Welp looks like I'm going to get another dent in my bank account.
I wish Dan Clark would hire different designers, for $4,000 these don't
visually look like premium headphones. The red stitching isn't a good color choice and reminds me of the look of $30 Superlux headphones. I get what he's going for with the mesh outer cover, it needs a different shape and different pattern of plastic underneath it though.
I'm also fairly disappointed to see they use the same pads as the Aeon, which are subject to permanent twisting of the foam under the pad rendering them less comfortable, worse seal, and unpleasant looking. What's funny is that the marketing image appears to show the start of this exact problem:
If you're curious, here's what that warping looks like after 1-2 years of normal use:
This is unfixable by the way, no amount of twisting / massaging the foam under the material will correct the pad shape. Believe me, I've tried for a long time, because replacement pads are $60. And this behavior isn't considered a "defect" with free replacements by Dan Clark audio, you have to pay full price. $4,000 headphones shouldn't require a pad replacement every 1-2 years. I ended up buying replacement pads for my Aeons, which themselves have
already started the same twisting after a few months.
I haven't owned a pair of headphones with a pad issue like this. I've seen lots of leather pads fatigue and crack, that's probably unavoidable, but it's more along the 4-5 year time horizon, and during this pad degradation time the pads still hold their shape. I've only seen the Aeons have the foam twisting issue. For a comparison, my pair of LCD-Xs which get regular use, and have much larger pads, show no signs of fatigue after 2 years, despite having a similar visual look. I wonder if they glue or stitch the outer edge of the foam to the material somehow to avoid this.
The Aeon pad issue isn't bad as Focal Clear pads which discolor after a few months from skin oil (who the hell chose light gray pads as the only color lol), and cost $100-$200 to replace. However at least with the Focal Clears, despite taking on a nasty stained look, the pad shape stays in tact.
I hope Dan will consider upgrading the pad design especially for a price point of $4,000.