Creative has always been a big name in the audio device industry. Their sound cards are the norm for any mainstream computer buff but today we look at the Aurvana DJ, their latest foray into the headphone market.

Packaging

The Aurvana comes nicely packaged in a box that shows the photo of the product on the front cover which also flips open to show some features and specifications of the phones as well as the actual unit. While the Aurvana has a built-in 3.5mm plug, Creative does bundle a 6.3mm adapter with it.

Build & Comfort

The first thing you'll probably notice about the Aurvana out of the box is the brushed metal that covers the ear cups. This is an interesting design choice and does indeed make these "phones" look quite stylish. On a side note, the shape for these ear cups seems to have been borrowed from one of their other headphones, the HQ-1400.

The build is also quite solid with the materials being used appearing sturdy enough to withstand some tossing around. Though this does result in the headphones being pretty heavy- weighing in at a hefty 385gms. The weight becomes apparent especially when wearing them, since the foam underpart of the headband is thin enough to really not warrant any use as a cushion.

The headphone has a closed back rather then circumaural design probably to allow greater sound isolation. This results in a rather tight fit around the ears which means quite the uncomfortable experience if one were to wear these for a long time. Creative should have increased the diameters of the ear cups by just a bit to overcome this problem.

The swivel ear cups and the long cord are features that are probably welcome to the DJs wishing to use the Aurvanas and are quite a nice addition.

The Sound

Our Audio setup is as follows: Toshiba Laptop > Emu 0404 USB >  Aurvana DJ / Sennheiser 595. We're using the Sennheisers as a point of reference, with the 595s being a great entry-level, audiophile quality headphone.

First off was testing the Bass. The Bass seems really muddy and is quite lacking in most songs compared to the 595s where it is quite tight sounding and has an almost airy quality. The cymbals also seem to blend in to the bass are not as crisp sounding as the 595s.

The treble is quite high on these headphones and this becomes apparent when listening to parts of songs that involve heavy guitar use. So the sound may appeal to people who love their guitar solos.

Vocals seem to have an almost artificial quality with the Aurvana's and whereas with the 595s they come off as quite natural sounding.

Conclusion

In terms of closed back headphones the Aurvana is pretty alright. It looks good enough although the sound quality is just above average. So if you wanna sport a headphone that looks better than it sounds, this is it! Oh and since these are of low impedance you can easily rock with them on the streets with a portable mp3 player. On the other hand the similarly priced open-air Senn 555s will probably sound better but as far as closed-back phones go in the UAE, these along with SONY branded ones are probably your only option.