Creative Aurvana Ace 3 Bluetooth Earphones Review – Nebula Of Music Galaxies
Creative Aurvana Ace 3 is a $149 USD pair of bluetooth earphones with a special Snapdragon Sound and xMEMS driver at their core. Today we review the Ace3 and explore how they sound as well as broadly as they compare to the vast majority of earphones.
Introduction
Creative is best known for producing desktop soundcards for computers, they have a large number of popular USB DACs already launched, but recently they’ve been launching more and more soundbars, earphones, all of those have been received with enthusiasm by the market and generally are very good and reliable products.
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Product Link
Amazon – https://amzn.to/3OW6G4X
Aliexpress – https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_c3ge5h1z
Build Quality – Design
Aurvana Ace 3 carries the EF1240 official code name and it is a pair of earphones with mainly the transparent blue nebula color that you’re seeing in our photos. Creative actually kept a similar technology for all their Aurvana Ace earphones, all of them being a one dynamic driver earphone with a 10mm dynamic driver at the core.
Ace 3 is the heaviest of the bunch, with the earbuds having a 4.75 grams each, while the previous Ace 2 and Ace had a 4.7 grams weight for the earphones. The case is also a bit heavier for the ace 3 at 43 grams vs 37.2. I honestly think they are all very reasonable numbers.
This very small increase in weight does come with an increase in battery life, and it does come with omni-directional MEMS microphones, ANC and Ambient Mode, all of which were present on all the other Ace, including IPX5 rating, Wireless charging, and up to 10 meters of Bluetooth operating range, with the main differences being likely in the sound as all of the Creative Ace IEMs have a very similar build and design technically.
Subjective Usage
Creative gave Aurvana the shape and idea of the Apple Airpods, which can be good if you wanted a more edgy, better sounding of those, but as they have touch gestures, adjusting them is complicated. They feel almost hollow, very light, but the eartips do not provide a very strong seal or fitting, and you have to use something like ddHIFI ST-35 for a better seal and fitting.
I would say that they copied the idea of the Airpods well, but Ace 3 has a slightly better comfort, insertion depth is shallow-medium, with a large body that does not allow the Ace 3 to go too deep inside of your ears. As the app kind of wants you to log in, I almost skipped it, but you can disable that part of the app and use it without. To actually connect the earbuds to the app, you have to have the earbuds in the charging case, which I find bothering. Auto firmware install can be achieved easily, and the app gives you a bit of extra control for Ace 3. Personalization is not available without an account, so it will not really get tested, as I find it bad for companies to force making an account onto customers that already paid for a product.
Ace 3 does look beautiful in person, and they offer a medium passive noise isolation, and Ambient control only works when they are inside of your ears. Adaptive ANC works ok, it does create a certain sound when it is turned on, like your ears are fully clogged, and it is not the most effective approach. Audio through ANC comes without mid bass and bass, but treble makes it through, so sharp sounds are audible while deeper sounds are not. It does not matter much if music is playing, but if music is playing even at a minimum level, you’re unlikely to hear any ambient noise. Ambient mode has a strong background noise from the microphones, if no music is playing, but that is also not very audible with music playing. Basically, they are not made to be used without music playing. Music quality is not one bit affected by using or not using ANC or Ambient mode, which is brilliant. Basically, you engage this at your own discretion without it affecting music quality.
From the app you can engage LDAC Bluetooth instead of the default, which is SBC. Using LDAC does change the sound a bit, for the better, more detailed, but also warmer sounding and fuller sound. Dynamic range is higher with LDAC, but signal quality is a bit worse and there can be dropouts, a limitation of my S24 Ultra. Engaging Low Latency will damage the sound considerably, and it should be kept off, as it introduces very audible increased THD and distortions. This happens with every single device I tested, and it is a limitation of bluetooth low latency.
Sound Quality
Pairings – As Ace 3 is a bluetooth pair of earphones, I have used them with Samsung S24 Ultra, and FiiO Air Link. There is not a big difference between the two, although you can squeeze a bit extra performance by using FiiO’s adapter, yet it is not as convenient as using a smartphone. In general, there are smartphones that sound significantly better with Bluetooth and some that sound much worse.
Overall Signature – At their core, Ace 3 is a V-Shaped, U-Shaped or warm sounding pair of bluetooth earphones with a big bass, sweet vocals and a fairly bloomy presentation that is balanced back by a sharp treble. Detail is plenty for the price point and if the bass wasn’t so big and bloomy, I would actually consider them V or U Shaped in signature. They are great for rap, pop and modern music with a lot of bass, but sound a bit too bassy for rock and metal.
