phones are just resting on your ear rather than in it. The design of the behind-ear clips means that the buds are pressed tightly - though not uncomfortably so - to your head, and despite my glasses-wearing disability didn't interfere with said spectacles.
The problem is that as good as the sound quality is, it doesn't really matter what ear-splitting volume you're playing Billy Ray Cyrus at there's nothing to stop the ambient noise from filtering in. For some though this wont be a problem, but personally I'd rather hear the music over anything else around me.
But for the audiophiles out there who just don't get on with the somewhat ear-ache inducing in-ear solutions the Aurvana Air set is more than just a compromise. The sound quality is just as good as some of the more expensive in-ear sets, but you will also hear what's going on around you.