First Impressions / Mini Review
It's now about a week since I received the DCA Expanse.
This is my first headphone from DCA.
Unpacking:
Even though Dan mentioned in a Review that one of the measures they had to take during Covid to keep the selling price was to make the packaging simpler I must say it still feels very good. That engraved logo on the Case feels really good and looks nice.
In the outer packaging one can find the travel case, which is a lot smaller than I expected prior to receiving them. They can be stored in a really compact way. Something I didn't know I valued this much until I had it.
The stock cable also looks and feels quite good, I'd even go as far as saying it's the best stock cable I've seen to this day. However it's still a little microphonic which might be a no go for some (I also ordered adapters to use my Norne cables instead, but all my impressions have been with stock cable)
Comfort is excellent on these, the earpads feel amazing. Unfortunately they are glued and after a few years they have to be sent in for replacement. I think that the glue was required for the seal, which is much more important on the Expanse than on many other open headphones.
I must confess, it never took me as long as with the Expanse to grasp the sound signature.
At first the felt muffled and narrow. This changed over time, but a lot of this can be attributed to brain burn in and getting used to the sound signature.
So how do they actually sound?
They are called Expanse, and this might set you up for for dissappointment if you seek an expansive experience.
The soundstage even after burn in and getting used to is still on the smaller side, they are nowhere near as Expansive as a Meze Elite for instance. And I'd even consider this a clear weakness compared to its piers - IF you consider Soundstage size very important.
They have a lot of other qualities to make up for it.
The Bass is very strong. Not only Harman strong but beyond that. They have great Bass in quantity and quality. Most headphones with that amount of Bass would feel bloated but the AMTS does it's magic and you receive a lot of very clean non bloated Bass. My Basshead heart loves the performance and if you love Bass give them a try!
The mids have great texture and detail. They sound very realistic and lifelike. They have and impressive weight to them even on low volume, which is something I didn't hear in that fashion on other headphones before. Thick but super detailed usually two things that you don't get both at the same time.
The treble is there, they are not dark by any means.(well better don't quote me on that, all my headphones are usually on the warmer/darker side...) They have a lot of energy in the treble especially in the presence region. However they are lacking in the air frequencies which results in that comparatively narrow soundstage. This will be a matter of taste, some prefer it this way, some prefer the more accentuated way most other headphones handle the air region. The treble is completely non fatiguing, if you're treble sensitive give them a go. They have energy up top but not in an tiring way.
Details are plentiful, however the overall signature is very balanced, so details are not emphasized like on the Solitaire P for instance. However when A/B-ing between them you can clearly hear all the detail that was also present on the other headphone.
Overall they offer a very detailed meaty sound with a balanced non fatiguing signature.
They now rank #2 in my collection and I am certainly a DCA Fan now.
Dans opinion on many subjects regarding sound and tuning is very relateable and I'm looking forward to what he will develop in the future.
I'd love to get an electrostat that includes all the new inventions of stealth and expanse.
On different note:
Club DCA is a great program, I wish other companies would adopt that as well. At 15% discount if you're in the US the Expanse retails for 3400$, I seriously don't think that you can anything better than that, at this price.
If you're in the EU without Club DCA, things might look different ... they are still worth an audition though.