Dan Clark Stealth Review (State of the Art Headphone)

[amirm]

I listen to them every day for multiple hours. Every day I notice something that jumps out every day making me so happy to have heard it! I even got a fan to cool me so that I could wear them when my lab was too hot to normally wear a headphone!

 

[tusing]

They're not the most amazing things you've ever heard? Uh oh.

If you've spent time with a good speaker setup, I'd be surprised if any headphones would blow you away! Maybe it's just me, but I find that merely decent speakers often sound better than TOTL headphones. IMO they are just in completely different realms.

 

[Robbo99999]

Not arguing. Well, sort of. Mostly, I'd like to see these get a lot praise without hype.

Yeah, fine, no worries.

 

[Drengur]

I would like to point out that I recently purchased the Æon 2 Noire. Upon receiving them I noticed some minor cosmetic issues, as can happen. I raised the issue with Dan Clark's costumer service and, to make a long story short, I received such excellent customer support that it can only be rivaled in quality by the sound of said headphones (I can barely take them off). I just wanted to point this out to any potential buyers of Dan Clark headphones. They have really gone beyond what I did expect in terms of quality service.

 

[tusing]

Can I mention the build quality for a second? These are the most well-built, premium feeling headphones I have ever touched. They might just have the best build of any headphone.

The friction, feel, and materials used are just perfect. It really does feel like a $4k luxury product. When friends came to audition the first thing they noticed as they picked up the headphone was the build. It's strikingly good.

 

[JRS]

That's the key message I meant to put in the review. We have the first company to fully adopt research and engineering for headphones. All others are playing around but Dan Clark is committed and executing. So no wonder the results are so good.

Let us not forget Harman International which has been known to poke around headphones here and there, but totally agree: when ne plus products are offered at these kinds of prices, it's reassuring to know there is solid science underpinning the product. It's the reason I so eagerly enlisted as a member here--there are only so much unfortified BS one can hear, absent at least a nod to physics/neuroscience. Congrats on a great site. First article for me was about the BAACH magic--having no less than reading Toole and Choueiri engage in a empasssioned discussion is priceless.

 

[JRS]

I


I hope there isn't or its workable from a different angle...This seems to open big new avenues for headphone and loudspeaker drivers, and box damping /sound absorption and acoustic treatment..

Mentioned in the review interviewing Clark two pages or so back, that is is an international patent and something they feel is worth protecting. I agree that is seems like it might open up large vistas for R&D and better audio for all. (And likely be a lot of even richer lawyers battling it out).

 

[JRS]

That's the most glowing recommendation I've heard for a headphone here ever. I realize a lot of work goes into achieving this level of fidelity, naturally reflected in the price. But I hope this level of performance eventually trickles down to the sub-$1K mark in the next few years.

Since we are now entering the big leagues with these top-of-the-line ultra luxury models getting regularly tested, I wonder if @amirm can ever get to measure the Orpheus (vintage and/or current generation)? I am highly curious to see how Sennheiser's best compares with the Stealth, especially if it can manage to match its performance. Are there any fortunate Orpheus owners here in the forum who would be willing to do this?

Indeed. I bought an LG 65 a few years back, and was ga-ga for many months. Truly transformative is to not even see the display during dark scenes in a darkened room. And unlike my plasmas, didn't need to have the AC on. A great analogy indeed, and I'm thinking as we speak whether I can "borrow" from my 401K and still pay it back in time to avoid taxes. Been a while since I lusted for an audio component quite so much.

 

[JRS]

My first thought on these things is always that yeah you can make alot of money if you sell 15 000 of them... but if you sold 150 000 of them for quarter the price you'd make alot more... but both of them come with inherent risks... but when you're selling something in the price range of these you're not expecting them to sell tens of thousands, you're trying to play safe and make your money back with maybe 1 to 2 hundred pairs sold. Maybe even few dozen. People alot wiser than me are welcome to correct me.

I see the biggest error as the assumption that if you priced these anywhere near mass market prices, that sound quality would be a major factor in the number sold. Dr Dre is a case in point--when Harman ran it's tests (that led to the Harman curve), the Beats were hands down the least preferred among both trained and untrained testers. Yet like Bose they sell them in droves.

