Mr. Speakers AEON

Discussion in 'Headphones' started by mscott58, Jan 29, 2017.

  1. Vtory

    Vtory Audiophile™

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    @dropadred
    OK, although I understand your points - perceptive bias and non-scientific method are there, they are nothing new. Indeed we already know them.
    We all learned about subjectiveness in every area, and how to take others' 'less rigorous' arguments. We are also able to recognize risks, dangers, and limitations. I believe educated grown ups (at least here) are smarter than you assume, and audio is the hobby such adults enjoy.

    This is why I said "I don't bother".
     
  2. Gruss Gott

    Gruss Gott Almost "Made"

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    I'm curious for input on Ryan Adams' 10 Songs Live at Carnegie Hall - I spent some time with this today and then went back and A/B'd with my P7W wired.

    Setup: macbook pro > Tidal App > 24b/96k master stream > TOSlink s/pdif > Mojo > Aeon Flows w foam or P7W wired

    What was interesting was:
    * sound stage: good on the AFCs, less on the P7W but not OMG less, just somewhat less
    * detail: good on the AFCs, less on the P7W, again not OMG less. example: around 53s into track 1 someone coughs and it echoes. On the P7w you can hear it but it's not overly noticeable. On the AFC, it's definitely noticeable.
    * tone: again, the AFCs are "neutral" whereas on the P7W the presence is larger because of that mid-bass "dark" tone.

    Anyway, if anyone is up for it, I'm curious to hear your impressions of these tracks. Would you call this recording on these cans a huge soundstage?
     
  3. nostatic

    nostatic Acquaintance

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    I listened to a couple of tracks on that via Tidal - Master stream > MacBookPro > Mojo > AFO.

    I suppose it comes down to how you define soundstage. I find that the recording is fairly intimate when it comes to guitar, keys, and voice. I don't hear doubling on the voice, and the guitar sounds close mic'd, with the piano you can hear the sustain pedal. Nothing is panned hard either way. I think the apparent soundstage is the voices from the audience and hall. That gives one impression of soundstage, but not what I'd typically note.

    My definition of soundstage is where things sound in both x and y direction, with x being mostly panning, y being reverb or other time-based effects along with mic placement. Modulation effects can also affect x. Don't get much into the z plane of things until you start messing with spatial audio, but very little music is mixed for that at this point.

    A player's technique and gear can also affect the apparent sound stage. For instance, listen to the track "Delusion" on Hiromi's "Voice" album. Anthony Jackson is playing a 6-string bass, and first with pick which has a fairly open crunch to it. Then when he goes to palm-muted thumb, it sounds very thick and close. Also Simon Phillips' kit is panned very wide. Since he plays a huge kit live, it actually is a reasonable effect in the studio compared to live - his drums do sound like their coming from different places live.

    Perhaps some better examples on the "Spark" album (there is a Master of that). "In a Trance" has a drum solo that allows you to hear all of what he's got going on. Then "Take Me Away" has nice bass lines as the melody, then you hear some "elevation" in ride and china cymbals - they're up and right, so there is some z-axis going on at least to my ear.
     
    Last edited: Oct 30, 2017
  4. gbeast

    gbeast Mighty Moral Power Ranger

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    @Merrick if you wanted a more affordable Odin here it is(AFO). And its not as heavy. Actually I saw Bstock odins on the kennerton site and was tempted...not anymore.
     
  5. gbeast

    gbeast Mighty Moral Power Ranger

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    [​IMG]
    AEON FLOW OPEN FIRST IMPRESSIONS
    I practically had a review here. Lots of impressions but they got deleted when I actually closed the browser so I will keep it short for now. Thank you for the kind comments below and thank you @Ice-man for sending me these for review. I will post a full review later but these are probably going to be my favorite planars next to the Code-X.

    • Bass is tight, deep, punchy, controlled, clean and dense. Wonderful
    • Mids are full, forward, a little rough and unrefined, but realistic, tangible and evocative. Not hearing the upper midrange forwardness with the Milo because the Milo could be trimming that area.
    • Treble is smooth, dark, but solid with decent bite.
    • Soundstage is pretty bad and it is very difficult to imagine the venue space but the separation is good
    • Doesn't sound as open as I would like, perhaps some mods can fix it or something, the Autuer sounds much more open back.
    • Excellent dynamic range with the music having a good sense of command and power. Visceral and controlled.
    • Good Macrodynamics, average microdynamics
    • *Good inner clarity but veiled a bit. I think the right amp (not the Milo) could lift the veil some and make it very balanced.
    *Actually I am leaning on thinking it is the Milo more than the AFO. It didn't ship with a balacned cable so I can't try it with my Aficionado and my Pro iCan is gone.

    Overall this is an Excellent Headphone. Technically it is not like it is more resolving than other headphones or detailed but it has control, a believably rich tonality, and non fatiguing highs. All that with hard hitting bass that rivals the stock HE-6.

