Amen...it seems like every headphone manufacturer we love made us a good budget closed-back back in the day, then got popular, and then went super high end $1000 plus after we became fans. They'll make mid-range open backs, but what happens when I am not an open back fan? Geez its maddening to watch
@DJ_BROBOT then get a k361, finished. You want hd600 resolution and tuning, but a none claustrophobic stage in a closed back when that is next to impossible. Why do you expect to pay less than $300 for that? You want your cake and to eat it too. A 361 or 71 would be fine for you.
I recently tried the dt770 pro, it's absolutely not nearly as bad as people say it is. I think it even beats the hd560s in pure resolution. The "brightness" people talk about is greatly overemphasized and brought on by people who have only heard about them by other people. Ironically, if you put velour pads on them, they loose isolation, but in exchange sound much more neutral and compare very well with open back headphones in their price. It's not going to have the lushness of hd600 series mids, but it's going to have noticeably better separation than anything at the price, without needing to spend 1000$ on a dac-amp to achieve that
Thanks so much for the great review, so glad you enjoyed them! A quick note on the 3-5K range: E3's position can directly affect this. All headphones are somewhat position dependent, of course, but with the acoustic metamaterial the frequency control becomes pretty predictable relative to position. If you pull the headphone down so your ear touches the top-rear of the ear well you can reduce the 3-5K range by about 2-3dB relative to having your ear around the center of the ear cavity. Resolve would want to listen there, I think... 🙂 Again, thanks for the great review!
Is pulling the headphone down (so our ears touch the top-rear of the pads) the default position or an alternative position? My concern is that it could break seal, since according to ZMF, the bottom-rear of our ears are the most prone to breaking seal for closed-back headphones. Given the long vertical shape of the E3's cups, I am worried whether pulling the earcups down only work for those with bigger heads.
As Dan said in the headfi video, seal is not as important in the EA3 with the design of it's AMT. Folks with glasses and hair should see much less of a difference. That being said, Dan told me the same thing at CanJam. The movement is slight, put them on your head and just move them slightly so your ear touches the top and back of the pad so you put more of the driver in front of your ear vs some being behind. This is probably due to the design of the AMT and which frequencies are being changed where on the AMT.
All headphones are somewhat postion dependent but DCA cans are REALLY positon dependent from my experience which is kind of sad. I think it’s desirable if headphones can deliver close to same FR to any listeners. I hope DCA can have different designs solving this problem and that would be my end game closed back can❤
@@時雨-f1h - In my experience, it wasn't 1266 position dependent. Once you know the sweetspot it is pretty easy to find again. Just slide them a bit down and forward. Also, it's only a couple db difference.
@@rogerhuston8287 1266 is a beast from another planet...I think someone posted FR graph about stealth and a couple db could be big difference because the q is wide. Stealth to my ears does not match the graph very well so I assume its some head shape or postion difference.
Which is odd as traditionally the point of headphones was to seal off music from the rest of the world. I think a narrative has been created that closed headphones can’t sound as airy or wide a soundstage as open which is just not true.
Just received my DCA E3 and I agree that is extremely good. Much better than my Aeon 2 Noire and my Focal Celestee. This is the end game closed back for me.
@@levinste2750 Sound stage imaging is pretty good. I have been tricked into thinking something was behind me - when I looked there wasn't anything there. It was in the recording - LOL
I know it’s tough to test/review but for future closed back headphones please consider leakage both in and out, a primary motivator for closed back has to be to keep anyone in our vicinity from having to hear the music so it is an important factor.
Finally a new closed back portable wired headphone I am waiting for! Have to listen to these someday! See If AK kann alpha can drive it well. Love to see how it compare to Stellia and Lric. If it sounds good, I will finally replace my Celestee as a portable commute headphone!
As a Meze Liric enjoyer I would be interested in the comparison between the two, given they are both in the $2k price range and have a degree of portability. I'm not sure whether it's snake oil/placebo over the Rinaro planar and the extra headstage tech that Meze promote but the Liric does seem to be more spacious than most closed backs, while I get the sense of vertical stacking of instruments to either side that adds to the separation. Edit to add: I did have some initial clamp force issues as I've got a big noggin but useful internet tips reminded me that the headband is metal and so slight bending of it when in use alleviates that pressure. It's not 99/109/empyrean/elite level comfy but it is comfortable after that tweaking.
I'd like to see a comparison too. They both cost the same, they're both comfortable and have good isolation, so it's really going to come down to the sound. It would be interesting to see how they compare.
Just picked up the E3, tested it against the Empy 2’s, Aeon 2 Noire, and I left with the E3. Truly endgame level sound. Lovely tuning, with some of the highest detail I have heard, especially in the mids. Not warm or bright -truly neutral/natrual sounding. And it’s definitely worth going balanced with these to take advantage of that amazing low noise and
Thank you for the review. I wanted to buy the stealth at first then saw a few reviews and decided to wait. I am so glad that I did because the E3 is just a joy for my ears the E3 is a goose bumps maker is simply amazing to experience. I upgraded from the noir and it’s is as you describe as being the upgrade path for my end game. Thank you again.