 

[JRS]

Sure, but that doesn't make SINAD chasing in DACs and AMPs meaningful past an Apple Dongle. I still don't understand the point in inefficient headphones. Is there a performance related reason this headphone can't get loud from an Apple Dongle?
View attachment 152858

And to think those car audio boys were hitting 180dB (last I bothered to care) in a pointless pissing contest. And IIRC a Saturn V rocket hit 150dB not far from the pad, that even birds were dropping dead from the sky. BTW, not hard to find say a prosound midwoofer that's near 100dB at 1W from a meter away. One has to wonder why they aren't be using in high end audio speakers. In this case,perhaps it has to do with the poor efficiency of magnetic planars in the bass region, but I be guessing?

 

[JRS]

And a planar with the same sensitivity and impedance as a dynamic driver could well weigh 1kg because of the huge magnets that have to be used.

I had to laugh. The Aurum Cantus ribbon tweeters I use weigh about the same as a light bowling ball and are 99dB at 1 watt. 120 dB is easy to hit if I don't mind making lunch meat of my pricey Scandinavian midwoofers.

 

[Sharur]

And to think those car audio boys were hitting 180dB (last I bothered to care) in a pointless pissing contest. And IIRC a Saturn V rocket hit 150dB not far from the pad, that even birds were dropping dead from the sky. BTW, not hard to find say a prosound midwoofer that's near 100dB at 1W from a meter away. One has to wonder why they aren't be using in high end audio speakers. In this case,perhaps it has to do with the poor efficiency of magnetic planars in the bass region, but I be guessing?

to be fair, i can't cite any examples of harman bass planars that are very efficient

 

[RHO]

I had to laugh. The Aurum Cantus ribbon tweeters I use weigh about the same as a light bowling ball and are 99dB at 1 watt. 120 dB is easy to hit if I don't mind making lunch meat of my pricey Scandinavian midwoofers.

Can you feed them 100Hz while doing so? Tradeoffs.

 

[tusing]

Indeed. I bought an LG 65 a few years back, and was ga-ga for many months. Truly transformative is to not even see the display during dark scenes in a darkened room. And unlike my plasmas, didn't need to have the AC on. A great analogy indeed, and I'm thinking as we speak whether I can "borrow" from my 401K and still pay it back in time to avoid taxes. Been a while since I lusted for an audio component quite so much.

FWIW I think the Stealth is a fantastic headphone but it it didn't recreate the "move-to-OLED" feeling for me. I would strongly suggest an extended demo with these headphones before buying them, especially if you're considering dipping into your 401k.

 

[Robbo99999]

FWIW I think the Stealth is a fantastic headphone but it it didn't recreate the "move-to-OLED" feeling for me. I would strongly suggest an extended demo with these headphones before buying them, especially if you're considering dipping into your 401k.

Maybe the fact the headphones are closed back is a factor.

 

[tusing]

The more I listen to these the more amazed I am becoming by the sound quality.

My first impressions were lukewarm - I didn't have that OLED feeling that Amir described - but now I am deeply in love with these headphones. It took a lot of trial and error: realizing that my head is on the smaller side for the Stealth means I have to be careful with positioning it. Also, glasses are a complete no-go, and no amount of EQ helped me here.

A slight loss of seal due to a mispositioning on my head or the presence of glasses completely removed all tactility from the bass. Perhaps Dan Clark should consider offering thicker pads or some other way to increase clamp force?

After getting the fit right I could finally turn off my EQ and just enjoy the stock signature. I realized that my EQ was actually detracting from the beautifully textured bass of the Stealth. This is some of the most refined bass I've ever heard!

Everything just sounds so clean, so right. It's like that feeling when a puzzle piece slots into place, but for your ears.

I am seriously considering switching to contacts for these headphones. And I've never worn contacts. That's how impressed I am by the Stealth.

 

[Robbo99999]

The more I listen to these the more amazed I am becoming by the sound quality.

My first impressions were lukewarm - I didn't have that OLED feeling that Amir described - but I am slowly falling deeply in love with these headphones. (This is also the reason I'm hesitant to give first impressions - audio gear in particular can take time to get used to.)

I've even turned off my EQ and am just enjoying the stock signature. I realized that my EQ was actually detracting from the beautifully textured bass of the Stealth. This is some of the most refined bass I've ever heard!

Everything just sounds so clean, so right. It's like that feeling when a puzzle piece slots into place, but for your ears.

I am seriously considering switching to contacts for these headphones. And I've never worn contacts. That's how impressed I am by these at this point.

