[IkSak]

I was really surprised how bad they sounded. I tried some cheap $30 dynamic headphones and they sounded fine with the C48. I just ordered a Schiit Magni 3 to use with my Mcintosh and they Aeon Opens.

Magni 3 makes a great pairing with the AFO. Nonetheless, the AFO has good affinity with tubes and the Vali 2 is a superb pairing, as well as the CTH and the Lyr2

 

[mrspeakers]

Don't forget the Lyr 3, or the Gilmore Lite mk2...

 

[TSAVJason]

I was really surprised how bad they sounded. I tried some cheap $30 dynamic headphones and they sounded fine with the C48. I just ordered a Schiit Magni 3 to use with my Mcintosh and they Aeon Opens.

Don’t be too surprised. McIntosh is only just now waking up to the headphone world. It won’t be long when you see a real blue meter headphone product. Trust me, I’m in on it!!!

 

[TSAVJason]

I was really surprised how bad they sounded. I tried some cheap $30 dynamic headphones and they sounded fine with the C48. I just ordered a Schiit Magni 3 to use with my Mcintosh and they Aeon Opens.

I’m not sure why your McIntosh is involved unless you use it as an input aggregate. But have fun with it!! Cheers

 

[dealcatcher]

I’m not sure why your McIntosh is involved unless you use it as an input aggregate. But have fun with it!! Cheers

Vinyl, my turntable is hooked up to my McIntosh C48.

 

[TSAVJason]

Ah yeah makes sense

 

[harris4crna]

Anybody in this thread got a mojo paired with the AFO? How's the synergy between the two? And for anybody with both the AFC and the AFO, which combo do you like better?

Yes, I use both AFO & AFC with the Mojo and the Hugo 2. Both HPs sound great with it.

 

[HiFiDJ]

Yes, I use both AFO & AFC with the Mojo and the Hugo 2. Both HPs sound great with it.

Which combo do you prefer?

 

[Odin412]

After simply enjoying my Aeon Flow Open for a while I decided to play around with the various supplied damping pads. It's definitely a good idea to follow the recommendation to let your ears (and brain) adjust to a set of pads before switching to a different set. I like all of the supplies pads for different reasons:

1. Black pads. More open and extended treble, but always pleasant and never bright and sibilant.
2. White pads with two notches. At first I thought that these sound a bit dark, but after a while I realized that man, these are very musical and just so relaxing to listen to. A great choice to just sit back, listen and mentally drift away.
3. Standard white pads with one notch. Probably the most versatile overall sound signature - and that's probably why these are the standard pads!

All my listening was done with a Cavalli Liquid Carbon fed by a Schiit Bifrost Multibit. Overall, I'm really enjoying my AFO. It has an easygoing, enjoyable sound signature that I really like and that makes it easy to enjoy different kind of music, not just audiophile demo tracks. Having the different pad options just makes it more versatile, IMHO.

 

[abvolt]

Don’t be too surprised. McIntosh is only just now waking up to the headphone world. It won’t be long when you see a real blue meter headphone product. Trust me, I’m in on it!!!

That would be great if it's affordable to the average guy, McIntosh gear can get pricey..

 

[harris4crna]

Which combo do you prefer?

If I had to select one over the other than I would have to choose AFC. I listen to the AFC when I go to sleep and the music I choose in relaxing. The AFC provides depth and clarity over the AFO. You would not think this when comparing a open to a close back HP, but it does. I am not sure how to copy a link, but this was my write up comparing the two on the 30th of Dec. This would go with either using the mojo or the Hugo 2. The difference in the amps/DACs do not change the characteristics of the two separate HPs, but just adds more to them.

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/aeo...netic-headphone.833820/page-254#post-13944053

enjoy

 

[tcellguy]

How does the AFO handle acoustic guitar? One area where the HD6xx and E-Mu Teak sound much better than the AFC to me is acoustic guitar. I’m not sure if this is related to flatter mid bass or the closed nature of the AFC vs. the other headphones. The AFC sounds super accurate to me, but I’m not hearing the string bass component or reverberation of the guitar body as much.

 

[franz12]

I found that EQing AFO is a ton of fun. After spending sometime with well-powered EFC and Clear, I felt I need to lift veil in mids of AFO, making it more neutral. And I found that EQing was the best solution so far.

The best part is that it responds very well to EQ and haven't heard any distortion/audible noise so far. And FREE (at least for 30 days).

I am using MacPro2015 - AULAB (free) - soundflower (free) - DMG Equality (free trial 30 days) - Apple music.

I think the following EQ works well very (more resolving and lifting veil) while preserving AFO's character (warm, intimate). I am still playing around it. If anyone has a better idea, please share with us.

 

[IamMathew]

How are these with WA8 Eclipse?

 

[franz12]

You can either EQ 1-2khz up, or eq 150-300hz down. 8-10khz needs to be EQ'd down a little as well, they are slightly too emphatic in that region.

Finally figured out how to EQ without adding distortion. Subtracting about 3 db from input does help.

Thanks to AFO's very smooth downward sloping frequency response from 300hz to 1.2k, it looks easy to EQ AFO by adding 3-4db smoothly up to 1.2k.
After adding a bit more balance, it sounds euphoric. Intimate, strong, full sounds. Best female vocals I ever heard. It seems to open soundstage as well quite a bit.
I still prefer EQed AFO over Ananda, but I need to spend more time with them.