Dan Clark Stealth Review (State of the Art Headphone)

[Jimbob54]

You can easily fabricate your own rings from regular old double-sided tape from the local hardware store.

You overestimate my crafting abilities

 

[firedog]

I've seen some subjective reviews of the RAAL SRa1 headphone where people have a similar reaction - that it's a transformative experience.
Would be interesting to see if Amir could get ahold of a pair and review/compare.

 

[617]

I don't really get the complaints about the price. This is the first release of a small production, handmade item with legitimately innovative research and development. It has the best materials possible. It's literally made by the people who designed it.

You don't need an expensive amplifier. You don't need room treatments. You can play it without disturbing anyone.

Nobody finds the prices of modern hifi more laughable than me, but this is a handmade, high-technology product which will only be appreciated by a tiny minority of people. In a world with five figure dacs and six figure passive speakers, a $4k headphone is not unreasonable.

4K gets you a watch with a mass produced movement. 4K buys you a Honda Civic with 150K miles. It gets you a pair of midrange Revel speakers, or a large garden shed. 4K buys you 600 jars of peanut butter, or 570 packs of cigarettes.

If you think this headphone is expensive, try making a cheaper one.

 

[respice finem]

I still remember my first headphone from the early 70s, a closed-back design made in Poland under license from MB (W. Germany). It had liquid-filled pads, the surface being probably PVC or PE, held in place by an outside "lip". Lasted about 15 years until they leaked. I wonder how long they would last, made of today's advanced synthetic materials - probably longer than the rest of that headphone.

 

[PeteL]

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..

Well there is, Dan Clark confirms this in the interview video a few page up this thread. Maybe from a different angle, if you innovate differently and propose something else. But hey, this headphone is 4 year development. It's perfectly normal that other can't just take the Idea and profit from these research and innovation. Sure it's great for us if it goes widespread, but at the same time, I would assume that other manufacturer could produce versions of it under license, as long as they pay for what's not theirs. An other Angle would be for DCA to commercialize them as a add on for different headphones, even from other manufacturers, but in all cases he deserves something if it's being used and marketed.

 

[preload]

But can it run Crysis?

But does it have a hemi?

 

[q3cpma]

I don't really get the complaints about the price. This is the first release of a small production, handmade item with legitimately innovative research and development. It has the best materials possible. It's literally made by the people who designed it.

You don't need an expensive amplifier. You don't need room treatments. You can play it without disturbing anyone.

Nobody finds the prices of modern hifi more laughable than me, but this is a handmade, high-technology product which will only be appreciated by a tiny minority of people. In a world with five figure dacs and six figure passive speakers, a $4k headphone is not unreasonable.

4K gets you a watch with a mass produced movement. 4K buys you a Honda Civic with 150K miles. It gets you a pair of midrange Revel speakers, or a large garden shed. 4K buys you 600 jars of peanut butter, or 570 packs of cigarettes.

If you think this headphone is expensive, try making a cheaper one.

Don't you agree with the warranty length complaints, though?

 

[Dan Clark]

Biggest question at this point is where to buy DC headphones in Europe. My girlfriend hates my Ananda because of the sound leakage, and something like the Aeon RT Closed would be great. Issue being I can't find it anywhere in Europe.

RT is Direct only so we can keep it affordable.

Well... Price aside the materials are premium and should last for many years. I'm curious if the drivers are serviceable or replaceable in case they get blown or damaged accidentally. That's a biggy for me especially at this price range. @Dan Clark care to elaborate on the serviceability of the drivers?

We can service all our products, we don’t design disposable things, it’s against our ethos.

I've seen some models are available, yes. Unfortunately, the pricing keeps being significantly higher than overseas, and the fact we can't get the RT anywhere is very sad

We try to keep overseas price = US+duties+shipping so real cost is as close to uniform as we can make it. The EU VAT instantly adds 22% or more… we sell RT direct only because there’s no way we could hit that price in the channel but we felt it important to make something accessible to a lot more people.

I tend to break every seal regardless due to a combination of my glasses, head shape, facial hair, and hair length. How does this headphone behave when the seal is broken? Every other DCA headphone I've tried rolled off from the mids. Does this one have a higher acoustic impedance design like that or does it behave like a low acoustic impedance design? This headphone looks amazing but I wouldn't be able to get one if they roll off.

A good seal matters for the bass, I wear reading glasses and I either rest the arms with the glasses on top of the pad or Tuckett into the top of the pad and that works fine, this may or may not work for others. Beards are OK within limits because the pads are large and soft and generally will seal OK, but obviously if you’ve gone ZZ Top there may be an issue…

Seal is important. I wear glasses for work and either rest the arms on top of the pad or insert it near the top to keep the seal. The pads are soft with a lot of surface area and seem ok with beards if they aren’t ZZ Top but YMMV, it may not be for you.

Believe it or not one of my motivations to start the company was simply to do something that made people happy… so we have gone both lower and higher in prices to expand our reach.

No. Why would they let you do that on a many $k headphone?

