Dan Clark E3 Headphone Review

[evanft]

So a question for other owners out there: Are there any 3rd party cables out there that aren't too expensive and are less microphonic than the included cable? It isn't awful, but transmits more sound than I'd like when I move around.

I bought an OpenHeart cable from AliExpress that was excellent. I think it was less than $30.

 

[Zoide]

I bought an OpenHeart cable from AliExpress that was excellent. I think it was less than $30.

I have a couple and I also like them.

 

[evanft]

I have a couple and I also like them.

Fer sher. I just got one for my HD650 as well and it's fantastic.

 

[CedarX]

I have a couple and I also like them.

Same here, I have several of these cables. They are good quality, (very) reasonably priced and, IMO, nice-looking cables.

 

[Sycraft]

I ended up getting a cable from Amazon. Silver plated copper because it looks pretty It does the trick, still some sound transmitted but a good bit less than the stock cable. Not as durable, if I ever take these traveling (probably not) I'll take the stock cord.

I also finally got around to firing up Nuendo and playing around with these on it and oh man. I have never heard the Piano samples sounds this GOOD. They make me appreciate the ultra-clean LiquidSonics reverbs even more than I already did. When I give them extremely clean, distortion free, input man they just sing.

 

[archerious]

I know this headphone measures well and is popular on here, but man I'm not enjoying it.

My Utopia OG used were $1600, I paid $1699 for my E3 open box.

While open-back always has advantages, I think the E3 are fairly overrated for a closed-back.

They sound so dull and boring. I've heard praise for the bass, but IMO it isn't great for a closed back that is Harman tuned.

The treble sounds lackluster too IMO, the soundstage is smaller than I'd like. The imaging and instrument separation is mediocre, worse than Focal Clear OG that cost me $640 open box on prime day.

I'll probably return them or sell them. The comfort isn't bad though, but the sound isolation isn't much better either despite being closed back.

Not sure if me wearing thick glasses affects the sound.

 

[ObjectiveSubjectivist]

Not sure if me wearing thick glasses affects the sound.

Take them off.
E3 is very seal dependent.
If you have to wear glases when using headphones e3 is not for you

 

[archerious]

Take them off.
E3 is very seal dependent.
If you have to wear glases when using headphones e3 is not for you

My vision is quite bad, I will just return them. I suspected as much when I felt how unstable these feel on my head.

 

[ObjectiveSubjectivist]

My vision is quite bad, I will just return them. I suspected as much when I felt how unstable these feel on my head.

Even thin frames of glasses cause air leakage which just kills bass in DCA headhpones. And it's true with all their models, even the open ones. That's how they are designed.
Here you can see graph of drop + DCA Aeon X

Review of Drop + Dan Clark Audio Aeon Closed X

The looks of an alien-phone? Intro Earlier, I reviewed the Aeon Open X and found it a bit underwhelming. Now, I’ve had the opportunity to evaluate its closed-back counterpart. Is it any bette…

unheardlab.com

And something similar is happening with your E3

 

[EGrunt]

I know this headphone measures well and is popular on here, but man I'm not enjoying it.

My Utopia OG used were $1600, I paid $1699 for my E3 open box.

While open-back always has advantages, I think the E3 are fairly overrated for a closed-back.

They sound so dull and boring. I've heard praise for the bass, but IMO it isn't great for a closed back that is Harman tuned.

The treble sounds lackluster too IMO, the soundstage is smaller than I'd like. The imaging and instrument separation is mediocre, worse than Focal Clear OG that cost me $640 open box on prime day.

I'll probably return them or sell them. The comfort isn't bad though, but the sound isolation isn't much better either despite being closed back.

Not sure if me wearing thick glasses affects the sound.

