News - Mr Speakers, renamed Dan Clark Audio released the Aeon 2 portable headphones in Singapore

SINGAPORE | December 20th, 2019 

Dan Clark Audio is pleased to announce the launch of the all new Aeon 2 Open and Closed high-fidelity over-ear headphones in Singapore. The new headphones build upon the legacy of its predecessor - the ever popular AEON Flow headphones, but ramped up with new design elements. Previously known as Mr Speakers, the company rebranded to Dan Clark Audio, the founder's namesake.

Dan Clark, founder of Mr Speakers, and now Dan Clark Audio, is an electrical engineer who has been working in and around the high-end audio market for more than twenty years. Dan’s experience includes working in high-end retail, designing amplifiers and electronics for personal use, and designing commercial and custom loudspeaker solutions, including the highly-regarded and award winning Platinum Audio speakers from the late 1990’s.

The new Aeon 2 features the latest engineering innovations from Dan, married with smart industrial design at a price that makes them not only attainable, but thoroughly enjoyable for the Hi-Fi community.

The original Aeon broke new grounds with its smart industrial design that is the hallmark of Dan Clark Audio design ethic. Known for its elegant shape of the ear-cups, lightweight nitinol headband, and the amazing performance of its in-house designed planer drivers, it was highly raved when it first launched. Now, with Aeon 2, it encompasses all the goodness of the original Aeon with the following new advancements:

Improved Performance

The new Aeon 2 features a colossal performance upgrade. Dan and his team took what they learned designing the most awarded planar headphones in the market last year - the Ether 2, and completely redesigned the driver from the ground up for the new Aeon 2.

New features include:
Updated driver structure flipped 180 degrees, removing magnet and flow structures from the direct signal path of the ear
Streamlined flow elements converted to a single construction, removing gaps
Higher precision machined flow structures vs. injection moulding
Superior Driver damping by developing new materials resulting in improved resolution and frequency response

The sum of all these innovations is a headphone that resolves music on an emotional level unheard of at this price point: visceral bass, transparent mids, and detail up top that is complementary not fatiguing.

Uncompromised Portability

The engineering team at Dan Clark Audio noticed that while the original Aeon came with a great case, it was a little bulky and hard to travel with. When they set out to create the next iteration of Aeon, the team knew they had to address Aeon 2's portability without sacrificing performance.

The attention to small details for their customers in mind resulted in a new case for Aeon 2, and an intelligent folding mechanism for the headphones, as part of its smart industrial design ethos. The new and improved Aeon 2 that would travel more efficiently without sacrificing function and performance.

The headphones are not only more compact and easier to bring along for your travels now, the new design actually improved the clamping, fit, feel, and structural integrity of the entire headphones. The form fitting and protective case also fits your cable of choice and takes up half the room in your backpack than the old Aeon case.

Pricing and Availability

Dan Clark Audio Aeon 2 is available immediately at a recommended retail price (RRP) of S$1,399 (including GST) exclusively at AV One and Lazada (https://www.lazada.sg/shop/av1group).

About Dan Clark Audio

Dan Clark Audio was founded with a simple goal in mind: make great headphone products and have fun doing it. At Dan Clark Audio, we believe audiophile performance can be delivered at a variety of prices and we strive to deliver incredible performance and high value for each and every product. Founded by Dan Clark, an electrical engineer who has been working in and around the high-end audio market for more than twenty years. Dan’s experience includes working in high-end retail, designing amplifiers and electronics for personal use, and designing commercial and custom loudspeaker solutions, including the highly-regarded and award winning Platinum Audio speakers from the late 1990’s. Dan has a particular fondness for Isobaric subwoofers.

Plixir Cube 8 BAC Power Conditioner

Introduction

Our very own home grown brand is back with a new series of balanced power conditioners. According to James Soh, Plixir’s owner and designer, the Cube series was introduced to offer a premium product to customers that wanted a very high quality power conditioner, but were unable to afford the top-of-the-line Elite series of products.

The quality of finish of the Cube is top-notch, and a far cry from Plixir’s first models and significantly better than the present Elementa series. In fact, it would be fair to say that the level of finish and build is on par with the Elite series. However, to bring the product to a lower price point, the Cube uses a more affordable Noratel transformer that uses trickle-down technology from the Elite’s XQ transformer.