ANC Quality – I am happy to report that engaging ANC or Ambient mode will not change the sound of the Ace 3. This means that regardless of what you do, the sound is consistent, they always sound the same, although Ambient mode and ANC both add a background noise that is quite audible. Ambient mode adds the usual microphone hiss while ANC adds the deafening noise that ANC usually makes.
Bass – At the low-end, Ace 3 reaches a lower than 30 Hz range, even 20 Hz, with a fully, bloomy, slow and big bass. It sounds like a full club in full swing, has body, has substance and a deep-end shake that can make your entire head vibrate, but with minimal distortion, to the point that it has one of the cleanest but biggest bass presentations of any Bluetooth TWS IEM. Bass has to be present in the song for Ace 3 to render it, and for bands that recorded almost no bass like Stereoxyde or metal / rock bands, you will not hear that deep end.
Voicing And Midrange – Voicing is sweet, a bit thick and lush, but has a bit of extra upper midrange presence and peaking that gives female voices a vivid, brilliant presence and crisp tonality. Male voices actually sound a bit thinner and more coarse than usual, which works well in tandem with the resolution that is increased for certain instruments on the Ace 3.
Treble – With a crisp and sharp top end, Ace 3 sounds detailed, has an extra bit of crispness and sharpness to counter the strong bass, and creates a sound that is at the end of the day, rather balanced and enjoyable. One of the interesting things that I noticed with Ace 3 is that their signature works especially well with trancecore and bands like Lunecell, stuff that is psychedelic, and they create what I can dub as extremely spatial songs for house and EDM styles.
Dynamic Range and Textures – As with most Bluetooth earphones, the dynamic range is compressed considerably, which brings all sound at the same volume, and has the effect of everything being very clearly audible, but reduces the available headroom for classical. Textures are somewhat sharp, fast and dry in the midrange and the treble, but very slow, a bit bloated in the bass, which creates a rather big cohesiveness gap between the bass and the midrange.
Loudness Saturation Gradient – Maximum volume is not that high, around 105 dB to 110 dB with most songs, enough to use Ace 3 at the gym, but not loud enough for them to be really loud and powerful. THD at this max volume is not significantly higher than at medium volumes, they have really nice control and you can increase up to max possible volume with no bass degradation or added distortion, but they won’t push more than 110 dB with any song.
Soundstage – An interesting effect I have noticed is that there are multiple distinct layers as rendered by Ace 3, but due to a somewhat strong dynamic range compression, you hear a really wide and holographic soundstage with certain EDM music, the newer and more intentionally wide the music is supposed to sound, the wider Ace 3 will make it sound. Basically, they compress and if the music is already compressed, but designed to push the stage, Ace 3 likes that a lot, with artists like iamjakehill and Lunecell.
Value – Conclusion
With a price of $149 USD Ace 3 has a nice and interesting basshead sound, and a really neat design for the charging and transport case, reasonably long battery life and I find it really nice that it is almost the only pair of TWS Bluetooth earphones that actually has a consistent sound at all volumes and is not ridiculously quiet, at this price point.
While Ace 3 is quite bloomy in the bass and has a sharp treble, they are enjoyable with the right music, especially new and dynamically compressed music, pop, edm, rap and commercial music, being ideal for enjoying new music and discovering the younger part of life.
PROs
- Detailed sound with especially the midrange and the treble having strong resolution
- Big and bloomy bass with a huge body and slow, but big impact
- Good layering and separation
- Drum patterns are fast and have minimal smear
- Perfect for trance, trancecore and EDM in general
- Great for all new music
- Sounds as good very loud as they do quiet
- Beautiful in design
- Comfortable and lightweight
Cons
- App is a bit buggy, slow, and wants you to make an account
- Bass can be a bit bloated and smeared, especially sub-bass
Product Link
Amazon – https://amzn.to/3OW6G4X
Aliexpress – https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_c3ge5h1z
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Full Playlist used for this review
We listened to more songs than those named in this playlist, but those are excellent for identifying a sonic signature. I recommend trying most of the songs from this playlist, especially if you’re searching for new music! The playlists are different for Spotify, Tidal and Youtube, and based on the songs I enjoy and are available on each!
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL_cjBXGmwSHSdGcwuc_bKbBDGHL4QvYBu
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5J3oloz8Riy9LxEGenOjQ0?si=979ba4f082414be7
https://tidal.com/browse/playlist/330fd544-8e5b-4839-bd35-676b2edbb3d5
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