Fit and Comfort

Seen above is the AceZone A-Rise placed on a mannequin head, to help show how these headphones would look on the human head. Note that the head is slightly under average sized, so account for the discrepancies accordingly—ignore that small gap under the headband if you have an average-sized head, for example. But at the same time now you see what I meant on the previous page about someone with a small and/or narrow head potentially finding this too large. As with all headphones, getting a good fit and seal is crucial, so make sure to properly use the available height adjustability of the headband and the swivel/rotation of the ear cups themselves. This section is mostly a summary of the points expanded upon in more detail on the previous page and I will mention here that the A-Rise is quite heavy compared to your usual gaming headset, at ~550 g. This is a set you will use for shorter periods of time, say 1-2 hours at most, before taking a short break. The weight isn't the main issue for this though, it's more how clampy it is. Indeed, this can be the saving grace for those who don't get the headband fully over their head since the ear cups clamp in hard and thus the headset is mostly pressing inward, which affects weight distribution too. AceZone made this on purpose to account for excellent passive noise cancellation for >1000 Hz on top of the ANC integrated in the set to account for the ~500-1000 Hz range. Needless to say then that this is the most isolating headset/headphones I've ever used and you do need to get used to that feeling where you can almost hear yourself as an echo. Seen above is also how the microphone needs to be positioned with ~one finger space from the corner of your open mouth. Have the flat side of the foam cover facing away from you too. If it is positioned further away, there is a good chance it will pick up ambient noise given how sensitive it is despite the microphone ambient noise cancellation built into the headset.

Audio Performance

Audio Hardware

Given the AceZone A-Rise is a gaming headset with its own DAC and amp inside, as well as a Bluetooth transceiver, I wasn't surprised to see no driver impedance or sensitivity data provided. In fact, all we know about the dynamic drivers used here is that AceZone has gone with uncommon 42 mm sized units—40 mm or 50 mm are more common with headsets and headphones—with the company saying the goal here was not to provide the deepest bass but rather clear mids without distortion. To aid in this, the diaphragm is associated with a larger voice coil. This combination was further tweaked to allow specific EQ profiles that do not impact sound clarity and this is before we get to the various other features. For example, AceZone clarifies that the goal is also to reduce listening fatigue. The use of ANC and strong passive noise cancellation contributes here to reduce noise floor, as does deliberately reducing those regions of the frequency range that are not directly relevant to the gaming genres in use. In general, people are more sensitive to higher frequencies, so this is one such place where I expect to see less energy in the A-Rise. The profiles themselves were generated using actual recording from live e-sports events with a big crowd, a LAN event with 3000 gamers playing in the same warehouse, a gaming center, and a home gaming setup. An industry standard GRAS 45CA combined with several Genelec speakers was used to recreate these environments and test for the efficacy of said profiles, which in turn were translated into the three operating modes stored on the headset.



If you do decide to use the A-Rise in Bluetooth mode, note that you get decent but not cutting-edge codec support in the form of AAC, SBC, aptX, and aptX HD, although I did see my phone recognize it as a Bluetooth LE device which in turn requires the companion app available on both Android and iOS devices. This allows you to change the headset mode, use a custom mode, change the default EQ settings for each mode, turn ANC on/off separate from the modes, and even play around with sidetone and transparency options. The EQ slides are quite simple though with just "bass" and "treble" between +6 dB and -6 dB, so there is cause for someone wanting to use, say, Equalizer APO, for a truly parametric EQ. The GIF above goes through the other options available, which are nice but nothing special compared to the vast majority of mainstream gaming headsets. If anything, this is where I'd like to see AceZone leverage its environment recording data and generate per-game profiles, if not even per-map profiles for some games that might benefit from it. Battery life in Bluetooth mode is rated for 15 hours and I tested it out once to confirm the number. I never again used this in Bluetooth mode because it's not a set you'd really put on for casual, comfortable use anyway. The A-Rise is not a headset you'd ever forget is on your head to begin with! While I don't speak much about microphones, I will also confirm that the integrated mic is quite good and works well for gaming and calls. Indeed, you will notice that all the e-sport players use the A-Live's mic to talk with their teammates. If you are a streamer with a large audience, you may still want to invest in an external microphone though since those will still best the recording quality compared to this one. I've also found the positioning of the mic here is critical and some people simply may not like having it so close to their mouth.

Frequency Response Measurement and Listening

I will mention that I have a general preference for a warm-neutral signature emphasizing a slightly elevated bass and smooth treble range with detailed mids and good tonal separation. I also generally prefer instrumental music over vocals, with favored genres including jazz and classical music. However, these are not the most important metrics to gauge the performance of the AceZone A-Rise, which is marketed purely as a gaming headset. Frequency response measurements were recorded as described in the equivalent section of the Edifier STAX SPIRIT S3 review with the A-Rise tested in all three default operating modes as well as and in analog connection in one of the modes, although the effective change going to the 3.5 mm connection was the same in either of the three modes. There was also no change in tuning from Bluetooth or Type-C connection although using the wired USB connection does allow for no latency or bandwidth limitations. Sticking with the wired USB connection is the way to go here. No app or program-based EQ settings were chosen, unless specifically mentioned. Each sample of interest was measured at least thrice with separate mounts to account for any fit issues, and an average of the individual measurements was taken for statistical accuracy.


