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Is Aeon 2 Closed/Noire technically better than 1?

schlott

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Hi,

I own the first iteration of the Aeon Flow Closed, and used EQ to tune it to my liking - which seems to be the Harman curve.
I was wondering if the Aeon 2 (Noire) would be an upgrade, if I use EQ to tune it to the same or similar frequency response (although the Noire seems to be close to the Harman curve out of the box and might not require much tuning)? Did anyone listen to both headphones with a similar tuning and can elaborate, if the Aeon 2 would be an upgrade in any regards (better clarity, better bass response, better separation,...)? Or would it not be worth getting the Aeon 2 if I use an equalizer on the Aeon 1 anyway?
 
I have both. There’s really not much between them to be honest if tuned to the same curve. I bought blind, if I had heard them prior to purchase, I probably wouldn’t have bothered. Just my subjective opinion.
 
I don't know about those headphones but "headphone sound" is mostly about frequency response, and as you know that can largely be tweaked with EQ.

Related to that, if a headphone needs bass-boost, sometimes you can end-up pushing the headphone or amplifier into distortion.

If you want a "small change" EQ is usually your best bet, rather than trying to find better (or different) headphones.

better separation
Regular left & right stereo separation? Headphones have 100% separation, except maybe open headphones "leaking" from one ear to the other. I don't think your brain allows you to hear it, and you'll never hear it with normal stereo and music in both ears. With speakers or live sound the soundwaves blend in the air anyway. Some headphone listeners use cross-feed (software or a headphone amplifier setting) to blend left & right for a more natural sound. i.e. to reduce the stereo separation.

Otherwise, with stereo there are only two signals/soundwaves with everything mixed together and "instrument separation" happens in your brain.
 
Otherwise, with stereo there are only two signals/soundwaves with everything mixed together and "instrument separation" happens in your brain.

Although improper, what I think he means is indeed instrument separation, and that is directly related to pinna interactions and specially by channel matching.

I'm mentioning this because DCA is very public about the tolerances on channel imbalance AND tuning being more and more strict as you buy higher end models, the Expanse and E3 being tested individually for matching. So, in that sense, buying a newer/higher end model would, maybe, both get you closer to the Harman target and to getting better "separation" without EQ.

Here is the "evolution" of FR of Aeons since OP's:

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