Creative Aurvana Air Earphones
"Timeless sophistication. Exceptional audio" is the tagline. Well, on one level, Creative's latest Aurvana earphones are an unqualified success. Awarded a prestigious Red Dot award for Product Design this year, the Aurvana Airs are easily one of the most beautifully crafted and engineered sets of earphones you've ever set eyes on - and Creative knows it. The packaging literally places them on a pedestal inside a transparent acrylic case inside the box, and the whole thing screams "look at me! I'm a work of art!"
Even once you've managed to wrestle the headphones out of this complicated assembly, it's hard not to feel impressed. Those delicate features! Those lovingly constructed hinges! Those gorgeous reflective surfaces! That shiny gunmetal and gold-played plug! These are headphones so damnably attractive, that you almost can't bear to stick them in your horrid, unclean, wax-stuffed ear holes. Perhaps it would be better just to put them on the shelf and quietly admire them.
However, that's not what I'm paid for. After all, for all their supermodel looks, the Aurvana Airs are here to be worn and listened to, so that's just what I've had to do. The AAs (to save my typing fingers) use the earhook design popular with sports headphones (though heaven forbid anyone should wear them jogging, mountain biking or lifting weights and walking the treadmill at the gym - have you no soul?).The earpieces connect via a hinged armature to a cylindrical chunk of polished metal, and this in turn connects to a hook of a flexible nickel-titanium alloy, which is what you call a 'shape memory metal', with a rubbery plastic sleeve coating the end.
This means that you can bend the earhook six ways to Sunday and it won't go out of shape, making it springy, robust and comfortable. The alloy construction is resistant to dirt and corrosion, and the inert coating should - apparently - make sure that those with a sensitivity to nickel don't get any nasty side effects from use. It's a common cause of contact dermatitis (or a nasty rash), don't you know.
For all their shimmering delicate loveliness, Creative has produced a well-considered, practical pair of earphones here. At first, I thought I would struggle to get a comfortable fit on my embarrassingly miniscule ears, but by fitting the large-ish earpieces in position then sliding the earhooks round, it was possible to get a good firm fit that would easily stand up to a bit of light exercise. The usual trouble spots, like the connections between cable and plug and cable and earpiece, are solidly reinforced and the cable is nice and meaty.
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Creative Aurvana Air
30th August 2011, By suggul
I bought these headphones as I mainly use headphones in the gym and my commute to work, and liked the over-ear hooks, to prevent them falling out whilst exercising. However, I was tired of the uncultured, heavy sound of sports headphones - and their poor build quality. When I found these headphones going for £60 on the Creative website, I couldn't resist.
As the review states these are just stunning to look at. They look like items of jewellery, not audio equipment. At first glance, I didn't know whether to put them in my ears or make love to them. Those who say they're copies of the B&O's are misguided. Yes, the design is similar, but the Aurvana Air's are more delicate, and - with their highly-polished metal - more eye-catching. The great design extends to comfort - once on, these headphones won't fall off, even when pounding the treadmill. And - cliche though it is - they're so incredibly light, that you forget that you're wearing them
However, headphones aren't made for their looks alone, and I was disappointed by the sound quality from the off. Yes, it was crisper, more detailed and wonderfully light - 'airy', you might say - compared to cheaper, bass-heavy sports headphones, but the sound seriously lacked power. The volume is just not good enough - whether it's due to sound leakage from the open design I'm not sure. Even at top volume on my MP3 player, I struggle to hear songs clearly on the Tube and the treadmill. To it's credit, though, there is no sound distortion at the top volume levels at all - a revelation compared to cheaper headphones. The bass is sorely lacking, too. Now, I'm dead against an over-powering bassline, but with the Aurvana Air's the sound can often seem a bit weak, and unbalanced due to the lack of the bottom-end.
My biggest gripe with the Aurvana Air's is the build quality. With a product that cost close to £200 when launched, and will still set you back £60-70, I expected them to be really robust. However, within 2 months, the over-ear loops had come away from the main body of the headphone on both sides. I've contacted Creative about this, and they should take them back, but I shouldn't have to resort to that 2 months in.
Overall then, despite being gorgeous, extremely comfortable and producing a clear, detailed sound, the weak audio experience - with lack of bass - and poor build quality, means I regret buying the Creative Aurvana Air's.
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