As an amplifier able to provide 300 mW at 16 Ohms, it will drove the noires up to 110 dB peak level. Well, it depends on your listening level, but 110 dB peak level is really loud.
Dan Clark Audio Aeon 2 Noire Discussion/Impressions Thread
- Thread starter phillyd
- Start date
Yes, Schiit Fulla E should drive Aeon 2 Noire quite easily.
From Schiit Fulla E’s specs I calculated ca. 244 mW into Noires 13 Ohm (*1).
Sufficient for 115 dBSL peak level.
Dynamic music has a peak to average ratio of about 20 dB, so you would get ca. 95 dBSL average at least.
This is 10 dB more than any recommendation for healthy long term listening level.
(*1) Calculations based on Fulla E‘s 300 mW into 16 Ohm current delivery, in reality it might even be a bit more into Noire’s 13 Ohm.
Finally a dB more or less wouldn’t make a difference.
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spatialjam
New Head-Fier
Thanks for the info and help, I appreciate it. Doing a bit of research and it seems like the Noire's pads have had issues for a while now. I've ordered a pair from Amazon but I'm not sure if they'll come with the improved pads. If anything, D&C customer support would just send me the revised pads I'm assuming?
spatialjam
New Head-Fier
My A2C Noire came in yesterday and the product box itself was torn on the side with the insides being visible. Security tape was untouched but I still didn’t like that. Opened it up anyway to try and I think my weird headphone journey has finally come to an end, at least for the time being.
The Noire sounds incredible right out of the box and I personally don’t feel the need to EQ at all. In some content and music, the upper highs have gotten a bit spicy, but I can just drop the black foam in to dampen them a tiny bit if I really needed to. My Fulla E drives them just fine but I’ll pick up a Magni Heretic just to be safe.
The headphones are built like a tank and they’re so comfortable on my head, and I’ve got a big one. The Beyerdynamic DT 700 Pro X didn’t fit my head well enough to produce a good seal, which disappointed me because I also liked how they sounded and this also meant that the Beyer headband design would never work with my head. I’m glad that Noire does, and so perfectly at that. My earpads already show a tiny bit of deformation out of the box though, and the certificate says that the headphones were checked in April 2023, so I’m not really sure what’s going on there. Maybe the pads will hold up better over time, or maybe they’re still the old ones. Who knows.
As for the packaging itself, I’m not sure what to do about it yet. I might return and exchange because at $900 usd for a new item, it’s unacceptable. All that aside, the Noire to me is near perfect. They completely fulfill my closed back needs and I feel like I can trust DCA to have my back if I need replacement parts. The pads are still a problem though…
The Noire sounds incredible right out of the box and I personally don’t feel the need to EQ at all. In some content and music, the upper highs have gotten a bit spicy, but I can just drop the black foam in to dampen them a tiny bit if I really needed to. My Fulla E drives them just fine but I’ll pick up a Magni Heretic just to be safe.
The headphones are built like a tank and they’re so comfortable on my head, and I’ve got a big one. The Beyerdynamic DT 700 Pro X didn’t fit my head well enough to produce a good seal, which disappointed me because I also liked how they sounded and this also meant that the Beyer headband design would never work with my head. I’m glad that Noire does, and so perfectly at that. My earpads already show a tiny bit of deformation out of the box though, and the certificate says that the headphones were checked in April 2023, so I’m not really sure what’s going on there. Maybe the pads will hold up better over time, or maybe they’re still the old ones. Who knows.
As for the packaging itself, I’m not sure what to do about it yet. I might return and exchange because at $900 usd for a new item, it’s unacceptable. All that aside, the Noire to me is near perfect. They completely fulfill my closed back needs and I feel like I can trust DCA to have my back if I need replacement parts. The pads are still a problem though…
parawizard
100+ Head-Fier
I use mine on an apple dongle 100% of the time despite having more power available. Haven't been able to hear a difference. I have other headphones that are much much harder to drive than these.
Is there actually a pad revision from DCA to address the deformation? If there are and someone has them, what did they change to address it?
spatialjam
New Head-Fier
This was from https://www.head-fi.org/threads/is-the-aeon-padgate-finally-coming-to-an-end.964788/ from September 2022. It's been a while now so I'm not sure how the rollout on these improved pads have gone, if at all.
I‘d suggest to directly contact DCA about the issues with the packaging and the earpads.
I bet they‘re helping you out one way or the other.
