[headwig]

I've used a few good closed backs (Stellia, ZR1, Z7M, Atticus, Aeon 2) and I never heard this resonance people talk about.

I know it seems unfair given the different price points, but could you say anything comparing your experience of the Aeon 2 Closed to the Stellia? I'm coming from a ZMF Eikon and an Aeon Flow Closed v1, and I'm looking for a headphone that has some of the meatiness, dynamics, control and soundstage of the Eikon along with the airy top end, detail, general ease and clear sub-bass of the Aeon Flow Closed. I'm considering both AFC2 and Stellia. Does either fit the bill?

 

[thecrow]

Here’s another review from a fellow Sydney-sider.
https://sandalaudio.blogspot.com/2019/12/dan-clark-audio-aeon-2.html?m=1

googletranslate is your friend - YMMV

 

[HumdrumPenguin]

I know it seems unfair given the different price points, but could you say anything comparing your experience of the Aeon 2 Closed to the Stellia? I'm coming from a ZMF Eikon and an Aeon Flow Closed v1, and I'm looking for a headphone that has some of the meatiness, dynamics, control and soundstage of the Eikon along with the airy top end, detail, general ease and clear sub-bass of the Aeon Flow Closed. I'm considering both AFC2 and Stellia. Does either fit the bill?

It's hard to tell because my experience with the Stellia was quite limited considering it wasn't mine, so I can't give you the details you'd like. But I do remember making a comparison side by side on both Stellia and A2C, and I liked the Stellia much more. The tonality was more to my liking. The A2C I always used with the white felt (thicker one) because I get fatigued easily. The A2C was also better than the Z1R to my ears, if that means something to you.

 

[headwig]

It's hard to tell because my experience with the Stellia was quite limited considering it wasn't mine, so I can't give you the details you'd like. But I do remember making a comparison side by side on both Stellia and A2C, and I liked the Stellia much more. The tonality was more to my liking. The A2C I always used with the white felt (thicker one) because I get fatigued easily. The A2C was also better than the Z1R to my ears, if that means something to you.

That's helpful. Do you mind if I ask what kinds of difference in tonality swayed you towards the Stellia? No worries if you can't remember!

 

[HumdrumPenguin]

That's helpful. Do you mind if I ask what kinds of difference in tonality swayed you towards the Stellia? No worries if you can't remember!

I can’t remember, sorry for that. What I can tell is that the Focal Stellia and ZMF Atticus are the closed backs that impressed me the most from every closed back I tried by myself up to this day. I do remember that the Stellia had no glare or brightness that would fatigue me, and was very revealing at the same time. I’m super sensitive to bright treble, so that should say something. The Aeon 2 fatigues me if I’m not playing with the white felt inserts. With the inserts the fatigue is gone and I can listen to it for ours.

 

[Swisshead]

Hi guys, this is my first report here. I come from Switzerland and my mother tongue is German. So please excuse my English, do translation with Deep L.

Since 2 years hifi is my big hobby. Currently I own LCDi4, LCD-X, iSine20, HD660S, Nighthawk and since 4 days the A2c. Therefore already some experience. I was looking for a good closed one, always you just can't hear open if you don't want to bother your loved one. Had a Beyer T5p, but not at all happy with it. Heard the A1c a year ago, didn't flinch either.

Now blindly ordered the new A2c. What can I say? These things knocked me off my chair. They're so horny, they're addictive, the sound is just overwhelming. I don't know what Dan's been up to, but he's really hit the spot. I take my hat off to Dan and thank him. Totally awesome job.

Listeners are related to the Nighthak. Heights are subtle, not flashy. I hate flashy listeners. It's all there. It's clean, it's clean, it's clear, but it's not aggressive. The mids are absolutely clean, a bit distant. The bass is a dream. Very solid foundation, but the mids are not disturbing. Ingenious. A dream tuning. I don't need pads, it shouldn't be any darker. It's perfect the way it comes.

