[bcowen]

For me the AFC OG has good Dynamics partially because of that slight bit of mid-range emphasis or honk

Aeon 2 closed, is much smoother less coarse but doesn't lose any of the Dynamics and yeah I've been running them on pink noise in between my work shifts here over the last few days. I'm still going to grab a silver cable those I really want to push the technicalities of this headphone a little further

Are you currently using the cable that came with them? If so, I'd be most interested in your findings once you try the silver. I've never been much of a silver wire fan overall, but everything is dependent and relative of course.

 

[Makiah S]

Are you currently using the cable that came with them? If so, I'd be most interested in your findings once you try the silver. I've never been much of a silver wire fan overall, but everything is dependent and relative of course.

Yep just stock cable for now

The problem with silver is it varies from manufacturer to manufacturer.

I get my Silver Cables from @teds headfood

And his silver is darker than what people typically associate with solid silver cables, so I find that it brings a stronger technical presentation without that brightness or somewhat overemphasized Edge or brightness that you get with silver-plated copper and certain silver cables

 

[bcowen]

Yep just stock cable for now

The problem with silver is it varies from manufacturer to manufacturer.

I get my Silver Cables from @teds headfood

And his silver is darker than what people typically associate with solid silver cables, so I find that it brings a stronger technical presentation without that brightness or somewhat overemphasized Edge or brightness that you get with silver-plated copper and certain silver cables

Ahhh....good to know about Ted. Thanks. I'll eagerly await your impressions, especially seeing that your description of the A2's is spot on with what I hear.

 

[Makiah S]

Great... I WANTED to go to bed. But for some unknown reason I decided to plug this in and listen to some Metal...

The precision in the sound stage is again what hit's me immediately... and I still can't get over the top end. There's a sense of forwardness but without any grain... but again the depth of THIS STAGE... things just fall into the background on and on and on, quieter and quieter and quieter

 

[Spie1904]

Some people don't hear much difference with cables...or DACS for that matter. If you can't hear the difference, I suggest you go with the cheaper option. I'm a musician of 30 years and I simply can not "un-hear" something. But it's just my opinion. Take it all with a grain of salt brother.

My question is always, can you describe the exact difference? Because many of the comments regarding cables are often increased detail, airy, open.. things that are very hard to hear and by some even considered as bull terms that don't exist in audio.

 

[Wes S]

My question is always, can you describe the exact difference? Because many of the comments regarding cables are often increased detail, airy, open.. things that are very hard to hear and by some even considered as bull terms that don't exist in audio.

Lots of variables, to judge from someone else's experiences. For example, upstream gear plays a huge part, in actually being able to hear a difference. Most don't hear a difference, but many have. Ultimately, you either have to demo or take a gamble and buy a good cable and see if you hear a difference, with your gear. I was a skeptic for years, and now look at my signature below. Just like with tube rolling, it takes time to notice the differences, as well. For instance, listening with one cable for weeks and then another for a couple of weeks, and you start to notice things, if your gear and ears will allow.

 

[Spie1904]

Lots of variables, to judge from someone else's experiences. For example, upstream gear plays a huge part, in actually being able to hear a difference. Most don't hear a difference, but many have. Ultimately, you either have to demo or take a gamble and buy a good cable and see if you hear a difference, with your gear. I was a skeptic for years, and now look at my signature below. Just like with tube rolling, it takes time to notice the differences, as well. For instance, listening with one cable for weeks and then another for a couple of weeks, and you start to notice things, if your gear and ears will allow.

Ha could be, for now I'm pretty happy with stock cables. Still debating on jumping aboard the a2c but not sure yet. Maybe zmf eikon is better choice.

 

[bcowen]

Great... I WANTED to go to bed. But for some unknown reason I decided to plug this in and listen to some Metal...

The precision in the sound stage is again what hit's me immediately... and I still can't get over the top end. There's a sense of forwardness but without any grain... but again the depth of THIS STAGE... things just fall into the background on and on and on, quieter and quieter and quieter

The A2C's playing rock and metal make sleep irrelevant. With a '63 Melz hole plate 1578 or an early '50's ribbed plate Foton 6N8S in the Lyr 3, they just make you want to:

This can be dangerous for people my age....perhaps Dan should include a warning sticker.

