For those of For us who can’t stop listening to music on the go, the past decade has been a whirlwind. We’ve seen the rise of AirPods (and the associated loss of the headphone jack), alongside a wide range of microphone, noise-cancelling, and other feature improvements that make listening on the go easier. One thing we haven’t really seen yet? A big leap in audio quality.
With its new solid-state drivers, California-based xMems has finally given us a real leap forward in the way earbuds generate sound. Using the same technology developed for microchip manufacturing, these silicone eartips deliver a flatter, cleaner overall signature, in addition to significantly added robustness compared to previous technology.
We first tested xMems’ technology in a ridiculously expensive (and great-sounding) pair of milled titanium earbuds from Singularity industries, but that was like trying out a new ecological fuel in a Ferrari. With two new pairs of earbuds (confusingly named the Aurvana Ace and Aurvana Ace 2, despite simultaneous releases), the folks at Creative Audio have made this brand new technology accessible to everyone. You can now hear the drivers of the future in virtually the same form factor and for the same price as Apple’s standard AirPods. When it comes to audio quality for the money, there’s no doubt: Solid State is the future.
Twins
Both pairs of Creative’s new earbuds look almost identical from the outside, with familiar elephant trunks in black with copper-gold accents on the outside of each earbud. You can tell which pair is which by looking at the charging case. The standard Ace comes with an opaque black shell, while the Ace 2 comes with a translucent gray one that reveals a shiny gold interior to the clamshell.
Photo: Parker Hall
Under the surface, they both get the same xMems driver technology, but the Ace 2 gets better processing. The Ace 2 also supports lossless Bluetooth audio and comes with adaptive noise cancellation instead of the non-adaptive, non-lossless technology in the regular Ace. Both round cases offer 18 hours of battery backup and Qi wireless or USB-C charging, in addition to the six hours of playtime in the earbuds. For the rest of the review, I’ll focus on the Ace 2, which has the same drivers as the Ace, but has the aforementioned more expensive chipset. At just $20 more (MSRP), they’re a better buy.
Tap Type
Touch controls on the outside of each earbud let you double-tap to play or pause music, or hold the outside of each earbud to increase or decrease volume (the left turns it down, the right turns it up) . These buttons were not easy to use; I tended to use Creative’s headphones app and my phone’s controls to fiddle with the earbuds when necessary, which worked fine.
One thing I like is their simple, easy to understand code to indicate how much battery is left in the charging case. A red light means 0 to 30 percent, yellow 31 to 70 percent and green 71 to 99 percent. It’s simple and useful for those of us who leave the earbuds in a bag when we go to the gym and rarely take them out to the charger.
Speaking of gym time, you’ll have no problem breaking a sweat in these, or at least not, thanks to the included IPX5 water resistance rating. I have often taken them to my gym and even used them in the sauna for a while without any problems.