Dan Clark Audio AEON RT Review (closed headphone)

[Dan Clark]

First, hi Amir and thanks for the review, so glad you enjoy the headphones!

I haven't listened to the RT but owned and enjoyed the closed Aeon and the closed Aeon2. Just got the perforated pads for the Aeon2. I can send them if you want to measure. I modified mine to take 3.5mm in each cup so they are compatible with the vast majority of cables I already had and make it much nicer to travel with due to less bulk.

I've known how good Dan Clark is but it really was apparent when looking inside these things and how they are designed and assembled. You never get this level of craftsmanship from someone without passion for the hobby. My only complaint is that it didn't take long for the paint to flake off of my headband in a couple of spots near the hinge due to me setting them down on my nightstand.

Hi... I always enjoy seeing somebody "mod" our headphones, given our roots! Glad you like the build quality but sorry about that chipped paint, we announced this a year ago, we did have some units early on where the paint cure was not correct and a few shipped before we caught it (needless to say paint hardness is now tested). Flaking is covered by warranty and we’ll happily fix that for you. Contact us via the support link on our site...

"Dan says he doesn't think complying with the target generates what he hears live. I agree with him on that, but disagree on desirability of it in the arsenal of the audiophile. I like that energy there! "

When I'd want to hear what I hear live, I'd usually listen to a live recording. But that mostly does not happen as I feel live sound to have worse sound quality than studio recordings where everything is far more controlled.

Not that it would be strictly a bad thing to have something that generates a "live sound" effect. I would assume there's not much research on that subject.

What would the name of that study be - "A study on the averaged effects of live music performance equipment and environments on deviation from the Harman target"?

Fun topic. I haven‘t seen research on this either but for clarity let me expand a bit.

By “live” I typically mean un-amplified acoustic instruments like drums, strings, acoustic guitar, and voice, which seldom has as much energy in the 2-5K region as I hear in a lot of gear. Generally I reference live chamber music or truly acoustic small venue jazz, I'm not trying to recreate some random PA in a club and god-forbid a stadium! That's kind of up to the recording engineer.

My thinking is always to start with live acoustic and then branch into electronica, rock, etc with the logic that if you can't do a good job on acoustic you're really creating a headphone that, if you're lucky, is genre specific, but if you get acoustic where you want and then can push the top and bottom without breaking it, you're on the road to a good all-around platform.

Two questions:

1: does someone know a source to buy it in the EU?

2: @amirm: can the THX 789 driver it well?

We sell this model direct and ship worldwide. It's not available through our resellers.

These look pretty good.

Though, if anyone here knows, I was wondering. What's up with this low impedance facination everywhere you look these days? I know for dynamic headphones, it's pretty trivial to switch up the impedance to a prefered value. But for planars, it seems universal, that they're all quite low. Is there a reason to have all of them go so low?

For planars impedance is mostly a function of trace width and length and trying to optimize a workable impedance and decent efficiency. For many planar designs, this means a Z from 12-50 ohms though Audeze did put out a couple of high-z models.

As a funny note, one self-described “famous” amp designer sent me a $5k amp to use at a tradeshow and it was specified as close to a watt output but I couldn't get above 75dB before clipping. Turns out he'd used the 150 ohm without testing it on planars. There are very few devices that have high output like that now, mostly OTL amps or tube amps with a high-Z output winding.

So it's not inherent to the design, it's simply inherent to being efficient? They can just add more "windings" by lengthening the wire run (or using a thinner gauge) to simply increase the impedance, but then I guess the efficiency plummets to undesirable levels for many devices?

But is this being done because of the understanding that most modern amplifiers in the consumer market (like PC sources and such) are able to deliver massive current easier than they can deliver massive voltages?

Planar driver math is easy enough. This is definitely a simplification because B is not linear within a motor, but assuming it is efficiency is a function of motor force, F=BIL, where B is a flux strength, I is current, and L is trace length. If Z goes up since I=V/Z I drops thus so does the force, conversely, if Z drops, I increases so force does. Since B is based on the magnets, our only variables are L and Z, so we optimize for this to get best efficiency.

 

[Doodski]

Always good to see the manufacturers participating in the forum @Dan Clark

 

[Tks]

My guess is that fewer and thinker traces on the diaphragm increases production yield and lowers cost and which is the real concern.

 

[FreaK]

Why is the comment from Dan Clark deleted?

@Dan Clark: thank you! I'm considering buying the Aeon RT. Do you know maybe how long it takes usually with Fedex International Priority the shipping to the EU?

 

[Dan Clark]

Why is the comment from Dan Clark deleted?

@Dan Clark: thank you! I'm considering buying the Aeon RT. Do you know maybe how long it takes usually with Fedex International Priority the shipping to the EU?

Hi! Generally 2-3 days, and I *think* we are still in stock, it may be a couple of days for new orders to ship. Do note that Covid has affected international shipping and delivery dates are not super reliable...

 

[starfly]

@Dan Clark Don't know if this was asked already, but is the Aeon RT Open similar in sound signature to the Closed? And do you have measurements of the inner dimensions of the earcup? Width, height, depth, all in mm?

