Dan Clark Stealth Review (State of the Art Headphone)

[staticV3]

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

Understood.
I would take a look at the Schiit Magi+/Magni Heresy or the Topping L30II.
Both Amps can drive the DCA Stealth to its full potential.

 

[Doodski]

Understood.
I would take a look at the Schiit Magi+/Magni Heresy or the Topping L30II.
Both Amps can drive the DCA Stealth to its full potential.

What about the newer Schiit Magni Heretic?

Schiit Audio: Audio Products Designed and Built in Texas

www.schiit.com

 

[staticV3]

What about the newer Schiit Magni Heretic?

Schiit Audio: Audio Products Designed and Built in Texas

www.schiit.com

Ah that's the one I meant, my bad. Heretic, not Heresy

 

[Doodski]

Ah that's the one I meant, my bad. Heretic, not Heresy

I have them bookmarked for reference because I get them mixed up allll the time...LoL. It's natural for the terms to be so similar and so easily confused.

 

[fabien.56]

THANKS…
ah yes it’s really cheap I saw myself taking an RME to have the DAC at the same time…
For information I have an MT48 audio interface

 

[edahl]

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

The RME ADI-2 DAC FS is just fine

 

[DJBonoBobo]

@fabien.56
If you look at Amir's reviews of good DACs, most important for the Stealth is the power. You can take the 32 Ohm graph for comparison. Here is the Topping L30 II - 3.4 Watt:

The ADI-2 DAC has 1.5, the ADI-2/4 Pro has around 4 Watt. The MT48 has something around 0.7 Watt, as far as i remember. The Schiit Heretic has 2.4, if i read the specs right. So the Topping L30 II is extremely good in this regard.

If you are listening to a lot of classical music, you may sometimes need more power than for Pop/Rock. I have the ADI-2 and i tried how loud it gets, and for my needs it is loud enough, but with quiet classical stuff i reached it's upper limit with no more headroom. I rarely listen to this, so it is not important for me. But if i would buy a new DAC being a Stealth owner, i personally would probably chose the 2/4 Pro (because RME is great and i have the money, not because i think i can hear a difference to the low cost options).

So i think, the MT48 is probably not potent enough although probably ok for lower volumes, ADI-2 should be fine, but maybe not for 100%. But the devices with 3-4 Watt should be good for everything.

 

[milosz]

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

J'aime l'ampli symétrique Monoprice Monolith avec mon casque Dan Clark Stealth

https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...thx-887-balance-headphone-amp-new-champ.8942/

 

[fabien.56]

Thanks everyone
I also need a DAC
I should have made that clear from the start...
So it's more of an amp/dac solution that I'm looking for

The ADI-2 DAC has 1.5, the ADI-2/4 Pro has around 4 Watt. The MT48 has something around 0.7 Watt, as far as i remember. The Schiit Heretic has 2.4, if i read the specs right. So the Topping L30 II is extremely good in this regard.

If you are listening to a lot of classical music, you may sometimes need more power than for Pop/Rock. I have the ADI-2 and i tried how loud it gets, and for my needs it is loud enough, but with quiet classical stuff i reached it's upper limit with no more headroom. I rarely listen to this, so it is not important for me. But if i would buy a new DAC being a Stealth owner, i personally would probably chose the 2/4 Pro (because RME is great and i have the money, not because i think i can hear a difference to the low cost options).

So i think, the MT48 is probably not potent enough although probably ok for lower volumes, ADI-2 should be fine, but maybe not for 100%. But the devices with 3-4 Watt should be good for everything.

Is it really this output which is 4 Watt???

 

[Mac Arthur]

I have the ADI-2 and i tried how loud it gets, and for my needs it is loud enough, but with quiet classical stuff i reached it's upper limit with no more headroom. I rarely listen to this, so it is not important for me. But if i would buy a new DAC being a Stealth owner, i personally would probably chose the 2/4 Pro (because RME is great and i have the money, not because i think i can hear a difference to the low cost options).

Are you using it on Phone output at low or high setup?

Thanks !

 

[DJBonoBobo]

Are you using it on Phone output at low or high setup?

Thanks !

When i tried, i used the "high" setting. To be clear, for my needs the ADI-2 DAC is sufficient. I am almost always below -30 db. But OP asked for something to get "everything" out of it and listens mostly to classical, i think. So he may reach limits of the ADI-2 once in a while, maybe.

 

[fabien.56]

When i tried, i used the "high" setting. To be clear, for my needs the ADI-2 DAC is sufficient. I am almost always below -30 db. But OP asked for something to get "everything" out of it and listens mostly to classical, i think. So he may reach limits of the ADI-2 once in a while, maybe.

