Dan Clark Stealth Review (State of the Art Headphone)

[Robbo99999]

Such is life. Maybe they can create a fake head-shaped cowl, the same shape as the GRAS rig for us to wear when headphone listening.

Lol, you'd still have your own ears & ear canal under that though, instead you'll have to go in for a complete ear & earcanal surgical replacement procedure, ha!

 

[Yorkshire Mouth]

Lol, you'd still have your own ears & ear canal under that though, instead you'll have to go in for a complete ear & earcanal surgical replacement procedure, ha!

Sounds perfectly reasonable to me.

Joking aside, I think when you’ve got that deep into the ear, you’re talking about how your brain compensates.

The real world sounds like the real world to everyone, irrespective of the shape of your ear canal.

 

[Robbo99999]

Sounds perfectly reasonable to me.

Joking aside, I think when you’ve got that deep into the ear, you’re talking about how your brain compensates.

The real world sounds like the real world to everyone, irrespective of the shape of your ear canal.

(Yep, that's why everyone has their own HRTF of which the ears & canal are part of it, and that's what we get used to in terms of understanding the world around us from an audio perspective.)

 

[nonnyno]

Each day you might like something else.

There are so many reasons including the one you gave. Buyers remorse. Aesthetics, comfort, the need for change. I think the measurements are important so you know that something is well designed and so that they might lead you to a quality, transparent, eq’able headphone but the idea that there’s one that will crush all cravings and future interest - meh!

 

[Benesyed]

Some of us just like to collect well designed engineering and craftsmanship for fun.

You don't need 5 Porches. But few people would turn them down if they could have them.

Caveat to all of this is knowing what it is you are buying and not deluding yourself about what is or isn't true.

 

[majingotan]

Had tons of fun with Dan Clark Stealth earlier. Put it simply, State of the Art Headphone in sound and tuning! I'll definitely own this headphone someday!

It's currently on my top headphones along with Expanse, Utopia 2020/2022 and Susvara. The only headphone that eclipses this is actually the Stax SR-X9000 which is the best headphones I've ever heard subjectively, yes this is better than the Warwick Aperio subjectively.

 

[Googolbyte]

With the measurements for the Arya Organics out, it's clear to me that the "Metamaterial" is doing a lot of work preventing those peaks from going out of control.

 

[usern]

With the measurements for the Arya Organics out, it's clear to me that the "Metamaterial" is doing a lot of work preventing those peaks from going out of control.

What is what in that graph?

 

[staticV3]

What is what in that graph?

Red is the headphone, black the B&K5128 target that headphones.com is proposing.

 

[Sycraft]

So probably asked and answered here, but I couldn't easily find it: How are these for noise isolation? While I really like open headphones (I have the HD800S right now) and would like the Expanse, sadly after moving I no longer have my quiet studio and my computer is just going to be in a noisy room for the foreseeable future. So I'm trying to find something that provides some noise isolation, doesn't need to be super extreme, but some and is comfy and sounds good.

 

[DualTriode]

Sounds perfectly reasonable to me.

Joking aside, I think when you’ve got that deep into the ear, you’re talking about how your brain compensates.

The real world sounds like the real world to everyone, irrespective of the shape of your ear canal.

The illusion of being in the real world.

Just like being there.

Existential Phenomenology

 

[Klonatans]

I got to try the Stealth at CanJam and I was surprised but I did not end up enjoying them at all. I am not sure what the culprit was for this. The amp was a feliks audio and it certainly had sufficient power for them.

They just seemed very restrained across the board and particularly anemic for bassy tracks. Perhaps I enjoy a more colored representation? Or maybe I needed time to adjust to their sound signature.

I much preferred the ZMF Atrium closed. Even the Focal Stellia which are cheaper.

I had the same impression of DCA Ether C and Aeon Closed back in 2018 at the annual British Hi-Fi show. They both just sounded dull and anemic. Maybe the problem is in me as I like Denon AH-D7200/E-MU Teak/Fostex TH 900 Mk2 kind of engaging and dynamic presentation.

Anyway I'd like to try Stealth one day to be sure whether I enjoy it or not, but buying a headphone at this price without trying it first is out of question.

 

[Benesyed]

I had the same impression of DCA Ether C and Aeon Closed back in 2018 at the annual British Hi-Fi show. They both just sounded dull and anemic. Maybe the problem is in me as I like Denon AH-D7200/E-MU Teak/Fostex TH 900 Mk2 kind of engaging and dynamic presentation.

Anyway I'd like to try Stealth one day to be sure whether I enjoy it or not, but buying a headphone at this price without trying it first is out of question.

I ended up getting the ZMF Atrium Closed. I auditioned them as well and really enjoyed their sound. Had a lot of what I liked with the Sony MDR Z1R with a much better mid range.

 

[bodhi]

Demoed these today. I think these are the best headphones I have tried. Sound, comfort and build quality, excellent.

Will I buy them? No, difference is not worth the price. Would I buy if I made, say 50% more money than I do? Yes.

So, I think these are perfectly positioned in market.

 

[Snoopy]

Demoed these today. I think these are the best headphones I have tried. Sound, comfort and build quality, excellent.

Will I buy them? No, difference is not worth the price. Would I buy if I made, say 50% more money than I do? Yes.

So, I think these are perfectly positioned in market.

I would buy them if I could get the U.S. price and get the discount for already owning Dan Clark headphones. But at 4800€ in Germany I'm out.

 

[majingotan]

Demoed these today. I think these are the best headphones I have tried. Sound, comfort and build quality, excellent.

Will I buy them? No, difference is not worth the price. Would I buy if I made, say 50% more money than I do? Yes.

So, I think these are perfectly positioned in market.

That applies to every headphone out there. Is Stealth 10x better than than my Aeon X Open? Absolutely not. It's 90-95% of Stealth in terms of sound, but in the long listening sessions and long term usage, that gap will certainly increase.

I would buy them if I could get the U.S. price and get the discount for already owning Dan Clark headphones. But at 4800€ in Germany I'm out.

I'm too close to hit that button but I'm waiting for CanJam SoCal to get a better price than 15% off USA MSRP. I did try haggling last year when Expanse came out but no dice

 

[DJBonoBobo]

So probably asked and answered here, but I couldn't easily find it: How are these for noise isolation? While I really like open headphones (I have the HD800S right now) and would like the Expanse, sadly after moving I no longer have my quiet studio and my computer is just going to be in a noisy room for the foreseeable future. So I'm trying to find something that provides some noise isolation, doesn't need to be super extreme, but some and is comfy and sounds good.

Noise isolation and comfort are good. One big reason why i chose the Stealth over the Expanse.

 

[fabien.56]

Quel ampli recommandez vous pour ce casque et pour en tirer vraiment toute la quintessence ???
Merci

 

[staticV3]

Quel ampli recommandez vous pour ce casque et pour en tirer vraiment toute la quintessence ???
Merci

How loud do you want your music to be? (SPL Average/SPL Peak)

 

[fabien.56]

How loud do you want your music to be? (SPL Average/SPL Peak)

Je ne comprends pas votre question
je n’y connais rien en SPL
je veux juste un bon ampli