I've had my A2Cs for a week now and figured I'd post my impressions of them. I'm not an audiophile but rather someone that just enjoys music and likes when it sounds good so I'm not going to be super technical or probably all that helpful to anyone that reads this. I have no experience with headphones at this or above price and my two previous top pairs are the the Senn 600s I had for 15 or 16 years which I gave to a buddy of mine a couple years ago and then my previous to the Aeon 2, the Shure 1540s which I still have and have owned for 4 years.
My feeling so far is that these are great headphones and I'm blown away by how clear the sound is. Someone earlier talked about the black background and I agree as for me, the sound just feels like it is "there" so to speak rather than a recording being output by headphones. Soundstage-wise I am pretty impressed and these have a larger soundstage than my 1540s, both in width and depth, with the biggest difference being depth and they feel fairly open to me. I've seen some say the soundstage is average for a closed back which blows me away as this seems quite large and open.
Tonally they are coloured as they're a bit on the warmer side and there is no doubt the midrange has a dip and the 6-10khz range has some dips and possible peaks (frequency sweeps show it) but for me, it's fine. I like the warmer sound and the sound feeling a bit further out because of that midrange dip. Someone in the other thread a while back said to them it sounded like they are in a small room to themselves with the band playing just for them and that is exactly the feeling I get listening to music on these. I know many like a more forward presentation but I prefer this style where it feels like I'm a few rows back from the artists than in the front row or on the stage.
Comfort wise they are pretty good and despite weighing more than my 1540s, they feel lighter. My only real issue with the comfort is that even though my ears don't stick out much, my right one is just touching the cloth inside the cup which is a bit annoying at times if I move my head. I measured the depth of my ear and the cup and it would be fine if there was no compression of the foam when on my head. My left one I think has just a sliver of space as putting in tuning pads has both touching the pads. I do wish the cups had a bit extra depth as I imagine this will become a bit more noticeable over time as the pads compress a bit. I'm not a huge fan of the shape of the cups but at the same time, it's not anything major. Isolation wise these seem quite nice and provide a bit better isolation than my 1540s.
Compared to my 1540s, these are clearly superior as they should be given the price difference though I will say the difference is greater than I was expecting. Better soundstage, more detail, more clarity, tighter and faster bass, cymbals sound much better and have a nice trail (decay?), room echos and size are better presented, snares sound better, basically everything to me sounds better on these and I really like my 1540s, especially when I tried out Sonarworks True-Fi with them last month. Holy cow did that transform them. The way I see it is that with the 1540s, it feels like I'm just listening to something recorded while with the A2Cs, it feels like what that other owner said and I repeated above, I am in a room with the artists playing the music for me. Just far more 3D feeling. It blows my mind that this effect can/would be even better on top of the line headphones.
Probably the thing I like the least is that there seems to be extra zing at times on some vocals, usually after the sibilant letters/sounds but also some other sounds like T. It's stuff that is there in the recording and isn't the headphone causing it but it just seems to be more pronounced with the A2Cs and I don't know if it is simply because they are so clear, because the midrange is brought back a bit making whatever frequency that sound is in stand out more than on my 1540s which have a boost in the mid range or if it's just in a frequency peak. I did add a slight dB drop at 12khz and that seems to help a little bit. I don't consider it sibilance but something else. Hard to explain and it is by no means a dealbreaker and again, it's more about the recording quality as this isn't there in some better recorded songs. Also possible it is just in my head. Heh.
Given it was brought up by the person I have on ignore, I have previously input oratory's settings he got with the pair he tested which while obviously not going to exactly match my pair should be somewhat similar to mine and I prefer the stock sound. The stock sound just has a nice smooth feel to it and I like having the vocals/music a bit further back instead of closer to inside my head which is what happens with the EQ/midrange being boosted. Having said that, I do hope Sonarworks adds these to their list so I can see how it sounds with that. I had tried oratory's 1540 settings last month and it did not sound good (maybe my pair was way off the one he measured) while Sonarworks' wizardry was great. Sonarworks' curve is supposedly close to the Harman curve so I don't really know. Perhaps Sonarworks would make these little beauties even better though I have a feeling I'd still prefer the stock sound.
So all in all, I'm pleased I bought these and I look forward to many hours of added music bliss. I debated between these and the Elegias and went with these since it sounded like it would be more to my preference and because the stock price of replacement Elegia pads seems absurd. Even if there are 3rd party options, it's the principle of the thing.
Once again, these easily beat my 1540s and from what I remember of my Senn 600s, these are better than those. In no way do I think these are a pile of junk that sounds horrible like a certain member has implied unless the Senn 600s and 1540s are also piles of junk. To each their own though and I do not expect everyone would like these and that is fine as it's all personal preference. I just hope if anyone buys them and doesn't like them, they simply return/sell them and move on.
![20210325_112945[1295].jpg](https://cdn.head-fi.org/a/11455489.jpg)
