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Niche Aether Snowboard Review

Last Updated: November 3, 2022 by Nate 1 Comment

Niche Aether Review

Hello and welcome to my Niche Aether snowboard review.

In this review, I will take a look at the Aether as an all-mountain-freestyle snowboard.

As per tradition here at SnowboardingProfiles.com I will give the Aether a score out of 100 (based on several factors) and see how it compares with other all-mountain-freestyle snowboards.

Overall Rating

Niche Aether Review

Board: Niche Aether

Price: $549 (USD recommended retail)

Style: All-Mountain-Freestyle

Flex Rating: Medium (6/10)

Flex Feel on Snow: Medium (6/10)

Rating Score: 83.7/100

Compared to other Men’s All-Mtn-Freestyle Boards

Out of the 27 men’s all-mtn-freestyle snowboards that I rated:

  • The average score was 82.0/100
  • The highest score was 92.1/100
  • The lowest score was 71.3/100
  • The average price was $524
  • The Aether ranked 12th out of 27

Overview of the Aether’s Specs

Check out the tables for the Aether’s specs and available sizes.

Specs

Style:

All-Mountain-Freestyle

Price: 

$549

Ability Level: 

Ability Level Intermediate to Expert

Flex: 

Snowboard Flex 6

Feel:

snowboard feel stable

Turn Initiation: 

Medium-Fast

 Edge-hold:

Edge hold Icy Snow

Camber Profile: 

Hybrid Rocker

Shape: 

Directional Twin (flex pattern is directional but otherwise true twin)

Setback Stance: 

Centered

Base: 

Sintered

Weight: 

Normal

Sizing

LENGTH (cm) 

Waist Width (mm)

Rec Rider Weight (lb)

Rec Rider Weight (kg)

153

252

not available

n/a

156

256

n/a

n/a

159

260

n/a

n/a

162

264

n/a

n/a

Who is the Aether Most Suited To?

The Aether is best for anyone who wants to explore everything the mountain has to offer, including the park, but to do it with a freestyle flavor. 

It's got great edge-hold in hard/icy conditions, so if you get those a lot, then this might be a great option for you. 

Not for beginners, but good for intermediate riders and up, for those who suit the style this board is meant for.

The Aether in More Detail

O.k. let’s take a more detailed look at what the Aether is capable of.

Demo Info

Board: Niche Aether 2020, 156cm (256mm waist width)

Date: March 2, 2019

Conditions:

Bright blue skies. Groomers hard but not icy. A little cruddy in places.

Some light fresh off-groomer. 

Niche Aether 2020 Review

Bindings angles: +15/-15

Stance width: 540mm (21.3″)

Stance Setback: Centered

Width at Inserts: 262mm (10.32") 

Rider Height: 6'0"

Rider Weight: 185lbs

Rider Boot Size: US10 Vans Aura

Bindings Used: Burton Malavita M  

Redemption

I rode the 2019 model of this board too and I had issues with it feeling grabby. So whilst not much changed for the 2020 model, I wanted to retest it to see if that was a one-off - and it was. This time around I didn't have those issues, which was great. 

Flex

Overall 6/10, but I would say softer in the tip and tail - probably 5/10 there, and stiffer between the bindings - maybe 7/10 there. Maybe a little stiffer in the tail vs the nose. 

Powder

There was a little around and the Aether felt OK but not great in there. 

There isn't much going for it to make it powder friendly. It goes fine in shallower powder, but once things get deeper and steeper, this will likely tend to sink it's nose. 

Carving & Turning

Carving: The Aether feels good on a carve - and it does prefer to carve than to skid but you can still get away with skidded turns on it.   

Maneuverability at slow speeds: It's quite nimble at slow speeds without being ultra nimble/quick edge to edge. Felt better with a bit of speed on it.   

Skids: Not the easiest to skid but can skid turns on it without too much consequence. 

Speed

Not a mega-bomber, but can handle a good bit of speed. Not ultra stable when you really open it up, but stable up to some pretty good speeds.   

Uneven Terrain

Decent in both crud and bumps/undulations. It's relatively damp and nimble enough and flexes with the terrain well. For crud doesn't crash through it, but goes over it pretty well.  