I spent just over a month listening to the E3’s and comparing them to my Denon AH-D9200’s and my results were just like yours. First my system:

DAC Schiit Yggy+ OG

AMPS: Schiit Folkvangr with Mullard E88CC tubes, Schiit Mjolnir 3 (MJ3)

EQ: Schiit Lokius

Source: Apple Mac Mini M2 PRO

After my first listen I decided to burn in the E3’s by playing music via Tidal for two weeks straight (336 hours). That definitely helped with the sound they produced for the better. I was looking for an improvement in sound quality over my 9200’s. To make a long story short I just never connected with the E3’s. They sounded good but I never felt connected to music no matter what I played through them. I tried various EQ adjustments on my Lokius and they sounded somewhat dull and not alive. I would switch out the E3’s for my Denon D9200’s and I felt as though I was at a concert when I closed my eyes and I would start tapping me feet. I enlisted the help of my wife of over 38 years that tolerates my hobby for my headphone setup and she stated the E3’s sounded dull / muffled compared to my Denon’s. The E3's need power and my Folkvangr did the job but I had the volume almost maxed out. The MJ3 had no problem at all powering the E3's.

 

[Dan Clark]

Take them off.
E3 is very seal dependent.
If you have to wear glases when using headphones e3 is not for you

My vision is quite bad, I will just return them. I suspected as much when I felt how unstable these feel on my head.

Closed headphones can be more sensitive than some open backs due to the cup creating higher acoustic impedance. Higher impedance means a better seal is needed to get full bass. The easiest way to check seal is to put the phones on without music, then rub your fingertips together about an inch from the cup, circling all the way around it. If you can hear your fingertips seal is your problem. In your case, with thick glasses, that's likely certain. You might just listen without the glasses to see if you like that signtare and if you do....

For some people with glasses there are two solutions...

First is to rest the arms of the glasses either nestled a bit above the ear but under the pad, which works for some glasses with thin arms that lay flat to the head. I do this with my readers, but some people can't do this if they use strong readers, mine are 1.25-1.5. You can even rest the arms on top of the pads to totally clear them, if your glasses work with that (mind do, not all can).

The second is to get flat-framed glasses that touch the face as they exit the ear. Frames, thick or thin, that pull away from the face at the ear literally force the seal open.

Glass frames that are either really thick or are curved away from the face as they exit the ear cause the most trouble.

 

[archerious]

Closed headphones can be more sensitive than some open backs due to the cup creating higher acoustic impedance. Higher impedance means a better seal is needed to get full bass. The easiest way to check seal is to put the phones on without music, then rub your fingertips together about an inch from the cup, circling all the way around it. If you can hear your fingertips seal is your problem. In your case, with thick glasses, that's likely certain. You might just listen without the glasses to see if you like that signtare and if you do....

For some people with glasses there are two solutions...

First is to rest the arms of the glasses either nestled a bit above the ear but under the pad, which works for some glasses with thin arms that lay flat to the head. I do this with my readers, but some people can't do this if they use strong readers, mine are 1.25-1.5. You can even rest the arms on top of the pads to totally clear them, if your glasses work with that (mind do, not all can).

The second is to get flat-framed glasses that touch the face as they exit the ear. Frames, thick or thin, that pull away from the face at the ear literally force the seal open.

Glass frames that are either really thick or are curved away from the face as they exit the ear cause the most trouble.

Sadly due to my prescription that isn’t an option for me but you are correct that I heard a large difference with and without glasses. It’s a shame but I appreciate your reply. It would be great if a disclaimer of this sort was there on the E3 product page as it would’ve saved me money (return shipping and potential restocking fees). Especially when most people in the USA can’t audition before buying.

 

[sonitus mirus]

Closed headphones can be more sensitive than some open backs due to the cup creating higher acoustic impedance. Higher impedance means a better seal is needed to get full bass. The easiest way to check seal is to put the phones on without music, then rub your fingertips together about an inch from the cup, circling all the way around it. If you can hear your fingertips seal is your problem. In your case, with thick glasses, that's likely certain. You might just listen without the glasses to see if you like that signtare and if you do....