 

[Newman]

@Dan Clark me too.

From the manufacturer: "ÆON RT (Re-Tuned) delivers a vibrant new take on our award-winning and critically acclaimed ÆON Flow. ÆON RT embodies everything you loved about the classic ÆON Flow - its tough, yet ultra-light, all-metal headband and baffle, and incredibly comfortable ergonomic design - but with a significant sonic upgrade. While ÆON RT Closed has had its bass presence boosted and its tone adjusted to be smoother and better-balanced (basically, a more playful vibe), ÆON RT Open lightens up the midrange and expands the soundstage for a more immersive experience. "

I am asking whether closed-back headphones need to forever have the caveat applied that they are sonically lacking a bit in the bold parts above?

If so, then closed-back phones that get glowing reviews like Amir’s here, actually need an asterisk with the words “for a closed-back headphone”.

Is it true, or is it myth? ÆON themselves wrote the above, so do they genuinely mean it, or is it just marketing chatter?

It has certainly been a longstanding truism, that for the ultimate sound quality you need open backs, and only accept closed backs when you want to block out the outside world or don’t want to disturb others. The explanation usually being that the sound reflecting off the closed back is causing problems that are unavoidable as long as the back is closed. (An explanation that should apply to speakers too, if true.)

The ÆON quote above feeds into that truism, and I am interested in whether it is genuinely technically a constraint on closed back headphones, that they literally cannot achieve the top tier of sonics in terms of midrange, soundstage and immersiveness.

 

[Tachyon88]

@Dan Clark HI ! Have you ever considered making pads that magnetically attach like the meze empyrean instead of glue ? One of the reasons I sold my audeze was glued pads.

 

[Helicopter]

@Dan Clark HI ! Have you ever considered making pads that magnetically attach like the meze empyrean instead of glue ? One of the reasons I sold my audeze was glued pads.

A stiff snap fit like Sennheiser HD6XX isn't bad either.

 

[Pr0Xy]

@Dan Clark me too.

From the manufacturer: "ÆON RT (Re-Tuned) delivers a vibrant new take on our award-winning and critically acclaimed ÆON Flow. ÆON RT embodies everything you loved about the classic ÆON Flow - its tough, yet ultra-light, all-metal headband and baffle, and incredibly comfortable ergonomic design - but with a significant sonic upgrade. While ÆON RT Closed has had its bass presence boosted and its tone adjusted to be smoother and better-balanced (basically, a more playful vibe), ÆON RT Open lightens up the midrange and expands the soundstage for a more immersive experience. "

I am asking whether closed-back headphones need to forever have the caveat applied that they are sonically lacking a bit in the bold parts above?

If so, then closed-back phones that get glowing reviews like Amir’s here, actually need an asterisk with the words “for a closed-back headphone”.

Is it true, or is it myth? ÆON themselves wrote the above, so do they genuinely mean it, or is it just marketing chatter?

It has certainly been a longstanding truism, that for the ultimate sound quality you need open backs, and only accept closed backs when you want to block out the outside world or don’t want to disturb others. The explanation usually being that the sound reflecting off the closed back is causing problems that are unavoidable as long as the back is closed. (An explanation that should apply to speakers too, if true.)

The ÆON quote above feeds into that truism, and I am interested in whether it is genuinely technically a constraint on closed back headphones, that they literally cannot achieve the top tier of sonics in terms of midrange, soundstage and immersiveness.

I am not an expert by any stretch of the imagination on that topic, but generally you have to counter the reflections of the soundwaves from the driver since they'll otherwise mess with your original signal and also you have to give the driver still some air to breath to be able to make quick large movements for a bass hit for example.
Since you normally can't make the cup just giant you have a limited volume which you stuff a bit with foam for the reflections, which cuts even more air. To combat that you then add a vent to give a little more leeway to the airvolume.
Since all this is never perfect an open back *SHOULD* be always better. By how large of a margin may be debatable but it just doesnt have to fight physics as much.
cheers

 

[Dan Clark]

@Dan Clark me too.

From the manufacturer: "ÆON RT (Re-Tuned) delivers a vibrant new take on our award-winning and critically acclaimed ÆON Flow. ÆON RT embodies everything you loved about the classic ÆON Flow - its tough, yet ultra-light, all-metal headband and baffle, and incredibly comfortable ergonomic design - but with a significant sonic upgrade. While ÆON RT Closed has had its bass presence boosted and its tone adjusted to be smoother and better-balanced (basically, a more playful vibe), ÆON RT Open lightens up the midrange and expands the soundstage for a more immersive experience. "

I am asking whether closed-back headphones need to forever have the caveat applied that they are sonically lacking a bit in the bold parts above?

If so, then closed-back phones that get glowing reviews like Amir’s here, actually need an asterisk with the words “for a closed-back headphone”.

Is it true, or is it myth? ÆON themselves wrote the above, so do they genuinely mean it, or is it just marketing chatter?