    Once I recoup from buying the Mogwai Special Edition, and HP3 I will be getting one of these no question. It is like a more comfortable Odin with deeper bass and way better ergonomics at less than half of the price. Best tuned open back planar out there (sans Code-X).... easily.
     
    Last edited: Nov 11, 2017
  6. captkirk

    captkirk Khan's BFF

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    Your photography is always a pleasure! Can you come take a glamour shots of my rig please?
     
    Last edited: Nov 11, 2017
  7. Merrick

    Merrick A lidless ear

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    You temptress! Maybe I’ll snag one secondhand down the road. For right now the Andros and speakers take up all my listening time.
     
  8. Rthomas

    Rthomas Friend

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    That's one of the best headphone photos I've ever seen!
     
  9. gbeast

    gbeast Mighty Moral Power Ranger

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    thanks. Well this is one of the best planars I have heard. Planars usually don't last that long in my stable (or hardly any gear for that matter). I have to have one of these next to the Auteur, HP3, and 650. I have updated the post with brief impressions.
     
  10. Ice-man

    Ice-man Friend

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    Glad that you are liking them @gbeast. It's the best release for MrSpeakers IMO. Just a lot of fun to listen to and has some finesse as well. All for well under $1k.
     
  11. TMRaven

    TMRaven Friend

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    I think it has clarity in spades. The Aeon Open's biggest weakness is the small soundstage. I honestly don't get how it can have equal soundstage to the closed version, other than knowing it's probably extremely damped. Doing the ol' 'place hands over grill' test shows that the headphone is not that open, and its frequency response isn't affected that much. Other open planars like Hifiman are extremely sensitive in that regard. They also have very large soundstages.
     
  12. gbeast

    gbeast Mighty Moral Power Ranger

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    ^ prob right. Would like to hear it with a balanced cable for the AF and different amp.
     
  13. Ray

    Ray Friend

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    IMG_7925.JPG Found this on amazon. Cheaper than having cables made for each headphone. 37.00
     
  14. gbeast

    gbeast Mighty Moral Power Ranger

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    I have that adapter. It didn't work with the Taboo at all. I should try it with the AF tonight but it sounded like crap with the Atticus.
     
  15. Ray

    Ray Friend

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    Works w/ AF
     
  16. Meteora

    Meteora New

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    You can't really have a balance to single end converter as it will make the sound weird.
     
  17. gbeast

    gbeast Mighty Moral Power Ranger

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    it all depends on the amp. It worked well with a few of them but not so well with others. Jot, no problem. Taboo doesn't work. Could have swore it didn't work with the AF and Atticus but I will try again.
     
  18. Meteora

    Meteora New

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    It will work for the amp that is not real balanced, i.e. the amp that has XLR output that just has bigger output power but the sound signal itself keeps the same as single ended.
     
  19. gbeast

    gbeast Mighty Moral Power Ranger

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    Update: That is why those were first impressions. I didn't want to judge them off of the Milo which is unfamiliar gear. I also tried the adapter mentioned below and it doesn't sound right, almost like mono with all of the details washed. Could be because I use balanced going into the Aficionado. So oh well.

    Thanks to @cskippy I got to do a couple of things; compare the Milo to the Black widow briefly and the Vidar. We also used the Jot briefly to see if it could "lift the veil". Also I saw cskippy measure them,

    Results:
    • Practically a planar version of the HD650 with tighter bass, much less upper mids, and less microdynamics.
    • The Jot did not lift the veil and proved the Milo to be a little dark but not as veiled as I originally thought up top, the Jot was being fed from the Gungnir Multibit and I heard the hard lower treble of the Jot easily through the AFO but the veil was still there. Especially when @cskippy put on some rock music which sounded more detailed and had better guitar crunch from the AR-H1 planar. That has a much less natural midrange but better details, separation, and soundstage. Still I pick the AFO though overall as the AR-H1 makes me kind of study the music more than enjoy it and it's bass is not as firm, yet reaches lower.
    • The upper midrange forwardness I am not hearing ( the upper mid dip I do hear) is followed actually by a lower treble forwardness that is not fatiguing but is forward there relative to the whole FR. I asked Chris if I was "trippin" for not hearing the upper mids forward like mentioned in this thread and after measurements I saw a dip there compared to other a couple of headphones that was around 2-4.5 khz or something. Also like the frequency chart I use as a reference would say, is the reason the guitars lacked some crunch.
    Anyhow. The last thing to post is a full review which will still be very positive but just a little more sobering. I will do that on my usual blog.
     
    Last edited: Nov 12, 2017
  20. TMRaven

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    Now I haven't heard the HD800 in a while, but the Aeon Open roughly reminds me of the HD800 throughout the mdirange. It's just a gradually decreasing presence down to around 4k, then it picks back up starting around 6k. The AFO doesn't do it as much though of course, and has much more bass below 80hz to sound fuller.
     

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