Today’s review is the Aya Audio Siren, which is a $590 priced Universal IEM from Vietnam.
Disclaimer: Aya Audio Siren was provided for free, directly by Aya Workshop. Shanling M8 was primarily used as the source. The review reflects my honest opinion as always.
About Aya Audio
Aya Audio is a new brand in the IEM field and if you never heard of them, that’s pretty normal. The establishment goes back to 2015, but it was not a well-known brand in those years but that can change very quickly. Vietnam has produced some good products recently and to me, the most distinguished product is the itsFit Lab Fusion, which won a best CIEM award from us.
Aya Audio’s first IEM was the Nightingale. Then came the Silver, and now there’s the flagship Siren. I can hear you thinking; “a flagship IEM with a $590 price?”. Yes, Aya Audio wants to offer a great performance for a lower price than the market standards. We’ll quickly see whether they managed to do that, but let’s take a look to Aya Audio from their own words:
Our products are handcrafted with passion and care, aiming for the highest degree in sound, aesthetic and design.
They definitely know how to make aesthetically pleasing IEMs, and I’m sure they offer a good sound quality.
About Aya Audio Siren
The Siren is the flagship IEM from Aya Workshop as I remarked, and it features 6 drivers. There are 4 Balanced Armature and 2 EST drivers inside. All of the units are handcrafted. The IEM uses a HAKUGEI 7N OCC 4X Hand-braided cable.
The shells are from a high-quality resin material and the face-plates have a Stabwood finishing. It arrives in a waterproof durable case with 3 sets of silicone tips.
Unboxing, Design, and Build
The unpacking is a very straightforward process. The unit arrives in a cardboard box which is just enough to fit the carrying case inside. You have your IEMs inside this Pelican case with a few tips and warranty cards. The earpieces are stored in a cloth bag. The unboxing experience is a bit plain but I don’t have any problems with that personally.
Design-wise the Siren looks fantastic in my opinion. The character that the wooden faceplates provide is something special. When combined with the black shells, this is a fabulous-looking IEM. Also, the cable complements the design very well with the copper wire color and black 2 pin connectors. So in terms of looks and design, the Siren is an excellent product. I think other brands should take a look at that cable closely. This is how a cable should look like in a serious IEM. I really liked this cable and I’m planning to use it with other IEMs as well.
Build quality is excellent as well. From the cable itself to the earpieces and nozzles, everything here is exceptionally good. The nozzles are not plastic, they’re made from an aluminum material so that’s great. Also, you have aluminum meshes on top of the nozzles so I think that’s also a plus. You don’t want earwax to build up and block those 3 bores, do you? Another good thing is that this one has recessed 2 pin sockets. And there’s a poka-yoke design in there to prevent you to connect the wrong 2 pin connector (left&right).
Fit
The Aya Audio Siren has a very good and comfortable fit, but there’s room for improvement here. The nozzles are a bit short for my taste. I think they could’ve been longer for a more flush and rigid fit experience. It’s a comfortable IEM no doubt, but it tends to move away from my ears after some time because of the short nozzles. This forms a bit of a loose fit so they can improve that part.
Isolation is very good. Since there’s no dynamic driver, there’s no need for additional ports in the shell. So you get excellent passive isolation. And since it’s also very comfortable, I can say the fit experience is very very good. But the nozzles can be improved. These nozzles are also quite large so it’s not easy when it comes to tip-rolling. Some tips don’t fit and some do but not without a struggle. You need ear tips that have a large diameter than some others.
The review continues on Page 2