Aurorus Australis and Borealis Measurements and Review

First of all, I can’t thank @Eudis Fernandes @gandhisfist enough for their kindness to let me evaluate these two wonderful pre-production units. And yes, they are not production units so some final minute changes can happen. Take every my statement with a grain of salt.

My experience largely mirrors @cskippy ’s posts. Please refer to his opinions and measurements as well.

• Australis review and measurements
• Borealis review and measurements

Fig 1. Borelias with its stock cable (LR cables inverted mistakenly lol)


Fig 2. Australis with its stock cable

TL;DR: Both very good but sound different from each other regardless of the same drivers. Borelias is more impressive to me -- it’s a super HD800 with zero hassle and no upstream pickiness. Comfort could be a deal breaker though.

Comfort: I generally don’t like HD6x0’s ergonomics. While senn 6x0s are very lightweight for top sounding headphones, I have never been a fan of their headband and ear pads. By contrast, both Auroruses work for me far better. The headband fits my big skull fairly well. It resembles Ether 2 to some extent. Maybe 75% of such comfort. But inner space of ear pads is just too small and shallow. My (supposedly big) ears always touch foam sponge on the baffle and I start to feel irritated approximately after 30 mins of listening. Comfort-wise I prefer these over 6x0 but will take hd800 anyday over Auroruses.

Sound: Shortly speaking, Borelias is what I wanted to hear from HD800 (or its mods). Its large 50mm diaphragm seems to benefit deep, fast, and articulate bass. It sounds like hd800 bass when driven very optimally -- without needing monstrous amps. ZMF Ziricote Verite-Open comes pretty close but it doesn’t have the same meatiness in the lowest notes. Blackwood Auteur doesn’t lose in that aspect, but it fails to match Borelias and Verite in bass articulation.

Mids and highs (Borealis) are quite neutral with spot on timbre. It has an audible peak in upper treble but I don’t hear any hint of stridency at all. It just adds good level of excitement and sharpness in the mix. Occasionally drum hits seem to lack power but nothing too serious.

Every perceived measure of technicality is at least on par with HD800. HD800 still wins in upper treble resolution but Borelias easily swamp 800 in mid and lower treble microdynamics and details. Verite is no slouch but the way Borelias presents is a little more straightforward and evident -- it immediately wows me.

Closed Australis have some similar characters such as a good extension in both ways. But tonality is much warmer, darker, and thicker. Despite not-too-different-measurements (see below), mids and highs sound more like HD650 (instead of HD800). Unlike its open sibling, Australis can’t stack up against Monkeypod Verite Closed well. Although Australis have a better sense of neutral and reference-like tonal balance (it’s even better than Borelias here), it seems to overly damp in the cup -- kills too much cup reverb and arguably too much soul. As a result, Australis is less inviting, more boring, and slower sounding than Verite Closed. It’s still good for $1k closed back headphones, but I don’t think I will use it for any serious listening purposes at home.

Both units I tested had a slight issue of channel imbalance. With a little effort of re-positioning on my head, it’s curable with Borelias. I didn’t bother much. With Australis, the issue was still there, sound images of mono recordings slightly lean to the right. Production units will have no such problem due to more robust QC process though.

Amping synergy: I was very impressed with Borealis’ driving tolerance. It sounds great enough even out of Topping DX3 dacamp. The sound is way more enjoyable than moderately driven senns. That said, it still favors better upstream and scales fairly well too. Switching to Asgard 3 starts to reveal what this great transducer is capable of. DSHA-3F lifts its speed and delicacy to an insane extent. Well deserved to compete against any top headphones.

Conclusion: Did I enjoy the Auroruses? Hell yes. Will I buy them when available? Not quite. Comfort, if not improved in production units, is still a huge deal breaker for me. Also SR1a and Verite combo works too perfectly for me to allow a second thought for Borelias. However, if I have to start over from scratch, and if I am on a tight budget, say $2k total, I’d buy Borelias, Asgard 3, Bifrost 2, and some nice bottle of whiskey, then call it a day. That’s the most affordable shortcut to end games I can practically expect.

Associated gears

• Source: Schiit Bifrost 2, Gustard U16+DAC-X26, Topping DX3
• Amps: ECP DSHA-3F, Schiit Asgard 3 (loaner), Schiit Fulla 2, Topping DX3 (hp out)
• Headphones: ZMF Ziricote Verite Open, ZMF Monkeypod Verite Closed (loaner), ZMF Blackwood Auteur
• Headphone cables: ZMF Verite Silver, ZMF Atmos-C

Measurements to follow shortly.

 

Australis EARS measurements
Measured at 94db SPL @ 300hz


(SBAF-compensated via v1.0 curve; 1/24 oct)

 

Borealis EARS measurements
Measured at 94db SPL @ 300hz


(SBAF-compensated via v1.0 curve; 1/24 oct)

 

Some comparative graphs
All SBAF-compensated (via v1.0 curve) and 1/6 oct

 

What are your thoughts on that 10 dB peak at 7.5 kHz, @Vtory? Is that something that could be tamed with mods?

 

Let me put this way. I first heard it for hours then measured. And when it was on my head, I perceived a "lovable" peak around 7-8k. Measurements shocked me as I didn't hear that intensity of peak.

EQ/mods may reduce or even kill the peak, but I highly DOUBT if doing so is beneficial (I am rather believing it is associated with some sort of fun I enjoyed). I generally hate huge peaks in that frequency range, but this time around, was not motivated to use eq at all.

 

Thanks for the detailed review!

 

Call me confused... Australis is more impressively boring? And that's why you'd buy the Borelias?

 

Talk about polar opposite... not sure what to think, other than they must be really picky to head size and placement.

 

Thanks for pointing out my foolish mistakes.
I think I was largely confused between their names. I like the open one, not the closed one.

(aside: now corrected)

Plus, hands and I have pretty different (nearly opposite) sonic tastes. More so with dacs/amps less so with headphones though. Please consider personal factor too! Also note that I had Verite closed when I had Australis. I am suspecting I used different freq range to describe cup reverb -- but at least I remember I didn't hear any good reverb from Australis.

 

Am I the only one who is getting the dreaded [ IMG ] & no photos?
If so kindly ignore this post.

 

I thought I was the only one, so I didn't say anything LOL

 

All good

 

@Vtory From memory you were a big fan of the Shortest Way 51+

Did you have a chance to use the Borealis on this amp? I'm in the queue for one and thinking about transducer options.

 

While I am surely fond of the amp, could get my hands on very recently. Hands could answer better as he is having both together. My limited impression is that sw51 favors any mid to high Z headphones with high sensitivity.

 

Do these cans fall into this category? Apologies if it’s been discussed I couldn’t find it in a brief search.