Dan Clark Audio Stealth Review, Interview, Measurements

[801evan]

I just put on Glen Hansard - Roll On Slow and I'm listening at 74. Brad Mehldau's Jacob's Ladder album at 85.
90-95 would be too loud for me, unless I'm listening to something like a quieter classical album.

What's the light color on the Hugo 2 and tt2 where you are clipping the stealth or susvara?

 

[DarginMahkum]

@Currawong

What I'd be interested to know....when you listen to the Stealth on the M17 in DC mode...where are you approximately on the volume scale?

NOMAX

PS.i am most of the time at 90.....Some tracks if not many at 95

Wow, that is loud. I am currently listening in battery / over ear mode and even with single ended I can hit about 75, max about 80. In DC mode balanced 70 is my maximum. That is listening to Meta and Cornerstones / Liberation.

By the way, what a beast this M17 is.

 

[Nomax]

Not really

Personally, I would not buy very expensive headphones that offers me the performance with only 80 db distortion-free.....95 db -100 db should already be loosely possible if you want to have fun for a short time ... but so many are not available on the market

And 70 is really to fall asleep
(Nobody goes to the cinema/movies to sleep or maybe they do?)

NOMAX

PS.lol

 

[DarginMahkum]

Not really

Personally, I would not buy very expensive headphones that offers me the performance with only 80 db distortion-free.....95 db -100 db should already be loosely possible if you want to have fun for a short time ... but so many are not available on the market

And 70 is really to fall asleep
(Nobody goes to the cinema/movies to sleep or maybe they do?)

NOMAX

PS.lol

Are you talking about dB or volume scale in DC mode of M17? For me 90-95 "scale" is extremely uncomfortable and deafening.

 

[801evan]

X

 

[Nomax]

Are you talking about dB or volume scale in DC mode of M17? For me 90-95 "scale" is extremely uncomfortable and deafening.

Volume Scale on the M17...but at 95 I have only 10 tracks

NOMAX

PS.I know my personal listening volume in dB..I also had this elicited a few times
With the Questyle CMA15 i am not quite at 12 o'clock with the Stealth

 

[801evan]

Neighborhood expert taking a stab at Stealth at 43 min mark. He finds the Stealth lacks dynamics and "has the reputation of doing so" ergo, it's low distortion performance has no correlation to dynamics and sound quality .

 

[DarginMahkum]

Neighborhood expert taking a stab at Stealth at 43 min mark. He finds the Stealth lacks dynamics and "has the reputation of doing so" ergo, it's low distortion performance has no correlation to dynamics and sound quality .

Oh, gosh! "There is no explanation for that".

It is the audiophile Santa Klaus that does not push the "macro dynamics" into your ears! What part of Santa Klaus don't you understand!

 

[801evan]

Lol. Like I said...someone else's bass peak and treble peak is someone else's huge dynamics.

 

[DarginMahkum]

Lol. Like I said...someone else's bass peak and treble peak is someone else's huge dynamics.

So he is repeating thr same thing: "There are those transducers that reproduce the sound perfectly, but we developed a liking for a particular form of reproduction that is not perfect and it became the right thing although it is wrong." And then he goes into another argument of measuring the sound stage to support his blabber. Yes we cannot measure the sound stage in the same way as we cannot measure how distinct brown and green are seen by people as it is a perception thing. But we have a lot of knowledge about how to manipulate it.

Not knowing how a particular person perceives, that is what happens when the percieved data goes through his brain, is not not having knowledge about the pre-brain part of the process and its relation to the expressed perception.

 

[801evan]

47:25 Cameron: "...if they are a manufacturer it is of their best interest to keep it to themselves. They don't wanna give away all their secrets." if he only thought of this on mqa. I can see why he doesn't like mqa and the stealth. Lol. He certainly respected Holo audio when they said their DSP after the r2r stage is proprietary seeing that he is the admin and mod of fb group Holo Audio owners ...

 

[DarginMahkum]

47:25 Cameron: "...if they are a manufacturer it is of their best interest to keep it to themselves. They don't wanna give away all their secrets." if he only thought of this on mqa. I can see why he doesn't like mqa and the stealth. Lol. He certainly respected Holo audio when they said their DSP after the r2r stage is proprietary seeing that he is the admin and mod of fb group Holo Audio owners ...

I personally don't like MQA independent of its technicalities, as I support and use open standards and open source as much as possible without a company behind. I might be somewhat radical on that front, though I agree that he is contradicting his own argument here.

 

[GoldenSound]

Oh, gosh! "There is no explanation for that".

It is the audiophile Santa Klaus that does not push the "macro dynamics" into your ears! What part of Santa Klaus don't you understand!

It's not that there is no explanation. Just that there's nothing certain.

If something is audible is can be measured. The issue is can we interpret (and to what degree) the measurements we have.

In terms of the perceived lack of dynamics/slam, a good explanation could be the group delay which on the stealth has some unusual behaviour in the bass region.

Contrast this to a headphone that has a reputation for being slammy such as the HE6 and you don't see the same things. With no sudden transitions and in fact no drops into the negative at all in the bass region.

But then of course he6 has a much messier midrange/lower treble so perhaps that will contribute to differences in clarity or other subjective aspects in that region. (I've not tried HE6 so can't compare there, but I picked it as it has a reputation for being very dynamic/punchy)

 

[Nomax]

I find it really funny....I think I have mentioned it a few times already
There is no sub bass/deep bass possible with slam or dynamic (fast)....why sounds one of my favourites.....the Utopia so dynamic,fast and punchy?
(Or Diana Phi?)

Everbody should know the answer
If you increase in this area at the two models mentioned by me....would sound the thing already different...not so dynamic,fast and punchy
(That is why I am not a friend of the EQ)

NOMAX

PS.lol

 

[801evan]

I only heard the he6se... And I wouldn't call that punchy or dynamic, which corresponds to ASR he6 graphs... But I did hear the Hifiman ef6 amp and that thing has such lifted blacks... Any headphone would sound punchy.