[hiImGrant]

Hello all. Just wanted to follow up. I was the guy that asked about the glasses a few posts back and sparked the lasik jokes. I purchased a pair of Aeon 2 closed. Just received them and I am still in the honeymoon period and will refrain from any detailed sound impressions at this time.

I will say however that the Aeon 2 sound much better than the Elegia for me. I'm going to go out on a limb and say that despite having plastic frames the seal from the Aeon 2 is much better. Having never held a DCA/Mr. Speakers headphone in my hand before the build quality, comfort and light weight is already impressing me. I was also shocked at the size of the case. I expected it to be small but looking at it on top of my four other cases of my collection it's so tiny.

Thanks to Dan and those that replied.

Rad! Glad you’re enjoying them

 

[ra990]

I've now spent enough time with the Aeon 2 Opens to share some of my thoughts.

I started out with the Topping D90/A90 combo, basically a very transparent combination that I found to be too bright and piercing with the A2O. The blame was the D90 DAC because after I got another Chord Qutest, it paired up pretty nicely with the A90 and Aeons. But, I wanted something a little warmer still, so ended up getting a Liquid Platinum...and now it's just right.

So the Ether 2 was one of my favorite headphones, and I will compare the A2O mainly to them. Clarity and detail retrieval is as good as the Ether 2, no doubt about that, because at times I think it might be better. I have a standard playlist of test tracks that I listen to for comparison across headphones and I heard everything and more on these that I heard on the Ether 2. I was really happy about that. Soundstage width is also pretty similar to the Ether 2, I don't remember it being much wider - they both have what I would describe as an intimate soundstage.

Bass on the A2O is not linear like the Ether 2. I hear a midbass emphasis that is usually pretty fun, sometimes boomy - however it adds a nice impact to aggressive music like electric beats, heavy bass guitar driven rock, upright acoustic jazz, that type of a thing - it creates a really nice punchy feel that I don't remember noticing as much with the Ether 2. I appreciate the bold voicing decision here. The bass reaches down to the sub-bass level and has a really nice rumble when called for, so no worries there.

Treble seems to be a bit aggressively tuned as well because I was surprised how bright these sounded with the D90/A90 combo. They were unbearable to me. I used the white tuning pad and I was still getting listening fatigue - so there are definitely some peaks that I was sensitive to. However, with the combination I have now, my source and amp definitely lean to the warmer side of the spectrum and I'm enjoying them without any issues (and without using any tuning pads). The treble is nicely detailed and lively.

Midrange seems slightly recessed compared to the Ether 2. One thing I loved about the Ether 2 was the palpable, textural midrange to bass region. The Ether 2 made guitar strum sounds and bass notes feel like they had hair on them. These don't have that quality, however, I have no complaints here. They are very nice mids. I should note that Dan Clark suggested trying the ear pads from the original Aeons to increase that quality.

Comfort is an area where the Aeons win for me. They just feel so natural with that shape and these thick, soft earpads. I put them on and I forget about them. I can lean my head back and the back of my chair doesn't touch them. It's great, can't ask for anything more out of headphones. A+ on Aeon comfort.

To sum it up in one sentence, I find the Aeon 2 Opens to be the fun loving, rebellious, younger brother to the more serious Ether 2 headphone. It's a really nice headphone that's been tuned for a fun and lively sound.

 

[Pretardo]

Just wanted to send a big thanks to HilmGrant and 1000roundz for the input on the A2C. I received them last week and am giving the, a good listen. I went with the VIVO 4.4mm balanced cables and they really benefit from the power. I’ve tried them with a DX160, Hugo 2 and an R6Pro. The power of the R6Pro really makes them shine and makes them a truly portable!

 

[1000ROUNDZ]

Just wanted to send a big thanks to HilmGrant and 1000roundz for the input on the A2C. I received them last week and am giving the, a good listen. I went with the VIVO 4.4mm balanced cables and they really benefit from the power. I’ve tried them with a DX160, Hugo 2 and an R6Pro. The power of the R6Pro really makes them shine and makes them a truly portable!

Enjoy them in good health! Yeah the A2C really benefits from the extra power. Was listening to Jay-Z's Reasonable Doubt album the other day for the first time in a while, and first time with using my SP200 amp, and I was blown away by how good the production sounds and how well it was mixed.

 

[hiImGrant]

I’m curious if anyone else has noticed the tuning ports at the bottom of these. In this pic one of mine has a puncture and the other doesnt. I think I can feel that one side feels more sealed than the other. I’m wondering if puncturing the other side will ruin things?

 

[Billheiser]

Don't puncture them, please!
Both are open ports; I think the visual differences you see inside them are (probably) just the different sides of the drivers. Ask Dan Clark Audio directly for the best info, please.

 

[hiImGrant]

Ok, just seems strange

 

[Billheiser]

The two ports looked a little different to me at first, but I think it was the angle of view. I just took a closer look with a lighted 10X magnifier, and the apparent visual difference went away. Both ports have a fine steel mesh and neither is otherwise pierced.

