Just a heads up, but it appears you have your left and right channels mixed up...
Excellent looking headphones, I'm considering getting a pair. I would love to hear how the sound compared to my Aeon Flow C's.
Haha yeah I noticed as soon as I uploaded the picture; oops.
I had been listening with the correct orientation and reconnected later quickly for the picture
Update to answer your question to some extent:
Some initial impressions vs. the AFC 1 with the caveat that I've only spent about 3 hours with the AFC 2 and they aren't fully burned in yet. I'm currently using the two-notch white filters during burn in as the highs can be a bit sibilant during that period based on my experience with the other Aeons. My preferred signature for the 1st gen Aeons is the 1-notch white filters (that don't come with the AFC 2). You now get a thinner foam filter (that doesn't quite fit in), a stiff 1-notch black filter, and a 2-notch white filter.
Most noticeably, the AFC 2 does have a larger sound stage, but also the music has a more lively and holographic sound, which is hard to quantify. I love the AFC 1, but at times it felt dynamically compressed to me - especially with poorly recorded music. With the AFC 2 there is a more room for the music to exist and it feels like a 2D image has expanded to 3D.
The bass response is much more impactful and effortless vs. AFC 1. I can imagine AFC 2 could be too bass heavy for some people looking for a very neutral / flat signature. The mid bass is very detailed and more prominent in AFC 2 vs. 1. Sub-bass performance seems similar.
Mids are much smoother on the AFC 2. They remind me of the Ether Cx here. Vocals are really smooth. Saxophone in synthwave is very detailed. Timbre is much improved. I recall Aornic describing the AFC 1 as having acoustic guitar sounding like coming from a plastic body rather than wood. I can understand that sentiment to some extent. The improved bass response of the AFC 2 improves this a lot. I still think acoustic guitar sounds better on the Atticus. That said, classical guitar on the AFC 2 is still a real treat. There is a lot of improvement with air and detail.
Treble response is fast and retains the excellent transient response of the AFC 1. The frequency response looks like the peak at 10 kHz was removed from the AFC 2. Similar to the Ether Cx this region is really smooth now. With the AFC 1, poorly recorded music could get fatiguing in the treble very quickly even with 2 notch filters. So far I'm finding the AFC 2 to be much less fatiguing. Detail retrieval seems on par with the Ether Cx, which is really impressive to me.
Both AFC 1 and 2 seem similarly hard to drive.
Overall, the AFC 2 feels like it adopted the bass response from the AFO 1, increased the sound stage and detail, improved the macrodynamics, and reduced the treble peak of the AFC 1. The AFC 2 sounds in some ways like a closed AFO 1 but with larger sound stage. I think the AFC 2 is an overall sonic upgrade from AFC 1 in a lot of ways. That said its warmer with a more noticeable bass response and more forgiving treble. The AFC 1 seems slightly more neutral but I need more time to be sure. I still love how aggressive the AFC 1 is. In contrast the AFC 2 is a bit more smooth and forgiving; yet somehow has increased detail retrieval.