I’ve put some time into measuring the Aeon 2 Noire (with both pads). My findings are essentially that this is just a straightforward improvement over the Aeon 2 Closed with non-perf pads. I know these are technically ‘options’, but I see no reason to go for the non-perf pads over the perf ones. For anyone with an A2C, just get the perf pads and it should give you this same improvement.
Perf Pads:
Pretty good to be honest. The mid-treble dip shows up there and it’s a bit uneven in the upper mids, along with a mid-bass bump. Subjectively it sounds most of the way there, far more agreeable than the non-perf pads.
Perf pads vs Solid Pads:
Filters:
With the Noire (perf pads), there’s basically no reason to use the filters, unless you want a warmer response. The problem with using them however is that while they do smooth out the 5-6khz bump a bit (as well as the upper treble), they’re also incrementally destructive for microdynamics/microdetail, blunting the sound overall.
Where it was somewhat essential to use one of the tuning filters with the non-perf pads to find the balance between blunting the detail and getting an agreeable response, it’s not at all necessary with the perf pads, and more of just a subjective choice - one that I do not enjoy. Personally, I’d much rather use EQ than front-damping.
In any case, I found some other curious stuff with the Noire, the resonance frequency seems to be somewhere around 500hz. You can see this with the below air gap behavior.
Air gap behavior:
For this test, different air gap degrees were introduced, the more substantial the gap, the more significant the drop. To be clear, I’m literally lifting the pad off in certain places - and this is NOT to measure seal, merely to identify a unique characteristic of this transducer. For example, this is very different from what you see with both HiFiMAN and Audeze planars, both of which show the drop much lower (HiFiMAN’s usually also show a bump where it happens).
Distortion (calibrated):
Nothing particularly weird as far as THD goes. Keep in mind that’s at like… 90dB to make these plots more readable. That bump in the bass won’t be audible at normal volumes (please do not listen at 90dB).
Lastly, I wanted to point out that while the Noire measures with good bass extension on the test rig, it seems to roll-off in the sub-bass slightly when being worn on the head. This is entirely to do with the unique coupling and contours to the side of the head, and the way the pad conforms/compresses. So someone else may get a different response there if the contours are different. For this test, do not evaluate it for mids/treble. This is only to test bass and coupling. (This is because we’re only getting pinna/concha effects for the measurement)
In-ear mics, bass level:
I also noticed that it changed a bit when wearing glasses (remember the air gap behavior), but not as significantly as I thought it might. Still, glasses with thick arms should probably be avoided for closed-back headphones that heavily depend on seal for bass extension, like these ones.
EQ
This is not an “EQ required” type of headphone - at least not with the perf pads. So that’s good. Still, I did make a few adjustments that help I find:
Conclusion:
All in all, I think for the type of device it is, I do recommend it, and its probably DCA’s best headphone so far. It’s a portable, comfortable, planar that has good detail and separation, with a mostly agreeable FR. Of course, this still suffers heavily from lack of macrodynamics (even when EQ’d). So it still has that somewhat ‘dead’ sound to it.
But, thankfully that issue doesn’t extend to the microdynamics and microdetail when not using the tuning filters. In some ways it’s like the difference between multi-BA IEMs and hybrids with a DD in the bass. If you’re fine without the punch, you’ll be fine with this.
In any case, when choosing between Noire and the Focal Celestee, if you want punch and dynamics, go for Celestee (along with a slightly smoother treble response). But if you found the Celestee too intimate/tight, then the Noire does a better job of that. I do find the center image to be somewhat lacking, as pans have an immediate crossover rather than a gradual one. But separation and space are pretty good for a closed-back, so no complaints there. In my mind, you can’t really go wrong with either one, it just depends on what qualities you’re looking for.