Is EXPANSE the best open back headphone?? Or... 

Thank you very much for the honesty!

These and the Stealth are some damn fine looking headphones. Also love how they fold.

Thx for an honest review

you must have a badass supporting chain for these - once you do they deliver all the things

Harman Target is a target heavily smoothed based on averaged HRTF and we do need certain (actually individually dependent) deviation from the target to match our individual HRTF better and in the end, yielding better experience. Mechanically making/EQing a headphone to Harman Target is not an optimal way to get best experience for neutral sound (even neutral as defined in Harman's own way). Also soundstage and macrodynamics are not studied at all in Harman's paper.

We want to be overwhelmed by a Dan Clark design because we believe he is capable of excellence. Sounds like he has come closer with previous designs. And I’m convinced that he will create a dream headphone within the next five years. Keep going Dan, we know you are going to get there.

Can totally see people deterred away from it. I've been using it with the DNA Startus, Cayin HA-6A and GSX-MIni (ifi DIablo for protable) and it is incredible. It's definitely going to be up to the person and their musical choices/gear when it comes to this headphone.

I just got the DCA Stealth and it is nothing short of incredible.

My audition exprience varies pretty far from what you've described. I think this is a great headphone with reasonable step up over the Stealth especially in the bass region. The amp I used was Niimbus U5Pro.

Big thumbs up for your review. I also had the same experience and very surprised regarding the positive reviews, which i am more and more suspicious. Except yours gives me hope there’s still honest reviewers out there. 👍👍👍

one side of me wants to say this is what you get when you only care about targets and FR, but frankly, I'd like to better understand what makes it sound blunted/congested. I'm not sure if measurements like spectral decay, impulse response (both of which are directly related to FR) could allow us to better understand and fix these issues. Dan seems like an amazing guy who truly follows his ambitions to make better audio, and I think this shouldn't go unnoticed.

Lack of macrodynamics has been a common complaint with the Expanse and its brother the Stealth, but you're the only person so far that has called it congested and lacking detail and separation, which are supposed to be its strong suits. I was surprised to hear that.

Thanks DMS for your take! I have not tried Expanse yet. But Stealth sounds similar with what you re describing.. and seems this is also not to my taste..

Thanks!

I told Dan, that I prefer the stealth way more and he said it's about a 50/50 and most preferred the stealth and others expanse. On the chord tt2 and m scaler

Can anyone tell me if the Stealth and the Expanse have the same issues with pads becoming misshapen and affecting the seal/sound? It affects the Aeon line but I wonder if it is limited to them.

Yeah, I love my Expanse, but it is very source dependent on my experience. It sounds not great on the A90, but I really like it on the Singxer SA-1 and Darkvoice. I also find it to be really fun to play around with EQ. It seems to just really show off whatever you EQ it to, which I haven't really experienced on many other headphones.

Im generally not a fan of the Harman curve because of how it's conducted, in general most people will choose more bass as it sounds "better". I mean it's aimed at the general consumer market. I tend to refer to the IEF Neutral curve, which essentially just flattens the excessive bass from the Harman curve. I think it's much harder to engineer a high end Harman based heaphone as you've just got too much bass frequeny going on.

Funny how wildly different and evidently subjective headphone impressions can be! I traded in my Noires for the Expanse after a listening session last week and run them off a relatively modest amp (the L30II) now. I’ve listened around 10 hours so far and need more time to form a definitive opinion, but as of now I view them as a significant step up from the Noire and a genuinely stunning set of cans. The whole frequency spectrum is represented just about perfectly to my ears and the detail and imaging are absolutely fantastic. This notion of them sounding “dead” truly baffles me. The intentional bump between 100 and 200 Hz is tastefully implemented and really helps to elevate and add some body to the majority of music I listen to. It can be a bit too much when there’s already a warmth present in the mix of a song though. The good news is that it can be eliminated with laser precision with just one EQ filter (-2.5dB at 175Hz with a Q of 2.6). As said before I need to put in more time with them and plan on A/B’ing with some other TOTL sets, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see these become my favorite cans ever. With every other headphone I’ve owned or heard before there was always some hard to pinpoint deficiency in the FR (to a bigger or smaller degree) that made certain tracks too shouty, muddy or otherwise sounding (slightly) off. With the Expanse I haven’t encountered a single example like that so far, using the stock tuning or the aforementioned EQ filter. Gonna go back to some more listening now!

