Dan Clark NOIRE X Headphone Review

[DavidK442]

Has anyone compared them directly to the E3? I am interested to know which one has better vocals and slam, mostly for rock/metal.

Compare the frequency plots and decide for yourself which has better “slam”, or apply some EQ and slam until your heart’s content.
If I recall, Amir’s assessment was that they are very similar except for price.

 

[w1nzt0n]

Compare the frequency plots and decide for yourself which has better “slam”, or apply some EQ and slam until your heart’s content.
If I recall, Amir’s assessment was that they are very similar except for price.

I am far too new in this hobby to make sense of measurements haha but thanks for the reply.

What I understand from other reviews is that E3 has more soundstage which for me is a big factor coming from the he1000se.

 

[adc]

Does anyone use these lying in bed? It sure looks like the odd projection of the bracket on the back would dig into the pillow and push them forward on my face.

 

[garrettwp]

Would these be an upgrade from the Drop Aeon Closed X?

 

[Rayman30]

Would these be an upgrade from the Drop Aeon Closed X?

I have owned the Closed X, Noire and now Noire X. None of the 3 have blown me away, however I do think that each one is a slight jump in sound quality from a tuning standpoint. I am not super convinced by the DCA proprietary AMT technology.

My memory of the headphones and opinion of them.

DCA Closed X - EQ made these a good headphone, but they never had a physicality to the music, imaging and soundstage were ok at best. Irritating to have to fuss with the white inner pads. I sent these back.

DCA Noire - These were a step up in clarity for me, with slightly more physicality to the music but still not enough for me, tuned better out of the box but I cant say if they are "Technically" better, but I did prefer them. After comparing them to my Austrian Audio Hi-X60, I found them to be a bit muffled and lacking in detail retrieval (Most likely just their tuning)

DCA Noire X - These are notably brighter than the other 2, which help with detail retrieval. It sounds like a veil has been lifted, but at the expensive of sounding a bit clinical at times, like a tool for listening to music. They don't blow me away in any category although they are very competent, and are impressive for being closed back, they do not sound muffled or boxy in any way. I respect these, I don't like them as much as my LCD2 Closed, but they are much more practical. These will stay, but I'm not sure they are worth twice the price of the Closed X. You can look at their measurements and see that both are fine, so I am not really sure what AMT is doing considering all 3 have great measurements.

Would I upgrade from the Closed X right to the Noire X? Yes but temper your expectations, its just slightly better so ask yourself how much is that slightly better worth.

 

[garrettwp]

I have owned the Closed X, Noire and now Noire X. None of the 3 have blown me away, however I do think that each one is a slight jump in sound quality from a tuning standpoint. I am not super convinced by the DCA proprietary AMT technology.

My memory of the headphones and opinion of them.

DCA Closed X - EQ made these a good headphone, but they never had a physicality to the music, imaging and soundstage were ok at best. Irritating to have to fuss with the white inner pads. I sent these back.

DCA Noire - These were a step up in clarity for me, with slightly more physicality to the music but still not enough for me, tuned better out of the box but I cant say if they are "Technically" better, but I did prefer them. After comparing them to my Austrian Audio Hi-X60, I found them to be a bit muffled and lacking in detail retrieval (Most likely just their tuning)

DCA Noire X - These are notably brighter than the other 2, which help with detail retrieval. It sounds like a veil has been lifted, but at the expensive of sounding a bit clinical at times, like a tool for listening to music. They don't blow me away in any category although they are very competent, and are impressive for being closed back, they do not sound muffled or boxy in any way. I respect these, I don't like them as much as my LCD2 Closed, but they are much more practical. These will stay, but I'm not sure they are worth twice the price of the Closed X. You can look at their measurements and see that both are fine, so I am not really sure what AMT is doing considering all 3 have great measurements.

Would I upgrade from the Closed X right to the Noire X? Yes but temper your expectations, its just slightly better so ask yourself how much is that slightly better worth.

Thank you so much for the detailed response. I also own the LCD 2 Closed and enjoy both the LCD and DCA. I have the DCA's eq'ed and will most likely save the money. I ask as they are a few hundred off from the original price during the black friday / cyber monday sales.

 

[isol]

I recently got Noire X Closed and I love it. I too had a discomfort on top of my head after about 30 minutes of listening (maybe because my head is smaller than average.)
I then ordered co-pilot leather pads and stitch them because the velcro just didn't stick. This turned out to be too stiff and too thick.
I ended up using just the bottom part of the co-pilot and spandex material (thin and stretchable) for the top.
Now they're more snug in my head, more comfortable (I can listen for hours) and the bass also improved!

