[stenog]

I love this thing...already after what 10 hours?
Admittedly I would’ve sold it off if I’d stopped listening to it after the first 30 minutes. I went from hearing a somewhat warm and closed in headphone to one that sounded naturally detailed with great extension in both ends of the frequency response.
Feels like one of those cans that plays well with anything you care to throw at them be that jazz, polka or progressive klezmer tunes.
The comfort and lack of weight is something that every other planar manufacturor should take notice of. Who cares if the headphone sounds wonderful if it feels like wearing a birdhouse?

Reminds me of the love child between the 650, Nighthawk and the original he400.
Great job Dan the man. All I need now is velour pads that don’t inflate the bass response.

Aeon Open is a headphone that's get better and better the more you listen to it. I've had it for 18 months and still love it. It's not perfect, no headphone are, but it does many things very well. Tonal balance and coherency is second to none and that low end is addictive

 

[Rick T.]

Aeon Open is a headphone that's get better and better the more you listen to it. I've had it for 18 months and still love it. It's not perfect, no headphone are, but it does many things very well. Tonal balance and coherency is second to none and that low end is addictive

It wants high quality power, with a stiff power supply.. It will reward you when you meet that requirement. Most portable battery powered amps or daps lose out in dynamics and clarity when the battery is halfway through or near low.. Just my humble opinion.

 

[Kammerat Rebekka]

Addictive is the right word alright. I forgot to sleep last night simply because I needed to hear Neil Young’s Zuma before turning in...and then The Future Sound Of London’s Lifeforms and King Crimson’s Discipline and on and on and on.

One thing that has changed during my time with it is the soundstage. It shapeshifts depending on what music you feed it with..as all cans do, but with the AFO it’s something else. Listen to some music with male vocals at the forefront and you get quite the intimate affair. Put on some instrumental music or better yet some Cocteau Twins with those high ethereal vocals and you get a thrillingly expansive soundstage.
Combine the two BEFORE you’ve grown accustomed to the delivery of the AFO and there’s a good chance you end up slightly confused.
Being a semi-open design (in my book that is) it also blocks out some external sounds that I strongly suspect we sometimes interweave in our perception of any openback headphones’ soundstage..and the music effectively “feels grander and airier”. It’s not part of the music though but I think the brain disagrees and simply adds on the ‘ghost in the machine’.
Aaaanyway...that all disappears when I close the window

 

[stenog]

It wants high quality power, with a stiff power supply.. It will reward you when you meet that requirement. Most portable battery powered amps or daps lose out in dynamics and clarity when the battery is halfway through or near low.. Just my humble opinion.

I use my DX150 with amp8 module, it's pretty powerful and drive them very well. Dynamic is one thing I don't miss with this setup.

I highly recommend the dx220 amp8 config, we have a few of these in house and it’s a stellar pairing. The Mojo too, but it’s a different t yep of device.

This is reply from the Aeon closed thread.

Even Dan recommend this setup, though I use DX150 and not DX220, but power output is the same.

 

[Rick T.]

I did put a qualifier - when the battery is halfway through or low.. I never

I use my DX150 with amp8 module, it's pretty powerful and drive them very well. Dynamic is one thing I don't miss with this setup.


This is reply from the Aeon closed thread.

Even Dan recommend this setup, though I use DX150 and not DX220, but power output is the same.

I should have put more emphasis on: When the battery is halfway through or Low.. But I have no direct experience with the specific Ibasso daps and module with the AFO, so that may be the exception..

 

[Kammerat Rebekka]

The more I listen to this headphone the more it enthralls me. Sure my Sundara is the more balanced can with better resolution and imaging....but it doesn’t chew through genres like a jolly John Goodman at an exclusive bacon feast.
It’s actually a little funny now that I think of it; my first foray into the (serious) headphone world was with an mdr-7506. It opened up music I knew like the back of my hand with added detail - stuff I’d never heard before...and so it went that with each new headphone/hi-fi purchase I expected yet another layer of detail and nuances to appear before my ears....yet it didn’t until I came across the hd800.
Here the other day I had a long and very meaningful talk with a longtime friend of mine who works professionally as a sound producer (television). He said that a lot of the ‘stuff’ one hears over fx an hd800 was never meant to be heard! As he mentioned: ‘how much extra enjoyment do you get out of x track because you’re able to hear the cough in the back of the studio or the squeeky noises of the drummer’s unlubricated pedal?’
Even more so, if you are listening for said things in your music..well you’re not really listening to music to begin with.

The AFO renders all music brilliantly smooth and highly enticing. I put it on my head and music just is. A couple of hours pass and I suddenly remember that i’m wearing headphones. Now that is the mark of a wonderful purveyor of sound: it gets out of the music’s way...just like my old hd580.

