[shenanbay]

If anyone buys it they'll be pretty happy IMO. I love mine with the AFO.

Same I loved how good it sounded. It doesn't color the sound, but it makes it sound fuller

 

[franz12]

LOL. I am broke. Just bought a Mjolnir a few days ago and a Gumby like 5 minutes ago. I'll check it out man as I need to start looking at pennies saved.

Man, your rigs are growing too fast! I started downsizing due to some recent purchases. I had to sell my Hugo (at a considerable loss) to finance them. Now, I have to replace it with a cheap $200 dac (Topping D50, ESS9038Q2Mx2). According to the author at audiosciencereview.com, it measures very well, but reviews are scarce. Kinda rabbit hole again..

 

[koover]

Any more specific impressions of the Mjolnir?

I'd love to give some more impressions with AFO but it's just still so new to me. I did give a few thoughts only after a few hours of listening on the Mjolnir2 thread. So far it sounds excellent and quite a step up from the LYR2. It's already exceeding my expectations. Just after a few hours of headtime though, the AFO has never sounded better.
To note, I'm also running through SE so once I upgrade to a balanced cable, hopefully I'll hear the difference everyone is talking about. After a few days, I'll leave some impressions with AFO.

 

[IkSak]

After what @koover said about the pairing of the AFO with the LYR2 these are very interesting words. Let us know your impressions about that. So far, one of the things that so far seems to be the consensus in the forum is that the AFO likes tubes

 

[LepakVT]

Apologies if my Search-Fu is lacking, but has anyone done any direct comparisons of the AFO on the Jotunheim and Lyr 3? Currently have the Jotunheim but hearing many good things about the pairing Lyr 3!

 

[mrspeakers]

Jotenheim with multibit sounds great. Lyr 3 multibit is more to my taste, has a softenmore spacious tube sound. Haven’t tried rolling tubes in it but stock tube seems pretty good...

 

[TheMiddleSky]

Been using AFO for few months now. Warm and inviting still 2 words that I think describe AFO perfectly.

It's hard to sleep on time at night these days.

Pair it in balance cable to Questyle CMA600i, it does help push the soundstage wider and producing more realism depth and height compare to single ended.

 

[skyline315]

Jotenheim with multibit sounds great. Lyr 3 multibit is more to my taste, has a softenmore spacious tube sound. Haven’t tried rolling tubes in it but stock tube seems pretty good...

The stock tube isn't a bad match for the AFO at all. Some call it dry and lean, but as the AFO isn't either of those things, the synergy seems to work well.

 

[IkSak]

After some A/B of the AFO with the schiit Vali 2 and the Magni 3 I must say that the latter is a good pairing for the AFO and that it opens its soundstage a bit. However, despite the Magni 3 merits, the AFO sounds way more engaging with the Vali 2.

After looking at the comments by many members in this forum and based on my own experience, it seems that the AFO likes tubes. So, I wonder and I ask @mrspeakers if this is an unplanned consequence or did you have this in mind during the design process?

 

[deutschemark]

That's a good question!

 

[mrspeakers]

We voice headphones across solid state, hybrid and tube gear. I generally prefer tube and hybrid designs, they sound more natural to my ear, and I think that AEON (and other really good headphones) just make the benefit of tubes more obvious. Others will doubtless think its heresy and tell me I just like "tube distortion," but that's not it at all.

 

[franz12]

Good things are keep coming.
Monolith Liquid Platinum Headphone Amplifier by Alex Cavalli
https://www.monoprice.com/product?c...utm_medium=11051853&utm_term=VigLink2-2917105

If they correctly implemented the design of Cavalli Liquid Crimson, it must sound very good. ETA 6/26/2018.

 

[IkSak]

We voice headphones across solid state, hybrid and tube gear. I generally prefer tube and hybrid designs, they sound more natural to my ear, and I think that AEON (and other really good headphones) just make the benefit of tubes more obvious. Others will doubtless think its heresy and tell me I just like "tube distortion," but that's not it at all.

Thanks a lot Dan! It's great that an HP designer shares that kind of things with its users. Now lots of things about headphone-amp pairings make a lot of sense to me since they depend a lot on the preferences of whose tuning them

 

[Karl2009]

I have received my AFO's today. Been only playing music for a few hours, but I can already say that my quest for HD650 upgrade has concluded. Until I get Utopia that is.

A brief comparison to other headphones I already own plus some loaners, playing through Mojo, Hugo 2 and UD505:
HD650 - classic, really shines with Hugo 2. Pros: Light, very realistic and balanced sound, all instruments and vocals sound as they should. Cons: Not overly detailed, rolled off on both ends.
TH-X00 - Pros: Superb bass. Cons: Superb bass, recessed mids, high pitched vocals can get a bit shouty. Conslusion: Not really an upgrade from 650 due to overly emphasized bass basically and a bit unbalanced sound.
Elear - Pros: Superb dynamics, good bass, OK detail. Cons: Weird highs, rough guitars and unrealistic piano, mids suckout, heavy. Conslusion: Not really an upgrade from 650 due to boosted and unrealistic dynamics, unbalanced sound, weird mids and highs.
Clear - Pros: Superb dynamics, good bass, good balance, fine detail, superb clarity, great extension on both ends. Cons: Still a bit weird highs, unrealistic guitars and strings in general, heavy. Conslusion: Not an upgrade from 650 due to some instrument distortion. My ears also get pretty tired of the sound after 2-3 hours (hot highs?)
T1 v2 - Pros: Great balance, good dynamics, no distortion, clarity, fine detail. Cons: Driver imbalance (!) Conclusion: This could very well be the HD650 upgrade if you get one with balanced drivers. In my case they were not - and given the fact that it's not an isolated incident for Beyer, I gave up on T1.
GH-1 - Pros: Great clarity, fine detail, good bass, good extension on both ends. Cons: A bit hot highs at times, a tad slow at times. Conclusion: Due to the hot highs it's not an upgrade to HD650.
AFO - Pros: Good clarity, good dynamics, fine detail, very good bass, good extension on both ends, balanced sound. Cons: None compared to HD650. Conclusion: True upgrade to HD650 in all aspects to my ears. Super comfortable too.
Utopia - Pros: Smokes them all in all aspects. Cons: Price. Conclusion: Upgrade to both HD650 and AFO.

I am happy the upgrade path is very clear for me - and until I save up for Utopia, I'll submerge to AFO bliss powered by Mojo / Hugo 2. I'm very happy with my AFO purchase. Kudos to Mr. Speakers team for building this special headphone.

Designed, built and tested in USA rocks!

I wanted to do more trials before doing any comment as I have the AFO just one day, but I agree with your assessment.
First I liked was the correct extension in bass and treble, I have removed the filters as the white coming inside was reducing the treble. Noticeable even if it is not appreciated in the innerfidely comparative charts.
Without any filter the voices are a bit recessed and I would reduce a bit some low frequencies (maybe 100-400hz) but this headphones are spectacular and sound-price relation is formidable.
I was trying the week before the Audeze Sine and the difference is really vast.

I will try to do my own filters to tune them before using any eq to adapt to my taste. I would like to know if somebody has tested any material to reduce a bit the bass.

 

[abvolt]

Good things are keep coming.
Monolith Liquid Platinum Headphone Amplifier by Alex Cavalli
https://www.monoprice.com/product?c...utm_medium=11051853&utm_term=VigLink2-2917105

If they correctly implemented the design of Cavalli Liquid Crimson, it must sound very good. ETA 6/26/2018.

I'll be taking a look also..