Creative Zen Aurvana

Pros: Good fit (for me) good sound balance and clairity and great audio isolation

Cons: May not be comfortable for some

Summary: I had these on pre-order from J&R last week and was quite happy to have them at my front door in time for a flight I had last Friday. Since then I have been to busy places (Eaton Center in Toronto on Canada Day) On air planes, on LRTs and mowed the lawn with these small gems.

I found them quite comfortable and the mediums were a perfect fit for my ears. The plugs are rounded to help make them a little more comfortable than other Silicon canalphones that I have used.

The sound on these is quite good. My one worry with these was that the midrange would be lacking, as I have bought many other earphones in this pricerange that lacked in that range. The bass is also quite nice, not overpowering, and not too week. Finaly, the highs were crisp and clear.

The sound isolation is also quite good, I was isolated on the airplane, at Eaton Center and while mowing the lawn to such a degree that my volume setting never passed 13 (out of 25 on a Zen Vision:M) whereas the stock earbuds for the Zen required me to go up to 23 while mowing the lawn.

The cleaning utensil was very handy when I forgot to clean my ear one day, but a Q-Tip does a better job faster.

I feel that I have gotten great value out of my purchase and would highly recommed these, so long as your ears can accomodate them.