 

[ra990]

I've gotten my hands on a Hifiman Arya and thought it might outperform the Aeon 2 Opens, but they both have such different sound signatures that they actually compliment each other. The most obvious difference is the soundstage, the Arya is big and wide, the Aeon2 is intimate, but the pressure the Aeon2 can build up in those ear cups with bass is really fun and addictive.

EDIT: Can't stop coming back to the Aeon2 at the end of the day for that sweet sweet rumble. These are incredibly fun in the bass region! They really take advantage of their semi-openness. I don't think they would be as punchy if they were fully open, but I could be wrong about that.

 

[roskodan]

Tried to buy from Dan Clark Audio web shop but the checkout doesn't work for shipping out of the US (At least not to the EU, and I also saw a Canadian customer have the same issue). Tried to solve the issue through customer support, even suggested they could send me an invoice directly to my PayPal. Their response was that I should make an account, which I already had, with that same email, name and address used during our correspondence. On top of that they were completely clueless I was already enrolled in the DCA Club, again, same email, name and address I used during our communication. After pointing that out, it got only worse, with them suggesting I told them I will buy from resellers in the EU, and that they cannot process orders shipping to the EU.

Than it got even worse, if one can believe it, I found out one of the EU resellers had stock shipped from DCA just the day after they refused to sell to me directly. And guess what? None of the resellers had any extra stock to cover my order, with new orders having 2 months lead time.

Most clueless and useless costumer support experience ever. Waste of time.

I've sent an email asking to terminate my account on danclarkaudio.com, as well as my DCA Club membership. @mrspeakers will you be able to do at least that much?

EDIT: They reached out to me, with a reasonable explanation about what was going on, I don't fault them for the misunderstanding that resulted. Will deal with Dan Clark Audio gladly. IMO really special sounding headphone offerings.

 

[Empyah]

Tried to buy from Dan Clark Audio web shop but the checkout doesn't work for shipping out of the US (At least not to the EU, and I also saw a Canadian customer have the same issue). Tried to solve the issue through customer support, even suggested they could send me an invoice directly to my PayPal. Their response was that I should make an account, which I already had, with that same email, name and address used during our correspondence. On top of that they were completely clueless I was already enrolled in the DCA Club, again, same email, name and address I used during our communication. After pointing that out, it got only worse, with them suggesting I told them I will buy from resellers in the EU, and that they cannot process orders shipping to the EU.

Than it got even worse, if one can believe it, I found out one of the EU resellers had stock shipped from DCA just the day after they refused to sell to me directly. And guess what? None of the resellers had any extra stock to cover my order, with new orders having 2 months lead time.

Most clueless and useless costumer support experience ever. Waste of time.

I've sent an email asking to terminate my account on danclarkaudio.com, as well as my DCA Club membership. @mrspeakers will you be able to do at least that much?

Have you tried Projekt Akustik in Germany?

https://www.projekt-akustik.de/

 

[BabetakCZE]

Both Aeon 2 Open and Closed are in stock on Thomann.

 

[MaxD]

So hears a thing, my Aeon 2 C's developed a fault after 7 months of daily use. DCA and my reseller in the UK did a brilliant job of sorting it out and ended up replacing them. It was a case of intermittent quality loss so they did the stand up thing and sorted it out quick. The thing is my new cans sound better than the old ones ! What changed ? I relay liked the last set once they had had some time to burn in. But the new ones (100 hours in) sound way better. The sound stage has opend up more and they sound faster and tighter around 8 k ? Don't get me wrong I'm not complaining but a bit curious, has something changed in the last 7 months since release ? Everything else in my setup is the same. Whatever those guys at DCA did it has made my week....

 

[roskodan]

So hears a thing, my Aeon 2 C's developed a fault after 7 months of daily use. DCA and my reseller in the UK did a brilliant job of sorting it out and ended up replacing them. It was a case of intermittent quality loss so they did the stand up thing and sorted it out quick. The thing is my new cans sound better than the old ones ! What changed ? I relay liked the last set once they had had some time to burn in. But the new ones (100 hours in) sound way better. The sound stage has opend up more and they sound faster and tighter around 8 k ? Don't get me wrong I'm not complaining but a bit curious, has something changed in the last 7 months since release ? Everything else in my setup is the same. Whatever those guys at DCA did it has made my week....

What are you saying exactly? Like, that the new stock is an improvement versus the old stock of Aeon 2? Maybe your previous unit was just not performing well from the start.

 

[MaxD]

What are you saying exactly? Like, that the new stock is an improvement versus the old stock of Aeon 2? Maybe your previous unit was just not performing well from the start.

No I dont want to imply anything, just saying it sounds better, wondering if anything did change or is it just my ears , I was without them for a week, it could just be I missed them . If nothing has changed in the manufacturing process or the components then my ears are getting better which is also cool ....