Thank you.
My experience with vegan fake "leather" ear pads is that they never last more than 6 months before entirely falling apart, unlike ear pads made from genuine leather which I have never seen falling apart, even after many years.
( normally fake leather pads do not fall under warranty: there is no assembly fault, but these are parts submitted to wearing off through use).

The synthetic leather that is used is on the outside surface that doesn’t make skin contact. It’s usually acid in the skin that degrades the material, no acid, longer life. Plus we use this insanely expensive material from Japan, for most users the material lasts years Even with skin contact. Aeon has been around four years and most still have original pads, once in a while someone goes nuts cleaning them, or just has real acidic skin, but that’s not common. The suede is even more durable, it’s a microfiber used for autos So it’s really tough. Both materials feel like the real thing too. And we don’t GLUE the pad it’s on with an adhesive and the owner can peel and replace. There are many reasons to go this way including tolerances, weight, and quality of air seal.

Any chance for Dan Clark Audio AEON 2 Noire review?

Amir expressed interest a while back so sure if he’s willing.

Dan Clark's planar drivers were developed with Bruce Thigpen of Eminent Technology. (Eminent Technology also makes speakers. Hint!)

Sort of, Bruce didn’t actually work on any of the driver designs, but he did answer a couple of questions we had about driver technology and one of those comments he made inspired the idea for the v-planer processing so we added him to the patent.

 

[MRC01]

Suggestion: at that price why not have a lifetime warranty?

It goes a long way to easing the consumer about such a big purchase, and it distinguishes the top of the line product, showing that the manufacturer has absolute confidence in the product, and their products are not "disposable" or designed for planned obsolescence.

For that same $4k, I can buy a bicycle with a lifetime warranty on frame and wheels, and they have a much harder life than headphones. The warranty encourages people to let the manufacturer know when it breaks, which gives the manufacturer valuable data about how the product performs, or breaks, in the field, enabling them to improve it further.

 

[aandres_gm]

RT is Direct only so we can keep it affordable.

We try to keep overseas price = US+duties+shipping so real cost is as close to uniform as we can make it. The EU VAT instantly adds 22% or more… we sell RT direct only because there’s no way we could hit that price in the channel but we felt it important to make something accessible to a lot more people.

It's completely understandable, but it doesn't make it any less sad. Maybe one day. Thanks for the reply.

 

[bidn]

RT is Direct only so we can keep it affordable.



We can service all our products, we don’t design disposable things, it’s against our ethos.



We try to keep overseas price = US+duties+shipping so real cost is as close to uniform as we can make it. The EU VAT instantly adds 22% or more… we sell RT direct only because there’s no way we could hit that price in the channel but we felt it important to make something accessible to a lot more people.



A good seal matters for the bass, I wear reading glasses and I either rest the arms with the glasses on top of the pad or Tuckett into the top of the pad and that works fine, this may or may not work for others. Beards are OK within limits because the pads are large and soft and generally will seal OK, but obviously if you’ve gone ZZ Top there may be an issue…

Seal is important. I wear glasses for work and either rest the arms on top of the pad or insert it near the top to keep the seal. The pads are soft with a lot of surface area and seem ok with beards if they aren’t ZZ Top but YMMV, it may not be for you.

Believe it or not one of my motivations to start the company was simply to do something that made people happy… so we have gone both lower and higher in prices to expand our reach.




The synthetic leather that is used is on the outside surface that doesn’t make skin contact. It’s usually acid in the skin that degrades the material, no acid, longer life. Plus we use this insanely expensive material from Japan, for most users the material lasts years Even with skin contact. Aeon has been around four years and most still have original pads, once in a while someone goes nuts cleaning them, or just has real acidic skin, but that’s not common. The suede is even more durable, it’s a microfiber used for autos So it’s really tough. Both materials feel like the real thing too. And we don’t GLUE the pad it’s on with an adhesive and the owner can peel and replace. There are many reasons to go this way including tolerances, weight, and quality of air seal.



Amir expressed interest a while back so sure if he’s willing.



Sort of, Bruce didn’t actually work on any of the driver designs, but he did answer a couple of questions we had about driver technology and one of those comments he made inspired the idea for the v-planer processing so we added him to the patent.

Thank you very much for taking time to address here all these questions and points!

Congratulations for the frequency response of this headphone and have a nice weekend,
bidn

 

[Jimbob54]

It's completely understandable, but it doesn't make it any less sad. Maybe one day. Thanks for the reply.

I imported some RT Open into the UK. The exchange rate was decent so after shipping and taxes etc I think the price came out around £550 so not too far off £1/$1

 

[617]

Don't you agree with the warranty length complaints, though?

It's not ideal, but we're talking about a handmade product. I would like to see long term parts availability. It factors into the value equation, but when you deliver the best performance you get to make the rules.

We all know that if someone else can make a headphone this good, prices for this king of performance will drop. However, judging from the tone of this thread, and the sheer mediocrity of most other headphones, it doesn't seem like people are optimistic that this will happen.

To be clear, I wouldn't buy this. Not durable enough, too expensive. The warranty is too short.

Most of us got into audio covering esoteric gear like wavac amps or altec coaxial speakers or MBL omnis or whatever the case may be. These were all made by people spending tons of time and money trying to make the best. Most of these products don't actually deliver great performance, this one does.

