[OneEyedHito]

The clamp force on the X is very similar to the Aeon 2 series. Too tight for me
My Noire X are up for sale.
https://www.head-fi.org/classifieds/dca-aeon-noire-x.79080/

Same issues here but looking for a work around.

 

[arielext]

The clamp force on the X is very similar to the Aeon 2 series. Too tight for me
My Noire X are up for sale.
https://www.head-fi.org/classifieds/dca-aeon-noire-x.79080/

You can remove a small screw from the joint in the yoke. This will ease the tension a bit. Had to do the same with my e3.

 

[jclyle]

@mrspeakers will the screw mod work on the Noire X? Is it the screw in the pic below that the adapter is pointing to?
Please let us know what the options are to reduce clamp force.

 

[jb001e9634]

I received a pair over the weekend and I'll be returning them this week. I'll explain, I use HD800s with EQ and whilst the NX (certainly straight out of the box) sound good, they can't hold a candle to the Sennheiser. This may not be a fair comparison, but the HD800s can be bought for not much more than the NX, so maybe in reality it is. Without EQ the Sennheiser isn't great for me, but with it, everything falls into place and perhaps what I'd hoped for from a new closed back can wasn't going to be realistic. The resolution, separation, staging is not there and the treble in the NX is a little hot also. I also found the ear pads a little uncomfortable on my lower jaw.

In addition I really don't like the micro phonics, some from the cable, lots (more of a ringing noise) from the metal headband and as I listen quite a lot lying down, any small movement casing contact is very distracting. To a lesser extent, I don't like the case which means storing the cable separately and connecting it each time I use them - it's a small thing, but it would bug me.

Driving them from my DACS Purity amp was easy enough (same volume on the pot as the HD800s) but using the 4.4 connection on my Fiio FA2 from my iphone caused sound to cut out on the top 2 volume settings (this dongle drives the HD800s ok without issues.

The NX is a nice bit of kit and well made, but not a keeper for me on the above basis unfortunately, I'll keep looking for a closed back to complement my Sennheisers, I was interested in the Stealth originally, but the price was prohibitive, so was hopeful with these, but it's not meant to be this time.

 

[somnam]

How does it do with metal?

Not sure if you got a proper reply to this, but I saw the DT profile pic and figured I'd dig out some of the prog in my libary

As far as tonality goes, if you saw the graphs, you know what to expect. They do pretty much everything right in that sense, although they can get bright in parts - depends on where you're coming from to an extent. It's definitely more due to the music than the sort of extra detail (in the bad way) you get with Harman EQ targets, so far from unpleasant or piercing.
Noticed this with guitars¹ and very abrasive-sounding stuff⁷ mostly, but I must honestly blame my more laid-back daily drivers (until now) entirely, so it should only take a couple days to get used to. It's a v-shape tuning after all. otherwise a pretty simple 'fix' with eq if necessary

Don't really feel like I can comment on technicalities just yet, but overall: Things you'd expect to sound massive⁶ sound pretty large, which makes it pretty impressive for a closed back as far as I know & heard (comparing to LCD-2C (C for closed)).
Definitely managed to bring out the best in some otherwise meh-sounding mixes⁵ with the package as a whole

Genre-wise I seem to be more aligned with @MillionAntz , but I think no matter where you fall on the metal spectrum, these would serve you very well.

Test tracks:
¹Black Crown Initiate - Years in Frigid Light
²Inferi - Destroyer
³Cryptodira - Self-(Affect/Efface)
⁴Rivers of Nihil - The Silent Life
⁵Fawn Limbs - The Gradience of Rescue and Exposition
⁶Humanity's Last Breath - Vittring
⁷Methwitch - Bed Full of Snakes

 

[yrstruly]

Not sure if you got a proper reply to this, but I saw the DT profile pic and figured I'd dig out some of the prog in my libary

As far as tonality goes, if you saw the graphs, you know what to expect. They do pretty much everything right in that sense, although they can get bright in parts - depends on where you're coming from to an extent. It's definitely more due to the music than the sort of extra detail (in the bad way) you get with Harman EQ targets, so far from unpleasant or piercing.
Noticed this with guitars¹ and very abrasive-sounding stuff⁷ mostly, but I must honestly blame my more laid-back daily drivers (until now) entirely, so it should only take a couple days to get used to. It's a v-shape tuning after all. otherwise a pretty simple 'fix' with eq if necessary

Don't really feel like I can comment on technicalities just yet, but overall: Things you'd expect to sound massive⁶ sound pretty large, which makes it pretty impressive for a closed back as far as I know & heard (comparing to LCD-2C (C for closed)).
Definitely managed to bring out the best in some otherwise meh-sounding mixes⁵ with the package as a whole

Genre-wise I seem to be more aligned with @MillionAntz , but I think no matter where you fall on the metal spectrum, these would serve you very well.

