[granularclouds]

My Aeolus in Cocobolo is an upgrade in every way to the Sennheiser. I owned a Sennheiser hd600 and hd660s before and sold both.
My gear changed with time but I would say resolution, detail, stage and timbre is much better with the aeolus.
I love the synergy with my Feliks Euforia AE with NU 6sn7gt / tung sol 5998 tubes. So smooth and pleasing.
Pad rolling is also fun, I have universe suedes as my favourite but also the vérité pads are very nice for a change. Vérité pads improve resolution noticibly.

I recommend to buy the aeolus in harder limited wood especially if you use it with a high output impedance Feliks OTL amp. The direct sound of the harder wood is an upgrade to my ears. The OTL gives some Cup reverb back.

I also have the vérité open in ironwood and I still love to listen to my Aeolus for it's pleasing FR. It's the best headphone for my music taste (metal)

You will not regret buying the Aeolus it's worth every dollar.

Thanks so much! Indeed, after months of reading and looking around, it seems like the Aeolus is the absolute best upgrade all things considered for me.

Will keep an eye out for LTD woods - weight will be a concern for me, so I'm probably likely to go with whichever wood is lightest.

 

[Renexx]

My Cocobolo Aeolus (570g) and ironwood VO (630g) are on the heavy side because of hard wood, stainless steel grills and aluminium chassis.
The weight is evenly distributed because of suede padded strap and universe suede pads , like pillows really.
It's very comfortable and I don't notice the weight at all. I never had neck fatigue.

I had a super light pair of VC (~450g) for audition and the weight difference was noticible side by side.

 

[granularclouds]

My Cocobolo Aeolus (570g) and ironwood VO (630g) are on the heavy side because of hard wood, stainless steel grills and aluminium chassis.
The weight is evenly distributed because of suede padded strap and universe suede pads , like pillows really.
It's very comfortable and I don't notice the weight at all. I never had neck fatigue.

I had a super light pair of VC (~450g) for audition and the weight difference was noticible side by side.

Wow I thought the Aeolus was closer to 450g stock. Maybe still is and your wood is just much heavier. Will definitely be going with stock in that case. Thanks!

 

[Renexx]

Wow I thought the Aeolus was closer to 450g stock. Maybe still is and your wood is just much heavier. Will definitely be going with stock in that case. Thanks!

Cocobolo is a heavy wood and also my design choices increased the weight. I was surprised when I weighted my aeolus because the website states ~500g if I remember right.

I had stock wood aeolus for audition before and I prefer the sound of mine in hard wood.

Stock wood sounded very relaxed but the detail suffered because of the reverby effect of the wood.
Hard woods have a more direct and clear sound with less decay of notes and more slam.

If you use low output impedance SS amp the cup reverb is less because of the dampening factor.

 

[erroneous]

I agree with Renexx. I went from Sapele to Stabilized to Blackwood on my Aeolus journey. The harder woods definitely have more slam, texture and detail, and they do sound more immediate.

I thought I was happy with Sapele, and just bought Stabilized because it was pretty. But once I actually listened to it I knew I needed the hardest wood Aeolus I could get, and luckily a Blackwood came up for sale.

I too had 600 and 650 for a long time. Once I got my final Aeolus in, they were sold pretty quickly.

 

[AudioPowerHead]

My Aeolus in Cocobolo is an upgrade in every way to the Sennheiser. I owned a Sennheiser hd600 and hd660s before and sold both.
My gear changed with time but I would say resolution, detail, stage and timbre is much better with the aeolus.
I love the synergy with my Feliks Euforia AE with NU 6sn7gt / tung sol 5998 tubes. So smooth and pleasing.
Pad rolling is also fun, I have universe suedes as my favourite but also the vérité pads are very nice for a change. Vérité pads improve resolution noticibly.

I recommend to buy the aeolus in harder limited wood especially if you use it with a high output impedance Feliks OTL amp. The direct sound of the harder wood is an upgrade to my ears. The OTL gives some Cup reverb back.

I also have the vérité open in ironwood and I still love to listen to my Aeolus for it's pleasing FR. It's the best headphone for my music taste (metal)

You will not regret buying the Aeolus it's worth every dollar.

Echo what Renexx said. Aeolus is better than the Senns 6xx series in terms of bandwidth extension, stage and timbre (to my ears); although I am still keeping my HD650 for sentimental reasons.

I have both the Aeolus and VO in camphor burl. They are both great headphones in their own rights. However for certain genres(rock/metal), I would prefer the Aeolus over the VO. Was just listening to Bon Jovi's "Always" on both the VO and Aeolus (for a fun comparison) and I found the Aeolus has more of the "oomph" factor and visceral feeling for that particular song. That said, for other genres and songs where I wanted more resolution details, 3D stage and sub-bass extensions (relative to Aeolus), VO will be the preferred choice for me anytime. Life is good with both the Aeolus and VO as they are complementary in every way.

