New Creative Aurvana Live! 2

PapaLazaru · 3 Dec 2013 at 20:03

Not out yet but available to pre-order for around £100.00.

http://uk.creative.com/p/headphones-headsets/creative-aurvana-live2

The CAL 1's are epic for the money in my opinion but these have a lot to live up to for the price as they are heading into a price bracket where there are a lot of goof choices available.

I am very tempted but there are very few reviews around.

roughavoc · 4 Dec 2013 at 00:44

I bought my brother the CAL! Yesterday ):

Looking forwards to the reviews for the CAL 2 though

melmac · 4 Dec 2013 at 22:30

Thank you for the news papalazaru!! Will be very interested to see what they are like. As you say the CAL's were really good for the price. Hope there is an improvement in the second version in line with the price increase.

C64 · 5 Dec 2013 at 23:40

If these are £120 ish though wont be as good the reason the 1 was good was the price point.

PapaLazaru · 6 Dec 2013 at 11:15

They are shipping (free) now on that link for £99.99 with a free audio splitter.

It's got an inline mic as well so could possibly be good enough for gaming.

I am so tempted but just cannot justify them at the moment.

Uriel · 6 Dec 2013 at 11:57

The main appeal of the CAL!s were you were effectively getting Denon AH-D1001 for not much money. Actually either of the above sets of headphones could be obtained for £30-40 discounted new at some point (I bought CAL!s for myself and AH-D1001s on behalf of someone else at around that price point).

These had better be a major step up to be worth the asking price.

PapaLazaru · 6 Dec 2013 at 23:28

Well I have found a nice little discount through their FB page that gives you 15% off if you 'like' them. Code WMFB123. £85 delivered now.

Ordered. I shall do a review once I receive them.

PapaLazaru · 13 Dec 2013 at 13:48

Well they have been delivered, though at home whilst I am at work. They were actually delivered on Wednesday but nobody has been available to take them so credit to Creative as they were delivered from Holland very quickly.

I'll do a little review once I have had a play with them but there is a lot of love for these on Head-Fi, so I am very excited.

melmac · 13 Dec 2013 at 14:04

PapaLazaru said:
Well they have been delivered, though at home whilst I am at work. They were actually delivered on Wednesday but nobody has been available to take them so credit to Creative as they were delivered from Holland very quickly.

I'll do a little review once I have had a play with them but there is a lot of love for these on Head-Fi, so I am very excited.

Can't wait to read the review

PapaLazaru · 13 Dec 2013 at 21:06

Ok so here are some pictures of what you get -

The box -

Inside the box -

Audio splitter and a carry bag -

The phones -

Inline mic -

I am using them with a Xonar DG.

Right first impressions of the build quality are good. They feel sturdy even though they are still mainly made of plastic. The earcups are very comfortable and fit right over my ears and so is the headband, though it could possibly do with a little more padding. My Creative Fatality 2 headset (now broken) has the same headband and it is to be used very loosely. There is no need to have it clamped tight like on other headphones as it does just sits nicely on the top and you get now movement even with pretty vigorous head movement.

These have had no burning in time but I am giving them a little workout with some David Guetta but already I am loving them. They have more soundstage than the original CAL! and I am hearing new things in the background already. I can't compare them to much higher phones as I have none but compared to my Panasonic RP-HTF600E-S they are a world apart (incidentally they are back down to £32.99 again so have become a very good budget headphone as they were around £50.00 last week).

I will update further as I test them with other styles of music and some gaming but at the moment, I have a big smile on my face. They just gave me little goosebumps listening to Subliminal by deadmau5. They go a lot louder than both my Fatality, Panasonics and CAL's.

My only initial grips is the fact that the cable at the headphone end is a 2.5mm socket and I am likely to want to replace the flat cable with a much longer one as it is quite short.

melmac · 16 Dec 2013 at 15:11

Thanks for the pictures, I am surprised by the lack of information about these. They do look very nice, I like the triangular shape of them.

The 2.5mm plug is a real pain!! Does it come with an adapter?

How are they after extending listening periods?

PapaLazaru · 16 Dec 2013 at 15:53

melmac said:
Thanks for the pictures, I am surprised by the lack of information about these. They do look very nice, I like the triangular shape of them.