 

[Kammerat Rebekka]

Some scattered thoughts after listening to my Æon extensively for a good while now(Hah never thought I’d get to use an ‘æ’ over Cabeza-Phi):

• Easily the most comfortable planar I’ve ever had the experience of listening to...and comfort leads to ease of mind..that often gets it wandering, floating soaring straight into the music. The headphone has disappeared yet music still is.

• The signature reminds me a little of the Nighthawk but without the weird dip in the uppermids (that actually is extremely important to it’s overall brilliance..yet it takes some getting used to...but yeah erm this isn’t even the Hawk thread!). There’s some bloom and warmth in the bass that carries on well into the low mids, - a feature that sweetens up the overall sound of this can and also quite successfully helps it achieve the proud status of being the headphone I can always turn to when every other sounds like arse with X album.
I don’t use any of the dampening foam inserts btw. I think it sounds just lovely as it is. The sudden surge of energy in the treble is part of why the signature works so well imho. Sort of adds a little seasalt and zing to an otherwise rather chocolaty affair.

• I hear loads of detail..though not in the usual places. I think we often expect detailretrieval to happen in the high frequencies, yet what I’ve found through my recent flirtations with somewhat darker cans, is that they merely highlight other areas of the music, which in turn can come off slightly perplexing when you find yourself hearing stuff over an Ollo that you never heard over the hd800.
The AFO is like that. If you are coming from a dynamic driver where sounds often come with their own little “auras of distortion”, a planar, that also happens to be tuned slightly warm, will sound soft at first...but give the old upstairs compartment a little time to adjust, and you realise it’s all there - beautifully wrapped in liquidy planar surfaces.

• Velour pads or some hybrid with pleather a la Hifiman’s Focus pads would be my prefered choice for this can.
I have no complaints other than that and the janky jumprope cable

 

[Badas]

Some scattered thoughts after listening to my Æon extensively for a good while now(Hah never thought I’d get to use an ‘æ’ over Cabeza-Phi):

• Easily the most comfortable planar I’ve ever had the experience of listening to...and comfort leads to ease of mind..that often gets it wandering, floating soaring straight into the music. The headphone has disappeared yet music still is.

• The signature reminds me a little of the Nighthawk but without the weird dip in the uppermids (that actually is extremely important to it’s overall brilliance..yet it takes some getting used to...but yeah erm this isn’t even the Hawk thread!). There’s some bloom and warmth in the bass that carries on well into the low mids, - a feature that sweetens up the overall sound of this can and also quite successfully helps it achieve the proud status of being the headphone I can always turn to when every other sounds like arse with X album.
I don’t use any of the dampening foam inserts btw. I think it sounds just lovely as it is. The sudden surge of energy in the treble is part of why the signature works so well imho. Sort of adds a little seasalt and zing to an otherwise rather chocolaty affair.

• I hear loads of detail..though not in the usual places. I think we often expect detailretrieval to happen in the high frequencies, yet what I’ve found through my recent flirtations with somewhat darker cans, is that they merely highlight other areas of the music, which in turn can come off slightly perplexing when you find yourself hearing stuff over an Ollo that you never heard over the hd800.
The AFO is like that. If you are coming from a dynamic driver where sounds often come with their own little “auras of distortion”, a planar, that also happens to be tuned slightly warm, will sound soft at first...but give the old upstairs compartment a little time to adjust, and you realise it’s all there - beautifully wrapped in liquidy planar surfaces.

• Velour pads or some hybrid with pleather a la Hifiman’s Focus pads would be my prefered choice for this can.
I have no complaints other than that and the janky jumprope cable

Interesting you mentioned Hawk.
Hawk and Aeon O is the only two HP’s I own (Meze 99 for portable use).
Hawk was my first “I’ve found it HP”. I went through every HP before the Hawk and nothing satisfied (HD700, HD800, HD650, LCD3, LCDX and Utopia)
Eventually Aeon O surpassed the Hawk. Aeon is very close in signature but has a better soundstage and lushness.
Both are brilliant HP’s for those dark-side listeners. Listeners who like HP’s to sound like speakers.

 

[Mani ATH 87]

Interesting you mentioned Hawk.
Hawk and Aeon O is the only two HP’s I own (Meze 99 for portable use).
Hawk was my first “I’ve found it HP”. I went through every HP before the Hawk and nothing satisfied (HD700, HD800, HD650, LCD3, LCDX and Utopia)
Eventually Aeon O surpassed the Hawk. Aeon is very close in signature but has a better soundstage and lushness.
Both are brilliant HP’s for those dark-side listeners. Listeners who like HP’s to sound like speakers.

