\nThe glossy areas are a bit of a fingerprint magnet though<\/p>\n
Photo: HWZ<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
The Aurvana Ace 3 takes some major design cues from its predecessor, with a blue translucent casing that\u2019s a nod to the smoky translucency of the Aurvana Ace 2\u2019s charging case design. The earbuds get a sleeker look, and they sit very comfortably in the ear.\u00a0<\/p>\n
At just 4.75g per earbud and 43g for the charging case, it\u2019s easy to slip these into a pocket and completely forget they\u2019re there. In fact, I had a minor panic attack the other day when I opened the case and found it empty, not realising right away that I had taken the earbuds out and left them in my jacket pocket because they were so light.<\/p>\n
Just like before, the top of the stem is where the touch controls are located, and you\u2019ll be able to control media playback, toggle ANC or ambient mode, and customise it to your liking in the Creative companion app. Unfortunately, there\u2019s no single tap control, so you\u2019ll only have double taps, triple taps and long tap and hold controls.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The earbuds retain an IPX5 water-resistance rating<\/b>, so you\u2019ll be able to wear these to the gym or out in a drizzle without worrying about water damage.\u00a0You can learn more about IP ratings here.<\/p>\nFeatures<\/h2>\n
Just like always, you\u2019ll want to download the Creative companion app for firmware updates, control customisation, and to get the hearing test done<\/b> so you can utilise the sound personalisation feature that\u2019s powered by Mimi.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The app is fine for the most part. My biggest quibble is that despite turning the broadcast (Auracast) feature off, the earbuds will start searching for a broadcast to connect to every time I open the Creative app. It\u2019s almost as if the app doesn\u2019t remember my settings, but it only happens for the Broadcast feature.<\/p>\n
Aside from that, the sound personalisation test works fine, and just like before, it helps to fill in the frequencies which are shown to be lacking by the test. Keep in mind normal hearing is generally under the 25dB hearing threshold mark, so don\u2019t freak out if your graph shows you have a loss of 10 or 20dB. These mobile hearing tests aren\u2019t the best indicator of whether you have hearing loss either, so if you\u2019re worried, it\u2019s worth going to a proper audiologist to get your ears checked out.<\/p>\n
My test showed a need for a slight boost in the mids, and turning on the sound personalisation feature resulted in an audible difference. The vocals in songs got boosted, and the midrange was noticeably lifted with more detail brought to the forefront.\u00a0<\/p>\n
While these earbuds aren\u2019t advertised with multipoint connectivity, we\u2019ve found in our testing that it\u2019s possible to swap audio sources between two connected phones without having to go through the hassle of disconnecting and reconnecting in the Bluetooth settings.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The equaliser feature comes with a bunch of presets, and you can tinker with your own custom preset, but for convenience, I\u2019d say the sound personalisation is an easier option.\u00a0<\/p>\n\nCheck out the cool translucent design<\/p>\n
Photo: HWZ<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
The Hybrid Adaptive Noise Cancellation<\/b> is decent. I used the earbuds on a flight, and even though it wasn\u2019t able to let me sleep in complete silence, they did help to dampen the engine noise so that I could drift off to sleep comfortably with soft music playing.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Unfortunately, the Ambient mode on these isn\u2019t good at all. There\u2019s a persistent white noise in the background, almost as if it\u2019s constantly drizzling. Additionally, wind noise is terrible when ANC is activated. If you\u2019re walking outside in windy conditions, it\u2019s almost worth turning off the ANC just so you don\u2019t have to deal with the loud whistling.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Aurvana Ace 3 does get an upgrade to Bluetooth 5.4<\/b>, and connectivity is quite good even in crowded airports or train stations. There\u2019s also support for numerous codecs, including SBC, AAC, AptX Adaptive, AptX Lossless, LC3, and LDAC. <\/p>\n
Although Creative claims seven hours of battery in the earbuds, I only managed to eke out five hours<\/b> when using the AAC codec, and with ANC turned on. With ANC and LDAC turned on, that dropped to just about 3.5 hours. It\u2019s not great for people who are looking to use these on flights, but if you\u2019re just taking a commute to the office, it\u2019s serviceable as long as you give them a mid-day charge.<\/p>\n