I don't think the harman target is to blame here. Sure it's an "harman target" headphone but when you actually look at the graph, you got that bump in the mid-bass and recession in higher trebles. These two combined together will not make a "hifi" sound.

I can't wait to go to a audiophile meet. I really want to try out headphones like these.

Great video as usual ❤️✌️

Yes! We need more of these honest reviews. Thank you!

Dude you guys have the Forge 32/300 and that thing sounds incredible out of that amp on high Z taps

Exp(a/e)ns(e/ive).

Nailed it on the head... recessed treble.

Dan Clark recommends using CSD plots to identify ringing. I totally agree. There's nothing worse than headphones with ringing such as a DT 990 and some Grados.

I agree on the expanse. I heard it at socal canjam and felt it was ok. I thought the stealth was a little better. Overall, I think the company is maybe focused too much on specs and stats instead of character. It just lacked a “wow” feeling and it’s very expensive.

I wonder if DMS has the mic in the frame for creating a look, but a shotgun like that, a big appeal that it can be out of the shot and still sound fine.

I wonder if it just sounded this way after hearing and reviewing the Bravura.

People used to mock the Voce, but it truly is their greatest headphone yet!

Forget the headphones-what is this watch😃? really really nice!!

I tried these yesterday and they are almost like the Beyerdynamic DT 1990 Pro. I like the Beyerdynamic better than Expanse. Even the Hedd Audio Heddphone is better for me and a lot cheaper than the Expanse.

Wish the Noire had this matte black finish or at least something that isn't a fingerprint magnet.

The obvious comparison would be with the DCA Stealth. I'd love to know what the differences are.

This is one of the clearest sounding headphones I’ve ever heard, especially in the bass region. Probably just revealed the flaws in the amps and dacs more than anything.

I was underwhelmed by The Expanse at CanJam. Sure it was very comfortable to wear. But I wasn’t allowed to use my own source with their dac/amps, the sound was bland, bass underwhelming. There’s nothing wrong with it but for most of the music I listen to it’s boring. I’m sure for some people it’s amazing, most people in the DCA room stayed longer than I did. I knew right away it wasn’t for me. 🤷‍♂️

How does it compared to the Susvara and the Utopia?

Thanks DMS. Great video as always. Do you see a doctrinal shift away from Harman as part of your overall feelings about this headphone? Also, given the Stealth also uses the same meta material, did listening to this headphone change your opinion about the Stealth?

I purchased the Aeon HP years ago and my take on the sound quality was similar…lifeless. The build & comfort was superior to most cans that I demo’d and own.

I find the Expanse very Amp dependant. There is a reason Dan uses an ampsandsound Nautilus in his room for testing. It really does help it out.

which amp did you use ?

Not sure about the best pair of headphones but definitely the best show on TV.

Portapro probably will sound more punchy and livier if this heaphone sound like AEON.

So sad about where the summit-fi of headphones is going these days. It’s obviously personal preference but I would like to see more headphones tuned like the future-classic HD800. Sth that sounds more like a loudspeaker than a shouty Harman headphone.

Anyone know the intro song?

Whats that bgm?

Distortion machine Abyss is better?

Someone really finally said it Harman target is actually pretty boring and lackluster. I think it makes sense basically to have it as a baseline during measurements or the baseline crinacle uses. but overall I think the Harman target makes my music sound pretty boring

I think if you look at the deviation from the Harman target in the bass, through the perspective of equal loudness curves, this review makes sense. The elevation in the bass range over the Harman target is enough to overwhelm the midrange, especially, considering that the high treble already has a shelving. In the bass range, a 3 dB difference can double the perceived loudness. Whereas, it can take 10 dB in the 1 KHz region and similar above.

