DAN CLARK STEALTH

When I first attached the STEALTH for listening, after an extended burn-in, I thought with great confidence that this was a dynamic driver, as the foundational weight, the bass and sub bass reach were truly impressive. And on those tracks that required speed, expanded

17 headphone very difficult to remove. Yes its sibling, the electrostatic VOCE, sported a wonderful midrange, good treble, and relatively decent bass. The STEALTH, however, exceeds its electrostatic sibling on all counts. Amazing! Yet, the fact that the STEALTH is a closed-back planar magnetic headphone is a true conundrum! Closed-back headphones are not supposed to bring the voluminous breadth and depth of soundstage, the openness, the incredible ease, that open-backed headphones provide, and yet this one does. Well, mark this as yet another feather in the STEALTH’s cap of capabilities, so to speak.

The Dan Clark STEALTH’s volumetric cube—its soundstage—is exceptionally wide and deep, with very good height. Its staging— positioning, layering, relative spacing, and image stability—is likewise exceptional. The STEALTH, as mentioned above, is also incredibly natural and immersive and very treble reach/response, and broad frequency resolution, the STEALTH was, indeed, planar, its ‘home planet’. But then the STEALTH went one step further and intruded upon the world of the electrostatic headphones. There are but a handful of headphones that can pull this off—ABYSS AB1266 PHI TC, ZMF Atrium, MEZE Empyrean Elite.

Given its ‘Tri-World’ bonafides, its daunting resolution and transparency, its ability to search out and free throngs of detail, and its compelling musicality, I found the STEALTH

The Dan Clark STEALTH was paired with the Grimm Audio MU1 and Silent Angel Rhein Z1 streamers, the Mola Mola Tambaqui, the Bricasti M1SE, the DENAFRIPS Pontus II DACs, and the NEODIO ORIGINE S2 CD player as well as its internal DAC. The various headphone amplifiers were the Aurorasound HEADA and the HeadAmp GS-X MkII (review coming) and the HeadAmp GS-X Mini. Cables and Power cord tasks were filled by the AntiCable, Audience FrontRow, and RSX Technologies. The TORUS RM20 handled all power requirements. audiokeyreviews.com

Bass

As Eiji Oue’s “V. Infernal Dance of King Kashchey” (Stravinsky, Reference Recording) plays, the detail even within the earliest moments is exceptional. The buried cough that precedes the very first mallet strike, not often heard, is pristine in its clarity. One thing that you will notice time and again is the outstanding clarity and resolution across the frequency spectrum with the STEALTHs in play. And when the seven tympani assembled for this movement come to mark their thunderous entrance, the subterranean, Holy-Bass-HeadGrail is easily pierced and one imagines things rattling. You will, however, need power, given the STEALTH’s marginal efficiency (86-89dB), to make this happen. The Aurorasound HEADA rose to the occasion though the ‘speedometer’ was pressing 2 o’clock. The HeadAmp GS-X MkII at six watts had little issue and drove the STEALTHs beautifully and well at around the 12:30 to 1 o’clock mark. Christian McBride’s and Regina Carter’s “Fat Bach and Greens” (Conversations with Christian, Mack Avenue Records), with its near reckless abandon as it skirts between classical and jazz, is deftly captured by the Dan Clark STEALTHs without ever missing a beat. The STEALTHs are a chameleon, certainly so in this respect, as one can imagine both dynamic driver and planar magnetic spilling out the lowest of Hertz.

Midrange

There’s that chameleon-like thing again as the STEALTH handles with electrostatic ease, resolution, and transparency Voces8's “Prayer to a Guardian Angel” (Lux, Decca). This is a song, and an album, one of a number of Voces8 albums and choral albums in fact, that I save solely for electrostatic reproduction, as very beautifully in this genre of music and across this album, by bringing the ambiance, air, volume, and that incredible electrostatic transparency to the sound. Staging as well is exceptional. Patricia Barber’s “The Moon” (Verse, Koch Records) cues, and the calm, followed by the dissonance portrayed by the piano and assorted instruments, are given distinction and air and space by the STEALTH. Sibilance has been banished to an unattached dimension and that is saying something on a Patricia Barber track. Patricia’s voice is textured and real and her presence palpable. Yes, it is as if I’m listening to several

Dan Clark Stealth

headphone technologies at once, in a closedback design (!), and the STEALTH has melded them all together harmoniously. Wow!

Treble

Dave Brubeck’s “Take Five” (Time Out) enters so beautifully: it is alive and resolved and airinfused, yet with a smooth and relaxed voice. Perhaps the STEALTH is now trying its hand at mimicking vinyl! The stage is wide, Joe Morello’s drum kit dimensional, the balance of the instruments at relative, layered depths. In truth, with rare exceptions, only the electrostatics can so clearly resolve Joe Morello’s cymbals and provide the requisite air that says “Real, nothing frying/sizzling here, man.” Jordi Savall’s “Les Pleurs, for 2 basse de viole” (Tous les matins du monde, Alia Vox) is sublime in the naturalness of tone/timbre and texture of the bowed Viola da Gamba strings. The STEALTH is again both planar magnetic and electrostatic as it teases out nuance and detail and micro detail. Here is a rare instance when what I wanted to review with the STEALTH is replaced by what I am listening to and can not take myself away from. The jaded reviewer crumbles to passions. Bravo!

Conclusion

The Dan Clark STEALTH planar-dynamic headphone is a revelation. It exceeds its prescribed edict—to excel in planar magnetic duties—and goes on to become exceedingly familiar with, if not master of the edicts of the other headphone worlds and technologies. Again, there are very few headphones capable of doing this and fewer still with such compelling musicality. You and your music, regardless of genre, will be well served.

Please note that to date, I have listened to a great many headphones, and these days it takes a great deal to move me. Suffice to say, that a number have been sent back as they did not rise to the occasion regardless of their technology (though electrostatics may all be pardoned on this point).

The STEALTH easily wins our DIAMOND AWARD for technical excellence and sublime musicality. Bravo!

Pros: Technical excellence—resolution, transparency, detail, spatiality—and sublime musicality. Exceptionally well made, beautifully designed, easy to transport.

Cons: Efficiency. One will need power above that which resides in most DAPs

THE COMPANY

Dan Clark STEALTH ($3999.99)

3366 Kurtz Street, San Diego, CA 92110 USA

+1.619.501.6313 info@danclarkaudio.com