64 Audio Aspire 4 Review

The folks over at 64 Audio have been dedicated to bringing premium products and hi-fi quality. They've always geared their IEMs to discerning audiophiles who expect luxurious facets in their gear. This is the reason it's so surprising they've created an IEM designed for musicians, at $899 MSRP. The flat response and hi-fi price point make the Aspire 4 an interesting IEM with a lot of competition. Brands like Campfire, Noble, Sennheiser, and now FiiO (FA19 expected in July) all have great products for around the same price. Let's see how the new Aspire 4 stacks up against these, and if they're worth taking a look at.

What's In The Box

• Carry Case
• Foam + Silicone Ear Tips
• IPX Cable
• Cleaning Tool
• 1/4" Adapter
• Shirt Clip

Look and Feel - Aspire 4

The Aspire 4 is sleek and unnoticeable. People looking for an ostentatious IEM will not find the styling they want in this earbud. In a stage context, I doubt these will take away from anyone's performance and stay subtle while being used. I personally love the minimal styling and black design. A simple silver 64 Audio logo on the body is the most obvious aspect, and I wished they opted for a totally "murdered-out" look. Nevertheless, branding is important and it makes sense why the logo would pop out from the rest of the colors.

What I'm not thrilled about is the fit of the IEM. 64 Audio opts for a metal body in most of their designs, and the plastic on this unit is just too light to stay secured in my ears. The cable is thin and light enough to feel comfortable, but I worry about it's durability over the long run. That being said, the cable didn't pull the seal out as I moved around during my listening. Simply put, my ears didn't take well to the ergonomic design. They pressed into the antihelix of my ear and never felt snug no matter what tip I tried.

It's a good thing 64 Audio included so many tips. Out of all of them, the foam medium or small were the only ones that would seal properly. The rest of them kept slipping out, reducing bass and high end in the listening environment. Nevertheless, milage may vary considering we all have unique ear shapes.

Design - Aspire 4

The Aspire 4 has 4 seperate drivers as the name would suggest. 1 dynamic driver for the lows, 2 BA drivers in the midrange, and another BA treble driver make an appearance here. Listeners can expect a 'brighter-leaning flat' sound signature. A frequency response from 20Hz-18kHz means that audiophiles without any hearing loss may miss out on some airiness from the treble range. At the same time, this is a case by case basis and many older listeners won't have perfect hearing past 18kHz. On stage, this may be beneficial considering unwanted feedback won't come through as loud in these monitors. At 104dB @ 1kHz @1mw, these are going to be easily driven. I was able to use both my laptop 3.5mm output and Apple dongle just fine when listening. Users who plug into a good wireless bodypack shouldn't have any problems driving these.

What's disappointing to me is the use of the 64 Audio 45° IPX cable. Although other companies like Universal Ears offer IPX compatible IEMs, they don't offer the same angled sleeve. For this reason, I'm unsure of how interchangeable these cables can really be without impacting the feel. I think this is an attempt to improve on the ergonomics of the design. On the other hand, snapping a cable means that you should replace it with another 64 Audio angled cable. Good luck finding an analogous upgrade if you plan on swapping out terminations. Along with this, IPX connections are not as available as their MMCX or 2-pin counterparts. This sounds like a roadblock waiting to happen for any touring musician who needs gear backups.

Soundstage - Aspire 4

The most exciting part of this IEM lies in the staging. The accuracy of the imaging is some of the best I've heard in an in-ear and it's clear that 64 Audio designed this aspect with professionals in mind. I wouldn't describe the staging as close or far, but this isn't the place for that. Monitoring relies more on the accuracy of sonic imaging rather than width or height, which is more of an audiophile feature. Sounds recorded on an omnidirectional microphone have nearly no bleed between right and left signals. I heard some height and width, but it's medium in it's soundstage. The trailing of reverbs and delays are very clear and accurate.

