MrSpeakers ÆON Flow Open - Early Impressions and Measurements

I think I've settled on using the 1-notch felt. AFO with no felt has too much energy at 9khz and beyond. The 1-notch felt helps to mitigate that. The upper midrange does suffer a little bit, but it's not nonexistent like the Elear or LCD-X from memory, or at the very least, it's a smoother transition there, whereas those two are like walking into a sinkhole.

I don't know what it is about the suspension straps of the Aeons, but they just give me a mild hotspot after a while, even though the Aeons are light. I never had this kind of problem with the HE-560, and that was a heavier headphone. I wish Dan could provide an option that's a little larger for more weight distribution. It's the only thing preventing the AFO overtaking my AD700 as undisputed comfort champ.

Gonna have to ask my brother to let me borrow my PM3s back from him again so I can compare the two sounds. I think the AFO will be closer to hitting the mark that the PM3 sets high as opposed to the AFC.

 

These are some very spot on comments from @TMRaven and @Hands. I'll add a few things. With some gentle EQ and no filter pads, the AFO is for me, my favorite headphone. There is just another gear there that puts me in that place where I want to be when I listen to music....completely engaged....captivated. The 650 does that to me also, at times. But not as often as AFO. They are both great headphones for sure.

@TMRaven I'm sorry that you're having trouble with comfort. Dan worked very hard on ultimate comfort with this headphone. You know how I am about comfort and weight. I don't think I've found anyone pickier than me when it comes to comfort. PM me...I've got another headband for you to try.

 

Been running the AFO on the Jotunheim with dac. The treble is not shy at all. Even with the 1-notch filter I still hear quite a good amount of upper treble.

My single biggest gripe is with its lack of big soundstage, however, I feel, that with all aspects of the product taken into consideration, it might just be the best headphone I've come across in my 6 year journey.

 

I agree. My Taboo 4 worked well with AFO, but I couldn't think it optimal..

Here are my current thoughts:

• AFO is NEVER an amp-picky can (much tolerable than 6x0) . Even with very low-fi outputs, the sound is more than acceptable.
• (In my experience/experiments) AFO scales decently, but not magically. Dramatic changes are rather found with the modded 6xx.
• Ultimately, good (perhaps so called "SS-sounding") tubes are way to go - at least I felt so, but I don't know which amps are really optimal or best-performing with afo.

 

My first "high end ish" headphones were the Ether C, then the Ether (also tried Ether Flow). Probably some of the most un-engaging cans I've ever tried in more life. Hopefully I can get my hands on this AFO and it will change my impression with the brand.

 

Hi Guys,

I'm close to buying these as an upgrade from my HD650s but I'm also super tempted by Moon Audio's $2250 price on open box Utopias.

Can anybody who has heard both please let me know if the Focal is a big step up?

 

Lol, I am also very tempted by that deal..

Here are my thoughts based on long experience with 650/afo and short auditions with utopias:
1. AFO is a similar but alternative, or complementary can, rather than a upgrade from 650s. I give more head time to AFO, but that's largely because of ergonomic reasons.
2. Well-amped utopia with good sources is virtually unbeatable imo (if that satisfies sonic preference). But all potential utopia buyers MUST give a listen before actual purchases. That can is very, very picky in various aspects (upstream gears, tonality, weight, and so forth).

 

The utopia is a big step up in my opinion. I auditioned the Aeon open briefly alongside the Utopia.....the clarity on the Utopia is a few levels higher; I can't really think of an area that the Aeon open is better. LCD4, Utopia, and Ether Flow Open were the three best sounding headphones to me - but I like a brighter sound, probably as a result of using my HD800 so much for the past 5 years. Going from the Utopia to the AFO was a bit like going from a concert hall to a phone booth in terms of soundstage, clarity, and even frequency response. The ether flow open is much much closer to the Utopia to me, although I know the EFO is not popular or well received on SBAF, it's what I walked away buying. I felt like the Ether flow open was 90% of what the Utopia was in the mids and highs but with 10% more bass.

I did like the Aeon Flow open slightly better than the closed though, which I own.

 

I would not waste my time with either of these if I was eyeing the Utopia. There is a such thing as plain better. I kind of disagree that it is just a different sounding headphone without putting it better than the AFO or 650. I would def agree though that the amp is important and you could ruin that 'better' with the wrong amp.

