I haven't seen any "professional" reviews directly compare the VC and Stealth in depth yet.
I'm not a reviewer and I've only been in this hobby since summer 2019, but I'll take a crack at it, in hopes it will help someone with a hard decision to make. And maybe by the end of this, I can make a decision about which one I'll eventually sell.
The Stealth excels at accuracy, realism, and balance. It sticks the Harman target so closely that most folks never need to EQ it, except for a bass shelf which is pretty safe to do. When listening I never have to wonder if a treble peak is due to the headphone or the recording -- it's most often the recording's fault. Another important quality is that distortion is extremely low. In the past with my other cans, I never noticed distortion unless it was purposefully in the mix (electric guitar crunch or vocal processing, etc.) but now swapping back to the Stealth from the VC or the Abyss 1266 TC (a distortion factory) reveals those unwanted resonances and distortion that I tolerated before. The music just sounds super clean, well separated, and effortless to follow. The AMTS metamaterial has potential to be swapped and modified later to customize the tuning, something DCA is known for. It's an exciting prospect, for sure. Detail on the VC is sharp by default but IMO somewhat dependent on pad thickness and ear-to-driver distance. It has more realistic and natural timbre than Stealth (which does a phenomenal job for a planar), but some unevenness in the FR that has been covered in depth here. I will say that I can listen to Stealth at higher volumes than normal for me (up to 88-92 db) for a LOT longer than with the VC, which can get fatiguing at even 85 dB for 20 min or so.
The Stealth's bass gets a lot of flack for having very little punch and slam. One owner called it "limp dick dynamics." Hilarious but kind of true. Apparently a few DCA cans have the same issue so it may be by design; I can't confirm since this is my first DCA product. The bass quality is excellent and faithful in terms of actual instrumental tone, and the quantity in terms of extension and volume/presence is there. Sub-bass rumble is very nice, however, the rest of the bass FR is only heard and not felt. Little, if any, bass air pressure is felt by the ear. Ear positioning within the cups is more important than I would like, and a perfect seal is a must for adequate bass. Glasses off, for sure, and consider shaving those muttonchops.
Swapping amps and cables improved bass quantity, but still only a little slam is achieved. I wonder if putting AMTS between the ear and driver prevents that sound pressure wave from reaching the ear. Not as important with chamber music or acoustic stuff, but for modern pop and electronic/hiphop, this may be a total deal breaker. The VC delivers bass perfectly - slam, punch, texture, in good proportion to the rest of the mix - and can be tuned further with pad swaps. Sometimes I will remember to take my glasses off, and am totally shocked by how much better the bass gets on the VC. For the rest of the FR, due to reasons listed above about distortion handling, Stealth takes the cake. The VC comes closest to my preferred mids presentation with the Auteur hybrid pads, but there is a perceived blunting of transients as a tradeoff. Some have mentioned it before on here, and I agree.
So, which is the more "open" closed back can????
The Stealth, by a tad, but hear me out. Its stage width stretches very wide, which I believe is a product of its insane resolving capabilities and lack of distortion, and not so much its physical cup size/volume as is the case in most closed backs. In fact, if you look at the Stealth cups you'll see that they're peculiarly in relief, or concave if you will. If anything the cup volume is minimized. So I'm led to believe that it mostly achieves this by virtue of its driver, FR handling and AMTS.
Putting the headphones on, your head feels like it's in a recording booth lined with egg carton foam, except the room is enormous. As I mentioned above, ear position within the cup requires some thought to get a balanced center image, and I have to fiddle with it more often than I prefer to.
Depending on the pad used, the VC stage is probably as wide but by DEFAULT has superior depth and height. I'm presuming angled drivers, large cup dimensions, and inherent resonance due to wood type probably contribute to this effect. The VC's holography still cannot be beat, and is by far its most impressive technical attribute.
The Stealth's industrial design is phenomenal, and has to be held to really understand how densely packed with tech it is (the temperature of its titanium/aluminum frame is also cool to the touch, which imbues a sense of futurism to it). It feels like it can take a bullet and probably keep playing. Dan Clark says the materials, from the vegan leather to the drivers themselves, are meant to last a lifetime. Right on. It's a lot lighter than my leopardwood VC and doesn't give me a hotspot (I'm curious about a co-pilot pad since folks are talking about all the new options). No point in comparing aesthetics, since this is personal. ZMF makes works of art. The Sapele cups are just *chef's kiss* and not to mention those stabilized sets, my goodness.
The last piece covers the overall emotional connection to the music. I have an emotional connection to both my Verites. I chose the wood and the hardware material and color. Though there are others like it, my VC was made for me, and I can one day imagining giving them as a gift to my favorite son (the other gets my 99 Classics). The ZMF house tuning feels careful, a little warm but quite balanced. It's the headphone equivalent of coming home to a crusty bread bowl filled with hot chowder after hours of shoveling snow. I never used to understand what reviewers meant when describing headphones as "romantic," but now I do partially understand. My interpretation is how emotionally engaged and immersed in the music I become, thinking less about technicalities and the physics of sound and its moving pieces. Sometimes I'll admit that I care less about artistry and music, and more about how the transducers are beaming it into my head. When I'm feeling a need to reconnect to music, I reach for my VC, but even when I'm not already in that mood, I find that the VC will actually PUT me in that mood. For some reason, I don't get that with the Stealth. Maybe because the Stealth is indestructible and from the future, and the VC is very much of the now. Its paint and wood polish have already started to fade; the wood cups will accumulate nicks and scars, and one day they'll crumble away totally. I care about my VC -- like, actually have sentimental feelings for them -- and that makes the music it conveys just that bit sweeter.
Hope this helps someone. I know it did for me. I'm happy to report that I'll be keeping my VC for now.
I'll wait to see what Dan Clark has in store with an open design and possibly different AMTS mods before I sell the Stealth though. Stay tuned.