Let’s Break up this text with a Video

Jumps

Overall a good jumper that's stable on approach, has decent pop and a solid landing platform. 

Pop: It's not ultra poppy but there's some pop there. You've got to load it up a bit to extract it - there's some there that you can access easily but if you want to get it's full pop there is some loading required. 

Approach: Nice and stable on approach for any size jump but also has some.  

Landing: Good solid landing platform. Almost could be more forgiving if you're just learning jumps but otherwise really good. 

Side-hits: Nimble enough for trickier approaches and decent pop. Overall decent for side-hits.  

Small jumps/Big Jumps: You can hit any sized jump on this board, but I would say that medium to large is it's sweet spot. 

Switch

Rides well going either way. 

Spins

Great for landing and taking off switch. OK for getting the spin around, but does feel quite torsionally stiff. 

Jibbing

You can but not the easiest. Not for beginner jibbers. 

Butters

Despite being on the stiffer side of medium, it's actually not to bad to butter on. It feels like it's softer tip and tail vs the middle of the board. 

Score Breakdown and Final Verdict

Check out the breakdown of the score in the table below.

RATING
(out of 5)

Contribution to Final Score

JUMPS

4.0

16/20

CARVING

3.5

7/10

TURNS/SLASHING

3.5

7/10

SWITCH

4.5

9/10

SPEED

3.5

7/10

SPINS

4.0

8/10

BUTTERS

4.0

8/10

JIBBING

3.0

3/5

CRUD/CHUNDER

3.5

3.5/5

TREES/BUMPS

3.5

3.5/5

POWDER

2.5

2.5/5

TOTAL after normalizing

83.7/100

Overall the Aether is a good versatile all-mountain-freestyle board with powder it's biggest weakness and not the best for jibbing, at least for beginner jibbers. 

But for jumps, carving, spins and even butters, it's really good, and can handle a bit of speed too. 

More Info, Current Prices and Where to Buy Online

If you want to learn more about the Aether, or if you are ready to buy, or if you just want to research prices and availability, check out the links below.

  • US
  • CA

>>Niche Aether at REI.com

>>Niche Aether at backcountry.com

Niche Aether 2023

If you want to check out some other all-mountain-freestyle snowboard options, or if you want to compare how the Aether compares to other all-mountain-freestyle snowboards, then check out the next link.

My Top 10 Men's All-Mountain-Freestyle Snowboards
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Past Reviews of the Niche Aether

Niche Aether SnowboardHello and welcome to my Niche Aether snowboard review.

In this review, I will take a look at the Aether as an all-mountain-freestyle snowboard.

As per tradition here at SnowboardingProfiles.com I will give the Aether a score out of 100 (based on several factors) and see how it compares with other all-mountain-freestyle snowboards.

Overall Rating

Board: Niche Aether 2019

Price: $529 (USD recommended retail)

Style: All-Mountain-Freestyle

Flex Rating: Medium (6/10)

Flex Feel on Snow: Medium (6/10)

Rating Score: 80.9/100

Compared to other Men’s All-Mtn-Freestyle Boards

Out of the 27 men’s all-mtn-freestyle snowboards that I rated:

  • The average score was 80.9/100
  • The highest score was 94.4/100
  • The lowest score was 69.7/100
  • The average price was $486
  • The Aether ranked 11th out of 27

Overview of the Aether’s Specs

Check out the tables for the Aether's specs and available sizes.

Specs

Style:

All-Mountain-Freestyle

Price: 

$529

Ability Level: 

Ability Level Intermediate to Expert

Flex: 

Snowboard Flex 6

Feel:

snowboard feel stable

Turn Initiation: 

Medium

 Edge-hold:

Edge hold Icy Snow

Camber Profile: 

Hybrid Rocker

Shape: 

Directional Twin

Setback Stance: 

Centered

Base: 

Sintered

Weight: 

Normal, maybe on the heavier side of normal

Sizing

Length (cm) 

153

156

159

Waist Width (mm)

254

258

262

Rec Rider Weight (lb)

not available

n/a

n/a

Rec Rider Weight (kg)

n/a

n/a

n/a

Who is the Aether Most Suited To?

