I have used the Noire for a year now, and compared it carefully to several other headphones and IEM's. I can never reconcile the comments about bass somehow being limited with the DCA phones. It is always deep and undistorted for me. I can EQ to the point of gross error (beyond anyone's acceptable taste) without audible distortion, and it's easier to do with the Noire than any other headphone I've used. And the DCA Noire and Closed X are one of the very, very few headphones that are level down to 20 Hz, or very close to it, without EQ.The headband has two screws, which I tighten periodically and they just loosen up. I don't walk with them, headphones are for me a work (desk)/bed thing. If I'm outside I use Airpod-type objects.
I do not get sub bass when pressing the ear cups harder, I just tried it, being intrigued by your question. In fact it's the opposite, the bass gets worse and the highs get overpowering.
I tried all the pads they give (each for at least a month, just to try to get rid of habituation). Subjectively, my impression of bass improves if I use the most absorbent pads. Of course they cannot improve the bass, they just cut the highs, it's all in my head, but there you go. Still, I remain of the opinion that it cannot do very low bass, basically at all. There's like a cut-off there, it goes off a cliff.
Very tough question. I think all my other headphones do more satisfying bass, but in terms of "liking", I feel stumped. I guess the closest would be between the ATH50xBT (which is very strong but too much) and the ATH-DSR9BT (which is a little lean but very controlled). For sure, I "like" the bass of my Paradigm 95F speakers, through RoomPerfect. It's really good.
But look, to a large extent I'm sure it's my misshapen head. I don't fret it too much. Headphone nirvana is hard to get into.
At least half my listening is with acoustic sources, so I especially appreciate a smooth integration of frequency response from sub-bass to treble. I could, but won't, go on about this, but the point is that the Noire does this with ease.
Finally, both I and a friend who uses the DCA closed X wear hornrim glasses and the glasses have absolutely no effect on the bass for either headphone for us.
I accept that others are reporting what they experienced, but I have had none of these problems with the bass with two sets of DCA headphones. It's confusing.
Finally, I periodically see comments about the 'slam' factor being less with the DCA's than with, say, Focals, some HiFiMan headphones or Audeze's. I have made any number of A/b comparisons with Sundara (mentioned as more 'macrodynamic' than the Noire), on a level-matched, EQ-matched (Oratory/Harman) and bidirectional basis (I know, sighted, but as controlled as I could make it at home). I found that when level- and EQ-matched, the dynamics sounded virtually identical between the Sundara and Noire on the majority of the dozens of dynamic reference tracks played.*
I haven't compared to the Audeze or Focal headphones, and accept that they may indeed have greater dynamics. That said, I don't understand how anyone would want greater dynamics, since a good number of my test tracks are so dynamic through the Noire that I can't find a satisfying volume setting, b/c either dynamic peaks are hurtfully loud, or the average SPL is too low.
What am I missing? I know, 'slam' is subjective and not subject to a common standard of measurement. And my A/B comparisons were at best quasi-controlled. But not the level of bass nor the dynamic range nor the seal of the earpads is even remotely a practical problem for me with the Noire, to the point where I wonder what's going on.
* With bass EQ'd up to Harman, the Sundara seems to have a little distortion in the mid-bass, and it seems to be euphonic, lending a nice resonance to, for example, bass guitar. This enhances some music; while I like the wonderfully tight and undistorted bass of the Noire on other music. With other phones, like HD650, the bass becomes excessively distorted when EQ'd up to Harman. Dan Clark has commented that planar bass can sound thinner because we are unused to hearing the undistorted bass of good planars if we're mostly familiar with resonant dynamic drivers. Maybe so.
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