/ / / / / STORE #2 IMPRESSIONS / / / / / (continuation of earlier teaser post):
Here we go again, with the same old headphone try-out routine, onto a different store⌠Surprisingly small selection this time. But nothing I had heard before. Also, a surprising variety of hardware⌠Quality hardware, at that! Things Iâve actually seen on Headphones.corn, and things Iâve even been recommended from here! 
First up, the main(?) headphone room. Very small⌠Awful, low sitting chair. The atmosphere in this store feels like a Police-station-turned-warehouse, full of silent, carpeted rooms and cold, glass block windows with random boxes scattered around. :l Thereâs 4 Dan Clark headphones on a desk, with a good pile of equipment behind them, and several forgettable Grados one must blot out of oneâs memory(you know the deal). AEON 2C, AEON 2 Open, Ether 2, Ether 2C. Oop, I spot a random McIntosh headphone to my right that Iâve never heard of before, sitting on a big cardboard box, and later found an odd pile of headphones Iâve also never heard of hiding against the wall to my left, behind a divider wall. All of those are likely terrible, though, and certainly not worth diddling with during the 2 hours and some change I had to spend this day.
Alright, so Iâve got the CMA 15(this store is also a Questyle dealer, but doesnât have the CMA 15, or M15, currently) out and warmed up a bit, connected to my phone via BT, with my notepad out, ready to decide who my first victim will be in this quiet, new town⌠AEON 2 Open, YOUâRE UP!!! Wow, really nice! Very smooth! Great bass - thick, warm, and strong(but not overbearing!). Not exceptionally detailed, and could use some more sub-bass. Great treble/general detail, but could be slightly less dark tuned, and clear. Somewhat hazy. Nice width and vocal engagement. Good sense of space, but compact depth. Zero fatigue! Superb comfort! Very impressive overall! (SE cable, stock black/neutral filter, and pads? Really curious what the bright filter will sound like(or other pads); could make it perfect, except for the slight lack of sub-bass)
Up next, AEON 2C. (SE cable, stock filter and pads?) Nice frontal 180 imaging; very focused and engaging. Rather boomy, sloppy bass. Great, fatigue-free detail like AEON 2 Open. More bassy. More compact space 
Bass distortion w/Electronic. Extremely similar sound to AEON 2 Open. Brighter, more fatiguing. Worse bass and space.
Ether 2 - (SE cable, stock everything?) Super light, as the Prophecy has foretold! From research memory, I believe this IS the lightest over-ear headphone there is, excluding bizarre stuff like KPH30i and cheap junk. Nice headband adjustments! (ALL of these DCA headphones have amazing comfort⌠This should not be overlooked! The AEONs are probably THE most comfortable headphone Iâve ever tried, even⌠Maybe L700 comes close? Light headphones, with awesome pads, and great headband mechanism.) Anyway⌠A little brighter than AEON 2O. Neutral bass. More distant. Lighter and thinner sounding.
------> N E U T R A L <------ ?
Not that detailed, but great, natural tonality. Does well, but I like AEON 2O more; less fatigue, more detail and bass.
Ether 2C - (SE, stock everything?) I have a bad feeling already, after going through Ether 2 :\ Slightly brighter and more fatiguing than Ether 2. Even less bass, but more space and more distanced. Tonally sounds sunken/hollow⌠This was easily the worst of the 4.
AEON 2 > AEON 2C > Ether 2 > Ether 2Whocares
Ahhh, time to stand up from this god awful, too low beach chair, stretch, and head to the dream-filled BRAVURA CHAMBER, where I had been destined to attend this day! After spending only 1.93 minutes(I stopwatchâd it, donât worry; it was a new world record time, too) to demo and collect my thoughts on the DCA models, I figured I had AT LEAST a full 2.4 minutes left for Bravura. Well, there it is⌠Sitting on a shelf, about 4 feet up, not even connected to anything! What a pity. Perhaps some foreshadowing as to its verdictâŚ? 
