[Virion]

Had a listen to the stealth this weekend at my local dealer. Listened with the following chain: Auralic streamer/qobuz - chord TT2 - benchmark HPA4 - stealth.
Reading up on this thread i'm sorry i did not listen straight out of the tt2 amp. To see/hear for myself if a dedicated amp is required.
However I really liked what I heard with the HPA4/stealth combo. As already mentioned here, the staging and black background are really special. The stealth creates this accoustically treated room where the music/instruments just sound effortless. Nothing was bloated or recessed, everything was clear. I listened to ibrahim maalouf - kalthoum and the sons of kemet - black to the future as I enjoy both albums and both use the entire spectrum.

I also brought my verite closed to compare, which taught me alot about both headphones. The VC creates this wall of sound thats all about letting go and enjoying the ride. Something like a rollercoaster ride at an amusementpark. The stealth puts you in the driver seat and you can go and do anything you want.

I also did a listen with the niimbus US4+ amp. Did not like it at all. The niimbus puts this warm veil over the sound that just obscures the music. Also there was this annoying click each time you turn the volume knob.

Conclusion: I'm saving my pennies for the stealth and HPA4.

 

[801evan]

It's so easy to try .. just listen to cradle to grave of max richter ..you will ear between 45" to 1' 20 that the Stealth will be clipping when power is lacking at any level (Kann Alpha et Centrance M8 V2 in my case) and not clipping when I put an 2x3W amp behind both od these DAP/DAC..
Just try it .. and tell us.

I got to try it on the Dave and eco mode on the diablo. That really threw a lot of SPL to my ear. I'm only 1 o'clock on eco mode. No clipping. Wonderful rumble, excellent quantity and perception of space.

Just another simple test with the DCA Stealth is the beginning of Yet Another Movie (2019 Remix 192 khz) of Pink floyd .. clipping again a lot without any power amp behind the Kann Alpha ....
I am afraid, with 86db sensitivity, the DCA has no chance to be moved properly with the 740mW 32Ω of the Hugo 2, though I can't try it by my self.
Which low sensitivity headphone did you try with a Hugo 2 ?
Chord Dave can provide twice the power at 32 ohms ot the Chord Hugo 2, so I imagine you should not be as limited as with chord Hugo 2

No clipping on my end except that kick drum on 1:54 but I don't know if that's in the record. I'm playing it soft and it still has that clipping quality on that part but nowhere else.

 

[audioandy]

Ok, so the Stealth finally arrived, and from the first listen it's amazing how open they sound!




DCA sisters, gorgeous.




The old guard vs new blood

It looks like you can already see the irreversible pad twisting starting on your Stealths, based on the uneven seam on the first picture where the light reflects. It's the same problem your Aeons have, which you can see at the top of the Aeon pad in the second picture, where the foam gets twisted under the leather, causing it to permanently lose its shape and distort the cup. This reduces comfort and can harm the seal reducing bass response.

You can see the pad twisting issue literally in the marketing image for the Stealth https://danclarkaudio.com/dcastealth.html look how the left pad has an uneven fold in the seam.

I'm not buying $4,000 headphones that have the same issue as Aeon pads. I hope new pad design is released.

 

[801evan]

It looks like you can already see the irreversible pad twisting starting on your Stealths, based on the uneven seam on the first picture where the light reflects. It's the same problem your Aeons have, which you can see at the top of the Aeon pad in the second picture, where the foam gets twisted under the leather, causing it to permanently lose its shape and distort the cup. This reduces comfort and can harm the seal reducing bass response.

You can see the pad twisting issue literally in the marketing image for the Stealth https://danclarkaudio.com/dcastealth.html look how the left pad has an uneven fold in the seam.

I'm not buying $4,000 headphones that have the same issue as Aeon pads. I hope new pad design is released.

It's two different materials and it's called stitching.

 

[audioandy]

It's two different materials and it's called stitching.

I certainly wish that were the case. Sadly it's not, and my second pair of Aeon pads are already doing the same thing as my first one did after a few months.It's clearly afflicting the Stealth too (confirmed by other users on other forums). Dan Clark audio is the only headphone brand I've come across that makes pads with an issue like this, even though I own headphones with much larger pads.

Some people don't seem to mind the loss in comfort and bass seal from the twisting. For me I don't think it's appropriate that a $4,000 headphone has this issue, nor do I think it's appropriate for $800 Aeon headphones, the Stealth seem like another league of the issue though.

 

[elira]

I certainly wish that were the case. Sadly it's not, and my second pair of Aeon pads are already doing the same thing as my first one did after a few months.It's clearly afflicting the Stealth too (confirmed by other users on other forums). Dan Clark audio is the only headphone brand I've come across that makes pads with an issue like this, even though I own headphones with much larger pads.



Some people don't seem to mind the loss in comfort and bass seal from the twisting. For me I don't think it's appropriate that a $4,000 headphone has this issue, nor do I think it's appropriate for $800 Aeon headphones, the Stealth seem like another league of the issue though.

My Stealth haven’t done that, and I have been using them frequently.

 

[801evan]

I certainly wish that were the case. Sadly it's not, and my second pair of Aeon pads are already doing the same thing as my first one did after a few months.It's clearly afflicting the Stealth too (confirmed by other users on other forums). Dan Clark audio is the only headphone brand I've come across that makes pads with an issue like this, even though I own headphones with much larger pads.



