Aurisonics ASG 2.5 In Ear Headphones Review

Aurisonics is a Nashville, Tennessee, US based company that produces mostly by hand and it shows. Aurisonics stands for Auris is latin for ear and Sonics is the practical application of sound. A nice name for an audio company. When a mastering engineer founds an audio company, audiophile ‘listen’ hah!! Fire up youtube and search for Dale Lott, he is the founder and CEO of Aurisonics and if you need to see someone standing behind his products – watch him. Check out the Aurisonics website, amazing read for sure.

 Manufacture’s Specifications

  • Type: in-ear
  • Drivers Size: 14.2mm (dynamic driver)
  • Drivers Type: 2 Balanced Armature custom tuned & 1 Dynamic
  • Frequency Response: 8Hz to 25KHz
  • Sensitivity: 123dB @1mW
  • Impedance:  41 Ω
  • Microphone sensitivity:
  • Maximum Input:
  • Weight with cable: ??g
  • Connector: 3.5mm single ended
  • MSRP:  $699 – $1099

 Design

The ASG-2.5 are digital hybrid technology (2 tweeters and a large dynamic bass speaker) universal fit in-ears. They are also available as custom shelled versions.  These in-ears are handmade in the US (Nashville, TN) and have a tunable bass port. They come in different colors (and materials which affects the price). I had the polished red one but they are also available in polished black, brushed nickel and 24k gold. Cables are detachable and connected with a 2 pin cable. So you can upgrade the cables at  later stage or replace them should they break. The cable has a memory wire on the top part so once in place it stays in place.

Style

The polished red ones look gorgeous, you can see the internals through them – love it. Makes it look very cool. They are worn over the ear. They are shaped like customs. Orisons claims that they will fit 95% of all ears very well (like a custom). I must say that this was true for my left ear but the right one had a few issues.

 Build quality

If you have ever seen a video with the founder of Aurisonics Dale Lott – you know that these are rock solid in-ears build to last. His experience is in producing military spec products so everything you get is sturdy and will last.

Comfort

While Aurisonic claims that they will fit like customs for 95% of the population (as far as they scanned ears so far) I can only confirm that half. LOL. The ASG2.5 fit perfect in my left ear, the right one always took a lot of adjustments to get “right” – once in, they were comfortable for me and I forgot I had them on pretty soon. However, be careful as they are quite large, there is a chance they rub on one part of your ear and that can create discomfort.

 Supplied accessories

Packaging is rather small and functional. A very nice sturdy shock, dust and waterproof carry case (like a SKB or Pelican case) is included, as well as a cleaning tool and a screwdriver for the bass port adjustments (called valve adjustment). The tips are custom made for Aurisonics and are trademarked SureSeal tips. I wish there were a few more sizes and shapes in the box though, 5 pairs for a $699 in-ear is a bit on the skimpish side.

Sound

I received a burned in demo piece. I put them on and thought – holy moly the bass. then holy moly, the soundstage, and then finally, holy moly the clarity. I really liked the sound quality of these in ears. Here are the details…

 Bass: The best bass I have heard in any in-ear. Period. Since I had a demo piece I was listening to it for an hour and thought to myself, my goodness, the bass is really amazing. Then I remembered they have the adjustable bass ports and thought, ah, ok, they are probably on full blast, now let me dial down the bass and see how they sound with less bass. Then I realized that the bass valve was already on the lowest setting. I consider myself as a borderline basshead but what these headphones can produce in bass is beyond ANYTHING I thought would be possible with in ears. Amazing. They go low, very low. And they are not bloated or flabby. They really mimic as subwoofer. For me, closed valve (or on the lowest bass setting) was perfect. If opened then only by the tiniest of fractions, otherwise the bass was just too much for me unless you want a real party in your head. Bass lovers, this is your in-ear. If you leave it in the normal setting you should be happy with them unless you appreciate really subwoofer like – earth shattering bass that these things can provide.…

Mid-range: Vocals sound unbelievable good. With so much bass you usually have something that sounds recessed or distant, as it’s simply overpowering some other frequency ranges and mostly the mids. Not so with the ASG-2.5 male and female vocals sound nice and forward.

Treble: Not harsh, no sibilance. A bit laid back giving you a fatigue free listening experience. The treble might be a bit recessed – though you do hear details a plenty.

Sound Stage and instruments separations: This in-ear is a soundstage master. Since it’s supposed to be used as well as a stage monitor or mix monitor – it makes sense to have great accuracy in placing instruments in space and hearing the soundstage as it is in real life.

Pros & Cons

Pros:

  • Sound quality
  • Soundstage
  • high quality replaceable cable
  • high build quality, built to last, build to withstand rockstar-abuse
  • the best bass you can get

Cons:

  • quite large, so make sure it fits or get them as customs
  • has to be worn cable-over-ear
  • pricey

 Conclusion

They are amazing and I honestly didn’t want to return them to samma3a.com (again many thanks for letting me review them). But then I had to make the decision between them and the HE-560 and sorry the over ear won. I am still debating of getting them as I simply cannot forget the bass and this amazing subwoofer like rumble.

If you think of buying them, think about getting them as customs, Aurisonics does offer them in universal fit (like in this review) and as custom shelled in-ears.

Disclaimer:  I have not been paid or got any kind of freebie for this review – sadly I had to return the demo set back though I really didn’t want to.— they are that good.

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