During my time with Aura, I compared them to Zu's Audio Soul VI, Spendor's LS3/5a plus my Spirit Torino Valkyria and Raal 1995 Immanis headphones. Although admittedly apples to oranges in many respects, these contrast agents still provided some context and perspective to help me pinpoint distinctive features of the review subjects. With the Spendor, Aura shared mini-monitor midrange purity and imaging precision. Timbre neutrality done correctly can be refreshing and the Italian and English belong to the type that puts honesty before the will to please at all costs. Both perform the disappearing act magisterially well. That's more challenging for a big speaker especially when I was listening to Aura closer than ideal As expected, the LS3/5a paled on sheer scale and ease of emission. Valkyria's meaty, dense, masculine, slightly dark presentation had little in common with Aura, showing that designers with the same intent of conveying the energy, dynamics and tone textures of live events can achieve their purposes with markedly different sound. This seems like a contradiction if one assumes that authenticity equals accuracy but that's not necessarily the case with playback gear. But that's a subject for another day.
The Soul VI achieve the remarkable result of being fun, easy and pleasing without being obviously coloured. Compared to Aura they are smoother, richer in the bass, a little rolled-off in the treble and less detailed and resolving. While the Soul VI sounds far from small, Aura still fills the room more while being significantly more proficient at imaging. All this comes as no surprise given the wide price gap. A notable mention in favour of the Zu is that they perform better at low listening levels where Aura needs more SPL to come alive. Immanis was a valuable evaluation tool as I consider these Serbian triple ribbons very close to studio reference tuning. Moreover, comparing speakers to open-backed headphones has the latter remove room interactions from the equation, a feature especially useful when assessing speaker positioning. The fast, resolving, transparent nature of Immanis matched well with Aura's sonic signature. Both have tight controlled bass and some treble prominence which comes across more exuberant with the on-ear aluminum ribbons than the Italian compression-loaded horns. Aura managed a similar level of detail but could not match the sonic insight of Immanis.
The Diesis Audio Aura showed me what a high-end speaker can do in my room. They require a significant financial investment and are relatively intrusive in terms of weight, size and positioning where they need around 1 meter of front-wall clearance. They also require a subwoofer if the bottom octave is wanted. They aren't particularly forgiving or on my amp party monsters to impress friends with. But if their conditions are acceptable and your priorities lean towards realistic scale against acoustic live music, the rewards are profoundly gratifying. Aura can transform our room into a concert hall where all around us materializes a rich sonic tapestry. Their open, transparent and resolving nature combined with tonal integrity makes for a natural and effortless experience. It enabled my analytical mind to relax into fatigue-free emotional engagement.
The Diesis Aura strongly activated my visual senses by projecting very corporeal images in 3D space. This occasionally transcended the usual multi-sensory hifi experience towards more synesthetic dimensions. The sheer joy of admiring their design and exquisite organic materials creates another physical connection. When exceptional high-end performance born from innovative ideas and technical mastery converges with artisanal craftsmanship and refined aesthetics, we face objects of the purest pleasure. These are Aura's stomping grounds. Those fortunate enough to possess them will undoubtedly cherish the enchantment they bring. As for my newly started speaker journey, Aura could already be a place where to stop and enjoy music for a lengthy while.
Postscript. By January 6th, Simone's email to me solidified the lengthy while. "After much deliberation I decided to keep Aura. They are utterly satisfying especially with acoustic music and also tick the non-musical boxes of domestic bliss." Decisive action. If only more readers were of the same mind…
