David A Silva
Headphoneus Supremus
For portability, I like the economical ifi hip dac 2, drives the Aeon Closed X very well.
Is the Aeon #padgate finally coming to an end?
- Thread starter audioandy
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LaputanMachine
New Head-Fier
Any non-portable recommendations? I'm using mine solely for my Desktop PC.
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- Feb 21, 2003
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I use my Aeon RT Closed (almost the same model) with a Schiit Magni Heretic. Works great. I use medium gain most of the time, and if I go much past noon or 1 o'clock on the dial without EQ -- or 2 o'clock with EQ -- it'll get too loud for me. I wouldn't think most people would need high gain on that amp with Aeon X/RT. YMMV.
In an effort to keep this on thread topic, I'll add that pad issues continue to be "not a big deal" for me. I occasionally check and twist them back into shape if needed, but it doesn't happen a lot and has never caused audible issues.
Come to think of it, I had my Aeon RTs serviced a few months ago due to a channel imbalance developing. Since their return, I'm not sure I've had to do anything with the pads even once. I don't know if anything was done do them or they were replaced or what, so take it with a grain of salt, but they've been fantastic since I got them back.
In an effort to keep this on thread topic, I'll add that pad issues continue to be "not a big deal" for me. I occasionally check and twist them back into shape if needed, but it doesn't happen a lot and has never caused audible issues.
Come to think of it, I had my Aeon RTs serviced a few months ago due to a channel imbalance developing. Since their return, I'm not sure I've had to do anything with the pads even once. I don't know if anything was done do them or they were replaced or what, so take it with a grain of salt, but they've been fantastic since I got them back.
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David A Silva
Headphoneus Supremus
Personally I have used both a JDS Element 3 and an RME ADI2 fs, with excellent results.
LaputanMachine
New Head-Fier
Damn, those are expensive. Guess I should just stick with my FiiO K7 recommendation then? lol
David A Silva
Headphoneus Supremus
It should be fine. A step up from the Hip dac2.
parawizard
100+ Head-Fier
Cheapest next step would be a $10 Apple USB-C Dongle. You don't need tons of power for these so about anything reasonable should work. 250mW+ maybe 500mW I'd you listen very loud. I can listen loud enough with significant EQ on a (North American) Apple Dongle using APO/Peace.
Edit: I have tried on my hipdac and didn't a difference over the Apple Dongle. This is on the Noire though. Xbass was nice for EDM. Have a ES100 and Qudelix that both work as well and let me walk around with them wirelessly. I demoed these on a K7 at the store and seemed to sound pretty good.
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LaputanMachine
New Head-Fier
Interesting. I've looked around and another guy told me these headphones are not easy to drive. They said that in planar headphones, the current is the limiting factor and the Aeon Closed X at 91 db/mw are not easy to drive.
Should these headphones not be quiet when plugged into my PC then?
parawizard
100+ Head-Fier
US Apple Dongle I am sitting around 30% volume most of the time without EQ and 50% with EQ. Your PC sounds like it is much weaker. They are harder to drive but they aren't that hard to drive. I just leave it attached to the cable and I use it with my Android phone, Surface laptop, work laptop, gaming pc, etc.
LaputanMachine
New Head-Fier
Strange. I have quite a powerful PC so I'm not sure why this is happening.
I plugged it into my MacBook Pro and the audio was much louder. Not as loud as my WH-1000XM5s, but louder than this.
parawizard
100+ Head-Fier
Integrated audio on PC motherboards isn't usually very good. Nothing is wrong with your PC. Macbooks and some windows laptops do a better job. I default to using the Apple dongle because it is consistently good. Even with very efficient headphones most headphone output on motherboards I've had, including ones with audio marketing material, have all been worse than the Apple dongle. High noise floor, not enough amplification, distortion or just sounds bad.
LaputanMachine
New Head-Fier
Interesting.
I got my hands on one of my old 3.5mm to lightning dongle and plugged it into my iPhone. It sounds better than my PC but not a whole lot louder. My WH-1000XM5s were so loud that I had to keep the volume on like 10% on youtube videos because it was just too much, on these I can't hear anything below 25%. Do you think my cans are faulty?
parawizard
100+ Head-Fier
I think European Apple dongles are limited significantly compared to the North American variants. Don't think it' the headphones. My Apple dongle is an A2049.
Looks like the EU version is half of the US version.
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LaputanMachine
New Head-Fier
Ah I see. I don't think I have anyway of identifying mine, but yeah they were bought in the UK about 5ish years ago. When I plug them into my Macbook pro 2022, the sound is much better and louder. Not as loud as my WH-1000XM5s. Would an AMP get the sound as high as my old XM5s?
parawizard
100+ Head-Fier
More power means you can push them louder. Got out my work laptop which is a 2021 Macbook Pro 14. The A2049 usb-c dongle and the headphone jack are about the same volume. 30-50% would be my normal listening volume.
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