Test tracks:
¹Black Crown Initiate - Years in Frigid Light
²Inferi - Destroyer
³Cryptodira - Self-(Affect/Efface)
⁴Rivers of Nihil - The Silent Life
⁵Fawn Limbs - The Gradience of Rescue and Exposition
⁶Humanity's Last Breath - Vittring
⁷Methwitch - Bed Full of Snakes

Haha you’d be hard pressed to find audiophile grade headphones that Methwitch sounds good on surely! Absolutely insane album that one.

 

[somnam]

Haha you’d be hard pressed to find audiophile grade headphones that Methwitch sounds good on surely! Absolutely insane album that one.

The ceiling there is very low indeed, but it gets ever so slightly more listenable once you reach 'mid-fi' with some semblance of detail & the more familiar you are with it cough sitting on 1500 plays on that album cough. Makes for a decent benchmark no matter what!

 

[MillionAntz]

Not sure if you got a proper reply to this, but I saw the DT profile pic and figured I'd dig out some of the prog in my libary

As far as tonality goes, if you saw the graphs, you know what to expect. They do pretty much everything right in that sense, although they can get bright in parts - depends on where you're coming from to an extent. It's definitely more due to the music than the sort of extra detail (in the bad way) you get with Harman EQ targets, so far from unpleasant or piercing.
Noticed this with guitars¹ and very abrasive-sounding stuff⁷ mostly, but I must honestly blame my more laid-back daily drivers (until now) entirely, so it should only take a couple days to get used to. It's a v-shape tuning after all. otherwise a pretty simple 'fix' with eq if necessary

Don't really feel like I can comment on technicalities just yet, but overall: Things you'd expect to sound massive⁶ sound pretty large, which makes it pretty impressive for a closed back as far as I know & heard (comparing to LCD-2C (C for closed)).
Definitely managed to bring out the best in some otherwise meh-sounding mixes⁵ with the package as a whole

Genre-wise I seem to be more aligned with @MillionAntz , but I think no matter where you fall on the metal spectrum, these would serve you very well.

Test tracks:
¹Black Crown Initiate - Years in Frigid Light
²Inferi - Destroyer
³Cryptodira - Self-(Affect/Efface)
⁴Rivers of Nihil - The Silent Life
⁵Fawn Limbs - The Gradience of Rescue and Exposition
⁶Humanity's Last Breath - Vittring
⁷Methwitch - Bed Full of Snakes

. You seem to be spot on with our tastes being aligned since I listen to 2/3 of the bands listed in your test tracks

 

[yrstruly]

The ceiling there is very low indeed, but it gets ever so slightly more listenable once you reach 'mid-fi' with some semblance of detail & the more familiar you are with it cough sitting on 1500 plays on that album cough. Makes for a decent benchmark no matter what!

Yes I can imagine your LCD 2 just about works with it. Might see how the LCD 3 handles it later actually...

1,500 plays...yikes! Love how the most abrasive music can start sounding catchy after a lot of listens. Calculating Infinity is practically pop music to me now.

 

[mrspeakers]

@mrspeakers will the screw mod work on the Noire X? Is it the screw in the pic below that the adapter is pointing to?
Please let us know what the options are to reduce clamp force.

The clamp force on the X is very similar to the Aeon 2 series. Too tight for me
My Noire X are up for sale.
https://www.head-fi.org/classifieds/dca-aeon-noire-x.79080/

Same issues here but looking for a work around.

Yes, the screw adjustment for E3 gimbals also applies to any of our folding headbands. You simply remove the set black set-screw on the inside of the lower gimbal arm. Obviously you want to save the set screws but if they ever get lost we can replace.

 

[hm42]

I received a pair over the weekend and I'll be returning them this week. I'll explain, I use HD800s with EQ and whilst the NX (certainly straight out of the box) sound good, they can't hold a candle to the Sennheiser. This may not be a fair comparison, but the HD800s can be bought for not much more than the NX, so maybe in reality it is. Without EQ the Sennheiser isn't great for me, but with it, everything falls into place and perhaps what I'd hoped for from a new closed back can wasn't going to be realistic. The resolution, separation, staging is not there and the treble in the NX is a little hot also. I also found the ear pads a little uncomfortable on my lower jaw.

In addition I really don't like the micro phonics, some from the cable, lots (more of a ringing noise) from the metal headband and as I listen quite a lot lying down, any small movement casing contact is very distracting. To a lesser extent, I don't like the case which means storing the cable separately and connecting it each time I use them - it's a small thing, but it would bug me.

Driving them from my DACS Purity amp was easy enough (same volume on the pot as the HD800s) but using the 4.4 connection on my Fiio FA2 from my iphone caused sound to cut out on the top 2 volume settings (this dongle drives the HD800s ok without issues.

