This is a review, listening test and measurements of the Dan Clark Audio (DCA) AEON 2 Noire Planar Magnetic closed back headphone. It is on kind loan from a member and costs US $850.
As soon as you touch and attempt to pick up the headphone, it immediately conveys a feeling of luxury with butter soft pads contrasting against the glossy finish. When I took off my everyday Dan Clark Stealth and put on the Noire, I felt like I had nothing on my head! It is that much lighter and so much more comfortable (although I wear my Stealth for hours).
Fitment on the GRAS measurement fixture was instant requiring almost no effort including great channel matching.
DCA AEON 2 Noire Measurements
We start with our usual frequency response measurement:
I speaking to Dan, he tens to think that hump around 100 Hz is desirable. We saw it in the Expanse headphone review. We do have some shortfall in the 2 to 4 kHz and some peaking past that. From my experience, such a deficiencies robs you of spatial qualities. Again, I think Dan thinks this brings some "breathiness" to vocals. In all, I can see his signature on this headphone, the more neutral response on the much more expensive headphones from him notwithstanding. The rough shape of the graph in the 2 to 8 kHz makes quick and dirty EQ more difficult:
EDIT: my testing was without any of the pads (filters) provided by the company. See these measurements for impact of that: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...-audio-aeon-2-noire-review.46055/post-1643697
Distortion is more than I am used to seeing in DAC headphones but since we have plenty of bass, it is of less concern:
Group delay is clean above bass indicating lack of internal reflections:
Impedance is very low and flat which means your headphone amp better have good current delivery:
Combined with half the sensitive of the median headphone, I think a headphone amplifier is mandatory:
My RME ADI-2 Pro was just good enough. I could crank it to max volume at +6 dB to get loud but then I had no headroom left (i.e. ability to drive the headphone to clipping).
DCA AEON 2 Noire Listening Tests and Equalization
The first impression was actually good. There was a warm quality to the sound courtesy of good amount of bass. I didn't listen long though as I wanted to see the effect of EQ:
I started with Band 1 filter. You would think reducing bass would result in the amp being less warm. The effect paradoxically was the opposite! The highs were reduced a bit. I suspect what was happening was the reduction of harmonic distortion that was bleeding into the higher frequencies. I then dialed in filter 2. In AB testing against no EQ, it was not clear in my mind which would be better. So I pulled down the one peak, added more to lower frequencies and put that shelving filter. Now we are talking!
The sound opened up and was no longer closed and bassy. On my reference tracks, I was amazed at the level of fidelity. Detail was superb now and of course, that wonderful bass was there to complement those highs. I wanted to keep listening but had to stop to take a picture of the headphone.
Putting my Stealth back on, it was a more balanced experience with less hyped up lower treble. So perhaps I crave more in that area as reflected in my EQ choice above. What can I say. Need to try that with the Stealth...
Conclusions
The Aeron 2 Noire brings expected bass response (and a bit more) but trades some loss of energy in lower treble with some peaking in upper frequencies. EQ by eye is difficult but with luck or skill, I arrived at a setting that produces just marvelous fidelity to my ear. I can imagine many being happy with the stock tuning which made it hard for me to rate it without EQ. With EQ though, it matches my taste perfectly. Combine that with its high level of comfort and luxury, and you have a winner there.
I am not going to recommend the DAC Aeron 2 Noire without EQ strictly based on my personal taste. With EQ, it more than delights me and becomes a recommendation.
-----------
As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.
Any donations are much appreciated using: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/
As soon as you touch and attempt to pick up the headphone, it immediately conveys a feeling of luxury with butter soft pads contrasting against the glossy finish. When I took off my everyday Dan Clark Stealth and put on the Noire, I felt like I had nothing on my head! It is that much lighter and so much more comfortable (although I wear my Stealth for hours).
Fitment on the GRAS measurement fixture was instant requiring almost no effort including great channel matching.
DCA AEON 2 Noire Measurements
We start with our usual frequency response measurement:
I speaking to Dan, he tens to think that hump around 100 Hz is desirable. We saw it in the Expanse headphone review. We do have some shortfall in the 2 to 4 kHz and some peaking past that. From my experience, such a deficiencies robs you of spatial qualities. Again, I think Dan thinks this brings some "breathiness" to vocals. In all, I can see his signature on this headphone, the more neutral response on the much more expensive headphones from him notwithstanding. The rough shape of the graph in the 2 to 8 kHz makes quick and dirty EQ more difficult:
EDIT: my testing was without any of the pads (filters) provided by the company. See these measurements for impact of that: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...-audio-aeon-2-noire-review.46055/post-1643697
Distortion is more than I am used to seeing in DAC headphones but since we have plenty of bass, it is of less concern:
Group delay is clean above bass indicating lack of internal reflections:
Impedance is very low and flat which means your headphone amp better have good current delivery:
Combined with half the sensitive of the median headphone, I think a headphone amplifier is mandatory:
My RME ADI-2 Pro was just good enough. I could crank it to max volume at +6 dB to get loud but then I had no headroom left (i.e. ability to drive the headphone to clipping).
DCA AEON 2 Noire Listening Tests and Equalization
The first impression was actually good. There was a warm quality to the sound courtesy of good amount of bass. I didn't listen long though as I wanted to see the effect of EQ:
I started with Band 1 filter. You would think reducing bass would result in the amp being less warm. The effect paradoxically was the opposite! The highs were reduced a bit. I suspect what was happening was the reduction of harmonic distortion that was bleeding into the higher frequencies. I then dialed in filter 2. In AB testing against no EQ, it was not clear in my mind which would be better. So I pulled down the one peak, added more to lower frequencies and put that shelving filter. Now we are talking!
The sound opened up and was no longer closed and bassy. On my reference tracks, I was amazed at the level of fidelity. Detail was superb now and of course, that wonderful bass was there to complement those highs. I wanted to keep listening but had to stop to take a picture of the headphone.Putting my Stealth back on, it was a more balanced experience with less hyped up lower treble. So perhaps I crave more in that area as reflected in my EQ choice above. What can I say.
Need to try that with the Stealth...Conclusions
The Aeron 2 Noire brings expected bass response (and a bit more) but trades some loss of energy in lower treble with some peaking in upper frequencies. EQ by eye is difficult but with luck or skill, I arrived at a setting that produces just marvelous fidelity to my ear. I can imagine many being happy with the stock tuning which made it hard for me to rate it without EQ. With EQ though, it matches my taste perfectly. Combine that with its high level of comfort and luxury, and you have a winner there.
I am not going to recommend the DAC Aeron 2 Noire without EQ strictly based on my personal taste. With EQ, it more than delights me and becomes a recommendation.
-----------
As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.
Any donations are much appreciated using: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/
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