I think it's at least interesting that the E3 uses Gorilla Glas on it's outer shell. Wasn't expecting to see that again, after the veeeery mixed reception that the Sennheiser HD820 received. A bit sad that that wasn't mentioned in the video, incoorporating DCA's reasoning for the use of Glas would've also been interesting
We thought it gave a very contemporary look to the product, it's light, it's durable, and it allowed us to have some fun with the cosmetics, in this case using a hex pattern that evokes the visual look of an open headphone as (to me at least) the E3 sounds so open.
Headfi dropped a video with Dan Clark…he walks through all of the reasoning for the materials used and the engineering choices and development of these.
Excited to get this tomorrow. I had the Atrium Closed which has an amazing sub-bass but felt it was too warm (for me fuzzy) in the midrange. Tried the Liric (ugh) and the Radiance (ok)
Very nice review, DMS. Any comments or opinions on how this compares with the ZMF Verite Closed? (Would especially welcome any comparisons around detail, instrument separation, and impact.) Thanks!
Great review, I use the MM500 for mixing straight out of a Macbook Pro; no preamp. they are excellent. I'd like a pair of closed back for also for mixing and recording vocals. Q1] Would E3 and MM500 cover all the base you think? Q2] What's an ideal mini pre amp I should buy to enhance the pairing? Thanks for any response, Cheers from Vancouver!
fantastic thorough review! just got a pair of these E3 and feel my modest Topping headphone amp is not doing the trick of making them sing... do you (or any of your viewers) have a suggestion for an affordable powerful transparent amp (don't want the E3 presentation to be changed by the amp). my budget for the amp can't go beyond $500. thanks to anyone for the input...
would be nice if the reviewers would compare to other main stream closed backs... how does the E3 stack up against the LCD-XC as an example... there are others too...
Had the same thought...perhaps he wanted to be polite...when I am remembering right thr Liric was not exactly his cup of tea. But I think the Liric grew on Resolve after the first shock of dancing outside the Harman Curve 😅
Video idea, could be a shorter one: Why do subpar recordings sound not only less detailed but harsh and in some cases unbearable on higher quality headphones (even when toning down the treble) but totally acceptable on cheaper ones? Are there ways to reduce this effect?
That's a pretty tricky question because poor recordings can be so due to tonal imbalance/bad EQ, distortion, excessive compression, bad microphone setup, etc. Lower quality headphones can simply mask certain distortions or frequency issues because they add their own coloration or distortion which may be more pronounced than the recording so mask it, or simply lack resolution to reproduce some problems. Better gear, whether headphone, speaker or other, simply lets more of what is in the recording through, and also some headphones that are for example a bit softer on the top may just simply serve as a bit of EQ to offset a bright recording but then good recordings are lacking... Alas there's no easy generic fix...
Yes - there are remedies but you can't expect a headphone to address that problem as then it would color other material too much. It will require computing power and professional software to take care of it at the digital stage and the correction will go way beyond just a parametric equalizer. Material with flaws ingrained at the production stages can suddenly be transformed. It's amazing what's available today.
Was super excited to try these out today, especially as a huge fan of the Aeon Noire! But after giving them a listen, they sounded very muffled, at least to my ears. Closest comparison is like listening to your music on RU-vid through those 15 year old windows movie maker uploads, only worse somehow. I suspect it's from that large dip in the more airy frequencies since I was able to create the same effect with a high shelf filter. I will say though, it is the most dynamic sounding headphone from DCA I've heard, and with music that focuses more on the bass + mids, it sounds pretty good. But man, the Noire felt more detailed in it's treble response and it stages slightly wider due to the difference in pad depth, so it's still my favourite closed back.
I just ordered them for this reason. Curve seems legit. Closed-back. Great bass extension. They look like sleeper mixing/mastering cans to me. Weird how "hi-fi" people never seem to cross over with "pro audio" people, re: reviews. As if the only thing an audiophile does with a nice set of cans is listen to music.
This review or rather your reviews are articulate! I know watching a video for most of Joshua Velours reviews are rather contradictory,,I can go in amped willing to take in all the good news.. then its followed by a ton of mediocrity and a seeming disdain for those same heaphone's,,!! like dam! guess i won't purchase these headphone's either! I can't wait to purchase these man! THANK YOU!!
I would love to test them. The only hifi shops within 3-4 hours of me only carry Grados though... like wtf? Why grados. AND IT'S TWO SHOPS WITHIN 3 MILES OF EACH OTHER!? Like the only two hifishops in the area only have the same 8 pairs of grados to test. WHY!?
i started with planar but i really realized i didn't like them when i switched to dynamic drivers, smooth, the highs are listenable and enjoyable lol my auteur classic are pure audio bliss. couldn't be less intrested in a headphone than a closed back planar haha but i watch because i like your reviews DMS, keep going man, great stuff
We don't have a hard measurement but subjectively it's on par with Stealth, so pretty good. I can listen up to about 80-85db in bed without disturbing my wife.
