[phthora]

No Fushitsusha? Stumbled on that band a few years ago. Wow. Japanese metal

My favorite artist ever is Keiji Haino! OT, but I had to acknowledge the reference since I never come across other fans.

Carry on, everyone.

 

[riverground]

So... two days ago, I had the opportunity to demo the Stealth and I've written a "short" initial impression over on the Head Gear section.

https://www.head-fi.org/showcase/dan-clark-audio-stealth.25434/review/26812/

Hoping to do a full-length review and a photo session with these beauties one day.

 

[OM hawk]

I've been using the Stealth for about 2 weeks now. I speculate there's something about driver dampening and reverberation control that seems to affect the perception of slam. Sub-bass rumble and punch comes through for some electronic music, but it does not convey a sense of visceral impact when it comes to drums in my metalcore and progressive metal tracks. This is in comparison to my Verite Closed,

Since you also have a Verite Closed, would you mind doing a quick comparison of the Stealth vs VC in terms of noise isolation? Preferably with the VC stock pads, as I've read that those are highly isolating. Thanks a lot!

 

[Resolve]

Sub-bass rumble and punch comes through for some electronic music, but it does not convey a sense of visceral impact when it comes to drums in my metalcore and progressive metal tracks

So I think this is different from the whole 'macro-contrast' question with these headphones. To me that just sounds like a question of level at certain ranges, specifically in the upper bass/lower mid section. A lot of recordings for those genres don't token the full sub-bass range, so you're likely not hearing the sub-bass boost the Stealth has with those tracks. A way to check is to boost that area that's dipped around 150hz with EQ and see how it sounds. For this reason though, I kind of think Harman isn't well-suited to this genre haha. Maybe just flat with a bass boost would work better there, rather than the contour.

 

[ptr516]

Since you also have a Verite Closed, would you mind doing a quick comparison of the Stealth vs VC in terms of noise isolation? Preferably with the VC stock pads, as I've read that those are highly isolating. Thanks a lot!

I tested the noise isolation using pink noise set to around a level of 60 db. The Verite Closed with the stock Auteur lambskin pads does provide slightly more noise isolation than the Stealth by ear. I noticed more of the higher frequencies leaking through the Stealth pads.

I believe this is due to the pad material. The Stealth's pads are similar in composition to the ZMF hybrid pads, which I also find to have less noise isolation than their lambskin pads. NOTE: I checked the noise isolation with my glasses on for both. Despite being less isolating, I do find that the Stealth fits more snugly and potentially forms a better seal.

So I think this is different from the whole 'macro-contrast' question with these headphones. To me that just sounds like a question of level at certain ranges, specifically in the upper bass/lower mid section. A lot of recordings for those genres don't token the full sub-bass range, so you're likely not hearing the sub-bass boost the Stealth has with those tracks. A way to check is to boost that area that's dipped around 150hz with EQ and see how it sounds. For this reason though, I kind of think Harman isn't well-suited to this genre haha. Maybe just flat with a bass boost would work better there, rather than the contour.

Ah, I see. I'll give a shot at boosting around 150 Hz to see how that does. It is definitely tough to isolate the macro-contrast quality from the perception of it due to frequency response. Are there certain cues that you use to hone in on while this quality?

By the way, great work on the review. I thought it aligned well with my thoughts on the Stealth.

 

[wazzupi]

are the pads on the stealth glued ?

 

[Alcophone]

are the pads on the stealth glued ?

See here:

Ear pads are taped and user replaceable, they aren’t glued and in fact they can usually be removed and replaced 5-10 times before the adhesive fails. It takes 5 minutes to swap pads.

Why tape? Bayonets break and seldom seal well, stretching is bulky. Tape gives us easy service, highest dimensional tolerances, and a reliable seal.

We would never make pad swapping hard for people.

And the materials we use are TOTL, the protein leather costs as much as fine leather, this was about everything BUT cost.

 

[DarginMahkum]

imagine how many susvara's they would sell at 3 grand...or how many mercedes they would sell at 20 grand etc

Imagine how much it costs to invest 4 years of research and development in this headphone. Amir in his video mentioned that he grilled DCA for the price left and right, but they explained him that there's no way around it.

 

[537778]

Potential customer does not have to engineer a headphone to determine what they think something is worth and are willing to spend.. Its still just a headphone at the end of the day...

An engineer may not even spend $2500 and he would know he still can get 'quite similar' sound signature at way lower price point since he knows the concept of 'diminishing returns'.

 

[wazzupi]

An engineer may not even spend $2500 and he would know he still can get 'quite similar' sound signature at way lower price point since he knows the concept of 'diminishing returns'.

what ? please these little jabs are comical man.

 

[537778]

what ? please these little jabs are comical man.

Its your money, go spend it. As someone rightly said in the end its still a headphone and if you can afford more power to you.

 

[DarginMahkum]

Potential customer does not have to engineer a headphone to determine what they think something is worth and are willing to spend.. Its still just a headphone at the end of the day...

I have happened to open up a TOTL headphone of a company that sells headphones for about $3K, which people rave about. Believe me, it wasn't a pleasant sight knowing what I paid for it. I would not pay $500 knowing what I know now, for this box of wood and cheap off the shelf driver, so called TOTL headphone. But it sells like crazy. But I don't want to badmouth anyone's investment and fun.

Here you have a closed back headphone that is able to tackle issues no other company was able to until now. None. This at the moment the state of the art. It is not about if the sound is for anyone's liking. Frankly after spending tens of thousands in these gadgets, Stealth is one of the few that I feel it deserves its market price.

 

[Ciggavelli]

I have happened to open up a TOTL headphone of a company that sells for about $3K, which people rave about. Believe me, it wasn't a pleasant sight knowing what I paid for it. I would not pay $500 knowing what I know now, for this box of wood and cheap off the shelf driver, so called TOTL headphone. But it sells like crazy. But I don't want to badmouth anyone's investment and fun.

Here you have a closed back headphone that is able to tackle issues no other company was able to until now. None. This at the moment the state of the art. It is not about if the sound is for anyone's liking. Frankly after spending tens of thousands in these gadgets, Stealth is one of the few that I feel it deserves its market price.

$3K, wood, very popular, but not good?

I’m going with the ZMF VCs (I too sold my pair)

 

[rsbrsvp]

Did headphones.com ever come out with its full feature review of the Stealth?

 

[riverground]

Did headphones.com ever come out with its full feature review of the Stealth?

Yup it was actually posted on here earlier.

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