Aeon impressions from CanJam NYC:
I was fortunate enough to hear the Aeon at Dan's booth as well as at a few other vendors. Bear in mind that a noisy show floor is not the ideal listening environment, but as a MrSpeakers dealer, I think I am familiar enough with their products to make informed comparisons.
Nutshell:
Amazing job crafting the Aeon to this price point with the sound and build quality that it has.
Listening:
Like all the Ethers, the Aeon reflects the file, DAC and amp being used to a remarkable degree. It sounded slightly different on every setup I tried. And that is not a criticism, it is praise. (Dan also told me that the 14 Aeons spread around the show were all broken-in to different degrees - some fully, others not quite.) As an example, the Aeon sounded great playing Tidal HiFi tracks from a laptop into an Aurilic dac and the Cavalli Liquid Carbon...but it sounded absolutely spectacular playing high-res files from a dap into the Cavalli Liquid Spark (prototype). Since I doubt the Spark will sound that much better than the Carbon, it must have been the difference in resolution of the flac file vs the Tidal HiFi streamed file...and the Aeon captured it beautifully.
Lots of talk here about the Aeon's bass output. Having been a critic of the original Ether C in that regard (primarily because I have a personal preference for slightly elevated mid-bass vs sub-bass as a listener of lots of acoustic jazz and all sorts of rock) I can say that the Aeon's bass had me smiling immediately. I thought it struck the right balance of being fully present but not over-emphasized or under-emphasized. It is much more similar in this regard to the C-Flows than the original Ether-C.
Treble on the Aeon was smooth...detailed but not al all harsh. It was in keeping with the overall balanced sound signature that I think Dan is going for. People have asked about a "house sound" and it seems to me that they are going for top-to-bottom balance and neutrality and the Aeon is in keeping with that.
Overall resolution, detail and air struck me as slightly less than the Ethers and Flows, but I would really need to do more listening and comparing before I can say that with assurance. At its price point, I would not expect the Aeon to be as resolving as its big brothers, but we'll see...
Comfort and Ergonomics:
Wow. Lighter than the Ethers and Flows with more ear-room inside the pads. Did not have them on my head for a long enough stretch of time to assess any trouble with clamping force or pad pressure, but initial impression is that the Aeon is very comfortable indeed. Personally, I love the looks. And that single aluminum swing-arm mount on each housing is very cool.
Conclusion:
The Aeon is a real winner and a must-audition in the under-$1000 closed-back category. Hell, it's a must-audition in the cost-no-object closed-back category as well. Can't wait for Dan to give us dealers the green light to begin ordering!
