[Alcophone]

How open are these? When nothing is playing, does everything sound normal? Or more muffled like with the Ether Flow, which is quite damped?

Edit: I was too impatient, Jude and Dan comment on this in the video, and apparently it's more like the Ether Flow than most open headphones in this regard.

 

[BassicScience]

• Less leakage than typical open back headphones. Check.
• Better soundstaging than Stealth (already excellent). Check.
• Boosted ("more natural", per Dan Clark) bass response compared to Stealth. Check.
• Blue (my favorite color) highlights instead of red (not my favorite color). Check.
• Super light weight, with the usual awesome DCA ergonomics. Check.
• Beautiful design, and reasonably-priced by TOTL headphone standards. Check.

Color me very interested! Depending on how much sound they actually leak, the Expanse may fill the niche currently occupied by my Aeon 2 Noire. Who knows, they may even best the Susvara as my favorite overall planar. Too bad I'll be leaving the country in a few days, or I'd be heading down to CanJam LA for an audition. Kudos to @mrspeakers and DCA Audio on a very intriguing new flagship! Looking forward to user feedback until I can hear them for myself.

 

[jeffri]

This looks great so far!

While most will compare this to Stealth (naturally), but I would personally liked to see a comparison against DCA previous open-back flagship, Ether 2.

As a fan of Ether 2, I would be interested to see if this will be a great upgrade.

 

[ModMax]

Super interested in the Expanse.
That tasteful elevation on top of harman Bass, coupled with the metamaterial sounds really tempting.

Will have to wait financially for a while, but it has a Slot very high on my list of interests.

Why not just save some cash and EQ a well liked, less expensive headphone?

 

[FullBright1]

The Stealth has a ton of bass.

Stealth = Green
Utopia = Red


You're probably not getting a good seal for some reason.
Mine hits nearly as hard as the TH900.

I only agreed with what Currwong said is the "issue" with the Stealth.
Do you think he was also not getting a good seal?
I think, personally, that ears are not charts or graphs, so, i would not agree with your chart.
I realize that there are many who are into the Headphone Audio obsession who believe that a chart is "how it sounds', but the reality is, Ears determine how it sounds, not a chart.

Think of it this way..
Lets say you are given a really good photo of me... And you see it, and you think..."She's pretty".. And you decide that you know me, based on looking at my Photo for a week.
Then, you meet me, and we hang out and you realize that a CHART is not the same as the REALITY.

 

[dfiled]

I find discussions of bass frustrating to some degree because people fail to specify whether they are talking about bass level (ie volume) vs bass impact (ie punch and slam). The former can be easily adjusted with EQ, whereas the latter can’t. For me, that punchiness/slam is the thing I look for the most in headphones and is lacking in most planars.

If anyone has heard the Expanse and can comment on its slaminess, to coin a phrase, I’d be grateful.

 

[FullBright1]

I find discussions of bass frustrating to some degree because people fail to specify whether they are talking about bass level (ie volume) vs bass impact (ie punch and slam). The former can be easily adjusted with EQ, whereas the latter can’t. For me, that punchiness/slam is the thing I look for the most in headphones and is lacking in most planars.

If anyone has heard the Expanse and can comment on its slaminess, to coin a phrase, I’d be grateful.

The Stealth i bought New, had a lite bass attack.
Anti-slam.

Textually, and with regard to resolution, the Stealth's Bass was very accurate.

Where am i on the "bass head chart"?

Well, right now im listening to Focal Stella's, and i dont find their low end to have as much bass as the Meze Liric, which has too much.
Im not a bass head. Im closer to a "need it neutral" head, but too little bass and i sell them .
Too much Treble, and i sell them..

The best headphone(s) ive heard in a while are the recent Raal CA-1a, which is another world of sound altogether. ( i wrote a review)

 

[ThanatosVI]

Why not just save some cash and EQ a well liked, less expensive headphone?

That never turns out the same. There are so many characteristics you can't EQ into a headphone. (The metamaterial effect for instance)

While price might be an issue for some, I really don't mind spending the cash in the hobby. Just have to save up for a while again, like most others as well. It's less about the best Bang for my buck, and more about creating an interesting collection that fits my taste at this point.

However I am all for EQ, this is used and discussed way too little nowadays.

 

[433521]

No bass? Okay, if you say so. Congrats Dave!

 

[Audio46]

We have the Dan Clark Audio Expanse with all cables configuration for Preorder at @Audio46

https://audio46.com/products/dan-clark-audio-expanse-open-back-headphones


.

 

[Sebastien Chiu]

Following, very interested in these

 

[gordec]

Based on the price, this seems to be an Earther or Martian edition of the Expanse. I'm a Belter, so I'll wait for the lower end model to be released.

 

[pieman3141]

Curious about the elastic bands they're using. I had the AKG K712s, and the elastics were a bit too loose on those. Additionally, I find elastic bands to be a bit of a time bomb - failure is all but guaranteed after a certain period of time. Might be a decade or two, might even be longer, but they'll fail.

 

[PointyFox]

Curious about the elastic bands they're using. I had the AKG K712s, and the elastics were a bit too loose on those. Additionally, I find elastic bands to be a bit of a time bomb - failure is all but guaranteed after a certain period of time. Might be a decade or two, might even be longer, but they'll fail.

I called DCA and asked about the elastic and was told that it's a "space-age elastomer that doesn't fail over time like traditional rubbers".

 

[uncletim]

Are they more efficient than the Stealth?