zen aurvana VS e3c, e4c, Um 1 and superfi 3

[ahdui 0]

in fact aurvuna wasnt bad, but for the price. TOTALLY NOT WORTH.

[xenocide 0]

in fact aurvuna wasnt bad, but for the price. TOTALLY NOT WORTH.

 

staff price is infact 50% off street price...

[xenocide 0]

cool it dude... wat i mean is its not really worth buyin the Aurvana at ard $200

when u can get something better at that price.

 

i'm just trying to say that the Aurvana is pretty overpriced... dun get me wrong.

 

(if u wan to get it, i might still be able to...)

[Stereo_Electronics 0]

' date='4 Oct 2006, 08:00 AM' post='81941']

Creative must have known the price for the UM1/Superfi.3 Studio IEMs. Which in turn brings me to think that they purposely dropped the price to $159 so as to pit themselves against this forerunners of the market.

 

So what if it's 50% of the street price?

Are u telling me that you can get it for us?

 

(some of those who had connections charged $50 for their so-called 'service' )

 

Whom may I ask charge $50 for so-called 'service'?

[Guest joi-ful]

' date='4 Oct 2006, 08:00 AM' post='81941']

Creative must have known the price for the UM1/Superfi.3 Studio IEMs. Which in turn brings me to think that they purposely dropped the price to $159 so as to pit themselves against this forerunners of the market.

 

I think only SE has managed to negotiate for this price. Creative rrp is still $219. Street price also ard there.

[Stereo_Electronics 0]

Actual fact that prices would be coming down soon, I only advance the price reduction.

[Guest joi-ful]

Kudos to SE then!

I think I'll be going down to test some IEMs next week. See if there's anything I prefer over the UM1 under $200. Aron, I need your help there. Recommendations!

[earblaster 0]

I was considering the Aurvana too. Can anyone point to a good review?

 

 

[Stereo_Electronics 0]

Unfortunately I can't get staff prices, if not I sell below $100 loh.

[tok2mi 0]

joiful! lets go again. Im also looking to upgrade already. lolz.

[master 0]

Unfortunately I can't get staff prices, if not I sell below $100 loh.

Guys, from insider, the staff price is more than S$100 but less than S$150.

[yongchris 0]

' date='4 Oct 2006, 05:00 PM' post='82063']

 

There was this HWM issue, where yongchris on our forums did a review of it against the UM1.

I must say the Aurvana was pawned real baad.

 

Thanks for reading

 

There was simply no fight between the aurvana and the UM1 (esp at the then price of $219). Even now at the lower price, there is no comparison.

 

Having reviewed a whole bunch of IEMs (I mean long term reviews, not just 30mins at Jaben), I rank the Aurvanas the worst of the lot. The microphonics by itself drove me crazy. The isolation was poor and the sound did not match its price. I honestly even preferred the sound of the E2C to the Aurvana. Too bad I will not get the chance to do an IEM shootout (too different price ranges across too few brands, making it difficult to set a fair comparison)

 

The only good thing about the aurvana is that it is drawing people to the world of IEMs. Where previously, most people were not exposed to the IEM industry and they only knew about normal earbuds. These people who now buy the aurvana because of the creative brand will find that there are better stuff out there, and they will learn about shure, ety, UE, westone...etc. Which is turn will expose more people to how good music sounds. The sad thing is that they actually wasted their money first, before spending it wisely.

 

Chris

 

PS. Oct issue has the UM2

 

 

 

[scanfiend 0]

Thanks for reading

 

There was simply no fight between the aurvana and the UM1 (esp at the then price of $219). Even now at the lower price, there is no comparison.

 

Having reviewed a whole bunch of IEMs (I mean long term reviews, not just 30mins at Jaben), I rank the Aurvanas the worst of the lot. The microphonics by itself drove me crazy. The isolation was poor and the sound did not match its price. I honestly even preferred the sound of the E2C to the Aurvana. Too bad I will not get the chance to do an IEM shootout (too different price ranges across too few brands, making it difficult to set a fair comparison)

 

The only good thing about the aurvana is that it is drawing people to the world of IEMs. Where previously, most people were not exposed to the IEM industry and they only knew about normal earbuds. These people who now buy the aurvana because of the creative brand will find that there are better stuff out there, and they will learn about shure, ety, UE, westone...etc. Which is turn will expose more people to how good music sounds. The sad thing is that they actually wasted their money first, before spending it wisely.

 

Chris

 

PS. Oct issue has the UM2

 

Which goes to show how subjective this whole headphone business is.

 

I found the SQ of the Auvana made it poor value at $239. But it represents better value at the current price of $159-169. Sure Creative could do better, but it's not a total failure for a 1st attempt. I would argue that the lower price point should have been the retail price in the first place. That would have garnered it more attention. In addition, the overall packaging, included accessories as well as the build quality made a favourable impression.

 

Some guys (not many, admittedly) liked it at headfi, and it got decent reviews at some mainstream sites & magazines. I myself found the isolation to be excellent. Regarding microphonics, I have experienced it with virtually every IEM I have tried, with the exeption of the UM1/UM2. The thicker wires did accentuate the microphonics somewhat, but l felt that it's no worse than the other IEM's I have tried. If it really bothered you that much, just clip the wire to the front of your shirt or something It's not the most comfortable IEM for me (after the UM2, I doubt any other IEM will be ), but it's not the worst either. The honours of the most uncomfortable IEM goes to the AT CK5

 

Despite the higher impedance rating of 42 ohm, (kind of a weird rating) I found the Auvana to be almost as sensitive as my UM2, with the same volume settings producing equivalent loudness. And as I've noted in another thread, SQ improved considerably with amping.

 

I have owned the (much reviled) Koss Plugs, Creative EP630, Senn CX300, AT CK5/CK7 & Panasonic HJE50 & the UM1/UM2 (customs). If anything, I found the SQ of the Panasonic HJE50 to be even worse than that of the Auvana, but since it's about 4 times cheaper, I'll cut it some slack

Edited October 6, 2006 by scanfiend