Dan Clark Audio AEON RT Review (closed headphone)

[solderdude]

@Dan Clark Do you still use your patented special 'trick' in the membranes and is that trick also used in the AEON drivers ?

Will the RT version become available for resellers or, because of the price point, is that not feasible ?

 

[dmac6419]

The latter. Just look at the huge (down to an extreme of ~ -8dB), broad, low-Q (more audible than high-Q) scoop in the compensated frequency response around 2-5kHz:

That's just poor, especially at this price. The pinna gain region is one of the most important features of a headphone's frequency response to get right for accurate tonality, and this headphone gets it very wrong. This large deviation from the target is reflected in the mediocre 61/100 preference rating as seen above. There are many better headphones than this at much lower prices.

Name em

 

[proudboyslookniceshaven]

I bought these with the Hel / ModMic deal. I love them. I think they're one of the best deals in audio, up there with Schiit stack. Not as technically proficient as my Audeze LCD XC but lighter, comfy, fun. Clean loud bassy sound. Detail. Space. Not the best ever, but for $500? A steal.

Not only that, but you can invest in DCA for the price of some headphones! And I loved these so much, I did!

 

[thewas]

Open headphones radiate the same energy into space. Inherently this gives opens an advantage in some areas like soundstage

Many say this is also a result of a kind of natural/acoustic crossfeed from one side to the other.

 

[proudboyslookniceshaven]

Why is the "Aeon" stylized like this

I think the combo is actually a third letter.

 

[Guerilla]

Hi!

Congrats with the fine review.
Can a 12 ohm headphone be driven by a low watt speakeramp with good results?
Cheers!

 

[randomusername]

The real question that really solves this 'problem' is you disclosing which amp(s) you are using.
From the datasheet it is usually easy to calculate voltage and current limits.

9038d (120mW@16 Ohm, 180mW@32 Ohm, 95mA current limit). I should get 106db spl peak from this dongle if i am not mistaken with the math. Which is pretty loud for me. And sure, my headphones are pretty loud (I am not even going to max volume). But sounds not as good as they can do with desktop amp. Maybe i've poorly described sound as just "bass roll-off", bass is here, just perceived as not deep enough, compressed, lacking dynamics and slam. If i didn't have an desktop dac for reference, I may haven't even noticed that. People usually talking like "if it is loud enough, it is ok". Seems like not always the case. May be not with this current hungry headphones.

 

[50°F=Hellfire]

@amirm
Have you done the Ether CX yet?

 

[g0ne]

@Dan Clark Please consider sending over the whole line-up of headphones to amirm for testing. He is very good with returning tested items and we wanna buy the #1 headphones / price or #1 headphones in general in this forum

 

[thefsb]

I don't like wearing headphones but I want to try these. Would be great to repackage this in a pro model with one connector instead of two and cable options including coiled. With that performance and price and if the claims of durability are true it should compete well.

 

[thefsb]

What's this dude listening to? his phone or that Crosley?

In any case, I want a full semiotic workup of this image.

 

[PeteL]

9038d (120mW@16 Ohm, 180mW@32 Ohm, 95mA current limit). I should get 106db spl peak from this dongle if i am not mistaken with the math. Which is pretty loud for me. And sure, my headphones are pretty loud (I am not even going to max volume). But sounds not as good as they can do with desktop amp. Maybe i've poorly described sound as just "bass roll-off", bass is here, just perceived as not deep enough, compressed, lacking dynamics and slam. If i didn't have an desktop dac for reference, I may haven't even noticed that. People usually talking like "if it is loud enough, it is ok". Seems like not always the case. May be not with this current hungry headphones.

Out of curiosity, do you hear a difference wheter it’s plug on computer usb vs cell phones? I suspect most cell phones won’t let you pull that power out of the usb port to better manage battery life, but it’s just a suspicion I don’t have the data to demonstrate this (In fact cell phones manufacturers tend to give very limited specifications). I may be wrong tough.

 

[Ultor]

Oh, forgot to say that these are my everyday headphones.

Damned, I just buyed a Sundara...
Did I make a mistake ?

 

[amirm]

Damned, I just buyed a Sundara...
Did I make a mistake ?

I don't know until I test the Sundara.

 

[Dan Clark]

Hi Dan, thanks for the clarification. It is very helpful because DCA resellers local to me have been putting the Flow Open/Closed on sale both new and ex-demo, and I wasn't sure if they were the pre-RT sets or RT sets.

That said, are pre-RT sets still supported for repairs? If a pre-RT set comes in for repair, and needs driver repair/replacement, would it be repaired to RT spec, or original spec? Is it still possible to get new Aeon Flows with the pre-RT tuning (perhaps by special order or something)? Would you say that the RTs are a sidegrade with different tonality from original, or have there been other upgrades as well?

This is because I find the pre-RT Aeon closed tuning very attractive, and there's an ex-demo set local to me I am very interested in, so thought I'd just check in with you on the support available for the pre-RT flows.

We still support Mad Dog and Alpha Dog, as well as original ETHER headphones... we try to support products at least five years after end of life.

 

[Dan Clark]

@Dan Clark Do you still use your patented special 'trick' in the membranes and is that trick also used in the AEON drivers ?

Will the RT version become available for resellers or, because of the price point, is that not feasible ?

No way to make a product in San Diego with metal construction under $500 if it has to go through retail.

 

[Dan Clark]

@Dan Clark Do you still use your patented special 'trick' in the membranes and is that trick also used in the AEON drivers ?

Will the RT version become available for resellers or, because of the price point, is that not feasible ?

Many say this is also a result of a kind of natural/acoustic crossfeed from one side to the other.

Yes, part of getting the low THD is our patented v-planar driver knurling.

I would doubt open headphone crossfeed is a thing. There’s just not enough output for one ear to pick up enough output from the other to give those cues. Electronic cross feed circuits inject more energy into the opposite channel than leakage could. Just take one cup of your head and listen to the amount of volume coming from the other side relative to the volume, it’ll all be top end. Crossfeed relies on mixing lower frequencies.... this is just my theory I haven’t researched this.

 

[Cahudson42]

@Dan Clark

I may have missed the info, but does the RT use single or double sided magnets?
Whichever, why?

Do you use both types, like HFM? If so, or not, why?

And could you comment on your thinking of the benefits and disadvantages of each, including resulting audio characteristics ? (Distortion, fr, sound stage etc)

 

[Frio]

Looks like a very interesting offer but I don't have much experience with closed headphones, currently with k702. Is there a comparison with the open version, I have seen a graph that did not look bad at all.

 

[frogmeat69]

Hello @Dan Clark , I own the Drop model Aeon Open X, where does that headphone fit in, with the Aeon, Aeon RT and Aeon 2?? Not a huge closed back fan, but these have me really interested.
Also, I hope @amirm gets the open back of this model to measure.