Had somewhat of a horror story with the Aeon Open myself - though having read through this entire thread, it appears to be some seriously bad luck on my part.
I trawled through the entire thread and read every review I could find online about the Aeons before deciding to bite the bullet and purchase from mrspeakers direct. It was the single most expensive headphone purchase I've made, and a ton of money in my local currency, exacerbated by the additional customs duties and tax.
They arrived quickly enough, and I opened the box very eagerly, gingerly plucking the headphones from their carry case. I had no idea which of the tuning pads I'd end up using, so I thought I'd give the default 1 notch white pads a go. It was then I noticed that one of the cups was missing the default pad. Rooted through the whole box, but it was not to be found. I emailed MrSpeakers immediately, though there is a huge timezone difference between here and the USA, so I had to wait many hours for a reply. In the meantime though, I went with the black foam pads. I knew they weren't burned in yet, but I couldn't help taking the Aeons through their paces with some of my test tracks. They sounded like they fit the bill and matched my preferred sound signature already even prior to burn-in, but I thought I detected a slight channel imbalance which put the stereo image slightly towards the right driver. I let it go, thinking perhaps it would sort itself out when I left it burning in overnight. That evening, Steve from MrSpeakers got in touch and told me he had already sent me a replacement pad via Fedex. That is amazing service, especially considering this had to travel internationally. I left the Aeons burning in and went to bed.
In the morning, I was keen to hear them again and listen for any changes. Anticipation turned to horror however, as I put them on and immediately noticed the left driver was dead as a doornail. In a panic, I checked the balance wasn't off somehow in my player. Unplugged and re-plugged the cables. Tried a different pair of headphones to make sure the problem wasn't elsewhere. No such luck - left channel was gone.
Again, I emailed MrSpeakers and later that evening we arranged the return. After some false starts which were Fedex's fault, the headphones have started their journey back across the Atlantic, which is where things stand now. While the experience has been disappointing, the after sales service from MrSpeakers has been exemplary.