For some people with glasses there are two solutions...

First is to rest the arms of the glasses either nestled a bit above the ear but under the pad, which works for some glasses with thin arms that lay flat to the head. I do this with my readers, but some people can't do this if they use strong readers, mine are 1.25-1.5. You can even rest the arms on top of the pads to totally clear them, if your glasses work with that (mind do, not all can).

The second is to get flat-framed glasses that touch the face as they exit the ear. Frames, thick or thin, that pull away from the face at the ear literally force the seal open.

Glass frames that are either really thick or are curved away from the face as they exit the ear cause the most trouble.

Certainly good information, but we are going to require something a bit more objective than fingers rubbing together to check for leaks. I mean, I can significantly change the sound with speed and pressure when rubbing my fingers together. That said, I think my Stealth headphones are fantastic, with only a small amount of EQ required to make them sound about as perfect as I can expect.

The point is that the Stealth, and almost certainly the E3 headphones, are particularly reliant on ear cup position and fit.

 

[Zoide]

Sadly due to my prescription that isn’t an option for me but you are correct that I heard a large difference with and without glasses. It’s a shame but I appreciate your reply. It would be great if a disclaimer of this sort was there on the E3 product page as it would’ve saved me money (return shipping and potential restocking fees). Especially when most people in the USA can’t audition before buying.

If you haven't already, I recommend that you check out the prescription glasses from VR Lens Lab. They're originally made for use with VR headsets, but they work great with the E3 because instead of arms they have a thin elastic that hugs the contours of your head: https://vr-lens-lab.com/prescription-lens-inserts/vr-frame-virtual-reality-glasses/

 

[Chagall]

Fiddling around with frequency sweeps, I noticed a large suckout around 5–6 kHz on the E3. I experimented with positioning and, as @Dan Clark mentioned, placing the E3 forward on the head gave the best result (horizontally forward, while vertically I kept them centered on my ears). The massive dip shifted to around 7–7.5 kHz, but with much lower Q and amplitude. It seems that whatever part of the AMTS waveguide is responsible for 5–6 kHz was being blocked by part of my ear, causing complete cancellation. It might be worthwhile for other owners to run some sweeps to see if something similar happens on their heads.

Pushing them forward also added some extra low-end impact. My guess is that the pads, when resting on the bone right behind the ear and on the jaw, created a better seal. Dynamics - if that’s the right word - also improved, particularly the punch of bass drums and toms. Sweeping in that position, I didn’t notice any more major dips.

The only downside is comfort. In this position, both cups need to be perfectly aligned, and it’s less natural to wear. Still, for the improvement in frequency response, I think it’s a worthwhile tradeoff.

 

[Robbo99999]

Fiddling around with frequency sweeps, I noticed a large suckout around 5–6 kHz on the E3. I experimented with positioning and, as @Dan Clark mentioned, placing the E3 forward on the head gave the best result (horizontally forward, while vertically I kept them centered on my ears). The massive dip shifted to around 7–7.5 kHz, but with much lower Q and amplitude. It seems that whatever part of the AMTS waveguide is responsible for 5–6 kHz was being blocked by part of my ear, causing complete cancellation. It might be worthwhile for other owners to run some sweeps to see if something similar happens on their heads.

Pushing them forward also added some extra low-end impact. My guess is that the pads, when resting on the bone right behind the ear and on the jaw, created a better seal. Dynamics - if that’s the right word - also improved, particularly the punch of bass drums and toms. Sweeping in that position, I didn’t notice any more major dips.

The only downside is comfort. In this position, both cups need to be perfectly aligned, and it’s less natural to wear. Still, for the improvement in frequency response, I think it’s a worthwhile tradeoff.

