Audiophilepure

Kinera Norn, minus the cable, is a gorgeous-looking IEM with a very impressive look. The shape is identical to Kinera Nanna and it has a small form factor. Once again, the color scheme is fantastic with the sparkling crimson red details on a full black shell. What an excellent design. And I like the fact that the crimson red ”lava” detail is going all the way down to the tip of the nozzle.

Kinera claims that these shells are hand-painted which to me is even more impressive. As I understand, these shells are 3D printed but technicians apply that marvelous paint and colors onto the shells. The result is simply great and especially the face-plate area is outstanding. The build quality is satisfying and quite impressive with a seamless transition and an integrated nozzle structure. There’s nothing to worry about here. Excellent work.

https://www.monoandstereo.com/2021/02/focal-clear-headphone-review.html

There is a general expectation of soundstage with open headphones, unfortunately, the Clear does not meet that expectation. Instruments are placed closer to you and high up, rather than spread out in front of you. That said, the instrument separation is good. While it’s not the best option for orchestral music, the soundstage doesn’t cause any fatigue in any music genre.

 Andra Day’s vocals were eerily reminiscent of the great Billie Holiday. Her timing, syncopation and tonality were truly spot on with this recording and I wholeheartedly recommend it for any jazz fan to enjoy! Unfortunately when Billie Holiday recorded her music, the recording industry’s technology was quite lacking and the sound quality of those mono-recordings was truly lacking with regards to clarity, transparency and sound staging. Experiencing this awesome recording with the AEON 2 Noire is a revelation! Andra’s vocals just pulled me into this recording right from the outset. The AEON 2 Noire’s ability to portray female vocals was off the charts impressive!

The Gjallarhorn is one of the more unusual headphones in the high-end space, offering a darker tuning thanks to an attenuated treble section. In stark contrast to its smooth highs, the Gjallarhorn presents one of the more-captivating and potent bass sections in the contemporary space. Thankfully, the company avoids the pitfalls of an overly-bloated bass section by tweaking the low-end to provide just the right amount of bass. Couple that with a world-beating presentation, replete with gobs of texture, and you’ve got one heck of an enjoyable basshead headphone.

It’s not all bass, bass, bass, though, as the Gjallarhorn offers a solid rendition of a lush and weighty vocal response. With decent-to-good levels of technical finesse, the Kennerton headphone produces instruments and voices in a well-defined stage.

Users are given the option to choose between two stock ‘DUMMER’ cables (a derivative of DCA’s humourously named ‘Distinctly Unmagical Cable) at checkout – either a two-metre 4-pin XLR balanced cable or a two-metre 3.5mm single-ended cable with a 6.3mm adapter. A range of other connections, including 2.5mm and 4.4mm balanced terminations and shorter cable lengths are available but will add between $200 and $250 USD to the asking price of the Aeon 2 Noire, pushing it over the $1K USD mark. The Aeon 2 Noire uses Dan Clark Audio’s preferred and proprietary locking cable connections at the earcups. It’s an entirely secure option and gives a nice tactile ‘click’ when seated, but occasionally takes a bit of fiddling to get into place. I opted for a full-size 4-pin XLR to accompany my Aeon 2 Noire review unit – the fabric-sheather DUMMER cable isn’t as nice to the touch as their more premium (and expensive) VIVO options but it is made reasonably well and more than fit for purpose for desktop listening, albeit with some rubbing microphonics on the front of my shirt when moving about.