[PeterCraig]

Hi guys

Anyone have a pair of the AFO and AFC and can tell me if the AFO with both hands over the grill sounds close to the sound of the AFC?

 

[BobMonkhouse]

Gilmore Lite Mk 2 is one of my favorites at $500. Superb clarity and smoothness in the highs that sounds very high-end, with a Cavalli-esque bass foundation. Very nice piece.

LOL that's exactly the kind of answer I needed! I didn't know HeadAmp had an amp in my price range. Looking at photos of the Gilmore Lite Mk 2 brought back nostalgic memories of the time I enjoyed my HeadRoom Total BitHead - same industrial and practical appearance that worked. I just ordered one of those MK 2s. Reading some reviews, I believe it will work well not only with my AFO but with my HD 6XX and LCD-2f 2019 too.

 

[Poganin]

Hi guys

Anyone have a pair of the AFO and AFC and can tell me if the AFO with both hands over the grill sounds close to the sound of the AFC?

It doesn't. They are tuned differently and just covering the grills doesn't make the AFO sound like AFC. It's not just the matter of same tuning with open vs closed design.

 

[441879]

I've had my new AFO for about a month. I've been comparing them to a few other headphones I like... and had been disappointed... until yesterday. AFO sounded muddy, with slow bass, lacking details. I listen to my music at relatively low volume and my amps have plenty of power on low gain. I felt AFO had enough juice at about 2-3 o'clock on the dial on my amps. I was so wrong. Yesterday, I flipped the switches to high gain and magic happened! AFO opened up and turned into a beast - punchy bass, more air and details, very musical. I didn't hear any spikes nor dips in the FR for my ears. I loved the sound. They reminded me of LCD-2 pre-fazor when I listened to them a few years ago.

So, I'm excited and have a question for the AFO fans: is there a more powerful SS amp within $500 budget considered an upgrade compared to my Atom, Topping DX3 Pro, ODAC/O2? I consider TXH AAA 789 but I'm afraid its sound is too dry and analytical. Or am I mistaken? Also have been reading about the Rupert Neve RNHP amp but don't know if it has enough power for the AFO!

Another amp that does well with the AFO in that price range is the Schitt Lyr3. Can’t compare it to the Gilmore Lite MkII (never heard it) but IMHO it’s one of those amps that works well with pretty much any headphone. You can tweak the sound a bit by changing tubes, but it’s not really necessary. The tubes Schiit provides sound great in it.

 

[tcellguy]

+1 recommendation for the Lyr 3. It's the best I have heard the AFO sound short of the Mjolnir 2 / Gungnir stack I auditioned at CanJam last year.

I tried the Gilmore Lite MkII, but ultimately returned it. It's a great little amp, but the Lyr 3 easily wins in every category for me except for transient response speed. The Gilmore Lite MkII has really fast transients and nicely controlled treble. However, there seemed to be less "weight" in the bass and the mids were somewhat more recessed than I like.

I really don't like the THX 789 AAA. I've been meaning to sell mine. It's a very impressive amp with respect to noise floor and has very fast transients. However, the tonal balance is not the sound signature that I like. The mids seem veiled to me and this somehow leads to all headphones sounding really bright to me as I have to turn up the volume compensate. As a result the treble seems too pronounced. The 789 has great treble extension and I think that provides the sense of enhanced detail that people describe. However, the amp just overall sounds too bright, thin, and weightless to me.

I really prefer the Jotunheim to both the 789 and the Gilmore Lite Mk2. The Jot just has a great tonal balance to me with nice weight in the mids, excellent bass response, and detailed, but slightly veiled treble. The Asgard 3 takes that signature a step forward with even more veiled treble and beautiful mids.

Overall if you want a great solid state amp for the AFO, I recommend the Jotunheim. However, I recognize a lot of people like the THX 789 AAA or Mk2 more. They are all great amps, but it ultimately comes down to tonality and sound signature preferences.

If you're OK with tubes, the Lyr 3 is in a league above all the other mentioned amps for the AFO (and AFC / ETHER Cx). There is just some crazy syngery with the Lyr 3 and MrSpeakers planars.

 

[barbz127]

Would anyone know where I can buy the 3.5mm/6.5mm jack that the afo's come with? I want to add the same setup on my other 3.5mm headphone for reasons.

