Dan Clark Audio - Aeon 2 Closed Measurements

Subjective Impressions

- Great ergonomics. Super comfy. Foldable headband is legit. (Though sometimes the suspension strap has a sort of hot spot on the top of my head.)

- Has too much brightness, zing, steeliness, etc. if you don't use any of the provided front-side filter inserts. These just slip into the ear pad cavity. So, I'm not really going to talk much about them without that.

- I prefer the white filter insert, which provides the most damping of the lot.

- With the white filter, I'd describe the tone as slightly warm and fairly balanced, though there's a mild bass emphasis and a moderate, but tolerable, amount of treble zing and bite. Sort of like too much of a sharpening filter.

- Exact positioning helps get the sound just right, much like the Ether 2. I think the new driver design is very sensitive to that.

- Part of the treble brightness is caused by the deep pads. I think as these are used more and more, the foam will naturally break in (or break down) a bit, effectively reducing the pad depth for better sonic effect. Even wearing these for a good 10-15 minutes makes a difference due to the pads warming and compressing with more ease.

- Not too much in the way of closed cup coloration or the like. Fast, clean, snappy, etc.

- Stage sits very close and basically wraps around your head. Runs from one ear, across your face, and back to the other. Or sometimes goes through your head.

- Good bass. Has nice impact, sustain, pitch, and texture.

- Fairly good macro dynamics overall. Unsure of the micro stuff. May be slightly compressed. I could be wrong.

- Timbre is mostly pretty decent, though the bit of treble emphasis adds a bit of haze and hardness.

- Pretty good with little details and the like. Maybe not the most nuanced headphones ever, but they cut to the chase.

Overall, I think they're a really solid, closed headphone. They're comfortable, sound pretty darn good once you find the right filter and positioning on your head, with only relatively mild sonic nitpicks of note, don't need a crazy amp to sound good, and aren't outrageously expensive.


Measurements

Frequency response measurements, comparing without any front filters and with the white filter, which offers quite a bit of damping.

Bass is tastefully elevated but doesn't bleed into mids. Mids have a relatively balanced and very slightly downward sloping nature to them. Even with the white filter, there's still room for improvement around 6KHz and 9-10KHz. Still, one could easily find a different filter material, or mixture, to address this, if they still find it problematic with the heavier filter.



CSDs, first without any front filter (36dB and 45dB floor), and then with the white filter. There's a tiny bit of excess energy across the board when looking at it with a 45dB floor. Probably caused by the closed nature, but very well controlled overall. Generally clean, not much ringing at all, though possibly suggests a mild peak or resonance around 7-8KHz. This will shift in position and strength based on how you wear the headphones, how the pads compress over time, etc.






Distortion, 1K at 90dB, without and with the front filter. Pretty solid across the board. Not much else to say.





If you aren't worried about using the provided front filters, or, better yet, finding your own materials to use to best suit your tastes, and/or can handle a wee bit of brightness, the DCA Aeon 2 Closed is a really compelling option in a tricky market. Closed headphones are hard to get just right, but these get you pretty close to minimizing common issues in this type of headphone.

 

Measurements below with Medium Black Felt (my preference) and White Felt. Will get into details about the differences with. I did not care for the sound without any layer of material or the thin foam material in front of the driver.

From left to right: thin foam, medium black felt, thick white felt


Dan Clark Audio Aeon 2 Closed
Medium Black Felt
Frequency Response
EARS + SBAF compensation


Dan Clark Audio Aeon 2 Closed
Thick White Felt
Frequency Response
EARS + SBAF compensation

 

Dan Clark Audio Aeon 2 Closed
Medium Black Felt
Frequency Response
"V2" Flat Plate Coupler (with B&K target comp)


Dan Clark Audio Aeon 2 Closed
LCH Distortion




Distortion actually looks pretty good.

 

CSDs
On flat plate coupler

 

Internal cup reverb appears to be well damped.

 

Quick subjective notes.

1. Felt the bass was too thick, a little too plodding, and could have been more cohesive compared to the rest of the band. On one hand, it's good that it doesn't bleed in, on the other hand, the bass does seem off to itself. Mind that I don't mind bassy headphones, so it's not strictly FR here nor distortion. Distortion doesn't show any changes in characteristics (balance of D2 and D3) as we go lower.
2. Highs were a slight bit harsh, made more evident by what sounds like a depression before some mid-treble peakiness. Not so evident with the white filter, slightly even with the medium black felt.
3. Still, my preference was for the medium black felt as the thick white felt, despite tamer highs, sounded slow with murdered transients and dynamics.

Aeon Flow 2 Closed Med Black Felt


Aeon Flow 2 Closed Thick White Felt

 

@purr1n What other closed headphones might you recommend in or under this price range, including trade offs relative to the A2C? When people ask me for closed headphone recommendations, it's always tough. It's like they're all quirky in their own ways, even the best.

As for bass response, one could always tape up part of the cup vent to tone it down a bit more. Not sure if that would aid any plodding nature, though. I know most folks don't want to mess around with even minor mods, and rightfully so, but I do appreciate that the A2C is one headphone where all you'd have to worry about is a front filter material of your choice and closing off part of that vent, if any, to taste. It won't remove all quirks, but goes a long way.