Dan Clark Audio Expanse

Our Take

Expanse will take your breath away, it sets a new standard in open-back headphone musicality, soundstage, detail retrieval, and comfort! Featuring Dan Clark Audio’s all-new 4th generation planar magnetic driver and breakthrough Acoustic Metamaterial Tuning System in addition to an entirely redesigned headband to deliver the best in both ergonomics and comfort! We recommend it paired with our GS-X Mini amplifier and the Chord Qutest DAC for an incredible audio system.

Acoustic Metamaterial Tuning System (AMTS)

Headphones are subject to standing waves in the higher frequencies, which can make instruments like strings, cymbals, even vocals sound unrealistic and fatiguing. AMTS is Dan Clark Audio’s patent-pending inline device located between the transducer and ear. AMTS integrates waveguides, diffusion control, quarter-wave, and Helmholtz resonators into one compact structure to eliminate standing waves, dramatically improving system performance.

Diffusion elements reduce standing wave formation while resonators act as both precision and broadband filters to smooth and shape the frequency response from the midrange through the highest frequencies. With AMTS the upshot is high frequencies are rendered with a refreshingly smooth, accurate, and detailed delivery across all genres. OK, bad recordings are still bad, Dan is no magician!

DCA's Most Advanced Driver

EXPANSE's 4th generation planar-magnetic driver delivers the smoothest, richest, and most detailed experience they could create. EXPANSE’s driver is 20% larger than the ETHER 2 driver and uses their patented v-Planar technology to reduce THD to less than a stunning 0.03% while improving low-frequency extension. But they didn’t stop there! Diaphragm tension is set on their proprietary system that creates a more uniform and consistent tension across the entire driver surface to minimize distortion and improve driver matching to better than 0.25dB weighted across the spectrum for incredible imaging and balance.

Mechanical Design Innovations

“We set out to make EXPANSE a real design statement,” says Dan Clark, Founder and CEO. “EXPANSE design takes its cues from our STEALTH headphone but adds an exciting and unique grill based on mathematical functions derived from the principals of generative design, for a truly unique and stylish look.”

The top-grade black leather headband features fine blue stitching to create a quilted head-strap that’s not only gorgeous but is also functional and comfortable. The elegant embroidered EXPANSE logo adds a dash of color to EXPANSE’s all-black aesthetic. Gone are the mechanical sliders for fit adjustment; Dan Clark Audio has designed a stable yet comfortable “self-adjusting suspension system” that seats the headphone just right, with no muss or fuss. At just 418g EXPANSE is also one of the lightest super-premium headphones on the market. Taken together, the new vegan suede and "leather" ear pads, self-adjusting suspension, and lightweight chassis make EXPANSE so comfy you can just ignore it and "vanish into your music.”

EXPANSE Redefines "Detail"

EXPANSE’s planar driver delivers incredibly low distortion throughout the listening range with levels of detail heretofore found primarily in the top-of-the-line electrostatics. Unlike many headphones where “detail” is created through exaggerated high-frequency energy, EXPANSE’s AMTS delivers industry-leading resolution without fatiguing highs users may be used to. Together, the 4th-generation motor and AMTS deliver a sonic performance best described as “effortless." From a delicately plucked string to the most intense dynamics of an orchestra, or the weight and attack of a kick drum to the overtones a decay of a crash cymbal, EXPANSE delivers an amazing balance of delicacy, nuance, and punch that will have you reaching for all your favorite recordings, and maybe staying up a bit too late.

And last but not least there’s the soundstage; EXPANSE is all enveloping and can compete with any open headphone in depth, width, and imaging. EXPANSE’s effortless sense of space and instrument placement allowing the headphone “disappear,” so you can simply relax into your musical experience. Let the headphones, equipment, and yes, your daily stresses melt away, leaving your music to be enjoyed the way it was meant to be heard!

If it's Not Comfortable, Game Over

Dan has often said if the headphone is not physically comfortable enough to wear for extended listening sessions then the design is flawed. That’s why comfort is a top priority, and that’s why Dan Clark Audio has produced some of the lightest and most comfortable headphones in the industry. The ergonomic and stylish outline of Expanse's ear cups is a natural extension of Aeon 2 ergonomics, albeit they are larger. For storage or travel, they've incorporated Stealth's elegant folding gimbal structure into Expanse, neatly folding it into a compact custom-molded case that’s small and easy to stow.