Size wise, the squarish footprint (240 x 270 x 245 mm) of the Cube enables easy placement and economical use of Singapore’s very expensive real estate space. It’s diminutive size is deceptive though, and the Cube weighs a back-breaking 30 kg. 

The model on review offers 8 outlets of your choice (US, EU or UK) and supports equipment with total power of 2280 watts. A binding post is also offered in case you wish to ground any of your components to the Cube.

Like the rest of the Plixir models, the Cube runs warm to the touch (I measured about 8-9 degrees Celcius above ambient temperature) on standby. My review sample did not have any noticeable transformer hum or buzzing. 

Sound Quality 

My initial impressions of the Cube were very positive - an extremely low noise floor and powerful bass. I initially thought that the Cube even exceeded the Elite series in this regard. However upon extended listening, I found this to be not the case for reasons explained later.

Sonics wise, the performance of the Cube sits squarely between the first generation Elementa (I did not have the current Elementa series on hand for comparison) and Elite series. Tonally it is not as neutral and has a pronounced bass emphasis and darker midrange and top-end. While the basslines from the Cube appeared more impressive than the Elite at first, I found that the bass was not as tight and lacked the articulation and detail of the Elite. Double-bass had impact but you could not hear the inner detail  - you heard more of a single note rather than the resonance from the body of the instrument and the vibrating strings. Similarly, the midrange and treble were smooth and refined, but lacking in the last bit of inner detail, expressiveness and air that only the Elite could deliver.

For most audiophiles, the Cube would be more than enough. I could have lived happily with it had I not personally owned the Elite BAC - perhaps ignorance could be bliss for an audiophile. 

Cube or Elite ? The choice to me very much boils down to matching. Audiophiles who find their system too lightweight and shrill would love the Cube. Audiophiles who have dialled-in their system to perfection would be better off with the Elite. Like everything in hi-fi, horses for courses !

Conclusion

The Cube fits nicely into the gap in the Plixir series. The Elite BAC still remains at the top of the heap, but the Cube remains a very worthy model for consideration, especially in the right system. The high level of finish, compact footprint and competitive performance means that the Cube deserves a HIGHLY RECOMMENDED label !

Cube 8 BAC
S$3,300

International Sound and Sight Exhibition 2019

Introduction

International Sound and Sight Exhibition is on right now ! The show is on between 22nd - 24th November 2019 at Holiday Inn Singapore, Orchard City Centre. The address is 11 Cavenagh Road, Singapore 229616. The closest MRT station is Somerset Station.

I am very happy that the organisers of ISSE have chosen to bring back live performances to ISSE. There are also a series of technical talks by leading technical experts, including Rob Watts of Chord, and Roland Hoffman of Dynaudio.  

Basement Exhibitors


Simplicity Control had a number of interesting products on display, including speakers from ESD, electronics from Keces and a turntable from J. Sikora. When I dropped by, the Panda + speakers from ESD were playing, powered by a Soulution amplifier. 

The Panda + is an intriguing design with field coil drivers, and a massive 3 inch Beryllium tweeter (that's not a typo). This stand-mounted speaker tips the scales at 275 kg - better call your strongest gym mates to help you position this speaker. I was invited to touch the speaker - the enclosure is inert with no vibrations felt, and surprisingly warm due to the field coil supply. Drive units are designed in-house and the first-order crossover is set at 1.5 KHz. The price of these speakers is $28,800 - a real surprise given the build quality and design of the speaker.  

Nicole He of ESD Acoustics with the Panda + speaker

High End Research really surprised me this year. This must have been the smallest room they have exhibited in recent years, with easily the largest Wilson ever. That should be a recipe for disaster. Instead, this setup performed very well - a personal best for High End Research. 

The Wilson Chronosonic XVX retails for USD 329,000 which in Singapore dollar terms is enough to get your a decent sized public housing flat. These were in turn controlled by twin 80s era mini computers (actually Goldmund monoblock power amplifiers). 

The Vimberg system was not being played while I was there. Vimberg is the second line of Tidal, for commoners that do not have bank accounts flush with cash.  

Audioline always showcases equipment that I can only dream of owing, and this year was no exception. The Tannoy Canterbury GR is quite efficient at 96 db sensitivity and should go plenty loud with a precious few watts from the Accuphase lovely twins - wrong ! Instead, they were being played with ferocious power and dynamics. I caught the digital meters on the Accuphase hitting more than 40 watts on peaks. This was a very "live" sounding setup, with appropriate scale and presence.

