Introduction
Almost half a decade ago, a new headphone company emerged from the community. Aurorus. From their inception, they gained a small cult following with their headphones as it aimed to improve upon the beloved Sennheiser HD 6X0 line-up without compromising its timbre. They were also the first to really popularize the use of the 50 mm Peerless drivers found in many DIY headphones nowadays, with their open-back Borealis model leading the way. Antdroid reviewed the Borealis many years ago.
Instead of the Borealis, I (Fc-Construct) had a chance recently to try the $900 closed-back Australis. These are my first impressions. As usual with impressions, take with small mountain of salt. My source is a Fiio Q7. Shoutout to my friend who let me borrow it for a bit.
Build and Fit
The Australis I have is a Capra modded version. Effectively, it takes the cups and yokes of the original Australis but adds on a custom headband and suspension strap. This helps the headphone have a more rigid build than the much maligned "seatbelt" design that the original Borealis and Australis had. This mod does give the Australis I heard a stronger clamp force, which is likely to change the frequency response on my head.
The comfort was OK. Good enough for a short listening session for impressions, but I wouldn't feel confident in wearing it for a longer time. I have a smaller head and the clamp force wasn't strong enough to hold it firmly in place. It's also quite a bulky headphone so I felt like I had to sit fairly still to keep it on my head. I also wasn't a big fan of the way the fabric of the pads felt against my skin. It was a bit... fuzzy? Definitely warm.
Sound
The sound of the Australis is extremely midrange focused, almost like an n-shaped response. It's not a tonality I usually prefer, but I didn't mind it here. There's is some treble so it's not like it's a complete roll-off to make it sound like you're listening on a low bit-rate. Instead, it's more like you just won't hear any treble brilliance whatsoever. Some people might like this. I don't think it detracted from the overall experience with the music I tried since it's so subdued overall that it fits the presentation. Perhaps if I go through my whole library I might find it to be more of a problem with timbre, but it wasn't an issue at first listen.
For the bass, the Australis doesn't have any more of a roll-off compared to other headphones. So it's good in that sense. But don't expect a thumpy bass response. If anything, it's a little surprising they didn't have more of a bass hump here given that it's a closed back. The bass quantity is closer to that of an open-back headphone. Despite that, it interestingly still has a bit of a shelf-like characteristic. You can hear when the bass kicks in, rather than being a seamless transition. As for bass quality, there's a wool-y (lack of) texture to it. There's little tactility or tightness in the punch. Nor is there much weight in the impact. Like the treble, for my listening session I don't think it affected my enjoyment of the headphone much since it was clear that the only focus was the midrange performance. The bass exists. And that's about it.
Speaking of wooliness, that extends into the midrange. The Australis is a warm headphone. It's less "rich" and "lush" and more wool-y. The tonal balance skews to the lower midrange where it feels like there's a layer of haziness. There is some upper midrange presence and structure, so it's not like the timbre is completely compromised. However, I wouldn't call the Australis a natural sounding headphone. There's a warmth that saturates every note. I appreciate the vision that the Australis is going for and would say that I like it rather than not. But I can't say I'm truly enjoying it. When I hear the Australis, I spending more time trying to understand what I'm hearing rather than getting lost in my music. Of course, as a reviewer I'm always trying to do this to some extent so it's not very fair to single out the Australis on this point. Once again, I don't dislike the Australis' mids, but I think it does take a bit of getting used to.
On a technical level, especially given its status as a closed back, the Australis is makes it into the "good enough" camp. Good enough that it doesn't sound obviously limited. However, the one major complaint I have is in its imaging. It's smeary and unfocused in a way I very rarely hear in headphones. It's not like it's the common 3-blob stage complaint because with that, there's at least some focus on where the notes are coming from. With the Australis, notes vaguely come from their initial position in the stereo field, but then seem to blur and blend into the rest of the instruments. Imaging is usually an unimportant footnote for me, but with the Australis, it's odd enough that it's actually starting to affect my enjoyment of music. Not by much, but enough that I'm kinda scratching my head.
Conclusion
Closed-back headphones are almost always an exercise in idiosyncrasy. I don't fault them for being unique or different or well, just kinda "off" in some way. Even so, the Australis I heard was an extra unique sounding closed-back. For the short listening session I had, I think the Australis makes sense for the narrow niche it occupies despite the shortcomings I've listed. I don't think there's another headphone available that's this warm in the mids and relaxed in the treble. OK I lied, there's almost certainly some ZMF headphone that does a similar thing.
But when I think about using it as a regular headphone for a few hours at a time, I'm not so sure if I can look over these complaints. It doesn't "disappear" on my head like other headphones do, both from a fit and sound perspective. And when I consider the $900 price tag, it's hard to justify a headphone so limited in its scope. That's a lot of money for a headphone that's more of an acquired taste in the mids, even ignoring some of the comfort issues I had.
In the end, I guess the Australis' presentation was too unconventional for me. Which I find interesting because when I heard the Borealis a much longer time ago, I didn't any really any complaints other than a hump in the mids that made piano notes a little off-timbre. I expected the Australis to be more in-line with my Borealis experience, but what I got was a very warm sounding headphone with incoherent imaging. I can't help but wonder if I got the "proper" experience, but well, you can only talk about what's in front of you.
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