The Aether is best for anyone who wants to explore everything the mountain has to offer, including the park, but to do it with a freestyle flavor. 

It's got great edge-hold in hard/icy conditions, so if you get those a lot, then this might be a great option for you. 

Not for beginners, but good for intermediate riders and up, for those who suit the style this board is meant for.

The Aether in More Detail

Niche Aether snowboard review 2019O.k. let’s take a more detailed look at what the Aether is capable of.

Demo Info

Board: Niche Aether 2019, 156cm (258mm waist width)

Date: March 3, 2018

Conditions: The snow had a great medium feel to it. Relatively firm but certainly not hard and not overly soft. Off groomer was nice too and there were a few pockets of untracked powder from snow from a couple of days previous. Sunny and perfect visibility. Temperature was -7 with wind.

Bindings angles: +15/-15

Width at Inserts: 260mm (10.2“)

Powder

Not the kind of board I would get specifically for powder days, but when there’s a few pockets to surf over, it’s OK.

However, I did find it a little grabby in the softer patches, and just a little grabby generally. Maybe it was a combination of the heavy magne-traction and a poorly waxed base? Unfortunately I tested this at a demo day, so I didn’t have the opportunity to wax it up and re-test it.

Either way, I’m looking forward to getting my hands on this board again for the 2020 model and re-testing it as I suspect that there was something a-miss.

Carving and Turning

Again, I suspect this board carves better than how it felt it. But on the day it did feel grabby (see above under powder section).

Turn initiations felt labored and it felt pretty slow edge-to-edge and was just a bit of an effort to initiate turns on. Once you got up a decent amount of speed and really laid into it and put some effort into it, it felt good once on an edge, but it wasn’t fun getting there. But again, I suspect there was something a-miss. I would blame it on the conditions but the conditions were good and every other board I rode that day didn’t feel like this.

Speed

The Aether felt good at speed – and in a lot of ways, that grabby heavy feeling wasn’t as bad when you really let it go at speed.

Uneven Terrain

There was pretty of messy chopped up resort snow to deal with, as it was a Saturday. Apart from that grabby feeling I got from the board, I think this would be pretty good with uneven terrain. 

Jumps

Could definitely feel a decent amount of pop with this board and landings were stable. But the approach sometimes felt sketchy due to the heavy grabby feeling (at risk of sounding like a broken record) I got from it – again it ruined what I think would otherwise be a good or even great board to jump with. 

Switch

Felt pretty much the same in both directions. 

Jibbing

Felt OK once on the box/rail, but the approach wasn’t what I was hoping for. 

Score Breakdown and Final Verdict

Check out the breakdown of the score in the table below.

FACTOR

rating (OUT OF 5)

contribution to final score

Switch

4.5

18/20

Jumps

3.5

14/20

Jibbing

3.0

6/10

Carving/Turning

3.0

6/10

Powder

2.5

5/10

Speed

3.5

7/10

Uneven Terrain

3.5

7/10

Pipe

4.5

9/10

TOTAL after normalizing

80.9/100

I really wanted to like this board and based on other Niche boards that I've ridden, I though I would. And based on those other boards, I think there was something a bit off about the demo I was testing, so I look forward to re-testing it this coming season. 

Despite that grabby, heavy feel largely ruining the experience, you could feel the potential of what this board is capable of. 

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Filed Under: 2019 Snowboard Reviews, 2020 Snowboard Reviews, 2021 Snowboard Reviews, 2022 Snowboard Reviews, 2023 Snowboard Reviews, Men's Freestyle-all-mountain Snowboard Reviews, Niche Tagged With: Niche Aether Review, Niche Aether Snowboard, Niche Aether Snowboard 2021-22, Niche Aether Snowboard 2022-23, Niche Aether Snowboard 2023

About Nate

Nate is passionate about and loves learning new things everyday about snowboarding, particularly the technical aspects of snowboarding gear. That, and becoming a better rider and just enjoying and getting the most out of life.

Comments

  1. max says

    October 18, 2022 at 10:53 am

    everything is pretty good except for the jibs part, my son rode it for the first time and hit his first jib very nicely

    Reply

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