 

[Raven/Nadir]

@Dan Clark sir you have successfully spoiled every other headphones brand for me. With my first Noires and now Noire X I can't go back to any other model. I do however have a similar issue as one reviewer/poster on some other forum (or maybe reddit). The right earcup, quite possibly the AMTS element, catches my ear sometimes, causing slight discomfort.. It doesn't happen on the left ear, just the right. I have rather small ears. Anyway, even with that, the Noire X is the best pair of headphones I have ever had and I will never go back to non DCA headphones. Thank you for making music sound better.

 

[Dan Clark]

@Dan Clark sir you have successfully spoiled every other headphones brand for me. With my first Noires and now Noire X I can't go back to any other model. I do however have a similar issue as one reviewer/poster on some other forum (or maybe reddit). The right earcup, quite possibly the AMTS element, catches my ear sometimes, causing slight discomfort.. It doesn't happen on the left ear, just the right. I have rather small ears. Anyway, even with that, the Noire X is the best pair of headphones I have ever had and I will never go back to non DCA headphones. Thank you for making music sound better.

Sorry... heh heh...

About the pad, our ears can by assumetric, so it's always possible one sticks out a bit further than the other, it's also possible the pads are not quite symmetric. If you note any assymetry in the pad contact us at our [email protected] email and if you're in warranty, which I think all NOIRE class still are, we'll take care of it.

 

[Raven/Nadir]

Sorry... heh heh...

About the pad, our ears can by assumetric, so it's always possible one sticks out a bit further than the other, it's also possible the pads are not quite symmetric. If you note any assymetry in the pad contact us at our [email protected] email and if you're in warranty, which I think all NOIRE class still are, we'll take care of it.

Oh thank you, I am in Poland so it would be hard to work around the distance for any possible fix. I think the pads are just a tad asymmetric, with the seam visible on one side and not on the other, when placed together. But as I said, it's a tiny thing. I have a Polish 2 year warranty, that started 2 weeks ago for them so if I find it to be an actual problem I will either use the warranty or just order new pads Thank you for your reply

 

[CrinacleBurger]

I've bought these, i liked the reactivity of the planar mangnetic driver and the smoothness of the mids(it makes voices very clear) but i had to return them due having the same issue as someone else in the thread : channel imbalance
The headphones are rated at 0.5db balance 20hz-20khz and 0.35db weighted but when measuring them on miniDSP EARS the left driver is quieter by at least 2db on the entire spectrum or almost. Before measuring them(wearing them for listening) i had to reduce the right channel by about 1db or more to feel that voices and instruments weren't egregiously shifted to the right.
If you do not believe me take a look at this REW screenshot(before you ask i've refitted three times with invariantly the same imbalance everytime, there are no holes in seal, the check levels button in REW was always 2 to 3 db quieter in the left channel no matter what i did, i tried with other headphones and no, the miniDSP EARS is not defective) :

What happened to cause this? Is DCA dumping QC rejects to Thomann or are they all like this when they reach Europe? The other person who had channel imbalance bought it at Thomann too and apparently there is a feud between DCA and Thomann because the latter is selling DCA's headphones too cheap. How did Thomann even get DCA stock if DCA doesn't want to do buisness with them anymore? 0_0
Thankfully i can return free of charge(thanks thomann) but i would've been royally upset if i had bought a Noire X or E3 at one of the other european sellers who unfortunately don't pay for the return and/or don't accept returns on opened items even if they are defective.
I would have kept them if the channel balance was actually in spec because the sound and lack of sensitivity was what i was looking for but now i don't know if i should order another pair or forget about DCA.

 

[Raven/Nadir]

Bruv, there are no European resellers who do not accept returns on defective items. This is not the third world.

 

[CrinacleBurger]

Bruv, there are no European resellers who do not accept returns on defective items. This is not the third world.

Most of them accept returns but you'll have to pay for shipping and do it yourself, some of them explicitly say they only accept returns for items that aren't "used".
In the case where the unit was defective from factory it's ambiguous if they'll have you pay shipping or not, it depends on the specific seller

 

[solderdude]

What happened to cause this?

Could be some excess resistance in the quieter channel ?
Maybe a poor contact inside the headphone (measure the DC resistance of each cup directly at the connector.
My personal solution would be to return them, or add a small resistance in series with the louder driver and get them balanced.