I've never been listened to anything like this before. It's hard to describe, but it's addictive, you don't want to take it off and you dream about it at night and look forward to the next morning to put it on again.

I would put it like this. A LCDi4 is the absolutely fine English lady. The A2c is the horny dirty bitch from next door from which you can't get away and you dream about it at night. Hope comes across in the translation as I mean it. But that's about right. Just really hot stuff.

Just as ingenious the construction. You can tell immediately that Dan is also practical. It's light, strong, perfectly crafted and the frame is a bomb. So simple and so ingenious. You ask yourself, why hasn't anyone thought of it before. Brilliant!

Dan, thank you so much for this phone. I am convinced that you will be successful with it and it will sell very well! Wish it from your heart. All the best to America despite Corona!

Say hello to Chris from Switzerland!

 

[waveSounds]

They're so horny

This needs to be incorporated into Dan's official marketing.

 

[thecrow]

This needs to be incorporated into Dan's official marketing.

I think he was referring to the sound of horn speakers. Surely.

 

[Reader]

How dare Dan Clark be such a person and not build his headphones to better accommodate the needs of those who want to DIY the mass-produced products. After all, they must be like, what, 0.1% of his customer base? I'll never be able to purchase any of his products now this has come to light, not until they are shipped like Lego, with each component individually wrapped. The sheer audacity of it.

To me that's not the point, it's there are other far more popular brands using mini XLR or 3.5 and high end cable are not cheap, it would indeed be nice if DCA would go with one of them so aftermarket high end cable can be shared. It's just the situation when you are a small company it pays to be on the same standard as someone else who have 10x or more market share than you.

 

[Reader]

I am trying to decide to get the closed or 1060c. Wanted a closed planar for a change.

As I can't go demo them due to COVID, I can only base on information online.

1060C is 1/3 of the price.

A2C is much lighter and much more comfortable.

So does the sound quality with the help of being more comfortable worth 3x the price?

 

[mrspeakers]

To me that's not the point, it's there are other far more popular brands using mini XLR or 3.5 and high end cable are not cheap, it would indeed be nice if DCA would go with one of them so aftermarket high end cable can be shared. It's just the situation when you are a small company it pays to be on the same standard as someone else who have 10x or more market share than you.

I consider 3.5mm to be a poor choice because it's easy to pull them out and the jacks have limited lifespans. When we started making headphones, mini-XLR was not widely used, and even now to call it a "standard" is not accurate, at all, given the number and variety of connectors on the market.

The Hirose style connector we selected is stunningly reliable, we have had one failure since we started using them 7 years ago. It also has better ergonomics than the Mini-XLR, which sticks out much further, forcing the cable to project further out over the chest, to avoid interference with the shoulder, and that increases the length and thus the effective weight of cable pulling on the headphone, decreasing comfort.

We love this connector, it's reliable as could be, has great ergonomics, and since we have sold tens of thousands of headphones and cables with it, we're not changing, as that would be a massive inconvenience to our owners. Really, I've always wondered why other vendors don't start using it, it's truly a great connector.

 

[Spie1904]

Just got my pair today and had a first listen to them.
For context my reasons for getting them were not to replace my desktop headphones at home but to pick something up that I could use in bed or take to the office and easily store away.
I have been using IEM’s for these use cases but even custom IEM’s tend to get to me as my ear canals get very itchy very fast when something is shoved into them!

These are a home run when it comes to a portable headphone that still has great audio quality and I cannot think of any other portable headphone that competes with this in terms of the combination of convenience , sound quality, the build and most importantly comfort!

I tried the aeon 1 at the time and wasn’t terribly impressed at the time but these are a marvellous product in my opinion!