The 2.5mm plug is a real pain!! Does it come with an adapter?

How are they after extending listening periods?

Information is slowly coming out, mainly on Head Fi where they are being quite warmly received. The 2.5mm plug is a pain and they do not come with an adaptor, though they can be purchased very cheaply. You can buy male-to-male 2.5mm to 3.5mm cables all over the place but I am still searching for a gold plated set. If you find one let me know. I've currently got mine plugged into two 3.5mm extension leads so they reach the PC with plenty of slack as I have a terrible tendancy to walk away with heaphones on and I do not want to break these.

I played BF4 for around 3 hours the other night and they felt comfortable all the way though.

The are still bedding in but for £85.00 I am very happy with them.

melmac · 16 Dec 2013 at 19:45

I still am surprised since the original CALS were so well received I thought there would be more people jumping at the chance to try them out.

PapaLazaru said:
I've currently got mine plugged into two 3.5mm extension leads so they reach the PC with plenty of slack as I have a terrible tendancy to walk away with heaphones on.

haha, I thought I was the only fool that did that

Currently I have the JVC HARX900's with mods. They are great but get uncomfortable for me after I use them for a while

And it's something that I have noticed myself doing lately, avoiding wearing them at all.

So I was actually looking into purchasing a pair of Superlux 668B's. They seem to be very comfortable and really good sound quality etc.

Now I might consider getting the CAL2, not worried about closed versus open, just so long as they sound good and are comfortable. So will be interested to hear about how get on over the next week or so with them. And since you have tried a few Beyers as well, it should be a good viewpoint from both a gaming and music position.

PapaLazaru · 18 Dec 2013 at 21:41

They are getting better and better over time. They sounded good straight out of the box but are definitely getting warmer as time goes on.

Worth looking at the Panasonic RP-HTF600E-S now if you were looking at the Superlux HD668B as they are now back to the same price. I do like the Panasonics for the money. For £32 they are very nice, but these CAL2's are very much nicer. They have much more soundstage to them. They sound much more like a set of speakers close to your ears (if that makes any sense). The sound is just so much bigger.

C64 · 18 Dec 2013 at 23:36

I can directly compare the panasonics with goldring dr150 and ns1000 and it's night and day the pannys are very much a v shape sound sig with muddled mids.Details stand out immediately in music that aren't even heard on the pannys.

Marcos · 23 Dec 2013 at 01:36

The CAL 1 seem a lot more subtle in appearance, it's a shame they couldn't just give the CAL 1 a matte finish and improve the audio.

Is it me or are these bigger and louder looking?

PapaLazaru · 23 Dec 2013 at 22:29

Thjey are definitely bigger and they do look a bit more blingy, but they are very nice to listen with.

roughavoc · 25 Dec 2013 at 00:28

They remind me a lot of how denon have went with their Dx000 series (similar to the CAL! 1) to their new lineup, it is as if Creative just copy them design wise.

yer_averagejoe · 9 Jan 2014 at 11:38

I got a set of these at the start of December and I'm very impressed with them! I'm no Audiophile so can't give a decent review but I think in their price range, they'd be hard to beat.

Unfortunately (and inevitably I suppose), the rubbish inline volume control has worn out - broken solder I think - and I'm left with only a single channel.

What are my options here? Are there any 2.5mm to 3.5mm replacement cables around that anyone can recommend? I could have a go at soldering it myself (though i'd be likely to fail) but I'm not too bothered about the volume control to be honest. And it would break at some point down the line anyway. Or I could get creative to send me a new one I suppose.

I'm a little bit disappointed at how quickly the cable broke. I expected it to - inline volume controls tend to be a recipe for disaster - but not that quick!

PapaLazaru · 9 Jan 2014 at 12:32

Funny as I was listening through them last night and thought I would update the thread as they are really beggining to get better as they burn in. Really making me smile last night.

I'd contact Creative and get them to send you another cable for the short term. I've been looking around myself for a while as I have no need to the mic / volume either. I've got mine plugged into two more jack cables before it reaches my PC so am also looking for a single solution.

There are loads around on Amazon / Ebay but I have been looking for something with more quality. I have a few links of one's I have found but am at work so will update later. If you see any let me know (most are in Hong Kong / Singapore though) with shipping to the UK.