Thankyou

 

[BobMonkhouse]

Thanks @will f and @tcellguy for sharing your opinions.
I'll report back my impressions when I receive my Gilmore Lite MK2 in a week or so. My only issue with my AFO is I feel it has a deep dip around 1 kHz. I'm curious how this amp will deal with it.
I've read reviews and posts about Lyr 3, some of them controversial. If I don't buy an RME ADI-1 DAC next, I might get a Lyr 3. I have quite a few 6S7N tubes for it, so I can compare it to my hybrid tube amp Ember 2. The Ember with HD 6XX is my current favourite combo.

 

[PeterCraig]

I picked up a pair of AFOs from a fellow who posted a couple pages back about not enjoying these headphones. I might have to eat my words but this AFO was not burned in yet. And I'm the third owner. Seems impossible but I definitely didn't like the initial sound I was hearing. Thought they were broken or something.

25 hours later the treble smoothed out and now I'm past 200 hours and I can't keep these off of my head. It's like a hot fudge sundae for the ears.

I replaced my warm IC for something more neutral and changed gold power cable for copper. To coax a little more detail and impact out. It's really an intoxicating sound.

 

[PeterCraig]

Listening to Claude Young - Patterns.

Sounds sooo good on the AFO

 

[441879]

Thanks @will f and @tcellguy for sharing your opinions.
I'll report back my impressions when I receive my Gilmore Lite MK2 in a week or so. My only issue with my AFO is I feel it has a deep dip around 1 kHz. I'm curious how this amp will deal with it.
I've read reviews and posts about Lyr 3, some of them controversial. If I don't buy an RME ADI-1 DAC next, I might get a Lyr 3. I have quite a few 6S7N tubes for it, so I can compare it to my hybrid tube amp Ember 2. The Ember with HD 6XX is my current favourite combo.

Take audio equipment reviews with a grain of salt. The brutal truth is that sound perception is very subjective and reviews tend to exaggerate fairly subtle differences. Just make sure whatever you get it’s able to deliver at least a solid watt into 13 ohms. A lot of the folks on the Lyr3 forum have AFOs and are happy with the combo. In my own experience the Lyr 3 sounded quite a bit better with the AFO than the Schitt Magni 3, which prior to the Lyr was my go-to amp.

 

[jnak00]

I picked up a pair of AFOs from a fellow who posted a couple pages back about not enjoying these headphones. I might have to eat my words but this AFO was not burned in yet. And I'm the third owner. Seems impossible but I definitely didn't like the initial sound I was hearing. Thought they were broken or something.

25 hours later the treble smoothed out and now I'm past 200 hours and I can't keep these off of my head. It's like a hot fudge sundae for the ears.

I replaced my warm IC for something more neutral and changed gold power cable for copper. To coax a little more detail and impact out. It's really an intoxicating sound.

I really think MrSpeakers should do some burn-in at the factory. My Ether CXs changed significantly with 100-200 hours of burn-in. I expect a lot people's initial impressions on new, out-of-the-box MrSpeakers headphones are not very favourable and that might lead to negative reviews and lots of used units with low hours on the classifieds.

 

[PeterCraig]

I really think MrSpeakers should do some burn-in at the factory. My Ether CXs changed significantly with 100-200 hours of burn-in. I expect a lot people's initial impressions on new, out-of-the-box MrSpeakers headphones are not very favourable and that might lead to negative reviews and lots of used units with low hours on the classifieds.

Beware of the friendly audio retailer too. They open up a box of brand new headphones and plug them in for the unsuspecting consumer to test drive. Sometimes into a brand new amp connected to a brand new dac.

Thank goodness for the reviewers and the many bloggers and head-fi users. I especially appreciate those guys who have multiple headphones and share comparisons.

 

[mrspeakers]

I really think MrSpeakers should do some burn-in at the factory. My Ether CXs changed significantly with 100-200 hours of burn-in. I expect a lot people's initial impressions on new, out-of-the-box MrSpeakers headphones are not very favourable and that might lead to negative reviews and lots of used units with low hours on the classifieds.

We do burn them in which covers about 90% of the burn in, the last 10% takes so long that it’s not practical to stage systems to burn in for two weeks continuously. We do note this in the user guide, but many folk probably don’t read it....

 

[kojie]

how do they pair with a Dragonfly Cobalt?

 

[trellus]

Holy moly, I didn't know there were new versions of the Aeon headphones coming out... for those on here, you might want to check out this thread:

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/the-new-aeon-2-its-the-end-of-mrspeakers.918309/