Creative Aurvana Ace 3 review: Nice all-rounder earbuds with high-res audio support

Creative has finally announced an update to the Aurvana Ace series, and it comes in the form of the new Aurvana Ace 3 earbuds. These earbuds take the best parts of the older Aurvana Ace 2 and Aurvana Ace Mimi and combine them into a single product, so you get the best of both worlds. 

The Aurvana Ace 3 uses the same dual-driver design as before, with an xMEMS driver paired alongside a 10mm dynamic driver. The big news is that it now gets the sound personalisation feature that debuted in the Aurvana Ace Mimi earbuds. Along with support for high-res codecs, hybrid adaptive noise cancellation and more, these earbuds are shaping up to be a nice upgrade.

Design and comfort

The Aurvana Ace 3 takes some major design cues from its predecessor, with a blue translucent casing that’s a nod to the smoky translucency of the Aurvana Ace 2’s charging case design. The earbuds get a sleeker look, and they sit very comfortably in the ear. 

At just 4.75g per earbud and 43g for the charging case, it’s easy to slip these into a pocket and completely forget they’re 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.

Just like before, the top of the stem is where the touch controls are located, and you’ll be able to control media playback, toggle ANC or ambient mode, and customise it to your liking in the Creative companion app. Unfortunately, there’s no single tap control, so you’ll only have double taps, triple taps and long tap and hold controls. 

The earbuds retain an IPX5 water-resistance rating, so you’ll be able to wear these to the gym or out in a drizzle without worrying about water damage. You can learn more about IP ratings here.

Features

Just like always, you’ll want to download the Creative companion app for firmware updates, control customisation, and to get the hearing test done so you can utilise the sound personalisation feature that’s powered by Mimi. 

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’s almost as if the app doesn’t remember my settings, but it only happens for the Broadcast feature.

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’t freak out if your graph shows you have a loss of 10 or 20dB. These mobile hearing tests aren’t the best indicator of whether you have hearing loss either, so if you’re worried, it’s worth going to a proper audiologist to get your ears checked out.

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. 

While these earbuds aren’t advertised with multipoint connectivity, we’ve found in our testing that it’s possible to swap audio sources between two connected phones without having to go through the hassle of disconnecting and reconnecting in the Bluetooth settings. 

The equaliser feature comes with a bunch of presets, and you can tinker with your own custom preset, but for convenience, I’d say the sound personalisation is an easier option. 

The Hybrid Adaptive Noise Cancellation is decent. I used the earbuds on a flight, and even though it wasn’t 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. 

Unfortunately, the Ambient mode on these isn’t good at all. There’s a persistent white noise in the background, almost as if it’s constantly drizzling. Additionally, wind noise is terrible when ANC is activated. If you’re walking outside in windy conditions, it’s almost worth turning off the ANC just so you don’t have to deal with the loud whistling. 

The Aurvana Ace 3 does get an upgrade to Bluetooth 5.4, and connectivity is quite good even in crowded airports or train stations. There’s also support for numerous codecs, including SBC, AAC, AptX Adaptive, AptX Lossless, LC3, and LDAC.

Although Creative claims seven hours of battery in the earbuds, I only managed to eke out five hours 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’s not great for people who are looking to use these on flights, but if you’re just taking a commute to the office, it’s serviceable as long as you give them a mid-day charge.

Wireless and audio performance

Thankfully, the sound quality is the biggest saving grace for the Aurvana Ace 3 earbuds. The dual-driver system is relatively well-known by now since it’s featured in plenty of older earbuds like the Aurvana Ace Mimi and other Creative earbuds. 

We tested the earbuds extensively on both the AAC and LDAC codecs (on an iPhone and an Android phone, respectively), and we also made sure to test with the sound personalisation feature on and off. 

The earbuds do a fantastic job bringing out the details in music, with a neutral, well-balanced sound that differs from the usual V-shaped signature in most earbuds. The bass is handled well, with a good amount of heft and rumble that can showcase the low-end while being well controlled and not bleeding into the mids.

Similar to the Aurvana Ace Mimi, we found the mids and treble to be quite pleasant. There’s good resolution and a slight touch of warmth in the mids that doesn’t impact the clarity. Vocals are crisp and well-presented, with the sound personalisation feature bringing them further to the foreground while adding a little more texture. 

The treble is airy and energetic with plenty of sparkle and shimmer when wind and string instruments enter the fray. There’s little sibilance, and harshness is typically well-controlled.

The soundstage is also excellent, with fantastic separation and accurate instrument imaging. 

Our Take

The Aurvana Ace 3 are mostly solid earbuds, but they have some shortcomings, which I will touch on first. The battery life is poorer than expected, particularly when used with the higher-quality LDAC codec. Also, its ANC and ambient sound modes are merely mediocre at best. This should not be overlooked, seeing how other brands have made significant progress in terms of their earbuds’ ANC performance.

However, the Aurvana Ace 3 counters with its good sound quality. The combination of its dual driver and sound personalisation feature means this is one of the more balanced-sounding earbuds at its price point. Readers who value sound quality should sit up and take notice. And speaking of price, it costs S$219, which is reasonable given all that it offers. That said, if you’re looking for a similar sound with the sound personalisation feature and don’t require the AptX Adaptive or AptX Lossless support, the cheaper Creative Aurvana Ace Mimi might be a better option.

Availability and Pricing

The Creative Aurvana Ace 3 is now available and costs S$219. You can find it on Lazada, Shopee, and the Creative online store.