Dan Clark Stealth Review (State of the Art Headphone)

[seerious]

Also, on topic, this DCA Stealth chart reminded me a little of the Beyerdynamic Custom One Pro Plus with DT770 velour pads:

Oratory1990 - Beyerdynamic Custom One Plus Pro / Velour Pads / 3-4 Bass Slider Position

Obviously the Beyers response is a little bit rockier

 

[Rottmannash]

Head-Fi is pleasant enough for most people. It's just also full ****.

I will no longer buy anything based on "reviews" without measurements.

Crinacle. Oratory1990. Audiosciencereview. Everything else is just brainfarts.

It's "pleasant enough" until you mention ASR or Amir. Then it gets testy and toxic very quickly. I know, it's happened to me more than once. Same for Headphones.com.

 

[Zim]

Also, on topic, this DCA Stealth chart reminded me a little of the Beyerdynamic Custom One Pro Plus with DT770 velour pads:

Oratory1990 - Beyerdynamic Custom One Plus Pro / Velour Pads / 3-4 Bass Slider Position

Obviously the Beyers response is a little bit rockier

Interesting spot. Bringing up Harman-esque/potential headphones, I'm also curious why there's a lack of discussion surrounding the Shure SRH1540. It's looks to be a bass/low-mid boosted Harman that seems to be easy to EQ to Harman.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/ubynb2j7n2kdpbc/Shure SRH1540.pdf?dl=0

 

[amirm]

It's "pleasant enough" until you mention ASR or Amir. Then it gets testy and toxic very quickly. I know, it's happened to me more than once. Same for Headphones.com.

Or say anything negative about their forum sponsors.

 

[mrbungle]

It's "pleasant enough" until you mention ASR or Amir. Then it gets testy and toxic very quickly. I know, it's happened to me more than once. Same for Headphones.com.

Like that: https://www.reddit.com/r/headphones/comments/p8se68
?

 

[beeface]

Like that: https://www.reddit.com/r/headphones/comments/p8se68
?

A lot of upset people on there. lmao.

 

[tusing]

Just put my order in! This review convinced me.

I remember a lot of reviewers went crazy over the similarly-priced RAAL SR1a, but I ended up returning mine because it was just disappointing. Let's hope this lives up to the hype!

 

[solderdude]

Also, on topic, this DCA Stealth chart reminded me a little of the Beyerdynamic Custom One Pro Plus with DT770 velour pads:

Oratory1990 - Beyerdynamic Custom One Plus Pro / Velour Pads / 3-4 Bass Slider Position

Obviously the Beyers response is a little bit rockier

Not only that. They also have about 10% third harm distortion (30Hz to 60Hz) at 90dB SPL where DCA has as good as no distortion.

not really comparable. I own one and it really is only usable at background and 'normal' listening levels. Mine was lightly modded later on.

FR in all 4 settings where blue is setting 4

150Hz is +10dB this, at least to me, is bloated and unlistenable. (horizontal line is audible flat, Harman-ish correction applied.
Only setting 2 is good and 3 for popular rock and older recordings.

Interesting spot. Bringing up Harman-esque/potential headphones, I'm also curious why there's a lack of discussion surrounding the Shure SRH1540. It's looks to be a bass/low-mid boosted Harman that seems to be easy to EQ to Harman.

Same issue for the 1540, high 3rd harmonic and compression already starting at 90dB SPL in the bass which is not as good as one would hope.

It's a linearity thing it starts to 'compress' above 95dB SPL in the lows which isn't that loud (for low bass, it is for mids)
Below the linearity plot. 90dB

Also FR of the 1540 is way too bloated in the lows, not as bad as COP in setting 4 though.
150Hz = +7dB which is consistent with Oratory as he drops the EQ -7dB there.
These will sound bassy and bloated compared to DCA which will sound a tiny bit more bassy than neutral, not bloated at all.
With EQ the 1540 sounds quite good up to normal listening levels.

below SRH1540 vs Ether-C flow

The stealth only 'boosts' the 100Hz region by 2.5dB (the Ether C flow did this as well but had a small midrange bump as well and had a little less clarity but already showed good smooth treble response.

