When working in the office I like to listen to music and audio books as it helps me concentrate and prevents my mind from wandering from the task in hand. Whilst working and listening I tend to use headphones as not everyone may appreciate my musical, or audio book, tastes!

Typically I use headphones so it was going to be a doubly interesting experience trying something different.

The Creative Aurvana In-Ear 2 are my first experience with noise isolation earphones and what a revelation they would prove to be!

The general idea of noise isolation is to reduce the amount of background noise when listening to audio such as music and audio books, and the Aurvana can apparently reduce up to 95% of background noise, which enhances the listening experience. The benefit of this is that the volume of your music player can be kept to much lower, and safer, levels as your ears don’t have to worry about extraneous incoming sound – making what you are listening to much clearer.

On the Aurvana website it says Creative undertake extensive research to understand the latest listening and technology trends in the market – and the products are then fine-tuned by acoustics engineers to obtain the best audio performance possible. The performance and looks certainly shine so they must be doing something right.

The ear buds are light and comfortable to wear and the choice of small, medium and large ear tips make them quite flexible – and they take advantage of AuraSeal technology to help isolate background noise. For something that is likely to spend much of the time out of your view they are quite attractive with a polished sheen to the fixture and a sound enhancing acoustic grille at the back of each fixture, and the cable fit slider has undergone similar design considerations too. The plug is also gold plated which brings additional benefits.

Listening to a range of music, from Dean Martin to Duffy, is a pleasant experience, with the Aurvana set, and there is plenty of bass on offer. Classical music also sounds much richer and audio books benefit greatly from the noise isolation – especially on a busy commute. As well as using them in the office I have used the Aurvana set under a number of different background sound situations including walking home, taking the bus, inside a busy (and noisy) kids play den, and around the local shopping centre and they do maintain a consistent performance.

Included in the box is an airplane adaptor, a travel case which allows you to keep the buds safely in place, a bunch of ear tips, a cable fit slider, and a cleaning tool. This is all nicely presented in a compact and attractive box. In terms of specification the Aurvana In-Ear 2 have the following:

• Drivers: Balanced Armature
• Frequency Response: 15Hz ~ 16kHz
• Impedance: 42 ohms
• Sensitivity (1 kHz): 110 dB/mW
• Cable length: 1.2m Oxygen-Free Copper

For an ideal balance of sound, noise isolation, and price the Aurvana really are great value – the only problem is that I seem to be getting more involved in the music which is leading to some funny looks as I find myself throwing shapes when I should be coding.

Visit the Creative site to learn more about the Creative Aurvana In-Ear 2.