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Dan Clark Audio AEON RT Review (closed headphone)

RHO

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Yeah I talked about this earlier in this thread, I had the same experience as this guy who bought it from me and severel others, and nomatter what I did in the EQ I could not fix the problem. Kind of sad, because I went on a $230 dollar loss after trusting the objective measurments that was provided here. Bass is important to me and I could never imaginge a closed back planar that measured like this could ever give me problems with bass levels that would not be fixable with eq.. This is why some form of proper leakage effect testing matters. It's too relevant to leave out.
For how long did you try it out?
I had the same issue the fist ... week(s). I think the pads needed to settle. It took much longer than I expected. But now I never (except when having a ear-infection) have the impression there's anything wrong with the bass. There's enough and it sounds fine. (with or without EQ)
 

Phoney

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For how long did you try it out?
I had the same issue the fist ... week(s). I think the pads needed to settle. It took much longer than I expected. But now I never (except when having a ear-infection) have the impression there's anything wrong with the bass. There's enough and it sounds fine. (with or without EQ)
Used it almost every day for 4 weeks and then lost patience because nothing changed. It still responded very poorly to large bass boosts aswell (atleast in terms of what was actually going into my ears). In the end I figured I'd rather just buy a headphone that wasn't dependant on sealing, even by selling with the loss, I could still find something that had better perceived tonality for cheaper that would also be fixable with EQ.
 
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Robbo99999

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Used it almost every day for 4 weeks and then lost patience because nothing changed. It still responded very poorly to large bass boosts aswell (atleast in terms of what was actually going into my ears). In the end I figured I'd rather just buy a headphone that wasn't dependant on sealing, even by selling with a bit of a loss, I could still find something that had better percieved tonality for cheaper that would also be fixable with EQ.
What did you get as a replacement? You might find the HD560s a reliable & affordable replacement, albeit it's an open backed dynamic driver headphone! (so might not fit your use)

In that other thread where we were talking about your 60-80Hz depression EQ, was that in relation to the Aeon RT or another headphone?
 

Phoney

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What did you get as a replacement?

In that other thread where we were talking about your 60-80Hz depression EQ, was that in relation to the Aeon RT or another headphone?
That was someone else. I'm still looking, I haven't decided yet.
 

Robbo99999

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That was someone else. I'm still looking, I haven't decided yet.
Ha, it sure was someone else, the avatar is on the same "subject" and your two names are very different yet have for some reason some mental similarity for me that made me think you were that guy! Well if you want to consider a reliable low cost & low distortion open backed headphone which nails pretty much everything after EQ then have a look at the Sennheiser HD560s.
 

Rayman30

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Yeah I talked about this earlier in this thread, I had the same experience as this guy who bought it from me and severel others, and nomatter what I did in the EQ I could not fix the problem. Kind of sad, because I went on a $230 dollar loss after trusting the objective measurments that was provided here. Bass is important to me and I could never imaginge a closed back planar that measured like this could ever give me problems with bass levels that would not be fixable with eq.. This is why some form of proper leakage effect testing matters. It's too relevant to leave out.

I returned my Aeon RT Closed for the same reason, dry sounding and poor base dynamics. Originally purchased for work, but I decided just to use Airpods Max at work, then instead purchased a pair of LCD-X (Which blow away the Aeon's) I recommend giving the LCD-XC a look, budget permitting.
 

Daltong

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I wonder what foam does DC use for the pads (from the look I got on my disintegrated ones it looked like regular normal foam, so maybe something fancier with more memory effect and better air seal would improve fit)
 

Glitch

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Are people able to drive these to satisfaction with a DAC+Amp dongle in unbalanced mode?
 

RHO

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Are people able to drive these to satisfaction with a DAC+Amp dongle in unbalanced mode?
I'm testing it for you right now.
I'm running my Aeon RT closed with iBasso DC03 connected to my OnePlus Nord.
Plenty loud, but the dongle runs hotter than usual. (I use the dongle only with IEMs) It's not really excessive I would say.
I think the biggest issue will be battery life. This thing will drain your phone in no time when playing reasonably loud.
 

ririt

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I'm testing it for you right now.
I'm running my Aeon RT closed with iBasso DC03 connected to my OnePlus Nord.
Plenty loud, but the dongle runs hotter than usual. (I use the dongle only with IEMs) It's not really excessive I would say.
I think the biggest issue will be battery life. This thing will drain your phone in no time when playing reasonably loud.
I ran a quick test for you running my Aeon RT with Qudelix 5k through the unbalanced output. With EQ and a pre gain of -6.5 dB you are close if not above the limit of this dongle. You have much more headroom with the balanced output under the same conditions. This is my usual way of using this combo. While writing this message, I am listening Qobuz (Anne Paceo tracks) with the Qudelix volume at -16dB. It sounds great with the right volume level.
 

Impossible

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I'm planning on getting the aeon 2 closed.

I'm thinking of getting the fiio m17 for dac and amp. Would this have enough power or would I need a desktop dac like RME adi 2 pro?
 