 

[Bow_Wazoo]

Did you have any issues with microphonics with the cable? I find many closed-back headphones to be incredibly microphonic. Except Audeze.

To test-listen the Stealth, i will of course take my B&W Signature cable.
Microphonic is almost non-existent with it.
(At least with the other DCA models)

 

[Zim]

Not only that. They also have about 10% third harm distortion (30Hz to 60Hz) at 90dB SPL where DCA has as good as no distortion.

not really comparable. I own one and it really is only usable at background and 'normal' listening levels. Mine was lightly modded later on.

FR in all 4 settings where blue is setting 4

150Hz is +10dB this, at least to me, is bloated and unlistenable. (horizontal line is audible flat, Harman-ish correction applied.
Only setting 2 is good and 3 for popular rock and older recordings.



Same issue for the 1540, high 3rd harmonic and compression already starting at 90dB SPL in the bass which is not as good as one would hope.

It's a linearity thing it starts to 'compress' above 95dB SPL in the lows which isn't that loud (for low bass, it is for mids)
Below the linearity plot. 90dB

Also FR of the 1540 is way too bloated in the lows, not as bad as COP in setting 4 though.
150Hz = +7dB which is consistent with Oratory as he drops the EQ -7dB there.
These will sound bassy and bloated compared to DCA which will sound a tiny bit more bassy than neutral, not bloated at all.
With EQ the 1540 sounds quite good up to normal listening levels.

below SRH1540 vs Ether-C flow

The stealth only 'boosts' the 100Hz region by 2.5dB (the Ether C flow did this as well but had a small midrange bump as well and had a little less clarity but already showed good smooth treble response.

View attachment 149043

Ah thanks for that. So would it be correct to say that post-EQ to the Harman curve, those distortions for the SRH1540 wouldn't be as high (and potentially audible) at 90/95dB as it was pre-EQ?

 

[stevenswall]

Harman should know about the Fletcher Munson curves for equal loudness... So does Dan Clark I'll bet.

I wish there was a device that would adjust for this based on headphone sensitivity. Same with speakers.

Curious how these compare to the similarly priced Audeze CRBN.

 

[MayaTlab]

I wish there was a device that would adjust for this based on headphone sensitivity.

Some of Bose' ANC headphones do this.

 

[stevenswall]

Some of Bose' ANC headphones do this.

Yes, and Sonos and other speakers... Sad that my Genelecs and JH Audio Lola can't do this.

I wish these headphones were somehow active or could adjust based on loudness... Maybe a metamaterial can be made that exponentially dampens or releases dampening in the future.

 

[PeteL]

Like that: https://www.reddit.com/r/headphones/comments/p8se68
?

I think he was talking about Headfi, not Reddit.

 

[PeteL]

Head-Fi is pleasant enough for most people. It's just also full ****.

I will no longer buy anything based on "reviews" without measurements.

Crinacle. Oratory1990. Audiosciencereview. Everything else is just brainfarts.

They do measurements tough. Do you mean reviews by community members? Yes they should be taken for what they are, subjective impressions of non-experts.

 

[2M2B]

It's "pleasant enough" until you mention ASR or Amir. Then it gets testy and toxic very quickly. I know, it's happened to me more than once. Same for Headphones.com.

Noticed that on the Etymotic Evo thread, Way too many were getting edgy that a EQ'd ER4XR sounded better or them unable to reply without turning every topic into why "Dynamic > BA" then get mad when folk disagree hard, but It still way more civil than Reddit. The only openly hostile one I used was Hydrogenaudio where they banned me for picking MP3 over AAC/Vorbis for many reasons?.

 

[solderdude]

Ah thanks for that. So would it be correct to say that post-EQ to the Harman curve, those distortions for the SRH1540 wouldn't be as high (and potentially audible) at 90/95dB as it was pre-EQ?

