Cross-post from the Watercooler thread-
Impressions of the DCA Noire X
A big THANKS to
@goldwerger,
@Audio46 and Dan Clark Audio for making this possible.
A little history... Back in 2014, I thought it would be a good idea to open an online-only headphone and personal audio shop, attempting to turn my hobby into a business. There wasn't nearly the competition in the space as there is now, and if I had had a LOT more capital to build it up, I may have succeeded. However, I did not. That said, my first step was to attend CanJam NYC and ask brands that appealed to me if I could sell their wares online.
@mrspeakers himself, Dan Clark was very kind to me and agreed almost immediately to let me become a dealer, selling the awesome Mad Dog, Alpha Dog and then the original Ether. I loved watching people light up when they auditioned his headphones at the pop-up shops I would hold in NYC. MrSpeakers was my favorite of the brands I sold, and Dan was a great guy to work with. Well, I finally admitted defeat and closed up shop in 2020, and the only DCA headphone still in my possession is the original Aeon (closed) - so I was eager to hear how this newest generation of that headphone sounds.
Lucky thing I still have that Aeon, too, because the
Tour Noire X comes only with XLR and 4.4 cables, and I don't have an amp that takes either! So my listening is with my inferior original Aeon cable, which is 3.5 with a 6.33 adapter. At least my comparisons are apples-to-apples, all with that cable from the Icon Audio HP8 Signature.
I had not listened to the Aeon in quite a while, but I started with the Noire X, and wow - the sound was crystal clear with great extension at both ends. I had listened to the DCA E3 ($2000) at CanJam Dallas last year, and was mighty impressed, but without an E3 here to compare, my audio memory is telling me that the Noire comes closer than it has a right to at its $1000 price. I find it quite interesting that DCA has done such a fine job with these two closed-back models, but has not come out with open-back equivalents. Must be something to do with the driver and damping technologies he is employing that don't lend themselves as well to open backs. (Purely speculation on my part.)
After getting acquainted with the Noire X, I am pleased to report that all the online hype and praise is well deserved. I would like to say that this is the best $1000 closed-back headphone I have ever heard, BUT... I hardly ever listen to closed-backs, so my experience is fairly limited in that regard. If I had been blindfolded in a quiet room, I would not have guessed that these are closed, and that is high praise. A few years back, I kind of gave up on planars as well, finding that I was enjoying dynamic drivers more. The new tech being employed here (and in the E3) have me changing my mind a bit.
It is in comparing the NX to the (OG) Aeon that the changes in the "planar sound" are evident. I was never good at finding the words to describe why dynamics suited my preferences better than planars, but the latter to my ears always had a sort of glare in the upper midrange/lower treble that put me off. My old Aeon has it, but listening on an OTC tube amp with impedance switch now (which I had not done), it is somewhat mitigated, and the Aeon surprised me with how good it sounded. Although it is clearly a couple rungs below the NX in every regard - bass quality and quantity, midrange clarity and treble clarity and extension - all told, in my wildly unscientific estimation, I'll call the NX 25% "better." The self adjusting headband and new-style ear pads are comfortable, but I did find myself having to nudge them back up my head a little every now and then - whereas the old style needed to be manually adjusted, but stayed put very well.
The NX is an easy recommendation to anyone looking in this price range for a closed-back. And if I have swayed you, try to buy them at Audio 46 (no affiliation here, just gratitude for lending this pair to Eyal for the Watercooler Tour).
Or a new version of Expanse - max 2.000$ that is easy to drive.
Almost 
