Dan Clark Stealth Review (State of the Art Headphone)

[Emlin]

Same thing happens to me with PCM output on my Sony Master series into my Klipsch R15-PM + K100SW. Many of those movies have really low volume for vocals and then super high bass.... sucks really which is why I want to build a home theater now.

a better system won't cure problems with the source.

 

[majingotan]

a better system won't cure problems with the source.

I believe the mixing was intentional since the target demographic is Home Theater movie experience rather than headphones. If you watch movies in IMAX or Dolby Digital versions at a movie theater, you'll find that the special sound effects always reach and exceed 100 dB SPL while the spoken language is at the comfy 70-80 dB SPL range

 

[Emlin]

I believe the mixing was intentional since the target demographic is Home Theater movie experience rather than headphones. If you watch movies in IMAX or Dolby Digital versions at a movie theater, you'll find that the special sound effects always reach and exceed 100 dB SPL while the spoken language is at the comfy 70-80 dB SPL range

i think that the target demographic is people listening on their TVs. there's many, many more of them.

 

[lovesegfault]

I rented Moonfall which has Dolby Atmos feature. However, my Schiit DAC is only PCM so I configured my Blu-ray player to do the decoding internally and down-mix to 2 channels at 24/96 rate out of digital coaxial

I think there is some attenuation during downmixing, but I'm not confident.

 

[lovesegfault]

Just listened. Would be headphone amp headroom for the ages if it could blow one's ears out on such a quiet, introspective piece on Stealths or Susvaras. I found about 2 o'clock on regular A90 on medium gain to be plenty for this track. And then I remembered that I've got -6dB headroom dialled in globally in Roon for cross feed and PEQ allowance (I don't EQ DCA Stealth but do so for my other headphones).

Indeed, it's an obscenely quiet recording, but it's why I think it makes a good benchmark for headroom. The whole album, actually, has pretty good dynamic range.

I can definitely get it to "uncomfortably far too loud" on the A90D, which is all I need

 

[Emlin]

Indeed, it's an obscenely quiet recording, but it's why I think it makes a good benchmark for headroom. The whole album, actually, has pretty good dynamic range.

I can definitely get it to "uncomfortably far too loud" on the A90D, which is all I need

Perhaps another thread would be more appropriate for discussions on recordings rather than the headphones themselves?

 

[Jimster480]

a better system won't cure problems with the source.

Well I think that some of this isn't about the source but really just that the TV is mixing the Atmos into PCM.

 

[evernessince]

I'd imagine DCA will release some more affordable headphones in the future that borrow some of the technology incorporated in the Stealth in terms of the "metamaterial", although it does make you think, would they really release another Harman Curve Hugger but at a cheaper price.......I suppose yes, but I think from a business point of view they'd want to maximise sales of The Stealth first before they release anything that could directly compete with it......how many years it would take for them to be in a position to be able to manufacture & release a good (or better) value Harman Hugger with technology learnt from The Stealth I don't know.....(if that is ever even gonna be on their radar). It'll be interesting to see what happens in the headphone market both in DCA & other companies.

The thing is DCA's meta-material isn't the only new innovation on the headphone market. I've had a chance to listen to the VZR Model one extensively over the past two weeks and it's acoustic lens and the spatial qualities of those are the best I've head on any headphone at any price. The VZR Model One have an MSRP of only $350.

Now I still prefer my Aeon 2's over them due to their light weight but they are extremely impressive for the price. I believe like past AEON headsets many of the advancements will be included in the next iteration on the AEON lineup with the stealth still having the slight edge. It's like any other market, you got to pay for that last little bit. It might actually be preferable for me if the new AEONs are lighter than the stealth as the stealth is a decent bit heavier than the AEON 2s. Then again can't say for sure without actually trying them.

 

[Robbo99999]

The thing is DCA's meta-material isn't the only new innovation on the headphone market. I've had a chance to listen to the VZR Model one extensively over the past two weeks and it's acoustic lens and the spatial qualities of those are the best I've head on any headphone at any price. The VZR Model One have an MSRP of only $350.

Now I still prefer my Aeon 2's over them due to their light weight but they are extremely impressive for the price. I believe like past AEON headsets many of the advancements will be included in the next iteration on the AEON lineup with the stealth still having the slight edge. It's like any other market, you got to pay for that last little bit. It might actually be preferable for me if the new AEONs are lighter than the stealth as the stealth is a decent bit heavier than the AEON 2s. Then again can't say for sure without actually trying them.