Edited: typo

 

[Twizzleshnizzle]

How would owners of the Aeolus (who also own 6xx/650) compare the Aeolus with the 6xx in terms of resolution/detail? I adore the 6xx sound but am very drawn to the Aeolus in terms of its versatility (hear great things about the range of pad rolling between the Universe, stock, and Verite pads) and shear warm fun.

Would be powering with the Lake People G111 (and Bifrost 2), and am eyeing one of the Feliks amps - Echo mk II most likely...

I have the Ziricote wood version and they're incredible. I run mine with a Gustard H16 amp and Topping E30 dac at the moment. I've owned all of the Sennheiser HD6 series, the Aeolus is a huge upgrade with a good source (even without it still is!). They're my end game.

 

[Renexx]

When I received my VO in Ironwood I was not impressed by the first listen because there was no decay at all. Extremely hard ironwood and fast driver of the vérité. I even thought about selling my beauty.

After some burn in and maybe also brain burn in I thought my VO was superior sound compared to stock wood VC (quite new maybe not burned in).
Very immediate, detailed and hard slam.
I think the stage is bigger with stock wood.

Zmf is my headphone endgame. Not looking for other headphones at all right now.

I too had 600 and 650 for a long time. Once I got my final Aeolus in, they were sold pretty quickly.

I agree once you upgrade to Aeolus there is only sentimental reason to keep the Sennheiser. They will only attract dust.

 

[granularclouds]

Echo what Renexx said. Aeolus is better than the Senns 6xx series in terms of bandwidth extension, stage and timbre (to my ears); although I am still keeping my HD650 for sentimental reasons.

I have both the Aeolus and VO in camphor burl. They are both great headphones in their own rights. However for certain genres(rock/metal), I would prefer the Aeolus over the VO. Was just listening to Bon Jovi's "Always" on both the VO and Aeolus (for a fun comparison) and I found the Aeolus has more of the "oomph" factor and visceral feeling for that particular song. That said, for other genres and songs where I wanted more resolution details, 3D stage and sub-bass extensions (relative to Aeolus), VO will be the preferred choice for me anytime. Life is good with both the Aeolus and VO as they are complementary in every way.

Edited: typo

What genres do you prefer listening to the VO with over the Aeolus?

 

[granularclouds]

I agree with Renexx. I went from Sapele to Stabilized to Blackwood on my Aeolus journey. The harder woods definitely have more slam, texture and detail, and they do sound more immediate.

I thought I was happy with Sapele, and just bought Stabilized because it was pretty. But once I actually listened to it I knew I needed the hardest wood Aeolus I could get, and luckily a Blackwood came up for sale.

I too had 600 and 650 for a long time. Once I got my final Aeolus in, they were sold pretty quickly.

Wow that's a pretty strong endorsement of the wood upgrade. I'll definitely try and find a middle-ground between hard wood and not overly heavy. Would really prefer not to push past 550g. I've had some issues with headphone comfort in the past - Ananada's weird cup shape putting pressure on my upper neck/jaw area, ears touching the metallic grill with the Focal Clear MGs, ...

What was the difference in price between the Stabilized and Blackwood Aeoluses? And how do you ultimately feel about the double upgrade - moving from Stabilized to the Blackwood? If you don't mind answering. Thanks!

 

[AudioPowerHead]

What genres do you prefer listening to the VO with over the Aeolus?

Matter of personal tastes I suppose.
For me, VO excels in genres of Pop/EDM/Jazz/Industrial; relative to Aeolus.

 

[erroneous]

I try to buy used whenever I can. I enjoy the small price savings, avoiding the lengthy wait of buying new, and I also enjoy not having to spend a couple of weeks breaking in a new ZMF. The Blackwood was actually $500 less than the Stabilized on the used market, though I do consider the Blackwood an upgrade for my preferences.

I feel very happy with my choice. Once I had decided on the Aeolus as my main open back headphone (chose it over Verite and Auteur, among others I've owned), it was just a matter of finding the exact Aeolus for me. This is the fourth Aeolus I've owned, and my search for my chosen open-back is over.

 

[robo24]

My stock Sapele Aeolus was 470g, and would have been 34g less with a magnesium chassis upgrade. It never felt heavy to me.

 

[Deceneu808]

I've switched back to the leather headband. I find it more comfortable for my head than the suede headband. I thought it would be the other way around but apparently the Suede band creates a hotspot on top of my head and just hurts. I lived with it for about 2 weeks, it had loosened up a bit but last night after switching to the leather one, comfort improved 2 times. What do you guys prefer ? Slim leather headband, Padded Suede or the big Pilot strap ?

 

[Another Audiophile]

I've switched back to the leather headband. I find it more comfortable for my head than the suede headband. I thought it would be the other way around but apparently the Suede band creates a hotspot on top of my head and just hurts. I lived with it for about 2 weeks, it had loosened up a bit but last night after switching to the leather one, comfort improved 2 times. What do you guys prefer ? Slim leather headband, Padded Suede or the big Pilot strap ?

ZMF copilot attached to the leather strap has been the most comfortable so far