Home Closed Back Headphone Reviews Dan Clark Audio ÆON Flow Review: Total Recall

Dan Clark Audio ÆON Flow Review: Total Recall

by Stuart Charles Black
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Part of “Stories w/ Stubear”

Big shoutout to Craig Boyles over at Mage Audio for lending me these!

Note: MrSpeakers is now Dan Clark Audio.

Greetings mate and Welcome aboard! Stuart Charles here, HomeStudioBasics.com helping YOU make sound decisions, so..

Where to start?

Out of all the headphones I’ve ever heard, listening to an Aeon Flow for the first time has to be one of, if not the most memorable experiences for me dating back to 2016.

In fact, it was only 2 years into my AudioFILE journey that I came across a headphone that would change my perception of music forever.

Thanks, Dan Clark.

Back then, Dan went by the alias “MrSpeakers” and got some pushback from it IIRC.

“Why the heck would someone name their company THAT?”

I can just hear the audiophiles whining in my head as I type this.

We’re going to dissect it all today, so fret not. Grab a snack, sit back and relax.

Closed-back headphones are an interesting animal nowadays. Way back when I first started making music at the ripe age of twenty-something, I knew nothing about open backs. I didn’t even know there was a such thing as hi-fi headphones.

The extent of my knowledge was the Bowers & Wilkins speakers my dad had, and he still has them!

Closed was the standard (at least as far as my happy ass was concerned), but times have changed significantly since the dawn of the 1990s; otherwise known as the stone age.

In this dinosaur era where pterodactyls once roamed, we thought those cheap Sony headphones that came with a Discman were the best thing since Ramen noodles, but as it turns out, they weren’t.

Like cheap Ramen, cheap headphones are also cheap. And bad for you. We didn’t know that yet though.

But how does this tie into the Dan Clark Aeon?

To that I say,

I’LL ASK THE QUESTIONS AROUND HERE!!

MrSpeakers Aeon Flow Closed

Jokes aside, closed headphones were kind of a standard until they weren’t.

To this day I have trouble recommending a good closed back to people above the entry-level category, simply because in my experience, there aren’t that many good ones to choose from and they aren’t nearly as ubiquitous as open headphones – at least in terms of a popular choice for budding audiophile snobs.

Don’t get me wrong: Generally speaking, and in terms of the casual consumer demographic (think Amazon), lots and lots of closed-backs exist, but the problem is that they all mostly sound like dog shit.

Just imagine Tommy Chong referring to these types of headphones as “Labrador.”

“What’s Labrador?”

“It’s dog shit, man.”

In the “Audiophile Arena” some good ones have come along. There’s no doubt about that.

But I’d say the majority of them can be safely discarded like last night’s pizza box.

One such headphone that should never be thrown away like last night’s bizza pox is the Aeon Flow Closed – assuredly a small miracle when going back into the deepest recesses of my memory banks.

The Best Headphones for Pop

In 2018, life was a lot different.

My folks hadn’t gotten separated yet, so I still visited them at one of the houses I grew up in.

Just a year or 2 prior, they had a screened-in porch built and it was heavenly. It overlooked the backyard beautifully, and where we lived was somewhat private.

In other words, there were a lot of trees around and it was an incredibly cozy place to hang out in, have a cup of couwffee, grill and chill, and of course, write articles on my laptop while listening to music; sort of like I’m doing right now.

On the porch was a really nice furniture set complete with super comfy pads, a coffee-ish type of glass table, and a couple of end tables.

I even recorded a video there once!

The screened-in porch had a set of stairs that led to the main part of the deck where the grill was; the site of countless barbeques dating back to the early 2000s.

Found this photo, winter edition.

It was just a special place, and when I visited my parents for the weekend, I spent a lot of time within its friendly confines.

Thinking, observing nature, listening to the wonderful ambiance of the late afternoon and into the early evening as the sun filtered through the trees, and generally just enjoying the outdoors.

Of course, one of my favorite things to do was listen to music there.

It was a Saturday afternoon, and I had just gotten back from my local Audio Advice here in North Carolina.

The store is nice enough to let you take home headphones or Amplifiers to demo for a few days, and on this special occasion like Smokey Robinson, I was trying out the OG Chord Mojo.

A friend of mine, Craig, had also lent me the Aeon Flow to try, and I was excited about plopping down on my favorite seat on the porch for a listening session.

What would happen next is something I never could have prepared for in my wildest imagination.

First off, putting these headphones on your head is something of a dream. They clamp perfectly, they’re not overly heavy or bulky, the cups are nice and deep so your ears stay clear of the drivers, and they don’t dig into the top of your melon.