Glitch

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I'm planning on getting the aeon 2 closed.

I'm thinking of getting the fiio m17 for dac and amp. Would this have enough power or would I need a desktop dac like RME adi 2 pro?

Specs say 1.5W in 16Ohm, that's plenty!
 

staticV3

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Amirm: Please do a review of the Dan Clark Audio Aeon 2 Noire.
Amir reviews what people send him. If you want a review of the Noire, then you can either buy one and send it to him, or ask the manufacturer to provide a review sample.
 

Jimbob54

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Amir reviews what people send him. If you want a review of the Noire, then you can either buy one and send it to him, or ask the manufacturer to provide a review sample.
In fairness, DCA (And Hifiman I believe) are the 2 headphone manufs that do send units to Amir to review. I dont know if they send a limited portion of the range, or one in one out etc. But as you say, the best chance of getting a review here is a member liaising with him to get a pair shipped and measured.
 

pk500

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If this would be true it would be a really serious problem. I just bought an Aeon 2 Noire and i find that information pretty troubling/unsettling. The threads that I have found about this, rather say that an existing tinnitus got worse (temporarily), but that the tinnitus is newly developed I have not found so far. Of course, I don't want to take any risk of getting tinnitus from the type of headphones I have now.
I wonder what @Dan Clark says about possible hearing damage? Is the risk higher with closed back planars than with open dynamic headphones?
I have suffered from pretty severe tinnitus for about five years, with moderate tinnitus for about five years before that.

Recently bought a pair of Dan Clark Audio Aeon 2 Closed with Noire fenestrated pads used. The sound is sublime. But these cans have aggravated my tinnitus like no other headphone I've ever used. My ears are SCREAMING with the wail of 1,000 crickets after using them for only an hour.

I don't think it's just the planar driver. I own HiFiMan HE-400se and Edition XS, and they don't aggravate my tinnitus at all. But they're also open back and have moderate (HE-400se) and light (Edition XS) clamping force.

The DCA A2C's seem to be a perfect storm for tinnitus, at least for me. They're planars, closed back, have very strong clamping force, and the very soft foam of the pads -- combined with the tight clamping force -- creates a very tight seal between the pads and my head. It's too much for my old ears.

A shame, as the sound of the DCA A2C's is sublime. The only closed back I've heard that sounds better is the Focal Stellia, which costs more than three times as much new.

Bummer. Anyone want to buy a pair of A2C with Noire pads or trade a pair of Focal Elex for them? :)
 

RHO

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I have tinnitus for more than 25 years now. The DCA Aeon RT made no difference to it what so ever.
Just don't play your music too loud and you should be fine.
 

Robbo99999

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I have suffered from pretty severe tinnitus for about five years, with moderate tinnitus for about five years before that.

Recently bought a pair of Dan Clark Audio Aeon 2 Closed with Noire fenestrated pads used. The sound is sublime. But these cans have aggravated my tinnitus like no other headphone I've ever used. My ears are SCREAMING with the wail of 1,000 crickets after using them for only an hour.

I don't think it's just the planar driver. I own HiFiMan HE-400se and Edition XS, and they don't aggravate my tinnitus at all. But they're also open back and have moderate (HE-400se) and light (Edition XS) clamping force.

The DCA A2C's seem to be a perfect storm for tinnitus, at least for me. They're planars, closed back, have very strong clamping force, and the very soft foam of the pads -- combined with the tight clamping force -- creates a very tight seal between the pads and my head. It's too much for my old ears.

A shame, as the sound of the DCA A2C's is sublime. The only closed back I've heard that sounds better is the Focal Stellia, which costs more than three times as much new.

Bummer. Anyone want to buy a pair of A2C with Noire pads or trade a pair of Focal Elex for them? :)
I've never really suffered from tinnitus, but I bought a pair of HE4XX planar headphones a couple of years ago, and the clamping force was very high on those - I found that they gave me short lived tinnitus.....I also found that working the headband in the opposite direction to loosen the clamping force resulted in that headphone not causing tinnitus anymore - I remember researching it and it's possible for high clamping force to create tinnitus by itself. Now, I think that by working the headband and changing the clamping force could well alter the frequency response of the headphone received at your eardrum, so there could be a negative & unknown associated with doing that - I recently measured my HE4XX on some miniDSP EARS I bought a few weeks ago, (and using a compensation curve that seems to work well for that headphone) the results show that the frequency response has less bass energy below 60Hz with a faster roll off, and also less energy than I expected between 1.5-6kHz when compared to Oratory measurements......I don't know for sure if this is a result of the decreased clamping pressure or my HE4XX has always been like that, but the corresponding EQ to correct for it sounds good so I think it's "telling the truth" regardless of what caused it.
 

RHO

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I found that they gave me short lived tinnitus.....I also found that working the headband in the opposite direction to loosen the clamping force resulted in that headphone not causing tinnitus anymore -
Aha, maybe that can be a factor. I have a small head, so do not suffer from excessive clamping from any headphones I have tried.
 
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