Not many are aware of Avara customs, while talking with some of my fellow audiophile friends I discovered that barely any of them were aware of this brand. Coming out of Indonesia they take pride in being the maker of “The first affordable CIEM in Indonesia”. Their CIEM lineup starts with Avara AV1Lite which is priced at just $99 (I haven’t seen a CIEM for a price as low as this) it is essentially the cheapest CIEM I have ever seen listed on a brands website.
They put the customer first and in their words:-
“Avara Custom is designed to provide customers with best sounding CIEM/Universal IEM with most affordable prices and fastest production lead time (3 working days)”
They have released a new electrostatic hybrid earphone Avara ES T-6, currently being reviewed by @DEEZEL.
I am covering the Avara AV3, their best selling earphone, available in custom and universal shell types, it houses 3BA drivers, one for bass, mids and highs each, incorporated in a dual bore design is priced at $340 for both the universal and custom versions. One can choose the shell color and faceplate design irrespective of their choice version.
In their words:-
“Avara AV3 is Custom In Ear Monitor with 3 Balanced Armature Drivers. Avara AV3 reproduces deep and enhanced bass response, engaging vocals and smooth highs. Avara AV3 is really good for genre like pop, rock, trance, hip hop thanks to extra low driver.”
The AV3 faces tough competition from a plethora of earphones, I don’t have a lot of earphones in this price range but I will compare the AV3 with TFZ Secret Garden 3 and Fibae Black.
Head in here to order your AV3:-
WHAT’S IN THE BOX:-
First thing that greets us out of the box is the ownership card which has the date of manufacture, serial number, owner’s name and testament signature of QC. Below that are an AVARA sticker and an informative booklet with information about the brand.
Under the documentation is the carry case, the earphone and 3 pair of ear tips in S/M/L sizes are placed inside that. Beside the case are a few interesting things. It is not common for CIEM brands to ship earphones with a key ring, I have seen this but it is not very common. There is a leather cable strap, bigger than average but that makes the earphone stand out from the lot. Stuck to the cable strap is the cleaning too.
I would have liked a few more pair of tips but these CIEM brands barely ship with more than 3 pair of tips with their universal earphones.
HOW IS THE BUILD QUALITY:-
Earphones in this price range either use plastic or metal as their shell. Coming from a house of custom earphones the Avara AV3 is just a custom type earphone with universal nozzle, it has layers of resin as the shell material giving it a more premium and custom type feel. The nozzle lip is uncharacteristically rounded and one can fit T200 size tips on it.
The build fells very sturdy, I look it on an 11 day tour where it went through tough situations and 5 feet falls on airport floors and it survived to tell the tale, this shows what to expect from it. Just don’t put brute force on it and it will survive without much problem.
Being a semi custom earphone, one can choose the shell color and faceplates of their own choice (some of them are chargeable), but the options to customize is limited, you can’t choose between MMCX and 2pin, it will be 2pin. You can’t chose any other type of cables either, you have to stick with the stock grey cable. What is personalize able is the face plate, you can send in your design and they will put it on it.
Get to this link to customize your unit.
HOW IS THE CABLE:-
The cable here is a common cable with brands like Custom Art, InEar and a few other Chi-Fi brands. This cable is not bad at all but all these brands can use something slightly better looking maybe, maybe be something without wire inserted cable guides.
Even if they don’t decide to change this cable is not bad by a long shot. I have experienced reasonably priced aftermarket 8 core cables doing worse than this stock cable, these brands don’t have many reasons to change the cable but it is not as complimenting as something what BGVP and TFZ earphones ship with.
Moving on to the cable quality, the 3 core braided cable has a nice feel to it, there are no unnecessary layers of rubber on it, hence it’s not bouncy at all. It’s very supple and doesn’t tangle easily either. There is no microphonics to worry about. The 90degree 3.5mm gold plates jack is minimalistic in size and is more suitable than straight jacks. The cable guide is metal wire inserted which keeps shape once shaped to ones comfort, an aptly comfortable cable on its own.
The cable is good but it will be nice to see a bit more premium cable with it.
HOW DOES IT FEELS INSIDE THE EAR :-
Being a semi custom IEM the Avara AV3 feels very comfortable inside the ear. The semi custom type shell plays a big part in making it one of the most comfortable earphones in this price range. Where earphone a notch above this price range come with barely any ergonomical touch to them the AV3 lands itself in the class of Nocturnal semi custom earphones when it comes to comfort and ergonomics. In short, the Avara AV3 is one of the most ergonomic earphones in this price range.
The wing on the inner side of the shell gives very good amount of grip inside the ear. The nozzle is not very deep into the ear but thanks to the extension of the inner shell it is aptly deep into the ear and gives a secure feel.
The Weight of the earpieces is neither heavy nor light. It can be categorized as slightly heavy still it is fairly comfortable inside the ear as the wire inserted cable guide takes most of the weight away.