Audiophiles are an indecisive lot - they want the best of everything, and the worst of nothing. The Acoustic Signature turntable pictured below has you covered. I'm a monogamous analog person, but I can imagine the appeal of this deck to some. 

The Kronzilla has the largest tubes I've ever seen. This is perfect for the audiophile who believes that size is everything. The T1610 power tubes used can deliver more than 30 watts per channel - no simple feat for a single ended tube amplifier. 

I have always had a soft spot for equipment from boutique manufacturers, especially gear from Japan. You just have to love equipment from Shindo. Naming your equipment after wine gets additional marks from me. 

AV One had Dynaudio speakers on display. Sadly, I had to miss the talk by both Rob Watts and Roland Hoffman due to time constraints. 

Seventh Floor

Audiomis had two different active speakers and some electronics on display. The speakers sounded very good and very friendly show pricing of S$ 369 and S$ 569 per pair of the HP3 and HP5 respectively.  

Tien Audio of Taiwan had a stacked pair of Falcon speakers. It's been a long time since I've heard stacked speakers - it's worth spending some time in this room. 

LZE is a manufacturer from Hong Kong. The kit looks quite nice and are quite affordable. 

Project Perfection focused on Furutech accessories. However, the setup was quite well done with very modest electronics (a Mytek Brooklyn Bridge and Benchmark AHB2 power amp) paired with Magico S1 speakers.

Audiosound did something very different this year. I spent a while enjoying movies on Netflix streamed from an Alpha Pro computer from Dreamcore. The model used carries a S$ 5,000 price tag and uses a water cooling system. A Lampizator DAC, Vincent amplifier and Elac Adante speakers completed the picture. The speakers deserve special mention. Designed by Andrew Jones, they deliver very good performance for the price. The speakers are far more complex than they look - the top driver is a coaxial driver which covers both midrange and high frequencies, while an internally mounted 6.5 inch woofer acoustically couples to the 8 inch passive radiator mounted on the front panel. The sealed enclosure can be placed quite close to the wall, and like any good sealed design, offers very tight and tuneful bass.  

Sky Audio's setup is well worth a listen. The active Dynamikks! speakers sounded very nice with a lot of scale and very nice high frequencies. Compression drivers do get a bad reputation for being too shouty, or in-your-face, and I was surprised how much I liked these speakers. The manufacturer is very clever to put the amplification, and electronic crossover in a separate external box.  

Do ask about the Zorin TP-S5 turntable from Taiwan. I was surprised that it cost far less than expected. 

Tritone's setup was clear, impactful yet delicate. The Muhammad Ali of setups alternated between loud rock tracks and intimately recorded violin pieces. They resisted the urge to use their larger speakers and instead stuck to the compact Legacy Studio HD pictured below which was well suited to the small room they were in. They did a talk in the evening to walk attendees through their technical services and Legacy's driver technology. They passed around a disassembled woofer and driver cone. The magnet assembly must have weighed a ton ! 

Eighteen 77 had setup a B&W 802 D3 with a Cambridge Audio source and Rotel Michi amplification. I had loving memories of Rotel Michi equipment from my youth - I lusted over their rosewood side-paneled equipment which was far beyond the reach of my very young and impoverished fingers. This setup was quite nice to listen to.  

Advanced Audio Acoustics gets my vote for best value for money product. The JM 3/5A is priced from USD 400 to 600 per pair depending on version. The representative explained to me that their speaker is not intended to be a LS 3/5A clone, but to improve on the limitations of the original in reproduction of low and high frequencies. The sonics of these speakers had me floored, with their power and finesse. The JM 3/5A just goes to show that you don't have to be rich to enjoy the finer things in audio. 

By the time I reached the show venue slightly after lunch, the only tickets available were for the last performance of the day. I was glad not to have missed Eve & Billy's performance. Eve has a lovely voice with very good pitch control and expression. Coupled with Billy's soulful guitarwork, this was a perfect way for me to end the show. 

Conclusion

This year's show was smaller with an ever shrinking exhibitor list. A lot of the big names in the local scene were absent, the latest absentee being Ong Radio. Personal audio items were also less prominent since Canjam Singapore is a more obvious choice. 

I preferred this venue although the conference rooms are smaller compared to Park Royal at Kitchener Road. Hopefully, the organiser is able to entice back the exhibitors of the past. 

See you next year !