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Aurorus Audio Borealis Headphone Review

Rate this headphone:

  • 1. Poor (headless panther)

    Votes: 29 17.1%
  • 2. Not terrible (postman panther)

    Votes: 95 55.9%
  • 3. Fine (happy panther)

    Votes: 40 23.5%
  • 4. Great (golfing panther)

    Votes: 6 3.5%

  • Total voters
    170

amirm

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This is a review, listening tests and detailed measurements of the Aurorus Audio Borealis open-back headphone. It is on kind loan from a member and costs US $899.

Aurorus Audio Borealis Headphone open back review.jpg

As the British say, the headphone looks a bit "agricultural" with what looks like stamped washer and twisted wire in the driver region. That aside, the headphone wears very comfortably with very large and plush ear cups. Let's see how it performs.

Aurorus Audio Borealis Measurements
Let's start with our frequency response measurements which have been slightly tweaked to have more resolution and extension down to 10 Hz:
Aurorus Audio Borealis Headphone Frequency Response Measurement.png


Focusing on the positive, as noted, we have good compliance from upper bass to lower treble. But clearly we are drooping in bass and have some resonances in high frequencies. As a relative "error" response we have:
Aurorus Audio Borealis Headphone relative Frequency Response Measurement.png


Shouldn't be too hard to develop EQ for it (see next section). Unfortunately distortion peaks in lower frequencies which may limit our options to boost that region as desired:
Aurorus Audio Borealis Headphone distortion THD Measurement.png


Aurorus Audio Borealis Headphone relative distortion THD Measurement.png


Group delay is messy in mid frequencies as many headphones are:
Aurorus Audio Borealis Headphone Group Delay Measurement.png


Impedance is low and variable so be careful with tube amps and such:
Aurorus Audio Borealis Headphone Impedance Measurement.png


Good news is that sensitivity is well above average:

Most sensitive headphone.png


Combined with lowish impedance, most sources should be able to drive it.

Aurorus Audio Borealis Headphone Listening Tests
As the frequency response measurements would predict, first impression is decent. You could listen to it this way and not know the joys that some EQ brings:
Aurorus Audio Borealis Headphone EQ equalizer filters parametric Roon.png


With this in place, the response was massively transformed. Together with excellent spatial qualities, the experience was joyful. Turning off the EQ quickly showed the large improvement you were getting not only in tonality but loss of distortion in female vocals. Guessing, that reduction with filter 4 was responsible. As usual, you want to adjust the bass to taste.

Conclusions
The Borealis design could have been better in delivering more bass with less distortion and reduction of some resonances. Fortunately most of it is repairable with EQ. Once there, the large cups bring both comfort and great spatial qualities that are rather addictive. Add to it the high sensitivity and you get a good offering with equalization.

I am going to recommend the Aurorus Audio Borealis headphone with equalization.

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As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.

Any donations are much appreciated using: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/
 

Attachments

  • Aurorus Audio Borealis Frequency Response.zip
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ObjectiveSubjectivist

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I like the look. And FR seems to be really decent.

ps. HL3 confirmed? ;)
ps2. The padding on the suspension is aftermarket one - probably from ZMF (?)
 
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staticV3

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Thanks for the review, Amir!
There was a lot of controversy around the Borealis when it was launched, because it uses $10 drivers from Peerless (HPD-50N25PR00-32).
Good to see that this doesn't impede their performance too much. Yet another case of price ≠ performance.
(The price of the headphones themselves is another story though)
 

Koeitje

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The recently unveiled Yamaha YH-5000SE look a bit similar IMO!


ydFikzv.jpg


Thanks for the review @amirm!!
That just looks like something that has some Sennheiser 800 influences.

Anyway, about the Aurorus Audio Borealis..... It costs $899 for no bass and so much distortion that you cannot EQ it to proper level. If it has less distortion then maybe I could see a market. Or if the price was below $150.
 

Scgorg

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Thanks for the review, Amir!
There was a lot of controversy around the Borealis when it was launched, because it uses $10 drivers from Peerless (HPD-50N25PR00-32).
Good to see that this doesn't impede their performance too much. Yet another case of price ≠ performance.
(The price of the headphones themselves is another story though)
Important to note that dynamic drivers in general are dirt cheap. $10 is already on the expensive end for a headphone driver. I'd be surprised if many dynamic driver headphones under $1000 had drivers that are much more expensive to produce/procure. A sizable portion of the cost here is likely to be the injection-molded parts, as that becomes very expensive on smaller production runs.
 

AndreaT

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Too much agricultural looks for my taste. High distortion and lack of bass maybe point to a poor choice of the wrong drivers. At the asking price it is a pass for me. Thank you Amir for shedding much needed light on these flawed and expensive products!
 

