[mammal]

To hear Amir gush like that really says something.

Let's not forget so far his favourite (and daily driver) has been Ether CX, which I owned and it was no where close to other headphones, that he dislikes.

 

[Malevolent]

@mrspeakers Dan, out of curiosity, will you be making different color runs of the Stealth? I'm not a fan of black and red (as a combination); my preferred combo is black and blue or black and white. Of course, this one aspect won't affect my decision to buy one (much), but if there are alternate color editions planned, I might just wait for that instead. Thanks in advance!

By the way, congrats on a job well done!

 

[Marshall95]

Black and dark green version please

 

[mammal]

Black and dark green version please

And call it Dan Clark Venom

 

[vonBaron]

In my experience they don't last longer than 6 months of regular use.

I can understand the use of fake, vegan leather ear pads on bluetooth headphones (re. contraints to keep the price under a few hundreds dollars, so to save every single dollar),
but absolutely not on premium, so expensive headphones like the Stealth. And its is not even a question of vegan ideology since the headbands are said to be made from... leather (I understand genuine leather).

At this price point I expect genuine leather (or at least micro-fiber, but never fake, vegan leather!)
What a pity they saved money like this by using fake leather ear pads. I cannot accept expensive headphones whose ear pads quickly fall apart, so these are unfortunately a no-go for me.

And pads are glued lol!

 

[BassicScience]

Let's not forget so far his favourite (and daily driver) has been Ether CX, which I owned and it was no where close to other headphones, that he dislikes.

He also stated that he found the TC immensely fun and satisfying (after EQ'ing them), so perhaps his hearing isn't so different from yours. In any case, listening to these for myself will tell me more than anyone's review.

 

[bidn]

And pads are glued lol!

What? Really, I can't believe it!

Then it is a real pity,
to succeed at delivering a FR sticking so well to the latest iteration of the Harman target, and yet to fail with such basic practical design issues!
Hopefully they will come up with a revision providing detachable and genuine leather ear pads?

 

[kkugel]

Love the design! Hope my nearest dealer will carry it, gonna get it if it's good

 

[BowWazoo]

Glued / taped fake-leather Pads?!
Completely unacceptable in this price range..

 

[killaHz]

I don't like elastic in things that should last for decades, so I shall stick with my trusty Ether C 1.1s. Yeah, that's why....

But they look damned impressive.

 

[Alcophone]

Dan said "taped", not "glued", so while you probably can't swap pads back and forth without constraint, surely you can cleanly replace them with new ones when the time comes or apply different ones that you have demoed beforehand.

I agree that a nondestructive way to swap them is desirable, but less so if it leads to sonic compromises, especially with this much care taken to match drivers, etc.

 

[jeffhawke]

Excellent presentation Jude, thank you! I’m really impressed by the AMTS technology, an out-of-the-box approach to achieve what you very appropriately defined as an “asymptotic goal”.

 

[VandyMan]

Glued fake-leather Pads?!
Completely unacceptable in this price range..

Taped and synthetic. The contact surface and inner wall are an airtight microfiber that's more durable and comfortable than our Italian leather pads, they don't get damp or sticky. The outer wall is our standard Japanese synthetic. The synthetics also give us better dimensional consistent for tighter tolerances.

 

[Huntersknoll]

Aeon 2 closed are like my favorite headphone.. when I saw this I was crossing my fingers at a $2000-2500 price point... $4000. I guess I can dream. Legit has me thinking about doing some side Hussle IT stuff for a bit just to save up for it.. I won't lie.

 

[PACSman]

The R01 probably is a bit tight, or even E02 which was consider the power horse among the Motherboard, worth a try but please be easy on your choice of music, you probably need a portable amp. for very demanding tracks.

Thank you Andy! My enthusiasm ran away with my ideas. I have the Cayin n6ii E02 so I might keep with it, consider pairing it with the C9, or consider the A02+C9 (although the A02 is hard to find). Maybe one of those plans for the Stealth. Maybe a second n6ii with the R01 for my CIEM listening Your input helps set my expectations and put me on a better plan for my upgrades. Thank you!