New World's Best Headphone?

Check out this article and its links regarding the new Stealth headphone from Dan Clark. Wow but, say again, how much ? :money_mouth_face: .

NB: The UK distributor doesn’t have it on their web page yet so the UK price is not yet known.

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The headphones are probably great but I really dislike the AudioScienceReview guy.

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Those headphones do look amazing. And cheaper than my Susvara and 1266 TC.

Very odd that it’s closed back though.

How and why it is closed is the main innovation of the Stealth and the device that enables it to so be is unique and ( according to Dan Clark) patented worldwide.

The main reason for open headphones is that there is no ( or only a minimal) cavity behind the driver to introduce reflections and resonances. So the majority of high end 'phones adopt this design strategy. However it has a major downside regarding usability in the real world. The open design may exclude or partially exclude cavity induced sonic aberrations but it also allows sound from the external world to “pollute” the sound heard via the headphones. Hence the ideal solution would be to suppress the sound from outside by closing the headphone but at the same time remove the resonances and frequency inconsistencies caused by the cavity between the cup and driver. This is what Stealth does with its USP - the AMTS ( Acoustic Metamaterial Tuning System). So there are no penalties by being a closed headphone with the advantage ( for many) of suppressing sonic intrusions from the outside world.

Now to see if the 4 grand I need but can’t find may have just slipped down the back of the sofa :grin:.

Here you can find a lot more about the Stealth:

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It will be interesting to see how these stack up to other TOTL headphones.
Looking at the low impedance, they’ll need a suitable headphone amp or power amp.

The new Audeze CRBN looks amazing as well, but since it’s electrostatic it requires a different type of amp. https://www.audeze.com/products/crbn

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Yes but given that the impedance is absolutely linear across the audio band according to the ASR measurements quite a few headphone amps will cope. I think that the important thing for us is that this very expensive headphone and the even more costly Audeze CRBN include true innovations which may become available in lower priced models in the future.

Two more real world reviews are out:

For clarity, timbre, soundstage, dynamics, presence, tonal balance, low-frequency detail, and musicality I have not heard the Stealth’s better in any headphone that has crossed my desk.

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UK price has been announced. 4100 gbp. That is the equivalent of $ 5621. Probably not justifiable for me considering my only occasional use of cans.

Dune Blue, the importer here, just announced the price in Euro:

Dan Clark Audio Stealth MSRP €4149 incl. VAT (incl. 3m Vivo cable).

That is the equivalent of $ 4868.

Well obviously the UK distributor requires a considerably higher margin than the Benelux one because he …er, um ?

3553 gbp vs. 4100 gbp, a 547 gbp margin… :thinking:

That’s essentially the US MSRP (or even slightly less) given that VAT is 21% AND it includes a 3m cable (10’). Not bad.

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Indeed, and the supplied 3m Vivo cable is their top of the line, costing $ 350 as an accessory.

Yes, that makes the UK price even less equitable, even more so given that UK VAT is 20 not 21%.

I don’t want to get political here as it is not appropriate. Nevertheless it is worth pointing out it is less feasible for different national distributors to offer wildly different prices within the single market as one can simply buy from another EU country without penalty. Now we are out of the single market it looks like importers may once again treat the UK as " Treasure Isle".

The Brexit is a long term strategy, don’t worry, you shall get its benefits…in the 22nd century :joy:

You could move to the US and save some money. Unfortunately the $2,500/month health insurance tax we have would cut into the profit.

Apparently these won’t work with the Bartok.

STAX has just announced its new headphone, SR-X9000.

It looks very promising. I like electrostatic headphones especially with a very good tube amplifier.

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ÂŁ5,395. An interesting amount of activity currently in that price area for headphones.