To be honest, the longer you listen to any given headphone your brain is just getting burned-in to how they sound to you......instead if you have another reference source for "accurate sound" then you should pretty much immediately know if the headphones are good/right when you listen to your favourite tracks, so I certainly don't hold to your belief that you have to live with them for a long time to know if the sound is good or not, I think the opposite is true.

 

[JRS]

Can you feed them 100Hz while doing so? Tradeoffs.

Given it's a digitally filtered, active 3 way yes--the Acoustic Elegance 15's can keep up with the tweeter. The primary problem is with compression in the mids, up to the point where they begin to audibly misbehave. If they (Audio Technology C-Quenze drivers) didn't sound so delicious at normal volumes, I'd try to find something else. But it's funny, even with all the capability, I often find myself listening at lower volumes. It's only when I pull out SRV's Tin Pan Alley or the like (well mastered, great performance) that I go ear-bleed.

My biggest problem at the moment is to find a really solid solution for the DSP; everything I've looked at is either too pricey, too warty, or too tedious to set up properly. In my price range, the miniDSP DDRC88A looks like the best candidate. Anyhow OT. Maybe I'll start my own thread next week to gather up some opinions.

 

[JRS]

Fantastic interview with Sean Olive, posted by Audioholics today, describing the methodologies and justifications behind the design of the Harman target. Sean Olive mentions the DCA Stealth and @amirm 's review at 51:20, but it's really just in passing. I'd recommend that people watch the whole video, it's very educational!

One interesting aspect I found is that the Harman target was preferred regardless of cultural background or musical/listening experience - even very experienced listeners almost universally preferred the Harman target.

Another interesting aspect was that experienced listeners were almost completely unable to differentiate between Headphone A equalized to sound like Headphone B, versus just Headphone B (with the rare exception of when either headphone might exhibit a significant amount of distortion.) This implies that cup reflections and design really might not play as big of a role as we like to think, and audiophiles might not be as good at distinguishing non-FR aspects as they like to think.

Sean Olive makes it very clear that you don't need to spend $4K to get a headphone that performs extremely well. A lot of the headphones in the $50-$200 range match the Harman target closely. I'd love to see Amir review some of the headphones in blue:

View attachment 153837

It's funny to imagine this graph extending all the way to $4000, running well off of my screen, and a single dot slightly higher than the JBL Tune 710 representing the DCA Stealth. (Didn't stop me from purchasing the Stealth, though!)

The future of headphones will probably be cheap drivers DSP'd to the Harman target, with some degree of head tracking with binaural reproduction, and audiophiles will be at a loss as to what to spend their money on next.

Like a mechanical watch versus a quartz watch, headphones like the Stealth are very much a novelty for the rich, in that what makes them unique is that they don't need DSP to achieve a high preference rating, but that is immaterial to the sound quality in the end. If Olive is right, you should be able to get Stealth levels of performance for a fourtieth of the price.

I agree--Dr. Olive's presentation was both technical and coherent--learned a bunch. Not shown but highly amusing was the beating Dr Dre's headphones took--both trained and untrained listeners ranked them at or near the worst.

 

[RHO]

Given it's a digitally filtered, active 3 way yes--the Audio Elegance 15's can keep up with the tweeter. The primary problem is with compression in the mids, up to the point where they begin to audibly misbehave. If they (Audio Technology C-Quenze drivers) didn't sound so delicious at normal volumes, I'd try to find something else. But it's funny, even with all the capability, I often find myself listening at lower volumes. It's only when I pull out SRV's Tin Pan Alley or the like (well mastered, great performance) that I go ear-bleed.

My biggest problem at the moment is to find a really solid solution for the DSP; everything I've looked at is either too pricey, too warty, or too tedious to set up properly. In my price range, the miniDSP DDRC88A looks like the best candidate. Anyhow OT. Maybe I'll start my own thread next week to gather up some opinions.

What I meant to say is that you can design an efficient ribbon tweeter that can produce 120db SPL (@? distance). But not over the full audible bandwidth. Somewhere there needs to be a trade-off.
That's were my initial remark came from. Someone suggested that DCA just make the headphones more efficient insinuating DCA made these inefficient on purpose. Like you could just plug in any parameter you like and come up with a design doing all at the same time. Physics doesn't work like that. Somewhere some parameters are in opposition with each other and you need to choose.