The Jot 2 might be an option for you. I’ve not heard the Noire but I’ve had my LCD2-Classic now for a year and a half. I’ve tried these headphones with a bunch of amps but have been consistently disappointed. The planars need, I believe, a lot of power to come alive - or a lot of current (sorry, I’m no electrical engineer and my understanding of this stuff is, at best, rudimentary).
I got to hear the Audeze out of the Jot 2 recently and it transformed them into what I’d always wanted them to sound like.
I wonder if the same could happen with the Noire? I’d look around this and other forums to see what folks are saying about the Noire and the Jot 2. Good luck!
I didn’t test drive my Noires or the CX from Drop. I did so on the Ether2. I drove to Torrance (Source AV) to try out the E2s at a special event where Dan Clark was attending back in Jan 2019.
I only live about 75 miles from DCA HQ in San Diego. They are located right next to the SD Sports Arena (had AHL game tickets that night too). Had to have my E2s fixed one time and they fixed a earphone connector for me within about 15 minutes and sent me on my way with a new T shirt. Probably couldn’t swing that in the COVID era.
They really are a great company. I hope you’re happy with the Ether CX selection and if not, can find a good match with something else.
The AEON technology is relatively flat (per my AFC 1). When run through a punchy DAC and powerful amp, they move in the direction of average headphones on a tablet or notebook PC. Most other audiophile headphones will be far more lively on any given setup.
When I say dead I mean there’s not much difference between background sounds and highlights – everything comes across as 2D painting rather than an ensemble of performers coming to attention and moving back in the mix. There are few loud peaks at all, or just rounded and subdued peaks. Whatever the measured dB range of the source recording, AEON’s perceptually cut it in half.
Despite all of this, I don’t consider flatness to be a negative for closed headphones. Dynamics = air pressure fatigue.
I have the Noire and I can’t say in full honesty that they are dead sounding. For sure they lack of impact but the way they reproduce the sound is far from sounding dead.
Is the Verite Closed the best there is in closed back? (No Focal). I can’t think of anything else that competes. Maybe one of the Kennerton Models, but I have no chance of trying a pair and I don’t like their headband.
I’ve only heard one of the kennertons, which wasn’t particularly competitive (a bit blunted from front-damping), so I wouldn’t be overly optimistic about that - probably the VC yeah, or something else out there I haven’t heard yet.
It was actually the LSA HP1 - which is based on one of the Kennerton planars. I should say, that’s the only one I’ve heard. It wasn’t bad - decent texturing down low and didn’t have the smeared quality of low-end planars. But it also didn’t do so great on micro or macrodynamics and was a bit blunted on the decay. So, not bad, but also not particularly competitive for technical performance in my opinion. The landscape at those prices gets a bit tricky. By all means though, the other ones could be great, I just haven’t heard them.
If you get to hear an hp-2 or gjallarhorn gh50, I would love to hear your thoughts. I would offer to send it in if it wasn’t my only over ear headphone.
Well. Got a Noire on loan. Whilst I was there picking them up, tried the VO (have owned before), Eikon, Aeolus (have owned) and Empyrean (have owned) off a Pass Labs HP1 (?) Fed from a Bartok.
I think having recently heard the Abyss 1266 (not a fan overall given the fit) and owning some high end IEMs (Tia Trio, Odin)…none really had proper bass impact. Not like the 1266 or Trio can provide. Bass you feel. Bass you taste! Not necessarily that they don’t have enough bass, it just doesn’t have that visceral quality like some IEMs, speakers and the 1266 can give.
Other then that, Noire seems decent. Only hour on then so far, so will give more time. Comfy as usual at least. And the folding is neat. Hard to drive though, much harder than cans I’ve had in recent months.
My speculation is that the AEON’s folded planar drivers cancel out their own bass production by directing sound to the adjacent folds. This results in the bloomy character of the open model, while closed cups bring back perceived bass.
Just had the Aeon 2 Noir in recently and I agree that it has a bit of a dead sound. I also don’t enjoy the 160hz bump a lot of the DCA cans seem to have. It works in speakers to make things sound kind of big and exciting, but when you combine it with a headphone that lacks dynamics it just sounds a bit tubby and cloudy sounding. The tuning is excellent, but far too much damping for my tastes.
