I own the Ether Flow 1.1 and I use the same dampers, I was skeptical, but they do change the sound.
Good choice.
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Great review Alex. I also have the LCD2, Clear, Jotunheim and Lyr, so those comments were especially interesting. Ditto for sound of the stock cable, which is how I would buy the Aeon 2. Look forward to your other observations as burn-in proceeds. Thanks very muchā¦Lee
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I use the AEON Flow Closed 1 (AFC1) as my primary non-travel closed headphones.
Yes, the AFO has somewhat flabby bass. I take this as a function of the drivers and mid-priced planar technology. I demoed the AFO1, and it was a lot looser than the AFC1.
Itās not fair to compare any AEON to the Clear, as the Clear is a benchmark for clarity!
Planars suck down all the power they can get.
I wasnāt excited by the AFO1 myself, but the AFC1 was a different beastā¦it delivers the tone of an open headphone in a closed form factor. They are not boomy or muddy. I think Dan Clark hit on a magical formula by turning down the bass to reduce the slop of the planar driver, and then allowing the closed enclosures to boost the bass to open-like levels.
Yes, the Clears are mid-high bright and punchy. However, they are pretty mild compared to the Elear/Elex.
Yes, yes, yes. They need a lot of power to minimize the congestion. For a truly horrible experience, get a balanced cable and plug them into a DAP on battery. Donāt ask. 
I got the AFCs because I donāt like the high fatigue of punchy dynamic drivers in a closed format. IMO, the AFCs effectively thread the needle to meet several competing requirements.
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Using another DIY amp:
A great pairing and really solid bass!! Am shocked at the magic this amp brings to the table with the Aeon2 Opens!
I built this back in May of 2017ā¦it was one of the first amps that incorporated the new TI audio chip OPA1622ā¦which by the way is featured in Schiits Heresy!!
Way ahead of the curve here!
Super, super small parts that you can not hand solder!! Had to use hot air gun and solder pasteā¦
This amp has some real magic with these planars, its really 100 % better than a few days ago.
Now worthy of $765!!
:>)
Alex
ā¦and to think I was going to sell this puppy!!!
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Great write up Alex. Iāve had both the Ether Flow C 1.1 and Aeon 2 Closed and they didnāt pair well with the Schiit Jotunheim at all, at least to my ears. However both performed significantly better with the Phonitor X. I ultimately returned the Ether Flow C 1.1 because I always felt like the bass was lacking on most of the music I listen to and sold the Aeon 2 Closed (A2C) because I acquired the ZMF Verite Closed.
The highlights of the show for the A2C was the soundstage and the bottom end improvement from the previous generation. Tonality was a bit off (I was spoiled by the Focal Utopia at that time so I should blame them for that), the mids felt recessed specially with male vocals and I didnāt feel like the highs were as sparkly as I would have liked but for the asking price - I think itās a killer planar and a very good performer.
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Agree on the missing sparkly high end, after hearing and seeing these damping pads I thought they would be painfully hot on the high endā¦but nope.
I am thinking these might play very well with a Schiit Herseyā¦they use the same 1622 TI chip for gain stage like my DIY amp above.
When you listen to Focals IMO, your spoiled for sureā¦
But they still are not that badā¦and I think I will keep them.
Alex
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So, the AFC2 makes the Clears sound bright. I would agree, and my ānormalā frequency response preference is somewhere close to the AFC2, butā¦ the AFC2 do sound congested.
Now try a ZMF Aeolus, Auteur, or Verite. All in the same general zip code of the AFC2 sound, but no congestion, better speed and detail, punch, staging, etc etc etc, without the planar power requirement.
I think thatās why I didnāt care for the AFC2. It was just kind of Meh. ZMF has spoiled me. The AFC2 isnāt bad, but it just seems droll by comparison.
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Have you by any chance also heard the new Aeon 2āeither open or closed? If yes, how would you say they compare to ZMF Aeolus?..My mistake. Just looked at Dan Clarkeās website and saw that the āAll-newā Aeon 2 also includes the name āFlow.ā So the comments in your post were about the newest Aeon 2, right?
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I pretty much concur with this since I have the Aeolus and A2C. Itās definitely hard to compare those two especially since one is open. I would be interested to do a side by side of the Aeolus and The Aeon2 open. I suspect I would still prefer the Aeolus but it would be interesting never the less to compare. I wonder if the A2O present a better more open sounding stage.
I have both and enjoy both!
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I need to use the filters too, I have been running without since day one. Would be fun to try them out.
Itās my understanding though that the open doesnāt sound anything like the closed.
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I have been lurking on another forum and reading stuff that Dan has responded to and based on what I have read that was definitely the case with the first generation Aeons but I havenāt found a solid answer on the version 2ās yet. Obviously the sound was improved based on most review accounts for the A2C but there really hasnāt been a ton of reviews of the A2O yetā¦ @Resolve 
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Yeah I should be able to compare them soon. Iām really looking forward to that. If the open is even better than the closed, thatāll be interesting.
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Great writeup Alex.
20 characters.
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The comparison of Aeon Open vs Closedā¦and then of Open vs ZMF Aeolusā¦could not be more interesting for me and I suspect many others.
Iām trying to decide whether to buy the Open or the Aeolus, and having looked all over the internet havenāt seen a good comparison of them anywhere.
Thanks in advance for your review. Really looking forward to it.
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Yeah I havenāt had a chance to spend much time with the Aeolus, but I did hear @TylersEclecticās briefly at a meet (I think it was his?). If I had to guess, Iād say the Aeon 2C has slightly better detail and speed (planar separation qualities), but the Aeolus has better slam, better stage and overall a better tonality without EQ. Although I suppose that depends on what tonality youāre looking for.
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This am I have close to 20 hours and the sound is changing for the better, but they are still on the darker side stillā¦been playing a lot of light jazz instrumentals that with the Clears are really crisp, open accurate and articulated very wellā¦
The Aeon 2 opens articultate very well and resolve well, its just that they are abit well recessed over the entire freq spectrum IMOā¦pleasant but laid backā¦
You have to crank these up to 80+ db to make them more āopenāā¦and lively.
I think I am learning that planars just need more energy to excite them. But this doesnt change the dark presentation it just makes them louderā¦which sometimes makes this sound better but really not.
Now the bass is really there, even the low registersā¦SMV, Mino Cinelu really comes across well but not as tight as the Clears bassā¦but its amazing that these can reproduce the low end. Its there but you may not like the āsoundā of the bassā¦ie not as tight or sharply definedā¦
I sent a note to Dan Clark and got a phone response rather quickly and missed the call and will try again to chatā¦
Later
Alex
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Holey Crap, youāre not kidding. Just for an experiment I went from no inserts to the white ones, and the difference was startling. It really makes it clear how much influence headphone designers have beyond driver design. If I was listening blind and you told me they were different headphones I wouldnāt have been surprised.
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Agree with you comment about the planarās need for a lot of power. Iāve found that to be particularly true with HiFiMan, and to only a little lesser degree with Dan Clark/Mr Speakers. I have his MadDog and Alpha Prime , both of which sound much , much better with the extra power in my Lyr 2 and Burson Soloist amps.
Also, think I read somewhere that the Aeon 2 takes at least 50 hours to burn-in and develop its true sound. So am looking forward to your thoughts in the days ahead.
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If somebody wanted to send me a loaner pair of Aeon 2 Open I would gladly compare to the Aeolus as well as the Aeon2C!
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