In addition to that, they’re super malleable and the teardrop design of the cups conform to and mimic the shape of the human ear almost perfectly.

What Dan discovered was that there are a couple of “ridges” in between the space where your sideburn meets your ear and also behind your ear where the bone is.

“That’s BONE.”

They both run down to your jawline and if you put your finger in there you can clearly feel it.

He basically designed the ear cup so that it would comfortably rest in these shallow crevices, and what a perfect fit it is.

Furthermore, each cup rotates about 45 degrees inward and it’s very easy to get a nice seat on your dome.

The ear cup padding is a delicious, soft, and supple protein leather (I think) and feels amazing to the touch.

The rest of the headphone is made up of carbon fiber for the ear cups themselves, leather for the headband, NiTinol for the frame, and cast aluminum.

These are top-notch materials for sure, and you can tell great care was taken in deciding what to use.

Headband

Dan Clark Audio Aeon Flow Closed ReviewDan Clark Audio Aeon Flow Closed Review

The headband is extremely easy to adjust while it’s on your head and also feels very solid.

The two small adjustments remind me a bit of the ones on the 400S and 400i from HIFIMAN but are made of a rugged rubber type of material (instead of plastic) and slide up and down the two separate rods with ease.

In this regard, it’s sort of a hammock-style automatic adjustment similar to an SR850, K702, or K240, but also affords you the freedom to make a minor adjustment if need be.

Connectors and Wire

Dan Clark Audio Aeon Flow Closed Review

The Wire is made of a weird mesh type of material called a DUMMER cable, a Hirose dual-entry connector system to each of the cups, and a 1/4″ termination at the other end.

The connections into the cups snap with a satisfying click and are color-coded (above) as well.

Packaging

These are very compact for me and would most likely fall somewhere in between fairly portable and very portable for others.

I’m not too picky about that sort of thing, and fortunately, these babies pack up neatly into the provided case for travel.

Dan Clark Audio Aeon Flow Closed ReviewDan Clark Audio Aeon Flow Closed Review

They aren’t that efficient at 92dB, but the impedance is extremely low (13 Ohm) so you shouldn’t have much trouble with any Amp/DAC pairing.

Speaking of pairings, I put them on my head, plugged them into the Chord mojo, and pressed play.

That’s when everything changed… forever.

No, really. I was listening to “Forever” by Ekali, Medasin, and Elohim, and I promise you the vocalist sounded like she was about a foot away from my face, close enough to lean in for a kiss. 🙂

It was as if I could reach out and touch her.  The sound was warm and inviting, but also incredibly resolving and very detailed. It was as if she was actually present with me and shared the same space.

To me, this was the most astonishing thing I had ever experienced while listening to headphones because everything I knew/assumed up until that point suggested that what happened to me was not possible. Impossible.

Even… unpossible.

Dan Clark Audio Aeon Flow Closed Review

You can make a case that speakers are more than capable of delivering this sensation, but even that can be a bit exaggerated.

But these headphones?

Pure ecstasy. It was like being opened up to a whole new world of possibilities, and though it was only a small moment in time, I’ll remember the feeling until the day I die.

It was the closest to aural heaven as you can realistically expect. Can you hear God with these? That’s a definite possibility, my friend.

The music completely surrounded me, which speaks to the Aeon’s incredible imaging and Soundstaging capabilities.

You can hear things that are farther off and also very close, and, in addition to the amazing width and depth of the soundscape, the separation of instruments and other sounds is also unreal.

This is staggering when you consider that, again, these are closed headphones and do a better job of immersing you in an actual environment than most open ones!

AudioQuest DragonFly Red vs. Cobalt vs. Chord Mojo

I’ll never look at music the same way again.

^I took that picture immediately after it happened so I’d always have a physical piece of evidence to look back on.

Everything else was on point as well: The bass thump, the mid-range, the treble. All are handled beautifully, and while some may take exception to its somewhat smoothed-over, glossier type of character, this is something you need to experience.

  • Note: if you’re finding the treble a tad hot, try the supplied foam pad filters. Insert these babies into each of the cups (make sure to match the shape), and the result is a toned-down treble (just right), while also providing a hint of extra warmth.

These same sorts of feelings only deepened when I took the headphones back to my apartment. 😉

On Matthew Halsall’s “Cherry Blossom” I kept pausing the track to see if the sound was coming from above.

I have a really noisy neighbor and I thought he was up to his old tricks again, but I WAS WRONG HOMIE.

