After days of watching Zeos Reviews I narrowed it down to these two. But I have a hard time to decide between them.
Aeon 2 Pros:
+planar hype
+great sound
+more comfortable than the NDH 20
+decent cables
+balanced cable
+more common cable plug
+Dan Clark is not owned by someone else
Aeon 2 Cons:
-double the price of NDH 20
-Zeos still says the NDH 20 sound better?
NDH 20 Pros:
+Zeos closed soundreference?
+half the price of Aeon 2
+all the hype in the net
NDH 20 Cons:
-not the planar hype
-ouch, my ears!
-BDSM cables
-fucking Sennheiser plug
-owned by Sennheiser
If I weigh Pro against Cons, the Aeons win in my book. But there is the price and the fact that Zeos says NDH20s sound best.
Personally I pretty easily prefer the aeon 2 over the ndh20 as long as you have a good amp for music listening on a pure sound quality level, let alone the much better build and comfort imo (well the build on the nhd20 is fine but the comfort is not lol). What music are you listening to, and what amp/dac are you planning on? Both are good headphones but I think it would come down to preference and how much you are willing to spend
As for music, I really listen to almost every genre. But most often J-Pop, J-Rock, Classic Rock, Blues Rock, Metal, Eletronic House, Jazz, Blues, Classic.
Before today i planned to purchase the RME ADI-2 FS and Drop THX AAA 789.
But now I think I´ll rather get both the Audio-GD R1 dedicated balanced R2R DAC and NFB1 dedicated balanced HPA with 5 inputs and 3 pre-outputs besides the 6.3mm and XLR HP out. I really need so many analogue inputs because the Naim Uniti Atom only has one RCA in and one Pre-out.
also i find the audio-gd stuff aesthetically quite pleasing.
I currently own a Naim Uniti Atom, Rega P1, Musical Fidelity V90-LPS, an old Technics CD Player, Focal Elear, Triangle Comete Esprit EZ.
What type of signature do you like? Both are good all rounders, but they both don’t have the same signature. The aeon 2 is going to be cleaner and more detailed, faster, with a more spacious stage imo, it’s also a bit v shaped. The ndh20 is going to be a bit smoother and warmer, not as detailed, a bit more organic sounding, smaller stage.
Personally I would suggest against the 789 amp, imo you can get similar performance for much less. The adi 2 fs is pretty nice, although if you aren’t planning on using it’s features like eq it might be a bit less compelling option
Personally I am not a fan of the audio gd products, I think they are a bit too sloppy sounding, and not that refined, but some do like them. In the similar price range to the r1, I would personally also look at the denafrips ares ii dac, or the schiit bifrost 2, both of those personally I would prefer over the audio gd. Similarly with the nfb1, personally I find that I tend to prefer other amps in the range like the monolith liquid platinum or the rnhp among others (although this will depend on what headphone). But most likely none of the amps I mentioned would have as much i/o as the audio gd and you would want a switcher so the audio gd will make more sense in that regard
so it is the aeon 2 indeed… i think … i chose my focal elears over other options like audeze LCD-2 or Grado RS 1e… it was more than 2 years ago… but i think the grados were too harsh and the audeze were too warm for me? idk
i see… i like overall package of the audio-gd stuff… i dont have a chance to listen to them tho… to denafrips or schiit neither… so it´s a deaf buy for me… so i go for features and aesthetics… -_-
You won’t end up with garbage or anything lol so you should be fine, should have plenty to power the aeon 2 (although I’ve only tried an aeon flow on the nfb1 amp so a bit of estimation there, but the aeon flow is similar in amp pairing, don’t have an audio gd on hand to test with my aeon 2)
The aeon 2 isn’t super close to the elear sonically (personally I think the aeon 2 is higher tier but the elear has pretty unique spatial recreation and presentation), the closest thing to the elear that is closed back might be the elegia but that’s also a bit of a different signature than the elear
Mainly asking to figure out what you would want to prioritize in a newer headphone
I guessed so. Well. I am open to try something different. You don´t eat the same everyday, right? Back then it was more like “You can only choose one headphone for a long time. What will it be?”
Yeah for sure, variety is nice, many find that they just can’t get everything they want out of a single headphone, so imo going for 2-3 nice pairs is pretty worthwhile. From what you have listed on your profile, I think the aeon 2 is a good fit, it’s pretty detailed and speedy without getting too harsh, has pretty good body, and tonality is pretty respectable for a planar. Stage wise they are semi wide, but still sound more closed for sure. I think it would offer something different and good in your current collection. I think you might find the ndh20 more up your alley tonality wise with some of the tracks you have linked, but otherwise think the aeon 2 is a better pick here
I had extended time with both and the DCA is superior in many ways.