We shouldn't have an in-depth discussion on the VZR Model One here in this thread, but start up a new thread dedicated to it if you want. I googled their "technology" they're using and it's similar to the metamaterial of the Stealth inasmuch that it's a shaped insert that sits in front of the driver....VZR call the technology "Crosswave", and the insert redirects the sound waves to hit different parts of your ear in an attempt to get a more speaker-like and out of your head experience, that's what they say anyway which I found out from this video:

It does seem interesting, but if you like start up a new thread because it's not right to talk in-depth or extensively on a different headphone to that of the one reviewed in the review thread....it's fine to draw some parrallels (with the Stealth) like we have re the "insert" that reshapes the sound waves, but start a new thread for indepth discussions on this new VZR headphone. It does seem interesting, and perhaps it doesn't need angled pads or drivers (it doesn't have them) as the insert might do the job of redirecting the sound wave incident angles, but I have no idea how good this product or technology is, I don't think we can know until it's measured and reviewed on sites like ASR, and once it's been in the hands of a few experienced headphone listeners. It's certainly a headphone that I'd be interested to see reviewed here on ASR, as it seems to be trying to do things differently in a bid for a better spatial soundstage experience, which is an important variable for me when it comes to headphones.
EDIT: in the meantime I put a request in to have them measured over in the "What headphones would you like Amir to measure next?" thread:

What headphones would you like Amir to measure next?

I don't think Amir cares about this thread so i'd say don't waste your time here lol

www.audiosciencereview.com

 

[Ra1zel]

Movies are mixed with assumption that you have LFE channel so everything below 120hz is +10dB.

 

[F1308]

86 points...

Not even among the 20 best rated...

AutoEq/RANKING.md at master · jaakkopasanen/AutoEq

Automatic headphone equalization from frequency responses - AutoEq/RANKING.md at master · jaakkopasanen/AutoEq

github.com

????

 

[Snoopy]

Might just ignore that list with the Hifiman sundara getting the highest score.

 

[asrUser]

@amirm When will you review the Aeon 2 Noire?

 

[Pandemonium]

86 points...

Not even among the 20 best rated...

AutoEq/RANKING.md at master · jaakkopasanen/AutoEq

Automatic headphone equalization from frequency responses - AutoEq/RANKING.md at master · jaakkopasanen/AutoEq

github.com

????

This rating is not correct. I'm not sure how he came up with these rankings. The Stealth is far closer to the target response than any of those headphones.

 

[Pandemonium]

Perhaps these are ranked according to the 2013 version of the curve? I'm not sure.

 

[Pandemonium]

Also, look what I got-

 

[Robbo99999]

86 points...

Not even among the 20 best rated...

AutoEq/RANKING.md at master · jaakkopasanen/AutoEq

Automatic headphone equalization from frequency responses - AutoEq/RANKING.md at master · jaakkopasanen/AutoEq

github.com

????

The Preference Score is a very rough guide......in my experience it's a lot more useful to just be able to see the measured frequency response graph with the Harman Target Curve overlaid on it....to me that tells me more about how the headphone would sound & perform than just one figure that attempts to describe it. Preference Score is a rough guide, as it is when it comes to speakers as well, so don't focus much on that.

 

[F1308]

The Preference Score is a very rough guide......in my experience it's a lot more useful to just be able to see the measured frequency response graph with the Harman Target Curve overlaid on it....to me that tells me more about how the headphone would sound & perform than just one figure that attempts to describe it. Preference Score is a rough guide, as it is when it comes to speakers as well, so don't focus much on that.

Regardless, don't tell me it doesn't turns out a bit strange that a headphone rated hereabouts as top notch is found down there at 29th in a headphone review analyzing dozens...

 

[tifune]

Regardless, don't tell me it doesn't turns out a bit strange that a headphone rated hereabouts as top notch is found down there at 29th in a headphone review analyzing dozens...

It's a conspiracy, they're all against you.

 

[Jimbob54]

Regardless, don't tell me it doesn't turns out a bit strange that a headphone rated hereabouts as top notch is found down there at 29th in a headphone review analyzing dozens...

Nothing about the Auto EQ list or site could be described as a "review". Anything with a pref score of (I think if I recall correctly) 80 or more should be considered a decent fit to Harman- use it as a guide for what not to look at more than an absolute guide as to the "best".