Harmony (Bravo Series) review

disclaimer: the following review is an independent project where the author is a happy owner of Harmony and was not assigned on a commission basis.

Aurisonics Harmony (Bravo Series) Review

Pros: great sound quality with extended highs and lows, Amazing price/performance value, well built, comfortable

Cons: small case

Background/Intro

Aurisonics has been one of the few brands that has has interest me for quite a while as I have always wanted to to try out Hybrid IEMs sand it was my luck that the Bravo series (Kicker, Forte & Harmony) was making its debut at Canjam London.

So I did an audition with Kicker and Harmony at Canjam London and I didn’t like them. However, at the end of the show I visited the Musica Acoustics booth and I met Dimitri. Turns out he was one of the first few people to get his hands on the Bravo Series and convinced me to give Harmony a second chance. I decided to take the plunge and it was a decision I did not regret.

Accessories

Opening up the hard plastic box reveals no frills packaging. Don't expect anything fancy like an extra cable with in built mic + remote, cleaning fluid, comply tips, plane adapter, interchangeable filters, rubber bands to stack amp & dac or a volume control dial. You get Sureseal tips in S, M+ and L, a zipper carrying case and a card to say its been QC.

Aurisonics have changed their case offering from a hard case to one featuring an in-built cable organiser. I do wish that the carrying case was slightly bigger as I had slight difficulty trying to fit both earpieces.

Missing from my set was the M tips and the cleaning tool. Turns out there was a production issue with the tips.

Cabling + MMCXi Connectors

Silver plated copper cables with bendable ear guides are used. As its over the ear no cable sound could be heard as it over ear.

Harmony uses the MMCXi connectors where it rotates to reduce cable strain. Compared to MMCX, I think that the extra i is for the fact it uses square shaped housing instead of circular ones to have more surface area to grip the cable should a cable change be necessary. To date this is the first product to use square connectors and other companies such as Earsonics are seeing the benefits as they are using it in the flagship S-EM9.

If you have other MMCX cables it should work with Harmony. Logitech's UE900 mic+remote cable works fine with Harmony and does not look awkward from aesthetic point of view.

Fit + Isolation + Build Quality

Harmony fits very well in my ears. From first glance they look like customs and are very comfortable. Together with the Sureseal tips which feel like suction cups, at no point did I feel that Harmony would fall out from ears in any form of head movement. My ears didn’t feel any kind of fatigue even after a few hours of wearing them.

Isolation is quite good. Although these are rated at 22db, I was not able to hear any noise while I was walking in the busy streets of London except for ambulance sirens.

Harmony feels very solid in the hand. 3D printed hard plastic with gold on the exterior and black in the interior shell it matches the colour tone of my iPhone 6 Plus. Good companion.

No amping needed in my experience as I find that about 60% on the volume bar to sound loud enough. I don’t listen to music that loud but I know some people who tried Harmony would benefit with one.

Sound Quality

Wow, just wow. Never have I heard IEMs that puts a smile to my face. I guess I must have been too used to listening to analytical/balanced IEMs before as everything I hear with Harmony feels alive and kicking.

Compared to Kicker, Harmony’s bass is good enough for me as the quality is amazing. The bass is impactful and extended while not very overbearing. When I tested with bass heavy songs like The Hills - The Weekend or Again - Fetty Wap, in my head I could feel like mini earthquakes exploding when the bass goes off. Likewise when drums were heard slamming away, you could literally touch it. The grove tuned ambience port which moves air really helps in this department. (side note- I didn’t hear any sort of music leakage or decrease in noise isolation with this port. If you like your bass to be stronger, an amp is a good way to go but be careful as there will be distortion and a smaller soundstage.

Treble its smooth and rich. I enjoy being able to pick out the different sounds and the crisp guitar sound in Give Me Novacaine - Green Day. I find that vocals is very warm with great detail.

As for layering, I feel Harmony does well especially in Imogen Heap’s Hide and Seek. Harmony layers Imogen voice and its very easy to pick out her voice especially towards the end of her song.

Soundstage is wide. In Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody it feels as though you are standing in one of their massive arenas instead of being in a private room. You feel that element of space between you and the vocals.

As for sibilance, I was able to notice it in Billie Holiday’s One for My Baby but it didn’t bother me. However, you can tell when low bit rate music was being played as Harmony was quite unforgiving.

Now having discussed the individual parts of the sound quality, what gives me the goose bumps is how amazing the overall presentation is. As mentioned earlier the bass is amazing, but it doesn't overwhelm the mids and highs. In fact what you hear is sound being presented/weighted very evenly across the entire sound spectrum. Nothing has a heads up over the other as everything is kept on a tight leash. This is like a marriage of sound, a marriage that also includes both 9.25mm dynamic driver and the two balance armatures working like a couple without any crossovers separating them. And this is why I believe its called Harmony.

Comparisons with Other IEMS

Noble Audio Savant

I would like to thanks paulo83for taking the time to meet me and letting me do comparisons with his Savant.

Savant have a very different sound signature than Harmony. My views from Canjam London did not change as I found them too neutral for my liking. Bass was not as extended as Harmony and strong but still there. Treble was rolled off.

As for soundstage I feel that Harmony had a much bigger soundstage than the Savant. Instruments and vocals were more spaced out than the Savants. Vocals were much more forward than Harmony but not as forward as the UE900. Also, vocals on Harmony were more warm while I found the Savants cold.

However, I felt that clarity in both Harmony and Savant were similar with no distortions. Didn’t feel fit and isolation was as good as Harmony.

To sum it up, I prefer Harmony over the Savants because of the bass, soundstage and the liveliness of the vocals. But please understand these two products are very different from each other and cater for different markets (musicians vs personal audio) so if you enjoy the Savants you might not like Harmony.

UE900

In my view technology in the audio industry has improved a lot since these were released a few years ago (~2012). At that time the UE900 was great but now not so much after I heard Harmony.

The UE900 has two dedicated BAs for Bass but could not compete against the Harmony's dynamic driver. Bass is like three steps ahead with greater extensions and detail. Soundstage also is bigger. Where Harmony feels like a concert venue, UE900 felt like being in the room with its forward vocals in your face and distortions in the cymbals.

Overall, Harmony is a major improvement over the UE900 in all areas including build quality.

Conclusion

Harmony is easily one of the best IEMS I have heard to date for not only for its great bass,mids, high and luscious soundstage but for being able to present it so well. And its hard to believe with a SQ this good, its affordable and fantastic value. When it was said that this is Dale’s best work so far, I have to agree hands down. Don’t be surprised if Harmony is one of the contenders for in ear of the year.

CREDITS: I would like to give credit to Paulo83 who allowed me to compare Savant with harmony.

Link to his profile: http://www.head-fi.org/u/366114/paulo83