[BS5711]

I agree. Got both as well. I use the Shuoer S12 with my smartphone. Easy enough to drive and sound remarkable good. I don't use a Equilizer with them.

Nice … yes I really enjoy the S12, extraordinary value, no EQ here either.

 

[BassicScience]

I sold the Stealth because they were perfect for my taste but that bass response was anemic. And i am not a bass head. Not in favour of eq e, expecially with 4k hp. I was wondering how much i would miss with the noire after owning the stealth. Don care about Soundstage but i am very treble sensitive. And stealth had one of the best treble response i have ever listened to.

I've never owned the Stealth, but have auditioned it a handful of times on various amps/DACs. Completely agree that the tuning is superb, but the weak bass is a deal-breaker. I think the Aeon 2 Noire has a great overall tuning for a closed back headphone (particularly at its price!), but it doesn't have quite the refinement or resolution of the Stealth. Whether or not it'll work for you is hard to predict. I don't listen to mine all that much, as I rarely need a closed back. In any case, I don't find the Noire's treble to be strident at all, FWIW.

 

[tcellguy]

Yes, I had the paint issue, but not the case problem.

Get in contact with Sue at DCA. They will fix that for you at no cost (they pay return shipping).

How have the ear pads been for you?

OK thanks. I'll contact them if it gets much worse.

I actually found that I prefer solid pads on the Noire (basically making them an Aeon 2). I'm currently using the Dekoni sheepskin solid pads and they have not deformed much, maybe a bit of right greater than left flattening. vs. the Noire fenestrated pads you get more midrange, soundstage, and reduced bass and treble. I can use these without the damping filters.

I also have the AFO/AFC generation 1 and Aeon RT and those stock pads to deform a but, but its very variable. One pad on one headphone is pretty deformed but hasn't bothered me that much. The ones on my other Aeons are still very solid.

It's always the right pad that deforms for me and not the left, so I think the way some people's heads interact with the pad that may determine how much deformation occurs.

 

[rudbeard]

Any Aeon Noire owners also have Shuoer S12 IEM ?

I have both the 7hz Timeless and the S12 (which both use the same driver but the Timeless has a little bit of foam to bring the treble down) and they both have a pleasant tuning but I actually prefer the Timeless both for the treble and ergonomics.

I don't think the Timeless or S12 sound exactly like the Noire. The low-bass and sub-bass are more accentuated on the IEMs. Mid treble is more accentuated on the IEMs. The 7hz Timeless was less spicy in the treble than the S12 and sound more like the Noires but on the stock pads I remember the treble being. I have the Dekoni Sheepskin on my Noires right now and they do muck with the tonality, especially in the bass and high treble.

 

[BS5711]

I have both the 7hz Timeless and the S12 (which both use the same driver but the Timeless has a little bit of foam to bring the treble down) and they both have a pleasant tuning but I actually prefer the Timeless both for the treble and ergonomics.

I don't think the Timeless or S12 sound exactly like the Noire. The low-bass and sub-bass are more accentuated on the IEMs. Mid treble is more accentuated on the IEMs. The 7hz Timeless was less spicy in the treble than the S12 and sound more like the Noires but on the stock pads I remember the treble being. I have the Dekoni Sheepskin on my Noires right now and they do muck with the tonality, especially in the bass and high treble.

Sure, I did say a lot like it at a casual listen, I certainly didn’t say exactly the same.

Obviously it is very subjective and tips and pads will impact the sound.

To me, S12 with silicone tips that came Shanling ME700 and Noire with stock pads, both off ifi Diablo, the S12 sound less emphasised in the bass but probably a little more capable in the sub bass when the music really has sub bass. To me the mid range and treble are quite similar, again just casual listening to music not listening carefully studying them both for differences.

Given the price difference the fact that the S12 is even close to the Noire makes them great value in my book. I treated mine to a Kinera Dromi cable upgrade, just for its exceptional looks !

 

[ngd3]

Can anyone recommend a decent 4.4mm cable to use with the Noire? Or have one for sale?

 

[SolarCetacean]

I've enjoyed using my Hart Audio cable. Not too expensive, it looks nice, and it's supple and not stiff at all. And the modularity is pretty useful, both in terms of connectors and length. I generally prefer shorter cables, but I do some living room listening as well, and the modularity makes it easy to add to the length of the cable while keeping the same wire config, look, and feel.

 

[Random Lunatic]

Yeah weakpoint compared to some dynamic headphones I listened to. But not compared to other magneplanars I listened to. The weakest of the weak here was the hifiman Ananda. It just compressed like crazy when trying to increase volume.