Thanks @mrspeakers for bringing out this product which fills the niche for portable Great sound without violating my ear canals

 

[Reader]

Just got my pair today and had a first listen to them.
For context my reasons for getting them were not to replace my desktop headphones at home but to pick something up that I could use in bed or take to the office and easily store away.
I have been using IEM’s for these use cases but even custom IEM’s tend to get to me as my ear canals get very itchy very fast when something is shoved into them!

These are a home run when it comes to a portable headphone that still has great audio quality and I cannot think of any other portable headphone that competes with this in terms of the combination of convenience , sound quality, the build and most importantly comfort!

I tried the aeon 1 at the time and wasn’t terribly impressed at the time but these are a marvellous product in my opinion!

Thanks @mrspeakers for bringing out this product which fills the niche for portable Great sound without violating my ear canals

How does it compare with your home or main headphones?

 

[headwig]

Can anyone here say whether the Aeon 2 Closed has the same amazing sub-bass as the original Aeon Flow Closed? I have a feeling the perceived strength of the sub-bass in the AFC is related to the relatively quiet mid-bass - does the improvement in mid-bass in the A2C reduce the perceived sub-bass? Or is the sub-bass just as satisfying?

 

[Swisshead]

So guys, after my first report here was very "figurative", let me try a serious statement about the A2c.

Now I own it for a week and have listened to it for many, many hours. I have also compared it with my other listeners. This is always very interesting to give a judgement.

As mentioned in the last post, Dan has done a great job here! The handset is light, very comfortable to wear, very well made and sounds just great! Especially for a closed listener, which is even more valuable.

For me the A2c is tuned rather dark. The LCD-X is much brighter. There it is simply too much for me with many albums! Especially tracks that are already brightly tuned, you get a headache after a short time with the X. It also provides almost too much information and sometimes it is not easy to process all of them. This concerns especially live albums. This is where the A2c comes into play. The A2c never overwhelms you with the information it provides. Everything is very well maintained and reserved. Nevertheless everything is there, every sound, everything, nothing is missing! Nevertheless very relaxed. I love that very much. You can listen to music with it for hours, without headaches, without other impairments, just enjoy and immerse yourself.

What is absolutely fantastic is the bass foundation. It's always there, but not exaggerated, so far away from beats headphones! It sounds "stable". Strong, not weak. Yet absolutely precise. Not quite the kickbass of the LCD series, but powerful, clean and beautiful right into the mids. With LCD-X, it is often the case that the mids and highs are simply a little too much of the good and thus clearly drown out the bass foundation. This is definitely not the case here.

Mids and highs are very restrained. Absolutely perfect for live albums and garishly recorded tracks. On tracks where treble and midrange are rather unobtrusive, it might be a bit too little here. The singer then goes a bit into the background. But since I mainly use the ADI, this is no problem at all. As you know, the ADI has 1 million setting options. The EQ is sensational. It has 5 adjustable frequency bands. Here I set it like this, the first two no correction, the middle plus 1.5Db, the upper mids also plus 1.5Db and the highs plus 1Db. Then you mean, have a completely different listener. The singer moves back into the centre and he or she immediately becomes brighter. Perfect. It responds extremely well and sensitively to EQ settings like no other, so you never get the feeling you've done a bad job here. It always sounds as if it's from "factory". That's also nice, with aggressive live albums you take the EQ out and with rather reserved recordings you add it back in. Also the stage gets a little wider with the EQ setting.

But basically a tuning exactly to my taste! I love it. I like headphones that are tuned rather reservedly. Extremely nice, too, as it responds to very slight EQ corrections. So you have all possibilities to perfect the whole thing depending on the track.

If I had tuned the headphones for the production, I would have given him a little bit more in the upper mids and highs. That would have been the icing on the cake. It would have taken very little.

But even so, by a huge margin the best closed headphones I have ever heard! A T5p can be thrown away against it. Especially in this price range you get really great cinema here!

If you would like to know how it sounds compared to my other headphones, just ask me. Then try to give a rating.

Thanks again to Dan, excellent performance!