I'd buy this before I bought a 4k turntable or a plasma tweeter.

@Dan Clark can you post some pictures of your 'factory'? I think it would go a long way to show what goes into this headphone. Maybe make a video showing all the subassemblies as well.

 

[BrokenEnglishGuy]

It's not ideal, but we're talking about a handmade product. I would like to see long term parts availability. It factors into the value equation, but when you deliver the best performance you get to make the rules.

We all know that if someone else can make a headphone this good, prices for this king of performance will drop. However, judging from the tone of this thread, and the sheer mediocrity of most other headphones, it doesn't seem like people are optimistic that this will happen.

To be clear, I wouldn't buy this. Not durable enough, too expensive. The warranty is too short.

Most of us got into audio covering esoteric gear like wavac amps or altec coaxial speakers or MBL omnis or whatever the case may be. These were all made by people spending tons of time and money trying to make the best. Most of these products don't actually deliver great performance, this one does.

I'd buy this before I bought a 4k turntable or a plasma tweeter.

Yeah.. but make a mass production of headphones is easier than a mass production of a mid size speakers..

 

[JohnYang1997]

Yeah.. but make a mass production of headphones is easier than a mass production of a mid size speakers..

Not necessarily.

 

[617]

Yeah.. but make a mass production of headphones is easier than a mass production of a mid size speakers..

Dan Clark could literally put these together with macaroni, hot glue and pipe cleaners. The price is justified by the performance, not by how much he has to suffer making them.

 

[KiyPhi]

RT is Direct only so we can keep it affordable.



We can service all our products, we don’t design disposable things, it’s against our ethos.



We try to keep overseas price = US+duties+shipping so real cost is as close to uniform as we can make it. The EU VAT instantly adds 22% or more… we sell RT direct only because there’s no way we could hit that price in the channel but we felt it important to make something accessible to a lot more people.



A good seal matters for the bass, I wear reading glasses and I either rest the arms with the glasses on top of the pad or Tuckett into the top of the pad and that works fine, this may or may not work for others. Beards are OK within limits because the pads are large and soft and generally will seal OK, but obviously if you’ve gone ZZ Top there may be an issue…

Seal is important. I wear glasses for work and either rest the arms on top of the pad or insert it near the top to keep the seal. The pads are soft with a lot of surface area and seem ok with beards if they aren’t ZZ Top but YMMV, it may not be for you.

Believe it or not one of my motivations to start the company was simply to do something that made people happy… so we have gone both lower and higher in prices to expand our reach.




The synthetic leather that is used is on the outside surface that doesn’t make skin contact. It’s usually acid in the skin that degrades the material, no acid, longer life. Plus we use this insanely expensive material from Japan, for most users the material lasts years Even with skin contact. Aeon has been around four years and most still have original pads, once in a while someone goes nuts cleaning them, or just has real acidic skin, but that’s not common. The suede is even more durable, it’s a microfiber used for autos So it’s really tough. Both materials feel like the real thing too. And we don’t GLUE the pad it’s on with an adhesive and the owner can peel and replace. There are many reasons to go this way including tolerances, weight, and quality of air seal.



Amir expressed interest a while back so sure if he’s willing.



Sort of, Bruce didn’t actually work on any of the driver designs, but he did answer a couple of questions we had about driver technology and one of those comments he made inspired the idea for the v-planer processing so we added him to the patent.

Do you happen to know what the roll off is like compared to the Ether 2 or Aeon 2 Noir? Those are the most recent I've tried and both rolled off even with no glasses on. The were supremely comfortable and above the roll-off, they sounded great. I was disappointed because otherwise I loved both. If these are similar, I won't be a good fit for them. My biggest seal breakage is the gap behind my jaw. I tried shaving, making sure my hair was out of the way, and taking my glasses off but I still had issues. I know that isn't a uniquely DCA issue though, I have it with 90% of headphones.

Quick edit: the pairs I tried both rolled off in the lower mids and down. That was the case for others like the K371. The only headphones that didn't have that issue were Audeze, Hifiman, Meze Empyrean, and a few ANC headphones. All of those were low acoustic impedance designs that require quite the gap to roll off more than the sub bass.

 

[BrokenEnglishGuy]

Not necessarily.

Well, i think we can discuss that point, but transport these big boxes to the end user are a huge problem

Dan Clark could literally put these together with macaroni, hot glue and pipe cleaners. The price is justified by the performance, not by how much he has to suffer making them.

Yeah but is a bit of boring the fact that we again gonna a experiment a mass increase price in headphone world. Again.
for example, a LCD5 6000 USD?

 

[JohnYang1997]

Well, i think we can discuss that point, but transport these big boxes to the end user are a huge problem

Yeah. And storage is a big part too. What I just wanted to say is mass production for headphones actually can be a lot harder.

 

[aandres_gm]

Yeah.. but make a mass production of headphones is easier than a mass production of a mid size speakers..

What exactly is the logic behind this? The size of the product? If so, then I bet IEMs are a piece of cake to put together.