Meanwhile enjoy your Aeon 2 Noire
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spatialjam
New Head-Fier
I sent mine back to Amazon and am planning to reorder directly from DCA. Hopefully this time it’ll come in one piece. I like my boxesI‘d suggest to directly contact DCA about the issues with the packaging and the earpads.
I bet they‘re helping you out one way or the other.
Meanwhile enjoy your Aeon 2 Noire
Inju
100+ Head-Fier
I just bought these and received them last night, because I needed a closed back over ear headphone for bedtime to not distrube the gf. The good news, they sound pretty amazing. The bad news, they are bright and very shrill listening to vocal music such as Lewis Capaldi Wish You the Best. I actually can't use them in the stock form listening to this song, because the vocals are just to shrill and hurt listening to. Please keep in mind that I am used to the Drop HD6xx and PC38x. To help with the shrill music, I'm using the white filter with the black foam filter over the white, and it seems to have made it less uncomfortable, but it's not perfect. It also looks better since the white inside the earpads was gratting my aesthetics of the noire.
I realize that there is some "headphone brain" burn in so I listened to these for four hours before comparing them to my Drop HD6xx. The weidest thing happened. The Drop HD6xx mid bass sounds muddy now and veiled. I've never thought the HD6xx as ever sounding muddy and unclear before, but after my "headphone brain" burn in period with the Dan Clarks, the HD6xx mid bass did. The cymbal and high hat drums on the Dan Clark are the most realistic I've ever heard but seem to loud as well. I'll likely keep these, as they may be the best closed backed headphones I've heard so far after "headphone brain" burn in and sound better to me then the HD6xx for a lot of music I listen to.
As a side note, I actually prefer the Drop PC38x to the HD6xx and the Dan Clark, which doesn't get enough love but are open back.
I realize that there is some "headphone brain" burn in so I listened to these for four hours before comparing them to my Drop HD6xx. The weidest thing happened. The Drop HD6xx mid bass sounds muddy now and veiled. I've never thought the HD6xx as ever sounding muddy and unclear before, but after my "headphone brain" burn in period with the Dan Clarks, the HD6xx mid bass did. The cymbal and high hat drums on the Dan Clark are the most realistic I've ever heard but seem to loud as well. I'll likely keep these, as they may be the best closed backed headphones I've heard so far after "headphone brain" burn in and sound better to me then the HD6xx for a lot of music I listen to.
As a side note, I actually prefer the Drop PC38x to the HD6xx and the Dan Clark, which doesn't get enough love but are open back.
Aeon Noire reviewed at ASR
https://audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/dan-clark-audio-aeon-2-noire-review.46055/
https://audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/dan-clark-audio-aeon-2-noire-review.46055/
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Two suggestions, to tame the treble:
• You could even use all three filters, but might find there’s not enough space left for the ear-lobes then.
Single layers of split tissue paper are good treble filters if you want to add more treble cut.
• Get used to listen a tiny bit quieter than before.
Subjectively the treble will sound less, and it’s even better for you ear-health, a fact that should not be under-estimated.
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And here’s DCA’s comment, measurements of the filters and an EQ suggestion, worth to read:
https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...-audio-aeon-2-noire-review.46055/post-1643697
Something I don’t understand is the original reviewer’s claim:
“My RME ADI-2 Pro was just good enough. I could crank it to max volume at +6 dB to get loud but then I had no headroom left (i.e. ability to drive the headphone to clipping).”
I have both, Aeon 2 Noire and RME ADI-2 Pro.
If I bring up ADI-2 Pro to +6 dB there’s no way I could even put Aeon 2 Noire on my ears.
The resulting loudness is like standing next to a steam hammer, my personal listening level would be at least 40 dB (!) less.
If this is where these “hard to drive” and “multi-watt power amps needed” claims come from, I do understand that some people must be (or soon become) half-to-almost-fully deaf.
It’s simply crazy IMO.
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kennyb123
1000+ Head-Fier
The only downside to owning the DCA Noire has been the occasional post on here mocking those who say they appreciate the Noires driven by more capable amplifiers. I finally took advantage of the ignore button.
That's right, any statement about the power needed to drive a headphone should be put in context by stating what the maximum listening volume is, measured in dBC (unweighted). For example, my maximum volume does not exceed 85 dBC for pop/rock or 90 dBC for classical. In this context the Noires are easy to amplify, both with the Fiio K5 Pro and the Topping A30 Pro. In both cases I use the medium gain (0 dB).
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