Figured I’d start a thread for Aurorus stuff. Feel free to post/move your impressions here!
I personally love my Borealis so far, has been a fun headphone to listen to and is a great performer for most modern/electronic music. It has a very unique sound signature, and took some adjusting to coming from Susvara. The Bori has a way of bringing everything forward in the mix. This can be a double edged sword, where one side it’s amazing the amount of information you can pick out, it also makes mastering mistakes stick out like a sore thumb. Because of this, recording quality definitely plays more of a role in my enjoyment of the the Bori when compared to the Susvara (not that Bori vs Sus is a fair comparison, it’s just that I’ve had the most time on the Sus as of late). Where Susvara also scales with better recording quality, but is still enjoyable when recording quality isn’t great. But don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying Bori isn’t enjoyable if you aren’t listening to Reference quality recordings all the time. Bori is a fun headphone, it’s dynamic, detailed, soundstages well, and has impressive bass extension for a dynamic driver headphone. The only way I could describe this headphone is like if you took a reference color graded photo and just added some contrast to it. Sure it’s no longer reference, but certain photos can look better with a little more color, while others look amazing as they are. So I could see Bori as a good companion for Susvara. Yet another reminder that I can never just have one headphone lol.
The Bori also seems very well built and sturdy, I don’t feel like it’s going to fall apart in my hands like I do with some of my other headphones in my collection. My only complaints with them are the almost loose clamp where I feel like I always have to press the headphones into my head when putting them on, and the included cable (not really that big of a deal, but would prefer not feeling like I have to spend more money for a better cable). Otherwise this is a great headphone for the price and would recommend at least giving them a try if the opportunity arises.
Putting time on Bori has made me curious about their closed back Australis, so I may end up with one in the near future. Will also be interested in whatever their next iteration or headphone will be.
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Thanks for starting this thread! The bori and australis are some of my favorites and have seriously impressed me for the value they provide. I think they sound better then my ZMFs (Atrium, Verite Closed, Atticus) but are not quite up to the level of the Utopia. The Borealis sounds like a warmer Utopia OG that lacks some of the detail and top end extension. It sounds wider but doesn’t have the depth the Utopia does either. Since I own the Utopia now I don’t use the bori as much but I have been really enjoying the Australis lately. It’s a bassy headphone but not in a boomy or overpowering way and it slams too. It’s great for electronic music and is more forgiving then the borealis. I think they compliment each other well and it’s worth owning both.
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Aurorus has a discord server if anyone is interested, good place to talk to the people who make the headphone or just chat with other owners: Aurorus Audio
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Welp, when I said near future I guess it meant after a week lol.
To get it out of the way first, BASS. Like wow, quantity, punch and depth that’ll put a smile on your face with certain songs haha. Doesn’t go overboard though, is quick, and doesn’t fatigue you unless you want it to by cranking up the volume. Shooting guns in COD is intense and really satisfying with the Australis (say what you will about the games, they do have great sound design). The bass on these headphones is very addicting.
But bass isn’t the only strength this headphone has over the Bori. Vocals are richer and seem to have more depth to them (maybe that depth is just more noticeable due to it being closed back? idk), mastering mistakes also stick out like Bori, but Australis is less in your face with them, the Australis also seems a touch more laid back when compared to the Bori (definitely not in the bass region though lol).
As easy as it would be to just call the Australis a closed-in warmer/bassier Bori, I don’t think that’s the case here at all. Australis has comprable resolution and imaging performance as Bori. And the Australis soundstage is some of the best I’ve heard from a closed back headphone. But I also wouldn’t say that the Australis is an overall better headphone than Bori either. Bori still has better soundstaging performance, a more natural timbre with instruments, and an overall more neutral sounding frequency response.
Overall the Australis and Borealis are both really enjoyable headphones for different reasons. I could see owning both the Australis and Borealis as an excellent endgame for those not wanting to go into the gigabuck range for headphones and their associated equipment. Sure they both have their performance limits (they do scale, but only so far) when compared to headphones like Susvara and other TOTLs, but at this price point I honestly don’t think you can do better. Not until you get into that $2-3k+ TOTL range. And even then it depends on what your preferences are and what you’re looking for in a system.
Hope this helps anyone interested in either headphone!
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Nice review, the thing that kept me from buying one was the lack of upper harnonics except for some mild elevations to 3-4 db below harman.
If technicalities are indeed close to Borealis, that would make it a really good option for the EQ gang.
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