MrSpeakers AEON Flow Open - Impressions Thread
May 4, 2018 at 8:00 PM Post #1,756 of 2,583
Perhaps, a tube amp or something sound similar would be a way to go. It seems to me that Dan himself tuned them to sound best with a tube amp. At this moment, Lyr 3 seems a good option for a price. Single ended, but very powerful.

I've been using my AFO's now for a couple of weeks on a Lyr3 + Bimby stack, and EQ'd to the harman curve on JRiver-EasyQ. It really is a wonderful listening experience, excellent bass response, very nice clarity in the mids, great imaging and air. The only areas I can't quite get under control is a tiny bit too much sibilance in some highs, and not the best bass control/tightness, but this I think is just inherent in the design. Really liking these!
 
May 4, 2018 at 10:24 PM Post #1,757 of 2,583
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May 8, 2018 at 1:44 PM Post #1,758 of 2,583
May 8, 2018 at 3:19 PM Post #1,759 of 2,583
I'm sorry, I'm sure I missed this, but how does the black felt fit into the scale of dampening? Is it in between the black foam and 1-notch white?

Sure wish we could buy just that as opposed to the whole set since we already have 3/4.
+1 here for the possibility
 
May 8, 2018 at 11:51 PM Post #1,761 of 2,583
Hi and welcome!

To make the long story short: the AFO is a 11ohm 94dB sensitivity headphone. It requires some power to sound its best and the general consensus is that tubes are the best pairings. However, it sounds amazing out of many solid states amps like the Magni and even portable ones like the Cayin C5.

In your case, could you please report the output power at 16ohm of the herus+? Based on the reviews here, it should work fine
Just started researching these and reading this thread. Are these hard to drive? Can the Resonessence Lab Herus + drive them?
 
May 9, 2018 at 7:34 PM Post #1,763 of 2,583
Yes, I looked into that one. Also, there is another one:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/112477464922?var=412862822921

It looks aesthetically better, though I am unsure which one would be better in terms of quality.

I received this XLR cable (silver plated, 1.2m). I bought it during a ebay sale around $60. It is cheap, but it doesn't sound cheap. In fact, I think it is better than the stock cable. More resolving, more transparent, larger soundstage, and so on.. I highly recommend it for a person who needs a cable, but who doesn't have $$$$ on hand for cables.
 
May 9, 2018 at 8:46 PM Post #1,764 of 2,583
I've been using my AFO's now for a couple of weeks on a Lyr3 + Bimby stack, and EQ'd to the harman curve on JRiver-EasyQ. It really is a wonderful listening experience, excellent bass response, very nice clarity in the mids, great imaging and air. The only areas I can't quite get under control is a tiny bit too much sibilance in some highs, and not the best bass control/tightness, but this I think is just inherent in the design. Really liking these!

Do you mean that you're finding the upper treble sharp all around or that "S" is coming across more as a "Sss" / Cymbals as well? The upper treble sharpness should subside after 60 hours if it's the "S" come across as "Sss" then it could be the amp/tube being used.

Try the dampening pads to tone down any treble sharpness. Not sure about the sibilance as I never heard any on my AFO but changing to a darker tube may help.
 
May 9, 2018 at 9:39 PM Post #1,765 of 2,583
@rhern213, I agree with @Phantaminum that you need to burn in the AFO for it to sound properly. From memory I remember that without burn in the AFO with the white pads is similar in the trebble to no pads after some 50 hours of burn in. In addition, remember that the AFO is a 11 ohm impedance headphone and that some amplifiers in high gain have too many ohms, exceeding the 1/8 rule that gives 1.5ohm as a max. Since the Lyr gives less than 0.5 ohm (according to Schiit), you should be ok.
 
May 10, 2018 at 10:59 AM Post #1,766 of 2,583
Do you mean that you're finding the upper treble sharp all around or that "S" is coming across more as a "Sss" / Cymbals as well? The upper treble sharpness should subside after 60 hours if it's the "S" come across as "Sss" then it could be the amp/tube being used.

Try the dampening pads to tone down any treble sharpness. Not sure about the sibilance as I never heard any on my AFO but changing to a darker tube may help.

@rhern213, I agree with @Phantaminum that you need to burn in the AFO for it to sound properly. From memory I remember that without burn in the AFO with the white pads is similar in the trebble to no pads after some 50 hours of burn in. In addition, remember that the AFO is a 11 ohm impedance headphone and that some amplifiers in high gain have too many ohms, exceeding the 1/8 rule that gives 1.5ohm as a max. Since the Lyr gives less than 0.5 ohm (according to Schiit), you should be ok.