The NX is a nice bit of kit and well made, but not a keeper for me on the above basis unfortunately, I'll keep looking for a closed back to complement my Sennheisers, I was interested in the Stealth originally, but the price was prohibitive, so was hopeful with these, but it's not meant to be this time.

For a Sennheiser sound closed-back, have you tried HD-620s?

 

[TheRealDz]

I received a pair over the weekend and I'll be returning them this week. I'll explain, I use HD800s with EQ and whilst the NX (certainly straight out of the box) sound good, they can't hold a candle to the Sennheiser. This may not be a fair comparison, but the HD800s can be bought for not much more than the NX, so maybe in reality it is. Without EQ the Sennheiser isn't great for me, but with it, everything falls into place and perhaps what I'd hoped for from a new closed back can wasn't going to be realistic. The resolution, separation, staging is not there and the treble in the NX is a little hot also. I also found the ear pads a little uncomfortable on my lower jaw.

In addition I really don't like the micro phonics, some from the cable, lots (more of a ringing noise) from the metal headband and as I listen quite a lot lying down, any small movement casing contact is very distracting. To a lesser extent, I don't like the case which means storing the cable separately and connecting it each time I use them - it's a small thing, but it would bug me.

Driving them from my DACS Purity amp was easy enough (same volume on the pot as the HD800s) but using the 4.4 connection on my Fiio FA2 from my iphone caused sound to cut out on the top 2 volume settings (this dongle drives the HD800s ok without issues.

The NX is a nice bit of kit and well made, but not a keeper for me on the above basis unfortunately, I'll keep looking for a closed back to complement my Sennheisers, I was interested in the Stealth originally, but the price was prohibitive, so was hopeful with these, but it's not meant to be this time.

I received mine over the weekend, to be used as a closed back alternative to my HD800S. I agree that they were a bit harsh out of the box. However, I left them playing overnight and they are mellowing out nicely. I suspect that after about 200 hours they will sound even better (my experience with most equipment - especially headphones).

I disagree about them not holding a candle to the HD800S though. While still not as smooth as the HD800S, the Noire X is already very spacious and layered, with excellent separation.

Don't miss your return window if the total package isn't to your liking. But have patience for them to burn in.

 

[jb001e9634]

I received mine over the weekend, to be used as a closed back alternative to my HD800S. I agree that they were a bit harsh out of the box. However, I left them playing overnight and they are mellowing out nicely. I suspect that after about 200 hours they will sound even better (my experience with most equipment - especially headphones).

I disagree about them not holding a candle to the HD800S though. While still not as smooth as the HD800S, the Noire X is already very spacious and layered, with excellent separation.

Don't miss your return window if the total package isn't to your liking. But have patience for them to burn in.

Have you noticed the micro phonics and particularly the metal headband?

 

[roskodan]

Unpopular opinion but here’s my take on this thread.

• Breakthrough price of “only” $999 ? When did $999 for a pair of headphones become cheap ? Sure it’s comparatively cheaper to the other models of this brand but a 1000 US dollars is not nothing for headphones, no matter the brand or technology.
• Some people are obviously exaggerating here. The headphones have just released. If they received an early review sample then that explains all the highly positive comments.
• Last but not least this one costs the same as an HE1000 Stealth. Make what you will of that as you wish

Welcome in 2024...

Unfortunately

ps. Yes, I do remember the day when HD800 price in 2009 was summit fi. Look where we landed...

Tell us about that... But I think I'll wait for those 300 € metamaterial DCA headphones, with even more improved performance

One has to take into account DCA is a boutique manufacturer. Sennheiser, Hifiman, Focal and such are much more standardized and serialized in manufacturing. Hifiman benefits from manufacturing in China on top of that.

The main issues for me is the low efficiency, high mechanical damping of the DCA planar driver.

As for using the metamaterial to fine tune the response to a target response curve, while it's very practical for the user that want such feature out of the box, the price hike from a base DCA planar model to a metamaterial tuned DCA planar may not be worth it for those that can use PEQ.

The DCA metamaterial tuned headphones are more like speciality headphones for those that want a highly response curve compliant headphone out of the box.

As for what is right for one's ear, especially in audiophile terms, there is no response curve for that.

What's great for DCA is the posibility to sell custom metamaterial tuned headphones to professionals and enthusias willing to pay a hefty premium for that.

 

[Conan1974]

Yup. The new pads, and aeon pads going back ~6 months, all have stabilized foam. For best pad life always store with the foam spacers that come with the headphones,

Just few woords.
I just want to congratulate the Aeon 2 Open headphone. Was never considering them, but last week went to a store and listened to them.
Man, i was surprised how good they sounded, the look and amazing comfort. Sounded as good as couple of times more expencive cans. My opinion.
Has the Aeon X bigger ear openings than the Aeon 2 Noire?
Succes with the new baby