I currently demo the DCA Aeon 2 Noire and the Ether C flow. Sadly for the wallet I do preferr the Ether C. Though it´s not healthy really want to blast them to sound their best. Listening to Highest hope by nightwish on the kennerton Magni that song start low and just grow and grow in dynamics until you explode in eargasms. The DCA:s reach a shelf where they don´t get anymore dynamic. Still there is certainly drive and punch in them they are certainly no slouch and sound quality is just better. But with my magni my glasses is on the floor and my forehead is hitting the desk and all kind of crazy things happen . It has a very similar tonal balance to the noire but it just so good at letting loose. I have yet to connect the planars to my speaker amp. I just want to imagine 5W is enough to drive them.

Now they do have drive and dynamics and nightwish do rock with them this is just relative

As for the Noire the only thing I do kind of preferr with them is that they feel more tonally stable and never thin. Ether C I can sometimes feel sounding a bit thin in the mid range at lower volumes but the Noire is always staying true. However it sound a bit congested compared to the Ether C Flow and Magni and with the black filter massively overdamped. I can only ever listen to the noire without the filters.

This has also been my experience with DCA… I really wish they didn’t have that perceived lack of energy or slam. Because I keep wanting a pair due to the build quality and look/feel, but the sound just doesn’t hold up when compared to other cans without the hammered punch or sense of transients.

 

[Kevintj604]

Can anyone recommend a decent 4.4mm cable to use with the Noire? Or have one for sale?

I have one for sale

https://www.head-fi.org/classifieds/dan-clark-audio-vivo-super-premium-headphone-cable-4-4mm.34533/

 

[BlankName]

I finally decided to get the Noire a couple of days ago. After a bit of fiddling with Oratory's EQ, I noticed that turning it on would make some parts of songs cleaner, less midbass muddying things up, but the mids sounded more compressed and the overall sound was darker??? Some searching around later and I saw that Oratory's graph of it is different in the EQ sheet compared to it on Oratory Grapher and everything made more sense. Typically, for me at least, too much pinna gain compresses the sound and the eq sheet shows the Noire having less pinna gain than what the graph website, and my ears, tell me. And there are some other small discrepancies. To sum it up, I changed the eq profile to have less filters and focus on cleaning up the bass and mids. There are some other filters you can add but its too high-q to bother rn. These are just my preliminary findings.

Preamp Gain: -5.8 dB

Filter Type	Frequency	Gain	Q-Factor	BW
Peak	40	-3.2	1.0	1.39
Peak	150	-5.9	1.1	1.27
Low_Shelf	105	6	0.71
Peak	180	2.3	2.0	0.71
Peak	850	1.6	1.8	0.79

 

[BlankName]

After some more tweaking I've got it to where I want it to be. Bass is lessened but is more balanced and hits harman very close except there's a bit more energy below 65hz. Some holes have been filled in the pinna gain and sibilance has been reduced a bit resulting in a much more cohesive and clear sound, and maybe soundstage has expanded a tiny bit. I had to add a bunch of filters to maintain the changes in FR to where they need to be, and the preamp gain has lowered too as a result which is nice. If Q values are needed just look up a bandwidth to Q factor calculator. I'm now beyond satisfied with it and how correct sounding it is.

 

[Maxcorv]

How is the leakage of the noire? This is very important for me . Thank you very much

 

[ahmonge]

How is the leakage of the noire? This is very important for me . Thank you very much

Listening to at 80 dB average, very low leakage but not zero. If you get close to the listener, you’re able to hear some faint sound.

 

[dancehall]

Hi,

I can't choose between the following headphones:

• Sony MDR-Z7M2
• Dan Clark Audio Aeon 2 Noire
• Audeze LCD-2 (Classic Closed New)

I can find them all three at the same average price. I need the less leakage as possible. For home use only. I'm open to get a new amp/DAC as well (I now own a Aune X1). I'm trying to get more into audio stuff at the moment but I don't know much. So what do you think about these 3 pairs of headphones? I don't really know what kind of signature I'd like to have. I've been using Beyerdynamic DT 770s since a couple of years so I'd like a bit more of "fun" I'd say (as the DT 770s are known to be more "analytic" headphones).

Thank you

 

[_daRK]

DT770 as analytic headphones? No way... I had them about 5 years ago, their sound was just dull and muffled. But I loved how comfortable they were.
My next buy in the few next months will be DCA Noire 2 (these can't be a wrong choice), LCD XC (EQ is needed), or Denon D9200. If I had to choose right now, it would be DCA, for sure!