The EQ will lower the 150Hz part by 7dB but at 30Hz there is almost no EQ needed.
The driver will start to compress above 95dB SPL in the lows. You just can play a little bit louder before it starts to do that.
Bass distortion will also affect mids and highs though by amplitude modulation.
It is not as with speakers where the woofer makes the largest excursions and the mids and treble are not modulated.
When using a single driver it just follows the audio signal which is an addition of all frequencies.
The mids and treble thus ride on top of the lows (which have the highest excursion) so when the driver starts to compress (high 3rd harmonics are a give-away) this means that the amplitude (thus excursion) of the mids and treble also momentarily (near the tops, both negative and positive) get lower in amplitude.
That's why it pays to have low distortion in the bass when playing at higher levels.
At 'sensible' listening levels this is not a problem though. At higher levels sound may get grungy/coarser.

@Dan Clark headphones (as are a lot but not all other planars) all have very low distortion. My guess is Dan's trick is in the membrane.
Larger planars with thin membranes that can stretch somewhat is also a good solution for this.
It's my opinion that when you want to play loud and have a clean sound the distortion in the bass should stay below 10% around 120dB.
Then you are insured of good SQ at loud levels providing the rest of the audible range is at least below 1%.
When only used at sensible and comfortable loud levels 100dB should be below 10% in the bass.

 

[PeteL]

Harman should know about the Fletcher Munson curves for equal loudness... So does Dan Clark I'll bet.

I wish there was a device that would adjust for this based on headphone sensitivity. Same with speakers.

Curious how these compare to the similarly priced Audeze CRBN.

You can't have a "device" that do that, unless there is a microphone to pick up the output, it's impossible to know the sensitivity that is downstream. If you do know the driver tough, then you could so it is possible with active design and some do as I understand.

 

[Zim]

The EQ will lower the 150Hz part by 7dB but at 30Hz there is almost no EQ needed.
The driver will start to compress above 95dB SPL in the lows. You just can play a little bit louder before it starts to do that.
Bass distortion will also affect mids and highs though by amplitude modulation.
It is not as with speakers where the woofer makes the largest excursions and the mids and treble are not modulated.
When using a single driver it just follows the audio signal which is an addition of all frequencies.
The mids and treble thus ride on top of the lows (which have the highest excursion) so when the driver starts to compress (high 3rd harmonics are a give-away) this means that the amplitude (thus excursion) of the mids and treble also momentarily (near the tops, both negative and positive) get lower in amplitude.
That's why it pays to have low distortion in the bass when playing at higher levels.
At 'sensible' listening levels this is not a problem though. At higher levels sound may get grungy/coarser.

@Dan Clark headphones (as are a lot but not all other planars) all have very low distortion. My guess is Dan's trick is in the membrane.
Larger planars with thin membranes that can stretch somewhat is also a good solution for this.
It's my opinion that when you want to play loud and have a clean sound the distortion in the bass should stay below 10% around 120dB.
Then you are insured of good SQ at loud levels providing the rest of the audible range is at least below 1%.
When only used at sensible and comfortable loud levels 100dB should be below 10% in the bass.

Thanks for the explanation @solderdude ! Learnt a lot!

 

[seerious]

ot only that. They also have about 10% third harm distortion (30Hz to 60Hz) at 90dB SPL where DCA has as good as no distortion.

Hi Solderdude.. big fan of your site. You're one of the few who gives good information on comfort (for the love of god, I wish more people have earpad height and depth measurements) and also explores how to get the most out of each headphone.

I get what you're saying about DCA's boost in the 100+hz region being more tasteful when looking at your measurements... however Oratory's measurements also show a mere 2-3 dB boost in that region, which doesn't seem too extreme. Could this just be down to unit variance? I know Oratory has mentioned many times that Beyer has fairly dramatic variance in their products.

I also get what you're you're saying about distortion, however as someone who never goes above 80 dB (typically lower), I'm guessing this won't be such a big problem?