Vanish into your music with Dan Clark Audio STEALTH — a flagship closed-back planar magnetic headphone
engineered for reference-level isolation, resolution, and long-session comfort.
A closed-back headphone that delivers an open, spacious presentation with world-class comfort.
4th-generation planar magnetic driver with ultra-low distortion
Acoustic Metamaterial Tuning System (AMTS) for smooth, natural treble
Closed-back design with exceptional isolation
Self-adjusting suspension system and lightweight chassis
Compact folding gimbal design for travel and storage
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“We set out to make Stealth a real design statement, made of stylish matte-black leather, carbon fiber,
and machined aluminum, finished to levels you’d expect in the finest luxury cars.”
— Dan Clark, Founder and CEO
Our Take
STEALTH combines Dan Clark Audio’s all-new 4th-generation planar magnetic driver with their breakthrough
Acoustic Metamaterial Tuning System (AMTS) to create a closed-back headphone that sounds
remarkably open, natural, and free from fatigue.
Acoustic Metamaterial Tuning System (AMTS)
Closed-back headphones are especially prone to high-frequency standing waves, which can lead to harsh or
fatiguing treble. Dan Clark Audio’s patent-pending AMTS technology integrates waveguides, diffusion elements,
quarter-wave resonators, and Helmholtz resonators into a compact inline structure placed between the driver
and the ear.
The result is smoother treble, more accurate timbre, and a level of resolution typically associated with
open-back or electrostatic designs.
STEALTH Redefines Closed-Back Performance
STEALTH’s 4th-generation planar magnetic driver delivers exceptionally low distortion throughout the
listening range, with clarity and detail that rival the best open-back headphones.
Combined with AMTS, the sonic presentation is best described as effortless — from subtle microdetail to
explosive dynamics, STEALTH remains composed and engaging.
Mechanical Design & Comfort
STEALTH features a self-adjusting suspension system with a titanium “memory metal” headband, eliminating
mechanical sliders while ensuring a perfect fit every time.
At just 415 g, STEALTH is one of the lightest super-premium closed-back headphones available
and includes folding gimbals for compact storage.
"I wanted to love these but I can't. If I just plop them down on my head, they are comfortable if a bit heavy. But there was no bass. Bass was excellent with no glasses, but then I can't see. I tried a pair of glasses where the side pieces are just a titanium wire. Still no bass. And no matter what there was a hole in frequency response of almost 10 dB between 5-6kHz. I tried pulling the headphones further down on my head and the 5-6kHz region appeared, but the bottom of the headphone was on my jaw and very uncomfortable. I was able to reproduce these results on a set of miniDSP EARS. I will attach an averaged and smoothed response that was actually better than what I heard. So … in short I can't imagine these headphones working with glasses and they were worse in comfort / frequency response on my head and ears than the Aeon 2 Noire."
— Richard L. (3/5)
High Quality
"It is one of the most realistic sounds I've heard. Previously I had used Seinheisser 660S / akg k361, and the sounds from these headphones blown those out of the water. Being able to differentiate different instruments as though you were actually there is something only these headphones have done for me. It is pricy, but these headphones is probably the final 'stop' for quality v. s. price improvements."
— Andy (5/5)
Best closed headphones.
"Great realistic sound with fantastic imaging and depth."
— MARCIA A. (5/5)
Spectacular
"Reference....I am powering these with Chord Hugo TT2/Chord M-Scaler. The sound of these is just "on". After 100 hours these just bloomed even more: More of everything. No bloated bass or strident top end. Just smooth and accurate. You can get lost in listening sessions with these. If you're an audiophile you will defintely notice more to many songs you're familiar with. Just spectacular"
— Keith D. (5/5)
Excellent! Just DCA needs a better designer to match the performance of this pair of superb sounding cans!