You enjoy the Audioquest Nighthawk more then the Focal Utopia? That's surprising to me.

I haven't heard the Nighthawk but I always thought it looked like a cheap headphone.

I hope to hear the Aeon Flow Open one of these days, it sounds like an amazing headphone.

 

[Badas]

You enjoy the Audioquest Nighthawk more then the Focal Utopia? That's surprising to me.

I haven't heard the Nighthawk but I always thought it looked like a cheap headphone.

I hope to hear the Aeon Flow Open one of these days, it sounds like an amazing headphone.

Yeah! I was not a fan of the Utopia. It was geared towards the HD800 crowd. Super ultra detailed that gets on your nerves.

I don’t think the Aeon is perfect but it is fun and enjoyable. When I listen that is what I want.

 

[MohawkUS]

The AFOs taught me that first impressions aren't everything. These headphones are genre dependent to the point they have become my second quickest run to the marketplace(First being the ol' HE-6. Planars now take the crown as the most & least comfortable headphones I've owned.)

When I buy new headphones the first thing I do is visit known reference tracks, stuff I've owned for a decade, not at all representative of what I'm actually listening to(Scouring new releases on Bandcamp/YouTube is my habit now.) The AFOs passed my reference metal tracks with flying colors pulling out legible basslines such as I haven't heard in years. They're the first to out resolve STAX in both bass & vocal timbre(but not transients.) All around a rocking sound with lower fatigue factor than anything I've owned in recent memory. Not so wildly tuned as I expected, they pass as neutral without a reference in hand, seem more so than the brighter Beyer & AT cans I have in hand. They outresolve both of them as well, until things get busy.

The staging killed them for me. It's small & they don't layer. It gets smaller as the music scales up. Where my reference tracks are closer to typical 'rock' where you expect an upfront sound my current tastes lean more toward atmospheric music. The Aeons can't do it justice. Where I feel that I'm missing half whats going on in these songs with my bright bassless headphones the lack of stage removes the structure from this music completely. I don't have anything in house that 'beats' the Aeons but I've returned to the R70x and taken a quality drop in every other factor to get the space back(and the R70x are close staging themselves.) From memory I prefer the Sundaras over the three headphones I have in now with the caveat they're the 2nd worst in detail and overall cleanliness. I'm willing to make great sacrifices for proper staging.

In conclusion I do recommend these IF soundstage & seperation don't factor factor in your listening. If you're unsure I'd pass on these unless you can try them out somewhere before buying. In general though they're lightweight, well built, and one of the few headphones out there which avoids suede to skin contact(I never feel fully settled with suede pads on my head, they're a constant irritant.) The sound of the Aeons is of a restrained coloration; some bass boost and some treble attenuation. It leans toward dark/warm but not enough so for me to classify it as such. Only in relation to brighter headphones do I find it more bassy and less fatiguing. In general I hear more rapid swings changing out the supporting equipment, the Aeons become quite forward & present combined with a Ragnarok amp. Clean & adaptable with one big elephant in the room, that's my verdict.

 

[znev777]

Got a pair of these, I'm liking them very much. They are relaxed and non-fatiguing without being boring with their good bass extension, general warmth, and that spicy little treble zing they have somewhere. I really like them with harsher stuff like rock and metal, or anything I find exhaustibly thumpy on my other cans. They are great for long listening sessions, and are comfortable as satan in a sauna. They sound good with just about anything and seem pretty well-rounded. I do find their speed and imaging quite nice, but the soundstage probably is the weak point, but it's good enough.

They do remind me of the nighthawks and nightowls, but are tuned much better. I also found the audioquest cans a little fatiguing somewhere in the treble, maybe due to the odd tuning. The aeons are a little splashy with cymbals, and piano can be a little bit sharp, but I just find them much more enjoyable than the audioquest cans, technically and tonally. The aeons are a great companion to my zmf ori's, the ori's have a more thrilling tuning and better soundstage, where the aeons are quite a bit less fatiguing and more comfortable.

 

[billbishere]

So they have massive texturted and slamming bass?first I have heard someone say that about the Aeons.

 

[iFlip92]

I have a DragonFly Cobalt on the way so I'm curious how these will pair with it. Word of warning for everyone, I've been sitting on my AFOs on sale for nearly 3 months now. For some reason it's really hard to get rid of them.

So since I still have mine, I'll come back with some impressions on the pairing.

 

[tcellguy]

I just wanted to share a very positive experience with MrSpeakers warranty support. I had a minor issue with the audio image in my AFO moving to right, possibly related to a pad flattening. I received the headphones back today after a very fast turn around and they sound perfect again.

They actually sound better than I remember them sounding

The support staff were very friendly and overall was an A+ experience.

Thanks to everyone at MrSpeakers.