 

I thought that Dan had something special with the AFO when I heard the production model. Enough so that had to get it to @Hands to give it a listen to confirm what I was hearing. And then there was the sound stage limitations. Well, there are some physics involved here that are difficult to overcome. It's hard to "tune" a headphone for a better (bigger) sound stage. But I do feel that Dan worked hard on this issue and gave the AFO improvement in the sound staging. To me, it breathes better than it did originally. There is more air and the instruments have better spacing. But damn it's a fun headphone to listen to music with.

 

hi!

do any of you AFO users have any opinions of how these would work for gaming- in the competitive FPS gaming sense, pinpointing positional audio?

and also, for 'busy' music, do these keep up on more modest amps? I have a Geekout 2A Infinity and I was thinking I could run these in Balanced if that is possible.
can't quite get any impression from googling about how fast these sound. the midbass hump makes me wonder a bit, but maybe that won't matter too much here.
@Ice-man you seem to think the instrument separation is good so that's quite promising to me! just would love some more opinions.

build quality seems top notch and comfort has been a bother for me lately, so I hope these would satisfy.

coming from Sony MA900 and HE-560 but I think the latter are a bit wonky in the treble, and the former just don't have the sound I'm looking for ultimately.

 

I only have the closed and briefly heard the open; soundstage wasn't one of the open's strong point if I recall correctly, it was fairly closed sounding in that respect, so I feel like you'd be better of with something like an HD800 or AKG K7 series for an expansive sound stage. With that said I doubt that the AFO would be any kind of serious gaming handicap, but I'm an old man who sucks at video games and therefore doesn't play them, so what do I know? The tonality and frequency response of the AFO seems to be more than making up for its lack of soundstage to most people. The GO2A should be fine for the Aeon, you'll just need a 3.5mm TRRS to XLR convertor as I don't think Mr Speakers sells a cable with a 3.5 mm TRRS termination.

 

I see - does the AEon come with a BAL cable or would I have to purchase one? I think I have an XLR to TRRS adapter somewhere... might be Mini XLR though.

I have to say, stock HD800 soundstage is almost a bit much for me, I'm not looking for something super large, so I suspect I am more interested in good imaging/separation than the actual stage size.
do you think these would disappoint?
I actually thought the Ether C with mods was great, and that one was closed. but it felt like it had super good positional cues and separation.
very much wondering how this one might compare.

all the measurements of FR look really good on these, they seem to have that light warm mid-bass bloom that I enjoy, as well as an even midrange, and not too strong treble.
if only trying things out wasn't such a bother where I live currently... DHL even charges remote fees to ship things here!

thank you!

 

It comes with either a 4 pin XLR balanced cable or standard single ended, you just choose which one you want when ordering from Mr. Speaker's site. The 4 pin XLR to 3.5mm TRRS convertor cable is a little bit uncommon, I had to order one from amazon for $30 that took a few weeks to arrive. I lack the skill to make a good one myself. It works fine with LH labs devices though.

Personally I liked the Ether Flow more than than the Aeon but I've accepted that I'm in the minority on that and most people think I'm crazy/deaf.

 

I've had these on loan for about a week now. I wasn't going to post my impressions here simply due to my lack of technical understanding about what I'm hearing. I can't talk about what I hear in the 8-10k region, etc. as more knowledgeable listeners here can. My impressions come down to emotional engagement and nothing else.

I want to highlight that I don't think my 650s sound the same as @Hands describes. They are newer production and completely stock. You can essentially take his 650/AFO impressions and flip them for me...I find the AFO to be warmer, more veiled, less fatiguing, and more inviting overall. I actually sent a PM to @Ice-man because I thought my ears were broken. But, I really do think the new production HD650 is different than the old.

For the record, all my listening has been either Modi Multibit/Vali 2 at work or Bifrost Multibit/Vali 2 at home. I doubt the Vali 2 is doing any favors for the soundstage, but honestly folks, it sounds pretty awesome. This little amp does wonders.

Anyway, while I love the AFO now, it was not love at first listen. Since I don't hear as much gear as many of you, it took time to adjust to a new sound.

For the past couple of years, the HE-500 has been my main headphone. This means that my brain has REALLY adjusted to its sound and it feels like home in the audio world. About a year ago I added the HD650 to the mix. The HE-500 has been my pleasure headphone with the larger bass impact, sparkly treble, and larger soundstage, while the 650/Valhalla 2 combo is where I've turned for more detail and energy.