"I've built a quite wide array of headphones over the past few years. AKG K812, shure 1840, sony MDR-Z1R, koss esp95x, focal utpoia & stellia, hifiman HE1000SE & R10D, ATH-ADX5000, ATH-AWAS, HD800s & HD820, denon D9200, meze empyrean, Mr.Speakers/DCA Ether CX / Aeon open / Ether 2. Each has its own strength and weakness. I don't think one is absolutely the best in terms of sound quality but in fact some are better built and some are easily enjoyable. As everyone could easily see, I already have way too much cans and shouldnt look for any more . . . Yet when I saw ASR's review in late August, I jumped up and can't resist to pre-order one! The best measurement ever and the objectivists' dream and end game. I just received it today on the 13/9 and still in the process of breaking-in . . . After a few hours breaking-in, my 1st impression is: excellent sound! Just DCA needs a better designer to match the performance of this pair of superb sounding cans! But frankly I could easily say the same to many of other headphones I've owned, all of them cost substantially less than the Stealth. If value is important, I don't think this offers the best price/performance ratio. I personally love HE1000SE the most for sound quality only but the build quality (and aesthetic aspect) of hifiman is not competitive with the big manufacturers like sennheniser, focal and ath. I'm running it off my toppings D90/A90 combo. I'm perfectly happy with low gain with vol at 12 o'clock (if utopia, I normally listen at 10 o'clock position). i think it's similarly demanding for ether 2 (16 ohm i believe) or ADX5000 (600 ohm). To my untrained ears, the sound signature is quite DCA house sound (very easily recognizable moving from ether cx and aeon open) and not as exciting/dynamic as utopia or HE1000se. D9200 could easily be more enjoyable in most music genres. I can easily echo with some of the early reviewers' comment that it's not very "macrodynamics". it sounds pretty much the refined ether CX with more resolution and sounds "wider", clean and lean with less bass/mid-bass quantity than the focal duo. pretty much hd800s level bass only. isolation is very good. i can listen to music while watching netflix on my computer and not hearing anything from my dell monitor's 9W speakers. be warned that i'm not really a critical listeners and collecting/enjoying iems & headphones as gadgets so please take my comments on sound quality with a grain of salt . . . I can say with more confidence that the build quality is excellent. superb as DCA has always been. but also true to DCA tradition, a good product designer should be on the priority list of DCA! out of the top tier headphone makers, I think only hifiman and grado are as bad as DCA. eccentric sense of beauty and ergonomic shortcomings are of no short supply here. many small glitches on usability/ product design aspects left a lot to be desired for a top tier headphone of this class - there's no space to store the vivo cable in the case! The clamshell case also looks distinctively cheap (also the outer faux leather case; such a shame that both actually very well built and feels solid! just the outlook is even worse than "pedestrian". aliexpress will sell you similar looking products for just $10 or so), needless to say about the gaming headphone outlook so many criticized so out of place for an TOTL product (please check the empyrean if DCA needs some good example of what is good taste!). red accents on black could be very tasteful too, just this execution is, disastrous for my very subjective aesthetic sense. stellia has been criticized for the cognac tone look but at least it looks like a high class product (e.g. looks at the chamfer edges of the yoke and alternative finishes akin to mech watches!) . Such a shame that the ether cx and ether 2 both look very understated and high tech gadgets and appeal to most people. i have no idea why DCA made such bold decision to depart from the old DCA look. I was a bit skeptical first when some early reviewers said the adjusting mechanism was not working well for them. one good thing i've to mention is the self-adjusting headband works quite okay for me and feels solid. hope it's build to last too. so bad that the audio performance is world class and the build quality is so outstanding but there're too many glitches in non-sound performance aspects. however, i believe 99.9% of the people spending this kind of $ in headphones will certainly expect outlook/usability to be excellent too! i dont think audio gear manufacturers are new to this idea - look at arye, jeff rowland, chord and sonus faber! DCA could also learn a lesson or two from the unboxing videos of devialet phantom which made the experience so completed for a high-end product! I'm still rating it 5 stars for the sound and the build quality. but please, DCA, get a good designer for your next product!"
