Dan Clark Audio Stealth Review, Interview, Measurements

[elira]

Jacques Loussier Trio - J.S.Bach Fugue in G minor is good track to test Stealth dynamics. Try it, you might like it.
Its a Jazzy spin on classical masterpieces.

This one sounds amazing on the Stealth, way better than on the LCD-XC. The Stealth show more depth and separation, also the drums sound with more impact, nice experience.

 

[xirxes]

This one sounds amazing on the Stealth, way better than on the LCD-XC. The Stealth show more depth and separation, also the drums sound with more impact, nice experience.

Can you give The intro from Time- Pink Floyd an A/B to check SS and imaging comparisons?

this is one place where Stealth really performs over CX or HD800 alike.

 

[elira]

Can you give The intro from Time- Pink Floyd an A/B to check SS and imaging comparisons?

this is one place where Stealth really performs over CX or HD800 alike.

Imaging is slightly better on the Stealth, but for overall enjoyment I'm not sure if I would pick the Stealth or the LCD-XC for this particular song. Both headphones sound very similar on this one.

 

[Icenine2]

Who here is in possession of the Stealth and where did you buy them from? Thank you.

 

[ufospls2]

for anyone who has received the Stealth.

How is the isolation? In and out. Apologies if this has been mentioned and I missed it.

 

[Brahmsian]

Interesting response! I have to explore that.

And from my end some agreement in the sense that my test tracks cover a range of (what I consider to be) well recorded instruments, and if any headphone or speaker cannot reproduce them well, they won't do it for me. While that's necessary, it's not sufficient because I listen to wide range of genres with a lot of variability in recording quality, so anything that cab only do classical music well wouldn't do the trick, I suspect. Though it seems that to you that term encompasses a lot more than it does to me and my ignorance, so it's possible that a product that covers all kinds of classical music well wouldn't do poorly with Pop or European Hardestyle, either.

I'm curious where you would put these:

• "Soft Landing" by Hadouk Trio
• "For Luis" by Nenad Vasilic
• "Think" by Kaleida

“Classical“ is ambiguous, referring to both a certain period and an entire genre. “Soft Landing” I would classify as a cross between jazz and world, “For Luis” as jazz, and “Think” as pop. These boundaries are fluid though and I’m sure I‘m pigeonholing.

I agree. While some of the best recordings ever made are classical, there are many bad recordings as well. Same for Opera. I like Pavorotti recordings, but none of them are top tier.

I wonder if he was trying to say if your system portrays acoustical music correctly, it will then do the same with electronic? Either way, listen to what you like or you will not enjoy it. This is supposed to be enjoyment.

“This is supposed to be enjoyment.“ Not for professional reviewers, for whom it‘s a job. They can enjoy their work, of course, but it comes with certain responsibilities, and one of them should be to educate themselves about a wide variety of music. Another should be not to pander to the lowest common denominator.

The stuff that happens behind the driver affects the driver itself and therefore comes through it and to the front.

Think of a wave of water that hits a wall. It bounces off and part of it comes back to where it came from.

The AMTS in the Stealth is supposed to condition that: “It integrates waveguides, diffusion control, quarter-wave, and Helmholtz resonators into one compact structure.”

 

[Tachyon88]

Why are people using the word dynamics and compressed to talk about "punch" ? These are being conflated to me. I seriously doubt this headphone lacks "dynamics".

Some might need to check bass expectations. Harmon is not overly bassy, it still track dependent on what you get. I use Harmon with all my headphones and was expecting the TH900 to be "bass cannons". Well it turns out after looking at the FR, bass is very close to Harmon level stock. I was already listening to that level of bass and therefore was not impressed. I love the bass on an EQ HD800s and just recently really love the EQ'd bass on my arya.

@mrspeakers Are the pads "tapped" like the ether 2 "peel-able" pads, or is it different. I wasn't too clear on that.

 

[EMINENT]

Imaging is slightly better on the Stealth, but for overall enjoyment I'm not sure if I would pick the Stealth or the LCD-XC for this particular song. Both headphones sound very similar on this one.

