Dan Clark Stealth Review (State of the Art Headphone)

[Dan Clark]

[

Amir mentioned the case is soft-touch. It looks like a matt surface. What material is it? I refer to this surface. Thx.

The case is not soft touch either. I guess I created a lot of confusion with my remark.

Amir got the Aeon case, yes it can suck the waist and fit. We didn’t have the production cases yet.

the actual Stealth case is a woven nylon, tough and grippy.

 

[mslim]

[



Amir got the Aeon case, yes it can suck the waist and fit. We didn’t have the production cases yet.

the actual Stealth case is a woven nylon, tough and grippy.

OK good! Those rubberize materials are horrible and do not befit products of this calibre. Cables with those 'soft touch' rubberize materials are microphonics monster......

 

[nemesisrobot]

Is there any official word on the pad replacement story? Is it the same as the other DCA headphones?

 

[solderdude]

@Dan Clark already explained why he chooses to adhere the pads using sticky tape (not glue) and that the used quality of the pads ensures it doesn't have to be replaced as soon as most other pads.

Even though I prefer a nice method to fix pads, Dan's approach prevents people buying all kinds of aftermarket pads that often ruin the sound more than most realize. The headphone is serviceable which is the important part.

 

[Daiyama]

This headphone and this review is very interesting on many levels.
With respect to ASR:
Prior to this review every headphone above 500 USD was only designed and built to rip off rich dudes and now when armir likes a 4k headphone R&D costs has become a real thing and 4k USD are totally justifiable.

With respect to the brand Dan Clark:
Hopefully the sales of the other headphones will not stall to much because everyone is waiting to see new models with trickled down technology at a more affordable price point. I can imagine Dans plan is that we will see a lot new stuff until end of the year.

With respect to headphones in general:
I really would love to see a comparison between an Aeon RT (or Aeon Noire) thoroughly equalized to the Harman frequency response curve and the Stealth to see how close they are or how far away they are still. I hope to see this here on ASR to generate more scientific evidence about equalising a headphone.

 

[dasherzx]

Wow, impressive. Can't deny I would be heads over heels if it was priced around 2k as a hd800 killer or something but at that msrp customs and shipping are just gonna be a wallop to ship outside the USA

Maybe someday in the not to distant future when i fancy travelling and just pick it up from my friend there.

 

[thewas]

KEF LS50 Meta utilizes the same "meta" material that is being used with the Stealth. I bet KEF would not lower the price of the LS50 Meta to entry level after achieving the amount of engineering that they have put into that product.

Not really suitable comparison as the LS50 Meta price wasn't really increased compared to its predecessor without "Meta". On the other hand KEF sells probably hundred-thousands of them so have difference scale calculations than DC.

 

[Robbo99999]

This headphone and this review is very interesting on many levels.
With respect to ASR:
Prior to this review every headphone above 500 USD was only designed and built to rip off rich dudes and now when armir likes a 4k headphone R&D costs has become a real thing and 4k USD are totally justifiable.

With respect to the brand Dan Clark:
Hopefully the sales of the other headphones will not stall to much because everyone is waiting to see new models with trickled down technology at a more affordable price point. I can imagine Dans plan is that we will see a lot new stuff until end of the year.

With respect to headphones in general:
I really would love to see a comparison between an Aeon RT (or Aeon Noire) thoroughly equalized to the Harman frequency response curve and the Stealth to see how close they are or how far away they are still. I hope to see this here on ASR to generate more scientific evidence about equalising a headphone.

I agree that it would be interesting to see comparisons of headphones after they've all been EQ'd to the Harman Curve (and is indeed what I do with my own headphones). One element of inaccuracy or variable, is how you do the EQ, and also how you take the measurements and decide which measurement to EQ, as that effects the results greatly. Amir historically has been doing a number of measurements of a headphone and then deciding which measurement is most representative of said headphone, and that's the one he displays in the review and the one he bases his EQ on. He also eyeballs the EQ filters rather than using a more exacting graphically based program to EQ to the Target. So all-in-all, those 2 factors combine to mean there is quite a bit of variance in the EQ's that Amir does. It's debateable if there are better EQ approaches, but I do prefer Oratory's approach which is spatial averaging (repositioning of slightly different headphone mounting positions) of multiple measurements and intelligent disregarding of outlier measurements - I believe this gets more to the true nature of the headphone in terms of characterising it's reliable larger deviations from the Harman Curve, which would be the parts you actually want to target with EQ. So, what I'm getting at is that any experiment where you compare headphones that have been EQ'd to the same curve is greatly dependant on both the measurement and analysis procedures to arrive at the "measurement/or average" that you will ultimately EQ, and then there's the variable of whether that EQ is eyeballed to the target or done with exactness using a graphical based tool. Any experiment comparing headphones EQ'd to the same curve you need to remove as many variables as possible to make it as accurate & valid as possible......I think Amir would have to change his procedures a little to get the best out of such a comparison but historically he's not agreed with exact approaches.