Specifically because of the staging, I think that the Aspire 4 would work phenomenally as a luxury gaming IEM as well as a monitoring tool. People playing competitively will have a noticeable edge when listening for opponents sneaking up on them. You'll be able to pinpoint exactly where sounds are coming from in the map, as well as some of their distance.

Listening Impressions - Aspire 4

Bass

The bass on the Aspire 4 is going to be loud enough to give listeners and professionals great accuracy. As far as sub-bass, this IEM is just too flat to really give the palpable feeling of this frequency range. I never heart the bass truly extends far enough to make me feel it. Instruments in the midrange that still have harmonics in the high bass feel warm and round. With this in mind, I felt that there was so much sonic competition with the treble range, that bass instruments were left sounding thin. I was left at times wanting more warmness in sounds that had a brittle character. This could be a good thing for musicians who prefer a warm sound and want their monitors to sit clearly in their mix.

"Bebe" by Hermeto Pasqual is mixed with a warm and thudding upright bass line that's doubled by the piano part. When listening back on the Aspire 4, I got good character from the instruments, but the sound never felt as tangible as it normally does. Guitars on this track also had so much definition that it felt as if it was taking away from the harmonic complexity of the soloing. When I wanted was a resounding ring, all I got was string noise. There's something missing from the low-end that I think a slight boost would bring closer to a truly flat.

Mids

I had the biggest gripes with the mid-range out of this IEM. The largest criticism I have happens specifically in the upper mids. The tuning of the BA drivers are not synced enough to avoid drops in volume with large harmonic jumps. There's a noticeable volume shift in tracks like "Ride the Flatline" by 200 Stab Wounds, where Ray MacDonald moves from heavy chugging riffs to sliding Floyd-Rose solos with elite precision. The driver dips dramatically in certain spots of the upper treble range, as if there was surgical tuning done to the frequency. When I think of reference response curves, I rarely think of surgically tuned mids. At $899, I believe that any IEM should be able to handle dramatic pitch changes, ESPECIALLY a flat one that is designed for musicians.

At the same time, I think that music centered around voice-leading won't suffer from this draw back. Low-mids on the Aspire 4 can be warm and fuzzy sounding. There's great clarity and depth due to the low-mids and treble frequencies. At the same time, musicians all use angular playing at times to achieve the quality they're hoping for in their music. Everyone from Jim Hall to Kerry King to Art Tatum utilize octave jumping and this IEM doesn't give me the fullness of the music's harmony.

Treble

Out of all of the aspects of the frequency response, I was most impressed by the treble. Although it's a flat IEM, I feel like the best tuning comes from the upper-register. Sounds remain sharp and clear but they don't reach the point of becoming sibilant and fatiguing. I was able to listen to this IEM for hours and had no problems continuing. There is some ducking in certain spots of the treble, but these dips aren't as dramatic as in the midrange.

What I noticed from the treble in this IEM was that it brought great clarity to almost all instruments and made feedback sounds lay comfortably in a mix. Conversely, the combination of supplemented highs and surgical mids does create a thinness in sounds. I understand the trade off for bringing increased clarity is typically reduced warmness. It's welcome in certain settings like in The Grateful Dead, where both Jerry Garcia and Bobby Weir set their EQs very treble heavy. The thinness here and on steel guitar remains in-tact, and the character of these instruments isn't supplemented.

Summary

The Aspire 4 is a serious professional tool that comes at a serious price. For all the things it does well, there are improvements that could be made in order to bolster the sound. The drop in volume typically associated with BA armature drivers does occur here. Add this to the fact that cables for this unit won't be as available as MMCX or 2-pin options. At the same time, certain aspects like the soundstage and crystal clarity make this a suitable tool for performers, audio professionals, and gamers. Will audiophiles be blown away by the sound at this price? That comes down to your personal preferences but I still think that listeners should wait for the 2nd generation of this model.

Get the 64 Audio Aspire 4 and much more at Audio 46.