Yes I listen to a lot of classics example (one of my favorite albums) :
http://open.qobuz.com/album/0794881839827

One or two setups that could do it with a Stealth in terms of power:

Pack Topping Amplificateur Casque A70 PRO + DAC D70 PRO + Câbles XLR TCX1 25cm Argent - Audiophonics

Ce pack Topping, composé de l'amplificateur casque A70 PRO, du DAC D70 PRO et des câbles XLR TCX1. Un parfait combo pour profiter d'une solution d'écoute au casque d'une qualité exceptionnelle, assurant notamment un niveau de distorsion...

www.audiophonics.fr

Pack Topping Amplificateur Casque A90 Discrete + DAC D90SE + Câbles XLR TCX1 25cm Argent - Audiophonics

Ce pack Topping, composé de l'amplificateur casque A90 Discrete, du DAC D90SE et des câbles XLR TCX1. Un parfait combo pour profiter d'une solution d'écoute au casque d'une qualité exceptionnelle, assurant notamment un niveau de distorsion...

www.audiophonics.fr

 

[ObjectiveSubjectivist]

AudioScienceReview.fr

 

[muslhead]

I thought this was an english language forum.

 

[fabien.56]

I thought this was an english language forum.

AudioScienceReview.fr

ok I corrected my last posts

 

[kelesh]

They are ugly and expensive (IMHO), so they'd better sound good!

 

[hutt132]

If buying these used, is there anything in particular to look out for in terms of defects, damage, or bad batches?

 

[MTP]

very well sealed front volume (IIRC) that is aided by the fairly high clamping force along with the pads that seal fully.

This is exactly what Oratory1990 said about Audeze's design.

pressing on the earcups and the bass not changing.

There is a very small change I would say. Even using the bass boost on the ADI-2 DAC on the Stealth does not change my perception of the bass.

Yes, unless I send both headphones to be individually measured and EQed to Harman by someone like Oratory I cannot expect the FR to be exactly the same however the magnitude of the difference that I'm hearing convinces me that it would not change the result.

As I type this I have the LCD-5, CRBN and Stealth on my desk. The Stealth will be returned due to this issue. In every other way they are amazing.

I hope someone with a Stealth or Expanse will try an EQed LCD5 or LCD4 and report back.

I think @Resolve isn't imagining things. Headphones.com sell DCA and pretty much every other flagship so he has no reason to be biased one way or the other.

I don't have a Youtube channel, affiliate links, blog etc etc. I don't have a loyalty to any brand. If I preferred the Stealth I'd gladly sell the LCD-5 and CRBN and put the money in my pocket.

The Harman Target was meant to emulate speakers in an ideal room right? Well if that's the case out of all the flagships I've owned the result is as follows:

With EQ the LCD-5/LCD-4 and Audeze CRBN sound the closest to bringing the power and authority of full range speakers in a room to the headphone world.

All the other flagships (regardless of EQ) that I've owned fall short including the SR009S, Stealth, HD800S, SR007, Utopia)

Stealth: +1 for the Stealth seal idea. I just received both Stealth and Expanse today and am already returning Stealth sadly. I was looking forward to the Stealth as I don't have any closed back headphones, but the seal issue is a big problem for me and my head shape for some reason (no glasses, short hair). I tried different positions of the ear inside the cup and anything straying away from perfectly in the middle ends up in heavily reduced bass (HD800S without EQ bass).

Pressing on the cups transforms the sound for me and the bass is there as it should, so if that's how it's supposed to be then these are great headphones for who gets the right seal, I think.

Expanse: I have the LCD-5 individually calibrated by Sonarworks and added my own preference on top of their curve which is basically the Harman bass shelf with a 5.5dB increase. I intend to use the Expanse without an EQ (the main reason I bought them) and I am comparing the two and must agree with you, LCD-5 is superior with EQ and it is not hard to discern that. I don't have the know-how to explain in specific terms, but to me it just sounds more musical, more realistic, as if it is more believable that someone sings. If I tried a bit I guess the bass brings a lot more rhythm to the music (foot tapping -> to my brain it sounds like there's music going on) and the artists' voices sound more complete (believable as real -> my brain gets fooled better).

Also, I have no positioning issues with the Expanse but I can clearly feel it clamps harder and what I mean by this is when I naturally put the headphones on, without further thinking about their positioning, the bass slams the same every time (which I think is reasonable, I don't want to try to fit them perfectly every time, they should just fall into place and they do).

For the sake of accuracy I will send the Expanse to Sonarworks for individual calibration too, so I have a close to excellent comparison basis. So far LCD-5 with EQ is better than Expanse with no EQ, even with the added slam, but there is no headphone without EQ that I have listened to (did not hear HE-1) that is better than Expanse.

My impressions might change if the Expanse is also calibrated to the same FR so I will report back after that.

P.S.: I volume matched the headphones at 425Hz with miniDSP EARS, at 83dB(A).

 

[Acidicfriend]

What's the consensus between this and the E3?

 

[IAtaman]

There has never been and probably there will never be consensus on which headphones sound better
My impression based on reviews and comments online is that E3 is more widely liked than Stealth.