For those of us who can’t stop listening to music on the go, the past decade has been a whirlwind. We’ve seen the rise of AirPods—and the associated loss of the headphones jack—in addition to a vast array of microphones, noise-canceling, and other feature improvements that make listening on the go more convenient. One thing we haven’t really seen? A big jump in audio quality.

With its new solid-state drivers, California-based xMems has finally offered us a real leap in how earbuds generate sound. Using the same technology pioneered for producing microchips, these silicon earbud drivers provide a flatter, cleaner overall signature, in addition to significantly added robustness when compared to previous technology.

We first tested xMems’ tech inside a ludicrously expensive (and awesome-sounding) pair of milled titanium earbuds from Singularity Industries, but that felt akin to trying a new eco fuel inside a Ferrari. With two new pairs of earbuds (confusingly named the Aurvana Ace and Aurvana Ace 2, despite simultaneous releases), the folks at Creative Audio have made this brand-new tech accessible to all. In essentially the same form factor, and for the same price as Apple’s standard AirPods, you can now hear the drivers of the future. When it comes to audio quality for the money, there is no contest: Solid state is the future.

Twinsies

Both pairs of Creative’s new earbuds appear almost identical from the outside, sporting familiar elephant-trunked designs in black with copper-gold accents on the outside of each bud. You can tell which pair is which from the charging case. The standard Ace come with an opaque black shell, whereas the Ace 2 come with a see-through gray that reveals a shiny gold interior to the clamshell.

Under the surface, they both get the same xMems driver technology, but the Ace 2 get better processing. The Ace 2 also support lossless Bluetooth audio and come with adaptive noise canceling rather than the non-adaptive, non-lossless technology inside the regular Ace. Both rounded cases offer 18 hours of battery reserve and Qi wireless or USB-C charging, in addition to the six hours of playback inside the buds. For the purposes of the rest of the review, I'll focus on the Ace 2, which have the same drivers as the Ace but have the aforementioned higher-end chipset. At just $20 more (MSRP), they’re a better buy.

Touch Type

Touch controls on the outside of each bud allow you to tap twice to play or pause music, or hold the outside of each bud to increase or decrease volume (the left side turns it down, right turns it up). These buttons weren't easy to use; I tended to use Creative’s headphones app and my phones’s controls to mess with the buds when I needed to, which worked fine.

One thing I do like is their simple, easy-to-understand code for telling how much battery is left in the charging case. A red light means 0 to 30 percent, yellow 31 to 70 percent, and green 71 to 99 percent. It's simple, and it’s helpful for those of us who leave buds in bags for gym time and rarely take them to the charger.

Speaking of gym time, you’ll have no problem breaking a sweat in these, or at least I didn’t, thanks to an included IPX5 rating for water resistance. I used them for many trips to my gym and even some time in the sauna with no issues.

Noise-canceling, which comes via Qualcomm's cVc technology, is entirely adequate as long as you’re not relying on these for total silence. Though not quite as excellent as you’d get from more expensive models from Apple and Sony, it does well to adapt to most normal environments. Everything from the aforementioned gym (where they routinely blast loud workout music) to road noise in the car and HVAC noise was easily reduced to manageable levels. Like AirPods, the mics aim toward your mouth on the end of the little trunks of the headphoness, which makes for good call quality.

Sounding Off

While the fit, finish, and experiences using the Aurvana Ace and Ace 2 are par for the course as far as modern wireless earbuds go, the sound experience is something you won’t be used to. To put it mildly: These things sound insane.

xMems drivers are different from the pistonlike dynamic drivers you’re probably used to inside of your typical earbuds. Because they don’t move physically in the air and instead rely on the piezoelectric effect, they can be much faster responding and better at reproducing many frequencies in quick succession without distortion.

Practically, that means shockingly awesome bass. Everything from kick drums to classic Motown lines on a Fender P Bass sounds tight, clear, and dynamic without being boomy. I love listening to even lower-fi records from hip hop favorites like MF Doom and Madlib, which tend to have some hidden secrets down low.

The Ace and Ace 2 claim a frequency response of 5 to 40,000 Hz (or about double the highest pitch humans can hear), which is just about the largest response you’ll find on the market and significantly lower than most buds can reasonably go. Super-low sub-bass frequencies, like you hear in movie trailers, are present and clear here in ways they aren’t on other earbuds. Because of how quickly the headphoness can produce these frequencies, the low end doesn't get in the way.

It sounds too good to be true, but it isn't. Above the bass and low-mid frequencies, these have some of the finest instrument separation I've heard this side of $500. Listening to classic jazz records like Woody Shaw's Unity, I could hear each element of Shaw's trumpet and Elvin Jones' ride cymbal and snare drum easier than I’ve ever heard them on a pair of wireless earbuds. It’s almost like listening to the record in real acoustic space.

Compared to similarly priced headphoness with dynamic drivers, the Ace and Ace 2 sound significantly more clear, but you might have a little bit of ear shock when you hear songs with unbalanced mixing. Things that sound bright on traditional speakers and headphoness can be downright harsh on solid-state drivers.

This is through no fault of the drivers themselves; they’re just reproducing the songs in ways that dynamic drivers can't. This isn't usually a problem, but sometimes you'll find a song that sounds unusually harsh up high or muddy and confusing down low. This isn't the headphoness' fault, it's probably just something you've never heard before. Womp womp.

The listening experience for those not used to higher-end audio is akin to moving from standard definition to HD. It therefore makes complete sense that these headphoness support Bluetooth 5.3 and aptX adaptive lossless audio over Bluetooth; it's actually usable here. If you buy a pair, it might be worth looking into higher-quality streaming services with lossless audio rips, like Apple Music.

Speaking of, I fully expect that other manufacturers will be trying to partner with xMems to get its driver technology inside their headphoness, if only because this tech is significantly more durable than older headphones drivers. One can envision a future pair of AirPods with tech that is able to go through the wash and survive, which is something you probably wouldn’t get too lucky doing with the current generation of Apple buds.

In the meantime, if you're interested in being on the cutting edge of listening, and you’re not tied to Apple’s ecosystem (or not super into AirPods with your iphoness), I highly recommend you check out the Aurvana Ace 2 (or Ace, if you are feeling frugal). They offer a true glimpse into the future of portable audio, and you don’t have to pay an arm and a leg to hear it.