You have to let these play for 30-50 hours at least, I hate to say this but they do improve with age! I really have never believed this and want my stuff to work well right out of the box…I came close to sending my Aeon 2 Opens back…spoke to DCS and asked me to burn them in etc…did this and voila they are pretty decent now…
Using a Schiit Lyr 3 and Bifrost 2, excellent pairing, Schiit Jotenhiem with balanced cable, good pairing, MORE than enough power to make these 13 ohm not so efficient planars really sing. Hagermans EL 84 TUBA parafeed amp even though not a high powered amp is the best sounding pairing…surprised me a lot here…
Forgot to mention this…dont muck with the inserts until they get broken in (at least 30+ hours) …then you can play with the inserts…I am using the white, least amount of damping at the moment and they are much to my liking…
@Resolve did an excellent review on the closed version of the Aeon2 @Leemore5745 I would be more than happy to do a Video review comparing the Aeon2 Open and my pair of Aeolus if someone would loan me a pair of the Aeon 2 Opens!
Edit: my review if given the opportunity would not be nearly as good as @Resolves (One of my favorite reviewers hands down). haha but still would love the opportunity to compare these two since I love the closed versions and the Aeolus so much!
Having previously owned the old Magni 3 and still owning AFC1, I can believe this. Both have a kind of broad-spectrum or flat presentation. While I dumped the Magni 3 because of its performance with dynamic driver headphones, it may indeed be great for planar drivers. I didn’t own any planar headphones at the time.
It never ceases to amaze me how a low cost, well designed amp can work so well…the original Magni 3 IMO is still a stellar performer…at the end of their life cycle the b-stocks were selling for $59!!
I never tried the Aeon 2 Opens with the Magni 3 in their early hours of life…lol
So it may be a combination of the cans finally breaking in and the use of the Magni 3?
Been back and forth with several other amps and the little Magni 3 beats them all handily with these planars, the only ones I have…used to have the LCD2 R2’s for several months.
Well I wnt thru 10 of my amps here and back to the Magni 3, the original version and I will state its indeed the one amp that makes the Aeon2 opens really “sing”…its an OMG good sound.
Hard to believe here, they other amps work ok, its just that magic sparkle and the amount of “power” this little amp provides…it drives these planars very well…
For Fathers day I am ordering a Schiit Magni 3+ to test!
Hello, my Magni 3 is the first version, if you specifically did not order a Magni 3+ from Schitt then its a Magni 3 like I have…either way either of them will work very well with the Aeon 2 opens or closed.
Lyr 3 and Jotenheim were the other Schitt amps I used. The Magni 3 here has the magic for sure!
Thanks Alex. Matching a headphone to a good/right amp is of course a big deal, so it’s good to know the Magni 3 that I have is the same one you’ve found to work so well. I’m still trying to decide between Aeon 2 Open and ZMF Aeolus, so your info will help with the ultimate decision. Thanks again…Lee
Wow thats a tough one…the Aeolus has many great reviews and followers…the Aeon 2 are relatively new and at first I did not like them…until 50+ hours or so the magic kicked in for me.
I have not heard any ZMF’s but my Focal Clears are my gold standard at the moment and folks tell me the Aeolus are better??
Thanks Alex. I have the Focal Clear too and know its sound signature well. I assume you find the Aeon to have less resolution and be less fatiguing, but how else would you describe the Aeon’s sound compared to the Clear?
The Aeons are less clear, less open, warmer…not as tonally accurate IMO.
Still very nice to listen with a good amp/dac…
The Clears are just another step up the ladder…the tonality is almost perfect to me…the old proverbial removal of the veil is here in spades…
Going from the Aeon 2’s to the Clears is like holy crap, the window is so clear…clean and they will sound kind of bright in comparison to the Aeons…
With most amps the Aeons sound warm…not really bright in the treble…they need a good amp to open them up for sure…the Magni 3 for some reason lights these up more so than my other amps, not saying the others dont do well…its there is some magic here for me…I would think any really good SS amp would work well with these if they have the power etc…ASGARD 3.
Some might state its not fair to compare a planar to a dynamic, well sorry we do compare and tell it like it is!
One of the reasons I have held off on the Aeolus is what Andrew mentions they are so different…one is warmer and one is well less warm…and like’ing the Clears so much I dont want to drop over a grand on cans I might not like as much…so the Aeons were a less expensive path for me…