If you're trying to identify areas of the frequency response that are not flat for you by listening to sine tones then I'd urge you to be careful. Sometimes your natural hearing can have peaks & troughs at certain frequencies and you wouldn't want to correct for those same peaks & troughs in your headphones - because they're just part of your natural hearing. When I did this a few years ago I realised I had a massive boost in my hearing between 8-12kHz and initially I thought it was a problem with my headphone (not E3 I don't own any DCA), but I have the same boost in that area when listening to sine tones on Anechoic Flat Speakers, so for me I wouldn't correct that peak that I have. So I think you need to know what's part of your natural hearing in terms of your natural hearing probably won't be flat so you don't want to correct for that in headphones.

 

[Chagall]

If you're trying to identify areas of the frequency response that are not flat for you by listening to sine tones then I'd urge you to be careful. Sometimes your natural hearing can have peaks & troughs at certain frequencies and you wouldn't want to correct for those same peaks & troughs in your headphones - because they're just part of your natural hearing. When I did this a few years I realised I had a massive boost in my hearing between 8-12kHz and initially I thought it was a problem with my headphone (not E3 I don't own any DCA), but I have the same boost in that area when listening to sine tones on Anechoic Flat Speakers, so for me I wouldn't correct that peak that I have. So I think you need to know what's part of your natural hearing in terms of your natural hearing probably won't be flat so you don't want to correct for that in headphones.

Nah, nothing like that. My main reason originally was to mess with tones just to check if I had a good seal. The plan was to play a tone and move the cups around while listening for changes in amplitude. But before I even got that far, I hit the sweep and heard a 5–6 kHz suckout, a total cancellation. Like a noob, I first panicked that it was my hearing, then that my E3 drivers were toast… and yeah, I even tried to EQ it.

Once the heart rate came back down, I played a 5.5 kHz tone and started shifting the cups - the thing I was originally trying to do just with bass. Sure enough, the tone came back. Running the sweep again, the dip shifted to 7k but was much narrower and harder to detect. And interestingly, moving the E3 forward also gave me the extra low-end impact I was originally trying to test for. Now, was that more low-end or less mids, not sure - didn't have time to test it.

 

[Robbo99999]

Nah, nothing like that. My main reason originally was to mess with tones just to check if I had a good seal. The plan was to play a tone and move the cups around while listening for changes in amplitude. But before I even got that far, I hit the sweep and heard a 5–6 kHz suckout, a total cancellation. Like a noob, I first panicked that it was my hearing, then that my E3 drivers were toast… and yeah, I even tried to EQ it.

Once the heart rate came back down, I played a 5.5 kHz tone and started shifting the cups - the thing I was originally trying to do just with bass. Sure enough, the tone came back. Running the sweep again, the dip shifted to 7k but was much narrower and harder to detect. And interestingly, moving the E3 forward also gave me the extra low-end impact I was originally trying to test for. Now, was that more low-end or less mids, not sure - didn't have time to test it.

Ah, a total cancellation, that's weird, well you're probably ok with that approach then. But if you do ever end up doing some EQ'ing based on peaks & troughs whilst listening to sine tones then bare in mind what I said as I found it surprising what I found out, that we can have such strange natural peaks & troughs as part of our natural hearing (which you wouldn't want to correct for).

 

[Chagall]

Ah, a total cancellation, that's weird, well you're probably ok with that approach then. But if you do ever end up doing some EQ'ing based on peaks & troughs whilst listening to sine tones then bare in mind what I said as I found it surprising what I found out, that we can have such strange natural peaks & troughs as part of our natural hearing (which you wouldn't want to correct for).

Yep, no point to EQ with sweeps. However, for testing seal and ruling out positional frequency cancelations at least with DCA E3, Stealth, maybe even Expanse, I it can be very helpful.

My assumption that a lot of "E3, or Stealth sounds dull...." claims is just down to the wrong position on the ears (not including users with glasses - glasses and DCA unfortunately don't mix), and would encourage owners to try this quick test and report back - for me it's consistent and repeatable.

 

[Giangi71]

The best closed headset on a tube amplifier. Fezz Omega Lupi Evo + DCA E3 end game for closed without any peq