Dan Clark Audio Stealth Measurements and Thoughts

To my ears, there is a lot more detail and better overall presentation in the Stealth, which sounds more natural to me. The Noire’s highs can be tiresome to me and the bass needs a little help - I use them at work with the thick white pads. The soundstage is wider in the Stealth — heck, it feels wider to me than my LCD-X 2019’s. Transients are crazy good - so the bass for me is more believable. No funky bass extension here - they will give you a bit of that swing feel.

A bit off topic - the Expanse has some weight added to the bass, perhaps more than I’d like, and the soundstage is not just wider but taller. Try ‘em all!

 

Has anyone compared DCA headphones to STAX? I have the L700 (mk1, blu-tak modded) and all this talk about the DCAs makes me curious, though the Stealth / Expanse are just way too expensive for me.

 

I do own both L700mk2 and Stealth.

L700 is pretty well-balanced for Stax sounding among I experienced and really excel in several areas:

• Details
• Stage size
• Airiness
• Speed
• Ethereal and effortless

To me Stealth is better in the following areas:

• Anything about bass (extension, tightness, impact)
• Less nasal and less thin midrange
• Neutral and accurate tonality
• Less diffusing stages
• Meaty and fuller-bodied sounding

Overall, tbh they're not in the same league, but there's definitely something that prevents me from selling my l700.

 

Have you tried EQing or blu-tak nodding your L700?

 

I'm not super interested in applying blu-tak (personal dispreference) although I do agree it can improve some aspects.
I played with EQ quite a bit. They helped to fix many Stax tonal issues but I wasn't super convinced between pros and cons. Ended up with turning it off. I think I strongly prefer things that less depend on eq/mod to sound right.

 

Is there a cheaper DCA that you'd say is in the same league as the L700?

 

I own a DCA Stealth and I have heard many Stax headphones over the years, although I do not own one. I do not buy open back headphones because they don't work for me in my domestic situation (but that does not mean that I don't love them!).

I have to concur with what @Vtory said about the differences. The Stax, like all open back headphones, has a much more realistic soundstage and a sound that seems to emerge from thin air. The frequency balance is tilted towards mids and treble and lacks bass impact.

The DCA Stealths have a more balanced frequency response, but sound damped. The top end is no match for any of the Staxes (Staxi?) I have heard, and neither is the soundstage. What it does give you is neutral tuning with no annoying frequency discrepancies. It has much better bass impact which Stax can't hope to compete with. Others have called the Stealth "boring" and I tend to agree if what they mean by "boring" is no discrepancies that capture your attention.

They are different headphones for different applications. In general, if my domestic situation allowed me to use open back headphones, I would buy an open back headphone EVERY TIME. I have never heard a closed back headphone, including one as good as the Stealth, to sound as good as open back. Yet closed back offer a very important feature, which is sound isolation. So sadly, it has to be closed back for me. But if it's not the same for you, I would choose a good open back, and Stax is one of the best.