He wasn’t even home. The strange sound that somehow mimicked my neighbor’s banging (not sex, although they do plenty of that as well) was coming from the Aeon. Wha?

I couldn’t believe it.

Sure, it’s got planar magnetic drivers which do add to the sense of realism we discussed, but this is simply unbelievable.

You’ll start to hear all the little things going on, and instead of it coming across as very sterile, there’s a certain warmth about the Aeon that’s naturally charming and inviting.

BAYNK and Shallou’s “Come Home” is a prime example of what these headphones are capable of.

There’s a sense of fullness and body that the Aeon provides, with a pulsating underbelly of bass that exudes class and elegance.

It sounds effortless as if the Aeon is that pretty girl at the gym who doesn’t have to call attention to herself in the slightest.

The Aeon is a complex woman who needs to be treated gently and with a great deal of respect. The vibe that she emanates is sophisticated and professional, like Mr. Pink from Reservoir Dogs.

For a long time after, I foolishly attributed the incredible experience I had to the Chord Mojo; a …DAC of all things. And, if you know me, you know my utter disdain for them.

  • Click here to read my ethos and what I believe in.

It’s important to understand that yes, the Mojo is one of the most memorable DACS I’ve ever listened to, but it was in no way responsible for the music sounding more realistic than I ever could have imagined.

It was most certainly the recording and the headphones helping to create that live, “in-person” type of effect, but I will say that the Mojo is a great product.

Do you now understand why Dan Clark named his company “MrSpeakers”?

It all made complete sense to me after that day, and in some ways, I wish I could go back.

Back to where it all started.

Like growing up in the ’90s, watching Nickelodeon, and tuning in every summer night for Braves baseball on TBS, I wish I could relive some of these amazing experiences with some of the most interesting headphones on the planet.

But I can’t. All I have now are my memories.

And, well, I guess that’s good enough.

The Best Headphones for Hip-Hop

Specifications

  • Type: Closed Back.
  • Fit: Circumaural.
  • Driver: Planar Magnetic.
  • Impedance: 13 Ohm.
  • Sensitivity: 92 dB/mW. What is Sensitivity in Headphones?
  • Weight: 12 Oz.
  • Accessories: Carrying case, foam-pad filters, detachable fabric-covered headphone cable with “Hirose-style” connectors at the headphone end and ¼” and 3.5mm dual-tip plug at the other end.

Video Discussion

This video was recorded a long time ago xD

If you are interested in these (and you should be) the original has been discontinued and replaced with the Aeon 2.

 


Well, that’s about it for today my friend! I hope you’ve gotten some valuable information out of my MrSpeakers ÆON Review!!

Questions? Comments? Requests? Did I miss the mark on something? Please let me know down below or Contact me!!

If you love what I do here and want to support the blog and channel in a more personal way, check me out on Patreon and discover all the value I have to offer you.

Just want to make a one-time donation? Click here. Your support is greatly appreciated and helps keep this site running!

Marvin, what do you make of all this? Any experience with the Aeon Flow Closed? I would love to hear from you. Until next time…

All the best and God bless,

 

 

-Stu

[Xtr@Ba$eHitZ]

Can’t decide which headphones to purchase? Interested in a complete buyers guide outlining over 40 of the best options on the market? Click on over to the best audiophile headphones to learn more!!

Be sure to also check out my Reviews and Resources page for more helpful and informative articles!

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MrSpeakers Aeon Flow (Closed Back)

4.95

Build Quality

5.0/5

Sound Quality

4.9/5

Comfort

5.0/5

Soundstage

4.9/5

Resolution

5.0/5

Pros

  • Almost Perfect Sound
  • Amazing Tonality and Resolution
  • Great Soundstage
  • Perfect Comfort
  • Fantastic Build

Cons

  • Sometimes weird treble

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2 comments

Hari S Nair August 31, 2018 - 9:42 am

Thank you for the great review. I was looking for some good quality headphones for my gaming PC. Firstly I wanted a good quality sound and secondly since I play for long hours like 3-4 hours so they should also be comfortable. I think these can be a good choice. Do you have any other suggestions also?

Reply
Stuart Charles Black August 31, 2018 - 5:22 pm

Hey Hari! 

How much were you looking to spend? I think the Aeon’s are an amazing choice because they are so comfortable, but you may want something with a bit of bass roll off as you’ll be able to discern sounds more clearly. That said, the Aeon’s would make a fantastic Gaming headphone all things considered.

You may also want to consider open back vs. closed back and if you would prefer a headphone with more Soundstage for Gaming. This simply means the sound will take on a more 3D like quality, with better separation of sounds and what not.

Let me know!!

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