Some people don't seem to mind the loss in comfort and bass seal from the twisting. For me I don't think it's appropriate that a $4,000 headphone has this issue, nor do I think it's appropriate for $800 Aeon headphones, the Stealth seem like another league of the issue though.

That is lumpy. But the Stealth is very different with the foam and the headfi video said they dit many rounds of iterations to come to the final model.

 

[ThanatosVI]

I certainly wish that were the case. Sadly it's not, and my second pair of Aeon pads are already doing the same thing as my first one did after a few months.It's clearly afflicting the Stealth too (confirmed by other users on other forums). Dan Clark audio is the only headphone brand I've come across that makes pads with an issue like this, even though I own headphones with much larger pads.



Some people don't seem to mind the loss in comfort and bass seal from the twisting. For me I don't think it's appropriate that a $4,000 headphone has this issue, nor do I think it's appropriate for $800 Aeon headphones, the Stealth seem like another league of the issue though.

While your picture clearly shows an issue with the pads I can't see any indication of that on msa1133s picture

 

[Johnlovemusic]

Valuable imformation for a newbie like me. Thanks!

 

[DarginMahkum]

LCD-5: https://www.head-fi.org/threads/aud...ments-interview.959808/page-131#post-16625385

 

[DarginMahkum]

It looks like you can already see the irreversible pad twisting starting on your Stealths, based on the uneven seam on the first picture where the light reflects. It's the same problem your Aeons have, which you can see at the top of the Aeon pad in the second picture, where the foam gets twisted under the leather, causing it to permanently lose its shape and distort the cup. This reduces comfort and can harm the seal reducing bass response.

You can see the pad twisting issue literally in the marketing image for the Stealth https://danclarkaudio.com/dcastealth.html look how the left pad has an uneven fold in the seam.

I'm not buying $4,000 headphones that have the same issue as Aeon pads. I hope new pad design is released.

What do you expect? That the pads will not change any shape? Also is losing bass something you have experienced or you _think_ it might happen?

 

[elira]

LCD-5: https://www.head-fi.org/threads/aud...ments-interview.959808/page-131#post-16625385

That's like a different thing, that is normal wear due to the foam compressing. The foam in the Aeon pads rotates inside the pad which makes them lose shape, the couple times it has happened to me I have been able to put it back into place, but apparently sometimes it might not be possible to get it back into place or the wear in the leather/fake-leather makes the rotation easy to happen. But so far I haven't experienced that with the Stealth.

 

[mrspeakers]

When the ears touch the inside of the earbud, a crackling sound is heard. Has anyone encountered such a situation?
To do this, you need to press the headphones to your ears.

That's the driver reacting to the pressure. If you don't like it stop pressing on it.

I certainly wish that were the case. Sadly it's not, and my second pair of Aeon pads are already doing the same thing as my first one did after a few months.It's clearly afflicting the Stealth too (confirmed by other users on other forums). Dan Clark audio is the only headphone brand I've come across that makes pads with an issue like this, even though I own headphones with much larger pads.



Some people don't seem to mind the loss in comfort and bass seal from the twisting. For me I don't think it's appropriate that a $4,000 headphone has this issue, nor do I think it's appropriate for $800 Aeon headphones, the Stealth seem like another league of the issue though.

That sucks, and is considered a warranty issue. Drop us a note and we'll replace those pads.

Sewing has tolerances, folk, normally it's +/-2mm for a lot of pad vendors, we've managed to get it to +/-1mm but even then a sewn seam will almost never lay on the sharp edge of the foam, it will usually go to the outside edge causing a bulge. AEON pads are very narrow so foam movement is more of an issue because the ration of seem size to contact area is lower so the foam can more readily shift, most pads do fine but not all do and we will cover problems like your photo under warranty.

Lastly, the larger the pad the less likely the problem. It's a question of ratio of seem to surface area of the top surface to the size of the seem, more or less. A fat round pad won't move because there's a lot more surface area relative to the seem size. But then you have a bulkier, heavier headphone that covers a big part of your cheek.

The Stealth pads are wider and therefore much more stable and to date I am not aware of anyone having a problem, and the photos that have been "shown" on other sites are not indicative of anything other than normal tolerances.

 

[DarginMahkum]

That's like a different thing, that is normal wear doe to the foam compressing. The foam in the Aeon pads rotates inside the pad which makes them lose shape, the couple times it has happened to me I have been able to put it back into place, but apparently sometimes it might not be possible to get it back into place or the wear in the leather/fake-leather makes the rotation easy to happen. But so far I haven't experienced that with the Stealth.

Stealth pads are different:

https://audio-head.com/review-dan-clark-audio-stealth/

 

[audioandy]

Example of the issue starting on stealth pads:

This issue has affected multiple (if not all since the Aeon?) Dan Clark Audio headphones. I don't see evidence that having a different material on one side as the only change will prevent the foam twisting underneath the pad, which is what happens to Dan Clark Audio headphones.

That sucks, and is considered a warranty issue. Drop us a note and we'll replace those pads

What? That's not what you told me over email, these are the replacement pads, and I had to buy them full price. What is going on here?