As per usual, you can find my headphone frequency response measurements on VSG.squig.link, along with all the earphone measurements. Scroll to the bottom and choose different targets there, including two from Harman Kardon, developed after years of R&D. The Harman 2018 over-ear target in particular is a reference curve many headphone makers aim for now, but I find it too bass-boosted. As such, I am opting for the Harman 2018 curve with the bass target from the Harman 2013 curve, which is what is being referred to as the "Harman Combined" target there. Before we get talking about the sound signature of the AceZone A-Rise, I want to first talk about the channel balance achieved here. I am showing here just one set of measurements although I have measured both channels in all three modes and the trends are the same in all modes. You will notice how the left and right channels are very close to each other all the way from 20 Hz to 20 kHz, which is the region of interest for human hearing. The minor discrepancy in measurements between 4-5 kHz is not as easily perceived considering it's recessed relative to the areas before and after. Anything after 10 kHz here is also best taken with a grain of salt since this is well past the coupler resonance point. Knowing this was a randomly picked retail unit makes it all the more impressive given companies have difficulties getting this level of channel matching even with much more expensive headphones! There was no channel imbalance perceived thus and I will also mention that using the headset for ~35 hours didn't change anything either for those who would undoubtedly be curious about burn-in.


Now we see the average frequency response measurements of the A-Rise in its three operating modes. While the headset is clearly designed with pro gaming in mind, there are two other modes for when you would like to use it for general media consumption. So let's briefly talk about the two "Gaming & Music" modes, which differ only in that one has ANC on and the other has it off. AceZone does not shy away from mentioning that this isn't necessarily the best for music playback and is not tuned to compete against audiophile-centric headphones. Indeed, with the use of EQ filters as well as the company using a GRAS 45CA in addition to using the Harman target, I would say AceZone could have done better in meeting said target even if I don't personally like it—too much bass, it throws off the balance for me. With the A-Rise, we do see these two modes behave fairly similarly with a significant bass shelf in the sub-bass that can provide that punch for EDM lovers. There isn't much mid-bass emphasis here though and the mids (600-800 Hz) being overly forward to the point of being somewhat annoying for vocals and brass instruments means I don't really see these modes as very viable for pop, rock, country, or most instrumental-centric tracks. Likewise, the early ear gain, or lack thereof, can affect vocal clarity and timbre while we see the higher frequencies being potentially shouty and dark at the same time. The best thing I can say here is it's not fatiguing and fairly improved compared to the third mode if you just want to play some YouTube videos or listen to a podcast. This is also what you would want to use for online calls, and I would personally go with the ANC mode since it works quite well throughout in combination with the passive NC from the clamping force and seal.

So while you would not want to buy the AceZone A-Rise for only music and media content, it's the third mode where things get interesting. Pro Gaming does everything the company markets with the A-Rise, including emphasizing the mids for footsteps, toning down the bass and treble to keep the sound signature less fatiguing for longer periods of time, and the excellent noise cancellation helps reduce the noise floor too. This isn't a perfect solution by any means, especially as we would ideally still want a relatively large soundstage, but there is excellent imaging without resorting to surround sound software trickery as with others. This helps pinpoint the source of sounds made and the other factors mentioned above make it easier to perceive those sounds too.


Take CS:GO, for example. AceZone gave me a nice demo to showcase the capabilities of the A-Rise wherein footsteps in a map were more quickly and easily heard with the A-Rise than a few other headsets I have tried since. Needless to say then that this can give a competitive edge to players and also why the A-Rise (in its A-Live form) has been used by various e-sports majors already as the headset of choice. The testing video was generated by AceZone, however my own testing at their demo using industry-standard equipment I am very familiar with agreed with these results. The company does market things a bit more zealously than I would prefer, especially since this is one of the best case scenarios and the broader EQ profiles used target footsteps in some games whereas others may want to prioritize, say, flash bangs or gun shots. The broader EQ shifts made help generalize things across game genres to an extent while also accounting for game engine changes—footsteps sound different in CS:GO compared to previous Counter-Strike versions, for example. This is where I would once again urge AceZone to work on more specific game profiles and then maybe consider doing per-map profiles too, even if those come for an extra charge since I recognize a small team can't easily afford to do all this for free. The Android app only just released so I am well aware of the no-doubt massive feature check list there.


Before we conclude, here's why I was telling you to not bother with the 3.5 mm analog connection. It doesn't make full use of the built-in DAC and its filters to where you do lose on bass extension. What you end up with is an even limper sounding set in the two Gaming & Music modes whereas the Pro Gaming mode loses out on heavy calibre gun/tankshots/explosions which the USB mode still allows you to discern easily enough.