 

[tusing]

I can just say that as the sweep was going on at 94 dBSPL, it was barely audible. The pads are ultra soft and mold well against the fixture. You can even slide them forward and back and they hold their shape and hence seal.

Amir, do you have glasses? I have some thick frame glasses and am wondering if the pads will mold around the glasses well enough to preserve seal for bass.

 

[RHO]

With respect to ASR:
Prior to this review every headphone above 500 USD was only designed and built to rip off rich dudes

I do not believe this is a stance taken by the majority of ASR members.

 

[JJB70]

I do not believe this is a stance taken by the majority of ASR members.

Indeed, that is a statement too far. To recognize that some expensive headphones (and other audio gear) are a rip off in some ways should not be distorted into an argument that all such products only exist to rip rich people off. We might find such products hideously over priced etc and we should be free to voice our opinion but to make such a blanket statement about gear only existing to rip off rich people is very unfair and unmerited.

 

[Daiyama]

I do not believe this is a stance taken by the majority of ASR members.

Okay it was an exaggeration and not the opinion of the majority, but to some extend the opinion a 500 USD headphone is sufficient and everything above is not necessary, is not uncommon at ASR.

 

[w1000i]

impulse response is unbelievably fast

 

[JJB70]

Okay it was an exaggeration and not the opinion of the majority, but to some extend the opinion a 500 USD headphone is sufficient and everything above is not necessary, is not uncommon at ASR.

Now that opinion I would be one of the ones agreeing with, 500 bucks will get anyone a terrific pair of headphones more than sufficient to enjoy music.

 

[RHO]

Okay it was an exaggeration and not the opinion of the majority, but to some extend the opinion a 500 USD headphone is sufficient and everything above is not necessary, is not uncommon at ASR.

In many cases 500euro/USD is plenty to achieve good sound. Especially when applying EQ.
That doesn't mean much more expensive headphones cannot be justified.

 

[Robbo99999]

This headphone and this review is very interesting on many levels.
With respect to ASR:
Prior to this review every headphone above 500 USD was only designed and built to rip off rich dudes....

I do not believe this is a stance taken by the majority of ASR members.

To be fair though, It's pretty common! HD800s is one example that doesn't fit that mould though, and this Dan Clark headphone is another that doesn't fit that mould.....for me the research & testing that went into that "acoustic metamaterial" is quite ground-breaking in as much that it's acting like a mechanical EQ device, shaping the frequency response...I suppose that's always an element of headphone design of course (mechanical shaping of the frequency response, because of course they're all mostly passive headphones that don't have digital EQ built in) but this "acoustic metamaterial" seems to be shaping the frequency response in a very accurate manner. To me, there's not many headphones that are actually worth their over $500 price tag, but I'd be confident to name the HD800s and this Dan Clark Stealth (although $4000 could be a bit of stretch, but I'm a bit on the fence about that given what seems to be ground-breaking research & effort along with handmade components & assembly in the US of A). There's very few headphones I'd entertain as worthy over the $500 mark.

 

[Daiyama]

General remark:
Suddenly there is something that makes 4K for a headphone somewhat ok the ASR Community. Why not make the conclusion that it is also ok for others to charge that price even they are not to the taste of ASR. There are plenty other reasons for such a price tack, e.g. handmade in a high price country, use of rare expensive material etc. and others might have a different taste and do not find Harman the end of all possible frequency response curves.

Personally for me there is a mismatch between the optical appearance and the price of the Stealth, to be attracted over the internet, I much prefer the cleaner look of my Aeon Noire. Who knows what would happen when I would test the Stealth for my own. I am not sure, if I should ever try this, 4k is also for me a looooong stretch.

 

[Zensō]

Okay it was an exaggeration and not the opinion of the majority, but to some extend the opinion a 500 USD headphone is sufficient and everything above is not necessary, is not uncommon at ASR.

It’s abundantly clear that price and sound quality have very little correlation in headphones. This shouldn’t lead to the assumption that all expensive headphones are a ripoff though.

https://www.audioholics.com/loudspeaker-design/price-sound-quality-headphones

 

[abdo123]

General remark:
Suddenly there is something that makes 4K for a headphone somewhat ok the ASR Community.

Well yes, it's the perfect headphone in terms of performance, as long as there are no headphones that can do this at a lower price then that price tag is justified.

Why not make the conclusion that it is also ok for others to charge that price even they are not to the taste of ASR.

last time I checked there are no ASR rioters outside of Abyss headquarters.


.

 

[Zensō]

last time I checked there are no ASR rioters outside of Abyss headquarters.

Though perhaps there should be.