Yes exactly my observations. I did try the pad inserts and it definitely worked, but it toned down everything else a bit more than I liked, so I still preferred the sound without pads.

Either way, I decided to sell my AFO's in the end. They sound excellent, and for the price I don't think there's anything as good and well rounded. But I'm a sucker for huge open air soundstage, so I decided to let these go and now I'm sticking with my HE1000-V2 as my one and only HP's. I feel guilty having these sitting around unused.
 
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May 10, 2018 at 12:44 PM Post #1,767 of 2,583
I've been using my AFO's now for a couple of weeks on a Lyr3 + Bimby stack, and EQ'd to the harman curve on JRiver-EasyQ. It really is a wonderful listening experience, excellent bass response, very nice clarity in the mids, great imaging and air. The only areas I can't quite get under control is a tiny bit too much sibilance in some highs, and not the best bass control/tightness, but this I think is just inherent in the design. Really liking these!

Would you mind sharing your EQ settings for calibrating the AFO to the Harman curve? I'd love to try them out to hear the difference.
 
May 10, 2018 at 1:13 PM Post #1,768 of 2,583
I've been using my AFO's now for a couple of weeks on a Lyr3 + Bimby stack, and EQ'd to the harman curve on JRiver-EasyQ. It really is a wonderful listening experience, excellent bass response, very nice clarity in the mids, great imaging and air. The only areas I can't quite get under control is a tiny bit too much sibilance in some highs, and not the best bass control/tightness, but this I think is just inherent in the design. Really liking these!
Why did you not go for the AFC instead of the AFO then? The AFC is closer to the harman curve with more controlled and tighter bass, exactly what you want. For sure you have got your reasons I am just curious.
 
May 10, 2018 at 2:02 PM Post #1,769 of 2,583
Would you mind sharing your EQ settings for calibrating the AFO to the Harman curve? I'd love to try them out to hear the difference.

Definitely I'll post it when I get home.

Why did you not go for the AFC instead of the AFO then? The AFC is closer to the harman curve with more controlled and tighter bass, exactly what you want. For sure you have got your reasons I am just curious.

Those things I mentioned don't really bother me on the Opens, I'm more than happy listening to them this way. I just meant that if I could get those parts to reach that extra 5% to my liking then they would be spot on.

So before I bought them I did A/B the AFC and AFO's at the same time. I first put on the Closed and was not impressed in the slightest bit. I thought while yes they were neutral and balanced, they had all the obvious characteristics of closed HP's that just didn't do it for me. I felt like I could find equal HP's for much less than the cost of these. After that I tried the Open's and was instantly wow'd by them in comparison. Yeah they are more colored in the signature but there was no comparison to me. Across the frequency range everything in the mids to highs sounded livelier and pronounced while still adding all the open airiness of the back. And to my surprise even the bass felt stronger which I thought would be reversed. I'll gladly give up the slightly less control in bass and upper highs for everything else the Open's give you.

Just for reference my 2 other HP's at this time to compare these with were the HD6XX and LCD-2 Classics.
 
May 10, 2018 at 2:12 PM Post #1,770 of 2,583
Definitely I'll post it when I get home.



Those things I mentioned don't really bother me on the Opens, I'm more than happy listening to them this way. I just meant that if I could get those parts to reach that extra 5% to my liking then they would be spot on.

So before I bought them I did A/B the AFC and AFO's at the same time. I first put on the Closed and was not impressed in the slightest bit. I thought while yes they were neutral and balanced, they had all the obvious characteristics of closed HP's that just didn't do it for me. I felt like I could find equal HP's for much less than the cost of these. After that I tried the Open's and was instantly wow'd by them in comparison. Yeah they are more colored in the signature but there was no comparison to me. Across the frequency range everything in the mids to highs sounded livelier and pronounced while still adding all the open airiness of the back. And to my surprise even the bass felt stronger which I thought would be reversed. I'll gladly give up the slightly less control in bass and upper highs for everything else the Open's give you.

Just for reference my 2 other HP's at this time to compare these with were the HD6XX and LCD-2 Classics.
Thanks! I bought the AFO as I get a great price on them and after reading/watching all available reviews these seem to be the closest to my preference too. I still really want to hear the AFC and the LCD2C too, so I arranged an audition in a shop next Saturday (2hrs away the closest). They have the AFC and LCD2C but not the AFO. I am pretty sure I made the right choice with the AFO, but it will be fun to compare these three headphones.
 

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