Dmitri

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If they’re comfortable, looks are meaningless to me. I’d be listening to them…not looking at them.
Recommended with EQ fine for those who use it, but for $899 I’d be hoping that wouldn’t be necessary...so gets a ”Not Terrible”
As always Amirm, thanks for the review!
 

Leiker535

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I kind of see a trend on these higher end headphones sound signature, the FR reminds a bit of the focals, which in turn make me remember the stax's 1khz bumps.

I wonder if that, combined with a bit of bass roll off and uneven but sometimes peaky treble, gives us the ilusion of clarity and detail these brands aim for.

That would even be ironic, as one of the biggest criticisms around the Harman target I see from the old forums is that it's pinna rises too early (hifiman fans, maybe).
 

Nango

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Thanks for the review, Amir!
There was a lot of controversy around the Borealis when it was launched, because it uses $10 drivers from Peerless (HPD-50N25PR00-32).
Good to see that this doesn't impede their performance too much. Yet another case of price ≠ performance.
(The price of the headphones themselves is another story though)
Which premium mfr does use drivers higher than 10$????

The vast majority uses drivers from Mylar that cost 1$/each in lots of 1000s.

 

staticV3

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Which premium mfr does use drivers higher than 10$????
A new HD 600 driver is about 30% the cost of the headphone.
A new DT 900 Pro X driver is about 20% the cost of the headphone.
A new K701 driver is about 20% the cost of the headphone.
A new Borealis driver is about 1% the cost of the headphone.

I hope you see the disparity.
And yes I'm aware that the first three are inflated OEM prices and that they cost far less to produce.
But those are simply the prices that a customer is confronted with and that was what sparked the controversy among customers.

It was about implied value, not actual value. Aurorus could've rebranded the Peerless driver and charged $150 for a replacement and noone would've complained, as that would've made the driver "of appropriate quality" for the MSRP of the headphone, in the eyes of the consumer.
 
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Dazerdoreal

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Looks solid to me overall. But are these available again? I thought they were sold-out for years.

@staticV3
I didnt expect that the drivers were so cheap. It makes sense though as it is a very small company, so I dont think they are cashing on the buyers.
That said, it is kinda funny that Crinacle gave them an "A" in terms of technical performance, which is a very, very good rating in his system. Most other headphones with technical rating A cost over 1000 dollars MSRP. As you said the technical performance looks fine according to measurements, but it shows that his "technical" rankings probably are not too significant in reality. https://crinacle.com/rankings/headphones/
 
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beefkabob

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Not even close to worth the money, methinks. At least they're pretty efficient and take to EQ.
 

617

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Not like, terrible, but I'd rather have a pair of HD600. It does look quite rough, as well.
 

isostasy

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Thanks amir for this objective review of a headphone I have previously read some hyperbolic claims about, considering the frequency response. I think part of it is the lack of availability means barely anyone has possession of one to be able to offer an alternative opinion to what the reviewers are telling us. There may be some romancing over the fact it is so apparently hand-made which biases reviewers to think highly of it, like some kind of 'artisan' product.

Honestly the best thing about these headphones is the copies it's prompted and the proof you can put together a decent sounding set of headphone at home with some 3D printed parts and some affordable drivers. e.g. here, and I absolutely love the look of these.
Looks solid to me overall. But are these available again? I thought they were sold-out for years.

@staticV3
I didnt expect that the drivers were so cheap. It makes sense though as it is a very small company, so I dont think they are cashing on the buyers.
That said, it is kinda funny that Crinacle gave them an "A" in terms of technical performance, which is a very, very good rating in his system. Most other headphones with technical rating A cost over 1000 dollars MSRP. As you said the technical performance looks fine according to measurements, but it shows that his "technical" rankings probably are not too significant in reality. https://crinacle.com/rankings/headphones/
I don't find Crinacle's list useful at all above 'A' tier, though in his defense he has previously conceded he has been biased towards rating headphones higher when he has had little time with them, which tends to be the more expensive ones. At least his description, 'Sounds like an odd mashup of the HD600 and the Clear' seems plausible from looking at the frequency response graphs. I do find his concept of 'technicalities', and therefore his 'technical grade', to be totally meaningless. It's certainly in no way evidenced.
 

Keened

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ps2. The padding on the suspension is aftermarket one - probably from ZMF (?)
Nope bone stock. Only changes made were to the points where the suspension is held in place where grommets were added since the screws would otherwise chew through the fabric while they swung.

Looks solid to me overall. But are these available again? I thought they were sold-out for years.
They had a couple small drops over the last year or so, but yeah, not highly available.

The Crinicle ranking is what led me to looking towards them in the first place :(
 
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