Zen Aurvana

I've been eyeing these earphones for like the longest time ever since I demo-ed them. But it was priced over SGD200 at that time and I just couldn't justify buying them. So in the end I opted for the Creative EP635 which were good in-ear earphones for their price range (SGD45). I wasn't too fond of the neck strap but that was my fault. I didn't realize at that time that the EP630 and the EP635's difference wasn't the colour but that one was attached to a neck strap and the other wasn't. Also the EP630s were sold out then and I had put my Audio-Technica headphones through so much punishment that they had finally quit working on me and I guess I was a little too eager to try out these well reviewed earphones. While I liked my Audio-Techina headphones a lot I was ready for something less bulky and thought I would try out the Creative earphones since the reviews for them were good.

In the end, I did end up liking the EP635, although I'm still not that fond of the neck-strap. However, I did need to tweak the custom EQ on my Zen Neeon to get it to sound the way I like. Their problem was funnily enough that they were almost too clear and so I began to noticed that my mp3s were really kinda sucky and have since re-ripped them to a much higher bitrate. Previously, I thought that the 128k bitrate was enough but I think the base and the good enough quality of my Audio-Technica headphones masked out their inadequacies.

Recently, the price of the Aurvana's dropped to SGD169 and I was really tempted to get them but still... it was kind of a lot of money to plunk down on a pair of earphones. So I resisted. However, I discovered that my mum had accumulated SGD34 on the Creative Club Card as my dad had gotten the the Creative Zen Vision: W (grrrrrr.... I wanted them too :D ). So finally, with the further SGD34 discount, I decided to get the Aurvana today.

They are GREAT. They do a good job of keeping out unwanted ambient sound and the music sounds fantastic. The thing is, I don't even need to use the custom EQ on the Zen Neeon for them to sound good. The bass isn't as muddy without the custom EQ as they were when I used the EP635 and the sound is all well separated unlike when I used the Audio-Techinca headphones. I think they look cool too and like it that they come with a nice case to carry them around.

Yup, I'm pretty happy I got them although I'm going to have to be more frugal in the next couple of months if I'm to try and get myself a Nintendo Wii and also make another trip to China. Next time I hope to go to Jiu Zai Gou to see more water and mountains.... my kind of thing. :) I think that's why I liked Guizhou so much. A pity I didn't see the other waterfall in the north part of Guizhou but we were making our way South and a trip up North would have taken too much time. Actually, I hope to one day maybe visit Guizhou without a tour group. I think that way I can really explore the national parks.

Okay, time to go crash out. Need to try and clean up my room in time for Christmas tomorrow and all who know me well know that that is quite a monumental task indeed. =)

cheers
p.s. If I get bored of cleaning my room, heh heh, I might just write up another entry on my Guizhou trip. I have quite a few photographs ready to be uploaded but kind of feel I need to sort them ALL out first as I have to start giving out full sets to my sis-in-law, her friend etc. So we'll see... good night. :)