 

[Stekos]

I've been looking for some closed-back over-ear phones that are comfortable to wear lying back on a pillow. The specs/reviews on the new Aeon's look great, but I'm thinking the rear-facing mounts would push back a bit much.

 

[x RELIC x]

Very nice impressions from the designer of Chord DACs:

So November was a busy month - Shanghai CanJam, Chord distributor conference in Phuket and finally Singapore for the AV show (which was very busy). And designing in-between events, with a huge workload on at the moment.

But the highlight was definitely getting to hear Mr. Speakers (now Dan Clark Audio) Aeon 2 and being at the Aeon 2 and new naming launch. You can see the thinking behind Aeon 2 here:

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/the-new-aeon-2-its-the-end-of-mrspeakers.918309/

Personally I have been a big fan of Dan Clark Audio, in particular with the original Aeons. When I first heard them in early 2017 I was knocked out by the accuracy, transparency and refinement - and on my next listen, at Singapore CanJam, I ordered a pair. The production units arrived in June, and I was struck by two things - they didn't need any break-in, and they sounded identical to the early prototypes I had heard. The only downside was the bass was too lean, but adding the tuning pads helped that.

I ought to state my needs for headphones - I do a lot of listening on flights, and a lot of my flights are 12 or 13 hours. So I need headphones that are comfortable, that you can use for ten hours or so without fatigue. Also, I absolutely need acoustic isolation. Finally, I need transparency, accuracy and refinement - and above all musicality (that is the ability to get emotionally involved with the music). The Aeons firmly ticked all of those boxes. What impressed me so much was the transparency - very convincing sense of depth (cross-feed must be on) and pinpoint imagery.

Fortunately, I managed to blag an Aeon 2 after Shanghai (thanks Andy Regan) and so I thought I might post my personal impressions on the Aeon 2.

Firstly, it's a radical re-design, with a clever folding band, and with the magnets flipped to the closed side. The SQ differences were not small either - this is no marginal change.

The first thing you noticed is the tonal balance - gone is the lean sound of the originals. Bass is much more extended, with a heavier more meaty and loudspeaker like tonal balance. Moreover, distortion seems lower - as the volume increases, the sound does not harden up or change - and I was surprised at how much better this aspect is against the original, as low perceived bass distortion was a strong point on the Aeon 1. This aspect is very important to me - low bass distortion - and it's a major failing of many respected high-end headphones.

Lateral imagery is similar to the originals, but depth - that ability to hear sounds outside your head - is better than before - but this was always a major advantage of the Aeon 1. Also, because the Aeon closed is closed, early reflections from the rear gives it an upward tilt for me to the soundstage - I guess about +20 degrees. This doesn't happen with open backed, and it was never a huge problem. With the Aeon 2, this effect is still there, but it's much less noticeable.

Another issue is the clamping force is stronger on the Aeon 2s - this is good, as it improves bass sealing, and acoustic isolation - but I certainly would not want the clamping force any greater! This might be an issue for big heads though...

So the $64k question is is the improvements worth buying an Aeon 2 when you already own an Aeon 1? In my view absolutely yes. Moreover, if you are in the market for a closed headphone, you need to listen to the Aeon 2 - even if your budget is very much larger than the asking price - they are that good.

Congratulations to Dan and his team at Dan Clark Audio - you have made my flights more enjoyable - and enjoying music is what this hobby is really about.

 

[Makiah S]

My question is always, can you describe the exact difference? Because many of the comments regarding cables are often increased detail, airy, open.. things that are very hard to hear and by some even considered as bull terms that don't exist in audio.

I don't see Matt's thoughts so I'll share mine tonight as my silver cable has arrived!

Very nice impressions from the designer of Chord DACs:

Not surprised to hear his thoughts are as followed! Best I EVER heard original Ether C [maybe 1.1 Flow maybe not?] was with a Dave! Dan Clark Audio and Chord are very complimentary imo!

 

[Makiah S]

I don't see Matt's thoughts so I'll share mine tonight as my silver cable has arrived!

