• WANTED: Happy members who like to discuss audio and other topics related to our interest. Desire to learn and share knowledge of science required. There are many reviews of audio hardware and expert members to help answer your questions. Click here to have your audio equipment measured for free!

Dan Clark Stealth Review (State of the Art Headphone)

OP
amirm

amirm

Founder/Admin
Staff Member
CFO (Chief Fun Officer)
Joined
Feb 13, 2016
Messages
44,376
Likes
234,512
Location
Seattle Area
Even Amir admits that he made a mistake by listening before measuring which can introduce bias on his interpretations of the measurements.
What? I didn't say that. I said that it was a mistake because I couldn't stop listening to them before measuring! The measurements speak for themselves and don't need my interpretation in this case. Interpretation is only necessary when the results are messy which is not the case here.
 
OP
amirm

amirm

Founder/Admin
Staff Member
CFO (Chief Fun Officer)
Joined
Feb 13, 2016
Messages
44,376
Likes
234,512
Location
Seattle Area
https://forum.headphones.com/t/dan-clark-audio-stealth-flagship-closed-back-headphones/14072/58

"Detail - good but not like… Abyss or Susvara level. "
"Macrodynamics - None unfortunately. Same as Noire and other DCAs typically"

Why didn't Amir mention this?
What if you listened to them and declared they have no bass at all. You expect me to say that too? My reviews are based on solid foundation of audio engineering and research. I don't make up terms and imagine characteristics that can't be defended in any way.

I have listened to Abyss and it is nowhere near this headphone without EQ in any metric. And I can demonstrate that with measurements:

index.php


Anyone who thinks that is an example of a good sounding headphone needs to go back to basics and study the research and importance of frequency response.

Or maybe they need to be able to distinguish between distortion and "detail:"

index.php


I have watched a ton of Andrew's reviews as I research for other reviews before writing mine. In every case I have to stop after the measurement section. Otherwise I would cringe so much during subjective aspects that you wouldn't be able to wipe that expression off my face. :)

Use the part from his reviews that are on solid footing (measurements) and ignore the rest and you will see high agreement in this case.

I am doing these headphone reviews because of the mess that is out there mixing what is real with what is imagined and can't be proven.
 
OP
amirm

amirm

Founder/Admin
Staff Member
CFO (Chief Fun Officer)
Joined
Feb 13, 2016
Messages
44,376
Likes
234,512
Location
Seattle Area
BTW, I have done a video on topic of reviewers and their performance when it comes to the reliability of their subjective listening:


To the extent they can't even reliably assess frequency response errors, what chance is there that they get the nebulous things right?
 

someguyontheinternet

Active Member
Joined
Apr 16, 2021
Messages
194
Likes
334
Location
Germany
This is unfixable by the way, no amount of twisting / massaging the foam under the material will correct the pad shape. Believe me, I've tried for a long time, because replacement pads are $60. And this behavior isn't considered a "defect" with free replacements by Dan Clark audio, you have to pay full price. $4,000 headphones shouldn't require a pad replacement every 1-2 years. I ended up buying replacement pads for my Aeons, which themselves have already started the same twisting after a few months.
I just take a couple of minutes, pinch and roll the cover and foam then the foam looks like new again. I haven't been using mine for years, but doing this once every few months seems to be enough to prevent extreme deformations.
 

Zensō

Major Contributor
Joined
Mar 11, 2020
Messages
2,740
Likes
6,740
Location
California
OP
amirm

amirm

Founder/Admin
Staff Member
CFO (Chief Fun Officer)
Joined
Feb 13, 2016
Messages
44,376
Likes
234,512
Location
Seattle Area
@amirm since you kept the Stealth, do you mind taking FR measurements at different SPL, say 84, 94, 104 and 114 dB SPL?
84 dB would have a lot more noise in the measurements so doesn't make sense to do that. I can however light up the two hidden curves in the frequency response measurements:

1629833904334.png


Visually they look pretty identical. But I took them to Excel and here is the difference (taking out the 10 dB nominal level shift):

1629834015890.png


Hard to know how much of this is due to the headphone, the measurement mic, or general measurement variation. The noise on the right is clearly measurement issue.

I also did the same for 94 vs 114:

1629834167737.png


A bit more pronounced now but again, hard to disentangle from other "nuisance" variables. Also, most of the response is down by about 1 dB so you could just turn up the volume by that amount.
 

Daiyama

Member
Joined
Apr 26, 2021
Messages
58
Likes
97
BTW, I have done a video on topic of reviewers and their performance when it comes to the reliability of their subjective listening:


To the extent they can't even reliably assess frequency response errors, what chance is there that they get the nebulous things right?

BTW, isn’t this off topic here?
 

