Dan Clark Audio Stealth Review, Interview, Measurements

[Nomax]

Stellia came across FAR too bright and thin comparatively for my tastes.

An audiophile tonality should have enough brightness

NOMAX

PS.to get the real details from a recording
With a dark sounding Headphone you can not bring all the information to your ears

 

[xirxes]

An audiophile tonality should have enough brightness

NOMAX

PS.to get the real details from a recording
With a dark sounding Headphone you can not bring all the information to your ears

Not sure if the translation is registering on that one…. But the sound was quite UN-pleasant, even if you are correct that it is revealing, if what it is revealing is presented in a way that to my subjective ear is beyond fatuiging it matters very little.

 

[ThanatosVI]

An audiophile tonality should have enough brightness

NOMAX

PS.to get the real details from a recording
With a dark sounding Headphone you can not bring all the information to your ears

A dark sounding headphone has no problems bringing all the information to your ears.
Best example is the T+A Solitaire P

 

[trellus]

I think the Stealth will get many many fans arround the globe.....its one of the models that doesn't do much wrong

NOMAX

PS.look at HD820 ....the Stellia from Focal is the only competitor to the Stealth...yes these are cheaper (3000 Euros)....better in buildquality...little bit faster...easier to drive but in the area 100-200 hz to much (woom woom)

I swore you were the early guy on the HD 820, did you not like them after more time with them? The HD 820 are much, much, much cheaper than the Stealth, less than half the price of the Stealth brand new from Sennheiser ($1800 USD), and even cheaper if you are willing to buy Sennheiser Refurbished from Senneheiser's eBay store front ($1400 USD).

 

[Nomax]

A dark sounding headphone has no problems bringing all the information to your ears.
Best example is the T+A Solitaire P

Really?

NOMAX

 

[ThanatosVI]

Really?

NOMAX

Yes really

 

[Trance_Gott]

LCD4 is one of the most resolving headphone.

 

[Icenine2]

WAF 100% for me. (Wife Acceptance Factor). She told me last night how much she "really like's" my new headphones. That is because she can't hear them from another room when I'm listening for hours. The kids same.

 

[OneEyedHito]

Here is my 3 minute review, not all things accomplished in 3 minutes are bad.

 

[BassicScience]

Also, I cannot recommend strongly enough for those of you having issues with registering muddy mids, these cans respond exceptionally well to better cables and dac/amp improvements.

I can't imagine anyone experiencing muddy mids with the Stealth. My only real issue was "Where's the bass??"!

 

[OneEyedHito]

I can't imagine anyone experiencing muddy mids with the Stealth. My only real issue was "Where's the bass??"!

A few songs in and I can say these are a very easy listen - VERY. Seems as flat as a board across the range. They do not have that closed back resonance or sound stage containment and are more comfortable than the Sony MDZ1R to me but price to performance I can not say they are resolving enough in the lows or the highs compared to a Susvara and no where near the 1266 to my ears. These could be listened to for many hours on end and not be offensive or straining to my hearing it appears. I don't see myself doing that at this point with the Susvara in my stable and a few other sets of TOTL cans enroute but I could see the attraction to them.

As for my somewhat tongue in cheek text message screenshot above they are more resolving up top than the Sony, those are a bit thick in the mid and lows and it overwhelms the high fq to my ears. These are a better listen so far.

 

[xirxes]

I can't imagine anyone experiencing muddy mids with the Stealth. My only real issue was "Where's the bass??"!

It’s just in its right place. Even and balanced, like the rest of the spectrum. When I throw a 3dB bass EQ on these, the “slam” factor starts to play but I almost always remove it for classical or jazz or anything at all intricate, as then you are indeed losing the detail that these are capable of giving you. If you want “THE BASS!!!” Then you give up “THE MUSIC!!!” lol any of the bass boomers, VC and Rognir and others you just mudd up your signal across the board.

 

[rangerid]

It’s just in its right place. Even and balanced, like the rest of the spectrum. When I throw a 3dB bass EQ on these, the “slam” factor starts to play but I almost always remove it for classical or jazz or anything at all intricate, as then you are indeed losing the detail that these are capable of giving you. If you want “THE BASS!!!” Then you give up “THE MUSIC!!!” lol any of the bass boomers, VC and Rognir and others you just mudd up your signal across the board.

You can most definitely have booming slammy bass and "THE MUSIC!!!", not exactly one or the other kind of deal

 

[Nostoi]

It’s just in its right place. Even and balanced, like the rest of the spectrum. When I throw a 3dB bass EQ on these, the “slam” factor starts to play but I almost always remove it for classical or jazz or anything at all intricate, as then you are indeed losing the detail that these are capable of giving you. If you want “THE BASS!!!” Then you give up “THE MUSIC!!!” lol any of the bass boomers, VC and Rognir and others you just mudd up your signal across the board.

You haven't heard the Rögnir, have you?

 

[BassicScience]

It’s just in its right place. Even and balanced, like the rest of the spectrum. When I throw a 3dB bass EQ on these, the “slam” factor starts to play but I almost always remove it for classical or jazz or anything at all intricate, as then you are indeed losing the detail that these are capable of giving you. If you want “THE BASS!!!” Then you give up “THE MUSIC!!!” lol any of the bass boomers, VC and Rognir and others you just mudd up your signal across the board.

I hope you're not serious. It's not like I'm a basshead, but the Stealth (without EQ) presents as noticeably bass-lite in comparison to other reference headphones (Susvara, Utopia). I'm certainly not the first listener who's had that impression of it, either. There are obviously folks who find that tuning desirable, and I'm not making any value judgments on anyone's personal preferences.

FWIW, I did audition the Rognir at CanJam and found it to have a similar spaciousness to the Stealth with better bass impact. I did notice some peakiness in the upper mids that made the high notes in the piano solo of the song Aladdin Sane rather piercing, which gave me pause. At $4k, I'd need more time with the Rognir before I could commit to it, although there was a lot to like in general for a closed back. It would be interesting to hear Stealth vs. Rognir with both EQ'd. I really like the aesthetics of both headphones for different reasons, but the Stealth was just a bit more comfortable and ergonomic.