Not surprised to hear his thoughts are as followed! Best I EVER heard original Ether C [maybe 1.1 Flow maybe not?] was with a Dave! Dan Clark Audio and Chord are very complimentary imo!

In the end I did settle on my Ember II as my preferred amp. The staging with the stock cable was just a smidge more cohesive, and staging is one of the qualities about A2C that drove me to purchase it.

In short I felt full silver brought the following

• Better precision in staging
• Vivid power in the lows
  • Transients were shocking give the slight added heft without being as "forward"
• Improved mid-range clarity and texture
  • Reverb trails are even more resolved
  • Slightly smoother
  • Also a smidge more "tactile"
• Air'er top end without any "roughness"

Also I get all of my solid silver from @teds headfood as I mentioned earlier his silver sounds a little "dark" compared to other full silver cables. But honestly I find quality to be more transparent overall

Overall the only qualm I had with solid silver vs stock copper was big drums sounded a little toooo fast, that's likely a problem more so with my amp than anything tbh.

Amp is an Ember II, Psvanne CT 181 OG "Treasure" The TOP Tier ones from when they sold em at like $75 upwards to $125 [different grades] before they developed MK II and removed their "graded" CT 181's I've also got an @atomicbob noise nuke and all bypasses active. So overall it's quite nice, but not perfect. An that slight misgiving in the drums is more my amp than it is the headphone, so hopefully my replacement amp will be in shortly!

An yikes, I went right to silver first tonight after pulling A2C off it's 4th straight day of pink noise [at like 75 dBs] burn in. and after a few minuets I swapped back to the stock afterwards and it's hard to ignore the difference, like A2C is already smooth but it can get EVEN smoother and slightly more detailed. It's odd to say but the stock cable sounds slightly shouty? If it's silver plated copper that makes sense, as I've yet to hear an SPC that doesn't strike me as "shouty" and while that's not always a bad thing... here I don't think it's helping. I mean maybe on richer systems, but not on mine

But the bass... *sigh* solid silver really pulls out the flaws in my amp... as mentioned with copper I get a smidge more decay/reverb in the lows. Especially in big drums, silver is just a smidge to quick for those big Drums imo [reverb is a bit short] BUT with stuff like Cello's/double bass it's just right! As copper tends to sound toooo drawn out an almost boomy, with a loss in detail/clarity

An what else freaks me out is the detail/reverb on bass guitars... is scary good... like I've got a lovely 192k/24bit rip [trusted lineage] of the 2018 System of a Down Self Titled Album Vinyl re-release and it's INSANE to hear A2C resolves then ENTIRE reverb of that bottom octave string... literally the undertones just keeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep going [getting a little quieter] without blurring or softening the leading edge of those over octave strings over top!

The power/clarity are INSANE!! I don't think my HD 800 has even pulled out that low level transient.

 

[Chris Kaoss]

Nice to read about the absence of that terrible distortions the AFC1 has.

Getting interested in the second incarnation.
May i've to go for a demo soon.

Thank you for all your impressions.

 

[Sonic Defender]

I am also very interested in hearing the Aeon 2 Closed. I did not gel well with the first edition, just felt a little uninvolving for me but I like what I am reading about the new version. It seems that Dan listened to those who felt the sound needed to have more weight to it down low without overly smoothing things out. It is a tough balance to have a solid and articulate bottom end that is integrated into a well balanced headphone.

 

[Makiah S]

I am also very interested in hearing the Aeon 2 Closed. I did not gel well with the first edition, just felt a little uninvolving for me but I like what I am reading about the new version. It seems that Dan listened to those who felt the sound needed to have more weight to it down low without overly smoothing things out. It is a tough balance to have a solid and articulate bottom end that is integrated into a well balanced headphone.

I liked the original well enough but after hearing A2C I can notice more of the faults of OG AFC. An I agree it is a tough balance to have but I think Dan really nailed it with this one! This is only the second headphone ever I've purchased brand new. The first being my HD 800!

That said I feel it was well worth the price and hustle, I'm likely not upgrading to another closed back for a few years as I just can't see a need for another. It literally checks all of my boxs and them some!