I truly did not think so, as this is after all a Mighty ELECTROSTAT, the rarest of breeds, that are so few and far betweenâŚ! I had to come up with a short playlist quickly, to load onto the streamer(Bluesound Vault 2i), because Bluetoothâing my songs wasnât the best idea here, and a streamer was already connected. Um⌠Ozzy, New Found Glory, Kubbi, Ott. No tracks I was immediately familiar with, but certainly bands and albums that I was. So I pick up the headphones and check them out. Moderate weight, good build, good materials; nothing that stunned me to see or feel. These are REALLY clampy and tight fitting! Kind of like Sennheiser. They fit well, after I got them on. Very chunky headphones⌠Oh, and the cable is definitely stiff and a pain in the butt to deal with. Not a problem Stax has, with their flexible ribbon cables. I forgot to check for this, but did not notice issues due to the drivers being sealed, as I recall reading about. Nothing wrong so far, really⌠Alright, so the hardware volume knob adjustments suck; too big of steps. There is a high level of transparency. Neutral+ bass with nice thump and impact. Nice bass power. Not very spacious. Compact, focused sound. Reminiscent of L300 LTD, except with better detail and richness. Pretty lively, probably too much so. Fantastic tonality and detail handling. Overly warm. Ozzyâs âYour No Differentâ sounded awful⌠(no idea what track version, or bitrate, or sample rate, etc this was) vocals were too pushed, and the intro guitar was too close and ear-piercing. I found New Found Gloryâs Rock to be a bit too bright. I think sharp treble sounds with this kind of hardware is dangerous, and you really have to be careful with that volume knob. . .
Dense, rich tone.
Very alive and electric sounding, as expected.
Needs more separation and space.
Incredible with Electronic, but bass was a bit overpowering in a fatiguing way(perhaps due to the sealed drivers�).
Treble was a touch bright.
For $7K� HAHAHA. NO. WAY. Give me that AEON 2 instead, while I save all that money for STAX!
Random Intermission Bonus: McIntosh MHP1000 - These basically made me vomit, especially when I see them in pics like this, next to things that make you cry tears of joy. Good bass levels. Treble a bit tinny, and harsh/shouty. Poor space and tonality. Dry. Never again.
Chapter 2 - The Big Guns, In The Big Room
Getting to see, and hear, DAVE for the first time was an experience nearly as powerful as the time I demoâd HE6 6S and LCD-3 (pre-fazor?) all those years ago on a ~$20K system. The sound I heard was awesome⌠but I canât say I heard as good of sound with AEON 2+DAVE and my current demo tracks as I did with HE66S+McIntoshwhatever+Marantz CD6007 and the burnt CD tracks I had that day. You could hear that same high-end, lively, ELECTRIC underbelly running through the headphones with DAVE like you could with the Bravura. Itâs as if all of the minute, low-level sounds are magnified and present more(which they probably ARE), but only in a pleasing way, not an in-the-way way. My trusty little NDH 30 sounded a little better, too, but was clearly small fries for DAVE. BLU MkII was there, too, but wasnât part of my Destiny that day. The volume knob on DAVE is freaking awesome. Best volume knob in the Universe, probably. Itâs cooler than cool, and screams PRECISION MADE. DAVE is the most impressive piece of headphone hardware Iâve ever seen, bottom line. Iâm not sure what competes with this thing, but I havenât heard anything similar, other than the McIntosh+Marantz+? one I heard years ago. But Iâll tell you a little secret - that AEON 2 Open really impressed me, too, on every track I threw at them⌠For the first time in forever, I finally heard something about as awesome as that HE66S and LCD-3. Probably not as awesome, but awesome in a different way, at least. And so, I ordered a new AEON 2 from BloomAudio.corn for a cool $750 with 1 day shipping, and an Audiophile Ninja 4.4mm cable, and Forza Noir Hybrid 4.4mm cable!!! 
The End. (for now. . .)
Bonus cat pic:
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Donât worry, I can go back to test hardware differences, once I actually get a headphone picked out.