Interested to hear this vs some very powerful competition. DCA has kind of been lame for a few years. Not sure if this will outperform the Atrium Closed, DCAs own ether closed, and the upcoming Caldera Closed.
This frequency response looks dang near close to “perfect” for me… even down to the slight peak around 9k (I seem to not pick up the 8k-10k range as much, or my preference is simply to have it more forward than most). Maybe one day I can try them and justify the price.
Finding a commute friendly close back headphone is getting harder and harder. The moment I saw this headphone, I just breathed a heavy sigh and keep hoping that I wish someone would produce a great closed back headphone that can be used outdoors
Thats the euclid, though admittedly its not well turned at all and has the performance between isine20 and i3. There are some very respectable planar iems on the market now for not a lot of money. Planar closed back headphones don't come cheap though and probably never will while being as good as a openback counterpart.
@@enjoshi-godrez8775 Yeah I went with a pair of 7Hz Timeless for my first decent planar IEM. They're not bad but not mind blowing either. We need a CanJam down in Australia so I can test more.
the timeless would be perfect if it wasn't for it being kinda blunted. They snap fast, but instrument notes dont have much impact. Seems to be a problem with a lot of the cheaper planar iems. Its probably a overstraining of the driver. The audeze openback iems are very dynamic because they use dsp instead.
I hear you. I actually live in munich, and though highend is the largest hifi expo on earth, they also have basically no iems there. Only campfire and moondrop really ever show up. I need to go to Singapore
Do you have any thoughts and comparison to Diana MR and DCA E3? They are $1000 apart but I am curious to see how you feel about them as you do rate both of them pretty high.
Which DAP can drive DCA E3 properly and fit in the pocket? Fiio M17, which is too huge and it can't fit into the pocket, and AK Kann Ultra, which will also distort after you crank the volume to 80db.
If I already have Stellia headphones, should I sell and get anything else like the E3? I would only get like $1500 for it used in my estimation. And I’m not sure the use case for Stellia is often enough for me to justify keeping it. The Stellia is not quite portable, for which I’d rather use high end IEMs. It’s not quite what I would use at home as I live alone, I’d rather use a Utopia Gen 3 or a high end planar magnetic. So I am left with occasional use and gaming and podcasting. Should I sell?
I’m a mark for my Focal Radiance, it’s honestly 90% of my Utopia but more fun with a warmer signature and more bass, plus none of the nasty clipping that comes with the Utopia on high volume bass tracks.
@@dangerzone007he1000se rocks most likely the 1000se overall has better sound . I have the se and zmf close verite ,great headphone but the se even edges that one out
We don't have an objective number but as I noted to another poster it's pretty good, on par with Stealth. A minor amount of leakage does come through the port so if you're over 80db, in a quiet space someone right next to you might start to hear it. External isolation is very good, if I wear them walking on the street there's barely any road noise.
@@danclarkaudio Thanks and great! The gorilla glass cups had me worried since HD820 has almost no isolation and calling them closed is almost misleading.
@@hartyewh1 Glass is a decent acoustic insulator, I'm not sure about why the 820 has more leakage than many hoped for. There are always parallel paths to leakage, including ports, ear pad construction, seal and other factors.
@@danclarkaudio Okay, that's my only experience with it so I just assumed it's a bad or at least a difficult material to use. Subjectively it felt like a -3dB isolation so essentially pointless on the HD820. I don't even care about isolation specifically since almost every closed back is fine for that, but HD820 is the exception.
good question... I'm looking for an upgrade path too. For production right ? I think the E3 is exactly this : a 770, but way way way better. You can probably finish your mixes on it. For me it's between Stealth and E3. Stealth is a stretch in term of price though. What you think ? You found other contenders for neutral yet energetic, detailed closed back ? Thx :) louis
mm500 given especially target audience idk but misses the mark imo. I tried it for 2 weeks. There is no way it can be useful professionally unless you are okay with a permanent extra .5kg on your head which if you ask me is a lot. A LOT for like a 6-8 hour session daily
That's what I'm worried about with the E3. It's lighter than the MM-500 (450g vs 500g), but that's still a lot of weight for professional use. Plus I have chronic neck pain issues and have to take frequent breaks with just 350g headphones... this may have been a bad purchase idea... really wish they didn't put glass on the sides. Like the Noire already did carbon, so like, why weigh down the E3 that costs more than 2x as much? I know it's 1/2 as much as the stealth, which is also carbon, and I feel like DCA chose to weight the E3 down to offer better product segmentation vs Stealth. And this depresses me to no end...
you bought stuff when they weren't very good. Todays DCA headphones are the real deal ; neutral & detail. First class universal sound. Sell the rest buy the E3, be done forever. cheers