It has certainly been a longstanding truism, that for the ultimate sound quality you need open backs, and only accept closed backs when you want to block out the outside world or don’t want to disturb others. The explanation usually being that the sound reflecting off the closed back is causing problems that are unavoidable as long as the back is closed. (An explanation that should apply to speakers too, if true.)

The ÆON quote above feeds into that truism, and I am interested in whether it is genuinely technically a constraint on closed back headphones, that they literally cannot achieve the top tier of sonics in terms of midrange, soundstage and immersiveness.

Closed headphones store energy in the cup which often shows as group delay issues, with time and frequency impacts. Open headphones radiate the same energy into space. Inherently this gives opens an advantage in some areas like soundstage, and they can be easier to keep the response smoother. Closed headphones do have a leg up in bass, though, where the stored energy can work to your advantage.

I’ve always tried to build closed headphones that sound open but Keep the isolation, and bass, benefits. Of course as soon as you try to communicate the benefits it becomes marketing...

 

[noel_fs]

hows imaging

 

[majingotan]

First, hi Amir and thanks for the review, so glad you enjoy the headphones!

Fun topic. I haven‘t seen research on this either but for clarity let me expand a bit.

By “live” I typically mean un-amplified acoustic instruments like drums, strings, acoustic guitar, and voice, which seldom has as much energy in the 2-5K region as I hear in a lot of gear. Generally I reference live chamber music or truly acoustic small venue jazz, I'm not trying to recreate some random PA in a club and god-forbid a stadium! That's kind of up to the recording engineer.

My thinking is always to start with live acoustic and then branch into electronica, rock, etc with the logic that if you can't do a good job on acoustic you're really creating a headphone that, if you're lucky, is genre specific, but if you get acoustic where you want and then can push the top and bottom without breaking it, you're on the road to a good all-around platform.

Nice to see you participating in this forum as well. I have not demoed this specific headphone, but I've demoed your VOCE E-stat headphone just right before the pandemic happened. Based on what you mentioned about referencing live chamber music, I notice that intent during my demo with the VOCE which I liked: neither forcing dynamics nor lacking, just naturally right "un-amplified vibe" on the target of my sonic preferences . Would love to see if you can also send the VOCE to Amir in the future as well

 

[mshenay]

By “live” I typically mean un-amplified acoustic instruments like drums, strings, acoustic guitar, and voice, which seldom has as much energy in the 2-5K region as I hear in a lot of gear. Generally I reference live chamber music or truly acoustic small venue jazz, I'm not trying to recreate some random PA in a club and god-forbid a stadium! That's kind of up to the recording engineer.

My thinking is always to start with live acoustic and then branch into electronica, rock, etc with the logic that if you can't do a good job on acoustic you're really creating a headphone that, if you're lucky, is genre specific, but if you get acoustic where you want and then can push the top and bottom without breaking it, you're on the road to a good all-around platform.

Dan it's great to see you here, I have always appreciated your Aeon and Ether Series closed backs for that quality in particular. Having heard a lot of gear over the years your headphones have been the only ones I've kept in my collection. I really enjoy both my Ether CX and Aeon 2 Closed I'm also super excited to see the original Closed Aeon did get a retune! I really enjoyed my original AFC

All in all I'm excited to see an Ether 2 Closed in the future, and @amirm I appreciate you getting these measurements posted! They match up well with a lot of the existing data that exists else where. I look forward to your postings regarding future Dan Clark Audio headphones

 

[soundwave76]

Without waiting for the AKG371 review...?

Yes. Life is too short to wait for reviews... or wait with technology in general

 

[Ilkless]

We sell this model direct and ship worldwide. It's not available through our resellers.

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.

 

[Kchuenmusic]

Oh wow this is great. I am planning to get a Zmf headphone but the Abyss reviews scare the heck out of me about US pricy homemades. Hopefully someone would send a pair of ZMF for testing.

 

[gvl]

How wrong is it to write a letter to Santa in January?

 

[solderdude]

That's what i mean too, you may not get hard clips, but rather peaks gets "deformed" (and it may be more audible on large bass peaks). I have heard that statement about "anemic" sound with low-impedance low-sensitivity headphones without "proper" amp many times, and even Amir wrote it in this thread https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...iew-closed-headphone.19393/page-2#post-637565 and he is not talking about just loudness, as i understand.

An amp is anemic if it can't supply the needed output power. Say a phone, tablet or laptop. Of course you can connect it and you will get sound but you won't get loud enough to reach impressive levels. As said before current clipping behavior is amp design dependent.
The problem may be very simple... not loud enough. How loud is loud for you ? Do you have other amps where it does not sound anemic ?

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.

 

[preload]

I'm curious about the Aeon RT. I used to have a pair of the Aeon Flow Open, but sold them a while ago. My favorite headphones WITHOUT EQ are the Ether Flow Opens. I was excited when the Ether 2's came out, thinking they would simply be an upgrade to everything I liked about the Ether Flow Opens - but they were not. They sounded darker to me, and less detailed. I returned them, very disappointed. So I'm curious if anyone has compared the Aeon RT to the Aeon Flow Open?