I would think that even if Dan has an issue with Thomann he would be stupid to send Thomann rejects as that would hurt his (Dan's) own business.

 

[Raven/Nadir]

I never said you don't have to pay for shipping. I only said defective items are subject to return, so are most items bought online within 14 days - no reason needed, item can be used if it is not broken or under "personal hygiene" category. Items not working as advertised have their own category in laws of EU countries. Also, I'd rather pay for shipment than be stuck with a defective item. If you are in the EU I see no issues.

 

[CrinacleBurger]

Could be some excess resistance in the quieter channel ?
Maybe a poor contact inside the headphone (measure the DC resistance of each cup directly at the connector.
My personal solution would be to return them, or add a small resistance in series with the louder driver and get them balanced.

I would think that even if Dan has an issue with Thomann he would be stupid to send Thomann rejects as that would hurt his (Dan's) own business.

Are planar magnetic drivers particularly vulnerable to resistance increasing after manufacturing?(or similar failure modes) Presumably that's what somehow happened between the time of manufacture (august) and the day it reached me(last week).
The pair has already been sent back, i would have tested from the jack if i had a multimeter but i don't.

 

[Ahmonge]

Are planar magnetic drivers particularly vulnerable to resistance increasing after manufacturing?(or similar failure modes)

Not as far as I know.

 

[solderdude]

Are planar magnetic drivers particularly vulnerable to resistance increasing after manufacturing?(or similar failure modes) Presumably that's what somehow happened between the time of manufacture (august) and the day it reached me(last week).
The pair has already been sent back, i would have tested from the jack if i had a multimeter but i don't.

The connection between membrane and wire is potentially something than can be somewhat problematic depending on the how the physical contact is made.

This is because the membrane is very thin and the 'coil' that is on it and needs to go over in a piece of wire using contact pressure.
With dynamic drivers the coil is made of wire and is just soldered to some lug.

Dynamic drivers also can break the thin wire has to cross from the moving part to the stationary part.
In planars the contact is made at a point where the membrane is fixed so does not have an issue.

In some DCA headphone models there also seems to be an issue with the used connectors inside which might be the case here.

 

[mgilbert]

I have the Noire X and they have bass, but virtually no bass punch/rumble/thump. Despite what the frequency response curves say, my HE1000 Stealth headphones have much better low end. Strange...

 

[Dan Clark]

I've bought these, i liked the reactivity of the planar mangnetic driver and the smoothness of the mids(it makes voices very clear) but i had to return them due having the same issue as someone else in the thread : channel imbalance
The headphones are rated at 0.5db balance 20hz-20khz and 0.35db weighted but when measuring them on miniDSP EARS the left driver is quieter by at least 2db on the entire spectrum or almost. Before measuring them(wearing them for listening) i had to reduce the right channel by about 1db or more to feel that voices and instruments weren't egregiously shifted to the right.
If you do not believe me take a look at this REW screenshot(before you ask i've refitted three times with invariantly the same imbalance everytime, there are no holes in seal, the check levels button in REW was always 2 to 3 db quieter in the left channel no matter what i did, i tried with other headphones and no, the miniDSP EARS is not defective) :View attachment 495135
What happened to cause this? Is DCA dumping QC rejects to Thomann or are they all like this when they reach Europe? The other person who had channel imbalance bought it at Thomann too and apparently there is a feud between DCA and Thomann because the latter is selling DCA's headphones too cheap. How did Thomann even get DCA stock if DCA doesn't want to do buisness with them anymore? 0_0
Thankfully i can return free of charge(thanks thomann) but i would've been royally upset if i had bought a Noire X or E3 at one of the other european sellers who unfortunately don't pay for the return and/or don't accept returns on opened items even if they are defective.
I would have kept them if the channel balance was actually in spec because the sound and lack of sensitivity was what i was looking for but now i don't know if i should order another pair or forget about DCA.

That would have been a warranty repair/exchange, it is 100% out of spec and not acceptable. This is an issue we found and that has been resolved for new production, but there were some units in the field that will be affected.

As this was a reliability issue and was on us, as I've posted before, we are adding extended warranty for at least an extra year for imbalance on the A2 and NOIRE class headphones. For our international customers, the unit goes back to the distributor who will arrange return to us and/or replace the unit.

Sorry for that hassle!

Lastly, we don't "dump rejects" on anyone, that would be the literal definition of business suicide! Rejects get torn down or destroyed depending on the nature of the problem. B-stock are labelled as such and are strictly minor cosmetic issues.