Do you have any open backs?

 

[elira]

Do you have any open backs?

Yes.

 

[EMINENT]

Yes.

Could you try this on the Stealth and compare?

 

[xirxes]

for anyone who has received the Stealth.

How is the isolation? In and out. Apologies if this has been mentioned and I missed it.

Look back 3-4 pages i did a few tests on isolation you can read

 

[Licht]

Why are people using the word dynamics and compressed to talk about "punch" ? These are being conflated to me. I seriously doubt this headphone lacks "dynamics".

Some might need to check bass expectations. Harmon is not overly bassy, it still track dependent on what you get. I use Harmon with all my headphones and was expecting the TH900 to be "bass cannons". Well it turns out after looking at the FR, bass is very close to Harmon level stock. I was already listening to that level of bass and therefore was not impressed. I love the bass on an EQ HD800s and just recently really love the EQ'd bass on my arya.

@mrspeakers Are the pads "tapped" like the ether 2 "peel-able" pads, or is it different. I wasn't too clear on that.

I don't have Stealth, but have Ether2.
Many people says it lacks dynamics and compressed, but to me it is not.
But, yes, I sometimes feels Ether2 (original pad) too modest, or slightly lacking of presence/treble region, or you can say it bit boring, and I think that is what many people say "lacks dynamics and compressed".
But I never felt Ether2 lacking of dynamics or compressed, and I really love it too.
I think many people are just using "dynamics" or "compressed" in different meaning to me, which are like "presence region", "sparkle", "treble","edgyness", "slight harshness", "punch", etc..

Also, HD650, probably due to having much pronounced presence region and also dynamic driver, it feel much more "punch" than Ether2, but sometimes I feel it too much in presence region and also too colored when I listen to flute, which is really hard to reproduce instrument.

Perforated pads changes it a lot more toward "normal" headphones with more bass and highs, but to me, it sounded too unnatural (not consistent among frequencies), and what I couldn't really bear was looser and slower bass on perforated pads which was killing one of the most strength of Ether2, extremely fast and tight bass.
I know, this is just my preference, so I won't say the original pads is better for everyone, and in contrary I think perforated pads are suited for many people.

btw, I use T50RPmk3N + MrSpeakers Alpha Pads for Live video or J-Pop when I want punch and forward vocal and BASS.
It is rough but fun (often much more than Ether2 in cost of absolute sound quality).

 

[elira]

Could you try this on the Stealth and compare?

I'm not sure how useful this is going to be, I'm not familiar with that genre. I used my Grado Hemp that I love and it sounds ok, I can hear everything but everything seems to be from the same distance. What happens with the Stealth is that instruments seem to come from different distances, you can hear some instruments nearer and other farther, and from different positions. That layering is very evident in the Stealth but not on all tracks, some tracks are very flat while others have tons of layers.

So far I don't think the Stealth will excel on all tracks, there are some tracks that sound amazing, others sound just ok and it's like a roulette. I was listening to my music in shuffle and every song was a surprise. I don't think it's tied to a specific genre, it's more about how the track was mixed/mastered.

 

[ra990]

I loved deep bass on the Ether2. As long as Stealth has that and even more resolution, I'll be happy.

 

[EMINENT]

I'm not sure how useful this is going to be, I'm not familiar with that genre. I used my Grado Hemp that I love and it sounds ok, I can hear everything but everything seems to be from the same distance. What happens with the Stealth is that instruments seem to come from different distances, you can hear some instruments nearer and other farther, and from different positions. That layering is very evident in the Stealth but not on all tracks, some tracks are very flat while others have tons of layers.

So far I don't think the Stealth will excel on all tracks, there are some tracks that sound amazing, others sound just ok and it's like a roulette. I was listening to my music in shuffle and every song was a surprise. I don't think it's tied to a specific genre, it's more about how the track was mixed/mastered.

Thank you for your time. I was interested in the sense of slam, punch, detail and dynamics in comparison to others. Moreso the bass impact on Stealth vs. others.