BrokenEnglishGuy

Major Contributor
Joined
Jul 19, 2020
Messages
1,914
Likes
1,147
HE-6 has much lower distortion in the low frequencies even at higher level. This is possibly causing audible difference.

Punchy bass from dynamic drivers don't really exist. The once with "punchy" bass usually has mid to upper bass emphasized. They sound soft once you eq them to flat.

People refer to punchy bass when the bass move and you feel the energy, also i think my dynamics driver from my floorstanding have plenty of '' punchy bass '' in fact is the reason for buy a tower for me
Is a bit weird to say these kind of word because we can't measure the '' punchyness '' or the '' how tactile ''gonna be the bass
 

Dro

Active Member
Joined
Apr 8, 2018
Messages
221
Likes
205
84 dB would have a lot more noise in the measurements so doesn't make sense to do that. I can however light up the two hidden curves in the frequency response measurements:

Visually they look pretty identical. But I took them to Excel and here is the difference (taking out the 10 dB nominal level shift):

Hard to know how much of this is due to the headphone, the measurement mic, or general measurement variation. The noise on the right is clearly measurement issue.

I also did the same for 94 vs 114:

A bit more pronounced now but again, hard to disentangle from other "nuisance" variables. Also, most of the response is down by about 1 dB so you could just turn up the volume by that amount.
Thanks. Do you have any other headphones where you have FR measurements at different SPL lying around? If anything, this looks like a reverse Focal to me (less sub-bass at higher level), but it might not be caused by the headphone...
 

budje

Member
Joined
Jan 26, 2021
Messages
14
Likes
25
I just take a couple of minutes, pinch and roll the cover and foam then the foam looks like new again. I haven't been using mine for years, but doing this once every few months seems to be enough to prevent extreme deformations.
I tried that for a long time, it didn't do anything. It doesn't seem to have an effect on my newer pad degradation either. I also personally dislike that the foam covers require any kind of special massaging not to prematurely fatigue.
 

yossarian

Member
Joined
Jan 6, 2021
Messages
30
Likes
23
I understand that the 100Hz peak is part of the intentional tuning. That said, did you try EQing it to the target curve and comparing subjective listening impressions?
 
Joined
Aug 24, 2021
Messages
28
Likes
28
Yes. Just that fact that Amir and Resolve (both experienced listeners) came to such different conclusions should be enough to demonstrate the point.

So really, it would be best if the reviews here have no conclusions or recommendations because measurements should speak for themselves and subjectivity of what sounds good or bad should be apparent for everyone to see.
 

abdo123

Master Contributor
Forum Donor
Joined
Nov 15, 2020
Messages
7,425
Likes
7,941
Location
Brussels, Belgium
84 dB would have a lot more noise in the measurements so doesn't make sense to do that. I can however light up the two hidden curves in the frequency response measurements:

View attachment 149310

Visually they look pretty identical. But I took them to Excel and here is the difference (taking out the 10 dB nominal level shift):

View attachment 149311

Hard to know how much of this is due to the headphone, the measurement mic, or general measurement variation. The noise on the right is clearly measurement issue.

I also did the same for 94 vs 114:

View attachment 149312

A bit more pronounced now but again, hard to disentangle from other "nuisance" variables. Also, most of the response is down by about 1 dB so you could just turn up the volume by that amount.


Quite impressive! I think the compression @114dBSPL is fair considering that it's at the limit of what a human would ever want to hear.
 
Last edited:

Zensō

Major Contributor
Joined
Mar 11, 2020
Messages
2,740
Likes
6,740
Location
California
So really, it would be best if the reviews here have no conclusions or recommendations because measurements should speak for themselves and subjectivity of what sounds good or bad should be apparent for everyone to see.
That’s one interpretation. Another would be to take individual subjective reviews for what they are, just one person’s impressions based upon their unique HRTF, listening experience, expectation bias, personal preference, mood, what they ate for breakfast, and how much coffee or wine they drank before listening. There’s no possible way to remove the human component which makes ALL subjective reviews only marginally useful. As long as they’re read with a healthy dose of salt and an awareness of the above, subjective reviews are mostly harmless and make for entertaining reading, and they may even provide a bit of useful information when taken in the context of a large number of other subjective reviews of the same product. The problem arises when subjective reviewers believe their hearing is special and somehow not affected by the above human failings, and then publish those flawed impressions as fact.
 
Last edited:

solderdude

Grand Contributor
Joined
Jul 21, 2018
Messages
15,891
Likes
35,912
Location
The Neitherlands
Quite impressive! I think compression @114dBSPL is fair considering that it's at the limit of what a human would ever want to hear.

118dB SPL at 30Hz (the 114dB @425Hz line) is about 95 Phon. As linearity has to do with excursion it is important to have low distortion at low frequencies.
At 80 Phon (80 dBA) 30Hz is 110dB SPL.
 
Top Bottom