Some context first -- I'm a bit of an outlier on the head-fi boards, because my needs/wants in a pair of cans don't seem to match a lot of what I'm reading around here. I'm a professional mixing/mastering engineer (20yrs) who spends the vast majority of time listening to content on
speakers, for long stretches, day/night. I don't want things to radically change when I have to put on cans -- not even when listening recreationally. Extended listening on
any system eventually conditions the ears/brain to perceive a new baseline, so I can't afford to have some drastically different experience when I put on my cans, whether I'm "working" or not.
I know the assumption is that "studio people" want their cans to be
totally flat in their freq response, but there's no such thing when you're talking about smashing drivers close up against heads, earlobes, and ear canals -- any more than my speakers are totally flat, given all the resonances in a room (which is a goddamn challenge in itself). The cans I've heard that people claim are totally flat sure don't seem like it, and they're not pleasant or helpful to listen to. That said, I have very little tolerance for any amount of "hyping" just for emotional effect. Music done right is exciting enough, I don't want any extra sauce, it only hurts. My ideal cans would be ones that I barely notice they're there, I just go right on hearing what I'm used to hearing.
Which brings me to the first reason why the AEON line wins over 95% of headphones out there (not that I've tried them all, just across everything I've worn):
COMFORT!
I don't understand why people aren't making a bigger deal out of this! If you're wearing cans for anything longer than 15mins, it's huge ff*** deal. I don't care how awesome your sound is, if I can't stand the sensation of your cans clamped on my head, if I get a migraine from the pressure of the headband (no matter how cushy) because the cans weigh so much, if my poor stiff ear cartilage is crying in pain -- I won't use them. Full stop. The AEON line is stunningly comfortable, causes me zero discomfort no matter how long I keep them on. This is an amazing feat of engineering, to put such power and impact into a device that has such a light footprint on my head. I think the audiophile community is so used to assuming that in order to have "big sound" you need "big cans" that put a "big dent" in your wallet and the sides of your head. My A2O cans obliterate this assumption.
As for their sound, let's just say for someone whose job is defined by needing to be able to hear
everything that's buried in a dense mix, these are a killer tool. Absolutely nothing is hidden or masked, or unable to be reproduced. I would need a high-end subwoofer solution to get this kind of low-freq detail and range and clarity from my studio monitor speakers. Seriously. You'll never fully hear the impact, space and entire tail of an orchestral bass drum on most professional studio monitors, but I could edit such a track easily with these cans. It's like putting subsonic microscopes on your ears.
If anything, I would say even the A2O is a bit too bassy for my tastes -- but there's a huge difference from having a sound system that needs to be nudged a little to have the desired spectrum balance, and a system that is incapable of reproducing the transients/frequencies/space you need to hear. It's just a given in my line of work that you have to tune your speakers/room to get a neutral response. I am quite happy to inject a high-end linear EQ before my DAC to lowshelf these cans. I *still* get all the power and detail and punch I need to hear mixes clearly (no small task), just without being overwhelmed.
I should also mention something that I believe is
not optional when it comes to any headphones, no matter how pricey. If you're not using some kind of crossfeed matrix (like Phonitor, but not necessarily that one), you're actually having a bad time. If I wasn't using such crossfeed full-time, I would be experiencing even more excess/intense low-end, because the very nature of having low-frequency material fully isolated and pumped directly into each ear is just plain acoustically unnatural. It doesn't feel good, contributes to fatigue and a perception of "larger" bass than should be happening. A really good mix/master will properly manage the stereo imaging of the low-end, lessening the need for such monitoring interventions, but sadly it's just not common. Sooooooo much music is amateur/self-produced these days (with superhuman amounts of low-end energy), it's the rare exception to find a song that doesn't benefit from crossfeed when using headphones.
If you're mostly listening from computer output (like me) then it's super easy and cheap to use software emulation. Not all crossfeed implementations are created equal, but my favorite is
Goodhertz Canopener Studio, because it's super transparent, adds no coloration, and has all the needed controls. Please note I am not talking about "room simulator" type solutions, which attempt to create a corny VR-like experience of "speakers in a room" with impulse responses, reflections, and such. That would completely muck up my ability to mix/master properly. Good crossfeed, however, is crucial to doing the same on headphones. Our brains have a harder time digesting drastic differences in low-end sound between both ears.
So yeah, I love my A2O. I had the original Aeon Flow Open for a moment, but swapped out for the new ones and am very glad I did. The difference is subtle but serious. I won't say they make everything I listen to sound great, but that's honestly because they reveal crappy mixes, which are more common than you'd think. It's almost annoying to notice all the things I wish I could fix in sooooo many songs I love to listen to, but now cannot help but see every little flaw. These cans are not forgiving. If some nutjob thought it was a good idea to mix a song too harshly, or pushed some element to (unpleasant) distortion, it's gonna hurt with these cans on. For my purposes, such fidelity and detail is necessary.
