Thanks for the additional details. I think the Aeolus is "better" but that's me. In my opinion, the AFO is great if it's the only thing you listen to (I spent about an equal amount of time with the black felt and white 1 notch felt inserts). It takes a bit of time to get used to its signature, but once you do, it's a very nice headphone. But for example, there was a time about a year ago when I had spent about 3 or 4 months only listening to the AFO. This was on the Gilmore Lite MK2, and amp that Dan Clark sells. Then I just decided to switch to the HD650 and see how it went. I was shocked at how much more information there was in the midrange with the 650 than the AFO. In fairness, the mids of the 650 are legendary (the Aeolus is right up there with the 650 in my opinion and they are quite similar, maybe slightly less forward with things like vocals, but only slightly, and enough to eliminate any bit of excess forwardness that the 650 sometimes has; there is no competition between Aeolus and 650 in stage though, there is much wider stage with much more separation in Aeolus). The difference in how much additional information is presented by the 650 and Aeolus in the mids compared to the AFO is striking. There is more low-level detail, more room acoustics to hear, a wider stage (again, for Aeolus, not really 650), everything is just more spread out. And to be clear since I'm talking a lot about the 650 (sorry), I like the mids of Aeolus substantially better than AFO. There is just more to listen to in the mids with Aeolus. To me, they are not complimentary, as there are really no instances at this point where I go back to the AFO for something. The Aeolus has replaced the AFO.
Why do I still have the AFO if I am not listening to them? Excellent question. I have this problem of being good at buying and not good about selling. I have to work on that as it's not sustainable. But I probably need counseling at this point to deal with it.
The AFO is probably more prominent in the treble than Aeolus, but AFO is strange in that regard; it's like it's bright but not bright at the same time. Maybe it just highlights a specific region of the treble to create emphasis there without actually being bright, I'm not sure. And I'm sure people would argue the bass of AFO can go deeper since it's a planar (I don't think the bass on the AFO is the same as the LCD2C, the latter to me goes deeper and does it better). In any case, maybe AFO bass does go deeper, but I don't think the bass is better because of this. I think Aeolus has more pleasing bass. Caveat, I don't listen to electronic music, so maybe I'm just not that critical when it comes to super deep bass.
AFO is lighter, no question. My Aeolus are 425 grams, about 100 grams over the AFO. They don't bother me, but I also have the LCD2C for comparison, and those are quite a bit heavier, so take that for what its worth. The pads on Aeolus are super comfortable which I'm a big fan of, and the ear cups are larger diameter which I also like. The headband on Aeolus is great, and you have other options to change to if you need it (Pilot pad etc).
Hope this helps. I'm not a professional reviewer, and still not good at describing sound the way the professionals can do. Also, my understanding is that the Lyr3 is good with Aeolus. I can't say with the other amps. People are going to tell you to get an OTL though if you get Aeolus, and they're right, but Aeolus sounds great on every amp I've tried. Different on each amp, but great on all of them.
and ... Goodness gracious.
My portable dac is great and reasonably loud but I didn't know what I was missing because the volume wasn't loud enough.
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Nice set of cans too!
The Ghost MV1, has been on my want list since it came out.