When I first tried the AFO, it was a shock to my system. First of all, the bass. It's not overdone, but relative to the sound I'm used to it was all I could focus on at first. This led to the feeling that the headphone was far too dark and the bass was drowning out the detail everywhere else. The idea that anyone would find the treble fatiguing or would opt for the tuning pads to further reduce it was laughable to me.

Then, you have the lack of open sound relative to what I was used to. The 650s, and far moreso, the HE-500s, are completely open to the outside world, and also don't form a complete seal on your head. So, when I first put the AFO on, I noticed the seal immediately. While they are certainly open headphones, relative to my experience they might as well have been closed. It was a dramatic difference, and everything about it felt unnatural.

All of this put together resulted in a sound that felt, simply put, wrong. The slight veil didn't feel slight and stood out to me immediately. The closed in and intimate presentation took me off guard. Rock guitar felt dulled and rounded at the edges. The bass, while well-defined, seemed overdone. I almost put them back in the box and sent them back. Several times.

BUT, every few songs I got a glimmer of something special. The first hint was when a Miles Davis track popped up, which put the liquid smoothness of the AFO on full display. The bass fell right into place and the saxophone was silky smooth without any glare or fatigue. It was nice, but surely an anomaly. I switched back to the 650, and yeah...the AFO hit it emotionally, but the 650 still sounded "correct". Besides, my collection isn't all jazz. It's nice that Miles Davis sounds great and all, but what about all the rock tracks that are missing the bite and edge?

On it went for a couple of days. I was wildly swapping out all three of these headphones and comparing notes. In other words, I was analyzing rather than listening.

Finally, I made up my mind that, yep....I've got these figured out. I'll print the shipping label and send them out tomorrow. I'll just put a few more songs on before bed and call it good. In retrospect, I think something about making that decision allowed me to forget the analysis and simply listen to the music. And, as fate would have it, a track by The Cranberries came on randomly and I stopped dead in my tracks. Musical bliss. I've always loved their stuff, but it's been a long time since I really connected to it emotionally. The song was "Pretty" and her voice...my goodness. It was fully present as the AFO tends to do with vocals, but it still contained all the fragility and nuance that caused me to fall in love with this album in the 90s. I was transported back. Instantly.

This led me down a rabbit hole, and before I knew it I had put in a 4.5 hour listening session. I haven't done this in YEARS. Maybe since high school when I was a long-haired, wistful kid who burned incense and got so lost in music that I'd sleep with it on most nights.

After that, I started hearing all the things I had been missing. There's guitar crunch when needed. Drums still have kick. Nirvana and Pearl Jam still sound great. I had just been so focused on the aspects that were new to me that I wasn't able to sit back and enjoy the whole picture. Yes, the sound is still on the warm side of neutral. No, these aren't as open and airy as what I'm used to. Yes, there IS a slight veil. But on a scale of 1-10, my level of concern about these things is somewhere around -3 (I teach Calculus, so don't challenge me on the math). What I DO care about is that I'm excited to listen to music whenever I have the chance and I'm eager to see which album I'm going to rediscover next. I haven't been this excited about audio since I first discovered the HE-500 all those years ago (long before I actually owned them).

Regarding soundstage, once adjusted to the sound I get a decent amount of depth in recordings and instrument placement has certainly never been an issue. Where I notice it is in the width. It feels like there's a definite cut off on the left and right that sound doesn't get past as opposed to more open headphones where the sound seems to kind of disappear into the air on either side. At this point, it's a non-issue for me. Brain burn-in is real and my brain has been scorched. The HE-500/650 still feel natural to me, but if it leaves me feeling flat, then what's the point? I'll take the wall of sound and call it a day. And night. Whatever. As long as the music is playing.

 

No I'm totally with you, a lot of people describe the HD650 as dark and veiled without hesitation. Maybe it's parroting, maybe they've all had older models. I've heard the HD650 4 times now, each I have had extended time with them (days). Every time I would describe them as forward sounding and very neutral. A good part of their aggressiveness is the area around 5khz, which I find them to be slightly peaked. Things like claps and snare drums are very vivid on them.

By comparison, the Aeon Open has a more relaxed presentation around 3-5, which I tend to prefer. The HD650 definitely has less sparkle than the Aeon Open in the upper treble though.

When considering the mid-bass balance and slightly recessed upper midrnage of the Aeon Open, I would consider it overall slightly darker than the HD650.