Introduction

Known as MrSpeakers until 2019, Dan Clark founded the eponymous Dan Clark Audio (DCA) brand in 2012. Dan has been in the audio business for a few decades now and we first got a taste of the brand's work in the form of the Drop + DCA Aeon Closed X—a set of closed-back planar magnetic headphones which bucked the trend of poorly tuned such offerings in the market and presented a good entry point to the use of dampening materials in headphones. Dan Clark and his team have been working on this concept for a while now and we saw how it all came together in the electrostatic headphones world with the exceptional CORINA that continues to be a set I listen to more than most others here. The CORINA is just one of three sets using Dan's patented Acoustic Metamaterial Tuning System (AMTS) which was introduced with the STEALTH.


Today we examine the Dan Clark Audio STEALTH in detail. This is a flagship closed-back set which builds upon all the learnings from the Aeon line and aims to put out a product which sounds as if you were listening to two well-tuned speakers in a treated room. On top of that, the STEALTH has already been acknowledged as one of the most comfortable headphones on the market. A quick look at the photo above shows it is still shaped like the Aeon Closed-X with D-shaped ear cups that aim to follow the natural shape of human ears. However, we also see it uses a similar self-adjusting headband system that worked out so well in the CORINA. The STEALTH is also highly portable owing to a novel frame that uses foldable gimbals to collapse the entire product into a much more compact form factor. There is so much to unpack here so let's begin right away with a look at the product specifications in the table below. Thanks to Dan Clark Audio for providing a review sample to TechPowerUp!

Specifications

Packaging and Accessories

The Dan Clark Audio STEALTH appears to have shipped in a leather-wrapped box that had a hinge and opened up from an angle to reveal the goodies inside. Perhaps it was not viable to do over the long terms as all recent batches have adopted a similar unboxing experience as the CORINA, and presumably also the open-back EXPANSE. The STEALTH ships in a thick and appropriately-sized product box which is clean in design with a smooth black base that has the product name applied specially on the front similar to how you will see it on the headphones themselves, down to the use of capitalized letters and A in red. A similar such applique is found on the side where we see the brand logo itself and the side view also helps confirm the use of a two-piece packaging.


The lid lifts off to reveal the contents inside where we see Dan Clark Audio go for a simple layered approach. There is a soft lining on the inner side of the box to help protect against any scratches to the items inside including a certificate of authenticity printed in fancy font, a handy microfiber cloth to help keep the STEALTH clean, a sticker for anyone wanting to show off they own a STEALTH, and a useful quick user guide (online copy here) going over the use and maintenance of these headphones. We then see a thick composite layer that snugly fits and holds the carry case as well as a separate cardboard box that has the headphone cable inside.


The storage/carry case for the Dan Clark Audio STEALTH is so compact that it is nearly as small as my phone in length and width alike. It's a hard case that comes with the STEALTH badge on the front, complete with red A, and can be easily tossed inside a backpack knowing it will safely protect the contents inside. There is a sturdy branded zipper tag associated with a self-sealing zipper for added dust and spill resistance and we see the body of the case itself is molded to fit these headphones quite nicely. The one thing you should note is that this smaller footprint design means there isn't much room, if at all, for the headphone cable inside. Indeed, opening the case shows the headphones themselves fit in perfectly but you will very likely have to carry the cable separately—not the end of the world but I wouldn't have minded a slightly larger case that has a compartment for the cable. As it stands, the headphones come with a foam sheet between the headband and the frame as well as a 3D-printed block placed between the ear pads for added protection during transit.