In my experience muddy is a symptom of bad warmth, not warm cans in general. In my couple hours of listening experience with Aeoluses, they arenât muddy at all. Just warm.
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Also it depends on the amp you have too, you could get a more analytical leaning amp if you are worried about potential warmth
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Mine finally shipped as well. Looking forward to them
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Thank you. I now feel better about fantasizing about a headphone I canât afford at the moment.
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I wouldnât describe even the rich thick warmth of the stock aeolus pads as muddy, so I definitely wouldnât say any other way it could have been ordered would be so. The bass can be strong, but it doesnât overwhelm any other parts of the frequency range. And if you got them with the suede universe pads (the ones that say HIGHLY RECOMMENDED! next to them on the order page) then I donât even see how you could dislike this headphone at all, since that takes it closer to neutral with a bump in the bass and mids, but treble is present and clear.
Also, what is with the hatred for a warm sound?
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Dang kids and their warm sound, a real system should be cold and unenjoyable lol
Most of the time people think of warm and think of a bad warmer tuning on other headphones, and havenât yet heard a tasteful warmer tuning (at least one that they can somewhat respect even if itâs not their preference)
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thats what they said about the neumanns ndh20 
You often bring up the Neumanns as an example, but didnât you say you only listened to them for all of 30 minutes, listening to Simple Minds before deciding to just return?
yeah
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Yeah, I donât know that it would do that well with Simple Minds or something that is very mid-range focused like that type of laid back 80s rock⊠I think it would sound muffled in that case. The NDH 20 sounds great with orchestrated and more modern music The Aeulous doesnât seem like itâs quite as aggressively V-shaped though, I think you should be fine with it.
I also think if youâre listening to something tonally very different , itâs goign to take time for your brain to re-calibrate itself. If you donât like something, you donât like it⊠but in general, Iâd say at least give yourself a day and one nights sleep to see if you could get used to a sound.
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Well Simple Minds arenât primarily a 80s band. most of the stuff I listen from them is recent. But I can see what youâre saying. Iâm definitely going to give these a while. but I donât believe theyâre going to be like the ndh 20s. as Iâve heard reviewers who hated them and then loved the aeolus.
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When it comes to getting used to something Iâve had that happen enough times to confirm that it absolutely is a thing. My first reaction with the NDH20 was a bit off-put, but after about a week of using it on and off, but not much at all, I put them on and was like, this sounds way better than I first thought it did wtf. I never grew to love it, but I certainly didnât hate it, and could understand what was to like about it. I had similar reactions with the Shuoer Tape, in which my initial listens were extremely negative and it gave me headaches, a week or so later I tried listening again and it was much better than I first thought and didnât give me headaches anymore, but it was still a sound signature that I just didnât prefer or want to listen to.
Now, when I got the aeolus there was no mental break-in or anything, I just straight up liked it right off the bat, BUT when I bought the other pads to mess around, the stock aeolus pads turned me off at first, I barely listened to them I found them way too warm. But a couple weeks later I tried them again and was like oh my god this is amazing.
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Yeah I got the universe swade pads with them also. just in case I wasnât satisfied with the default sound. although it cost me another 60 bucks 
Those would be the two Iâd recommend having anyway, after trying all 4.
ah, my main point of reference for simple minds is the Breakfast Club ending song⊠lol
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The only ZMF cans Iâve heard on my home setup are the Eikons, and theyâve changed my entire endgame plan. I have an Aeolus in transit and a Verite to follow. Based on my Eikon experience, if you dislike them you need a better source. Itâs my favorite headphone without question at this point. Canât wait to try the Aeolus and Verite
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I cannot express enough how good the Eikons are. These are my endgame closed backs for the forseeable future.
In my living situation, I kind of need to hear whatâs happening around me, so closed back is just not gonna happen with me, that said, Iâd still like to read about what you love so much about the eikon, what they sounded like to you, etc.
My current endgame is the Meze Empyreans. I pick them for comfort, build, and sound. They are warm by most opinions, but itâs a warmth I enjoy so I put them above my Focal Clears and other headphones in that range.
The Eikons are really special. They sound open, but are closed back. I have an Aeolus and Verite inbound and I totally canât imagine either sounding better off my 339 than the Eikons do.
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Itâll be interesting to hear your comparisons when you get them in, maybe theyâll blow your mind too, anything is possible 