EXPANSE? More like EXPENSE.

Tell us about how it sounds realer than real life

Instead of calling it open-back or closed-back, how about a new moniker? You could call it semi-closed front, or semi-open front.

One area current measurement method is weak at is "energy storage and delayed release". This can cause significant "muddiness" and "fog" in the subjective listening experience but may measure out to be nearly perfect in frequency response and THD. So "what" can behave as energy storage? Anything that resonates, such as membrane, surround support of dynamic driver, even space between ear pads. Expanse used something called META material which is a technology using a set of individually tuned resonating tubes to change the collective "frequency domain" behavior ... but such "frequency domain" optimization comes with a "time domain" penalty... and that could be a factor contributing to your subjective listening experience.

It's okay DMS, I didn't really like it either. They sound less dynamic than my Closed X

Well if you care about target adherence and nothing else just get the k371

Are you sure that the headphone you listened to was fully burned in?

I really don’t understand how people like the Stealth and not this. I’ve heard both and imo Stealth comes nowhere near the Expanse.

Interesting that he mentioned the Noire. I've been comparing that with the Meze 109 for that past 3 days. Other than overall slam and impact, and the little bit of sear in the upper end on certain tracks, the 109 is quite a bit better. There's a strange wooly or graininess to the mids on the Noire, and the overall timbre isn't nearly as natural as the 109. I think the 109 is more comfortable, sounds more natural, is better tuned, quite a bit more resolving, and has excellent impact for a DD. If the 109 was $599 or even $699 it would be unbeatable.

If it was 50ohms or higher it would be so much better than what it is and would be a great 4k headphone but sadly it's too low ohms prevented it's technical abilities from shining it's a shame

Just over hyped semi open headphone.

4:22 Separation*

3:28 wait what? Didn't you want to say upper mids/lower treble?

I went to the previous CanJam looking forward to the Meze Empyrean only to be disappointed...

Wow…. Thanks for honest review. That’s why one shouldn’t buy it just from 30 sec of listen as one RU-vidr’s friend did in Canjam.

Your harsh opinions make me want to hear it more..Thanks for being truly subjective!

Ether flow closed is still the best he's made.

You nailed this analysis. I bought this headphone, and I've been listening with it for a few days now. I love it, but it doesn't match the dynamics, detail, and fun of my Utopia.

Measurements are not definitive amd can be misleading. Delta Sigma Modulator DAC's measure significantly 'better' than R2R and FPGA DAC's but are vastly inferior in respect of sonic properties and audio reproduction.

Don't know about the cans, but The Expanse was a great TV series. 👍

Looks like DCA Expanse may not be the set huh. Looking to try the Focal Clears, Hifiman Arya, and Sennheiser HD800s someday.

Loving the response to this review on Head-fi. So many fragile egos....

If I recall correctly the Dan Clark Stealth needed over a hundred hours of break in and was a power hungry beast. I wonder how many hours DMS put into The Expanse when he listened to it.

Thank you for telling the truth about the Expanse. They sound like dull, muffled, lifeless garbage and Dan Clark has started going in the completely wrong direction with these and the Stealth.

Overdamping is not good. Even if the FR is great, the heavy damping of all Dan Clark headphones is killing the dynamics and soundstage, making them sound blunted. There's some people that like this characteristics on a headphone, fair enough, but Dan Clarks approach just isn't for me.

What a let down. I had high hopes for this one.

Dat mic tho

this cost 399 usd. about the same price as hd660s

throw it to Z and i can guarantee he'll love it...!!

IMHO, should never buy based on measurements unless you plan to use the product to listen to 1kHz test tone only. LOL....

Great video! I'd maybe not enjoy this one

Does DMS not understand the Harman Target. I think of it as a default standard. Most likely to sound acceptable to most people. A starting point for developing an EQ. People should understand how their preferences differ from Harman.

1:20 - Hirose is a Japanese name and pronounced hí-ró-sé

got weird feeling that D8000 pro is better and cheaper

Poor macrodynamics and congestion isn't visible on a frequency response so I wouldn't blame Harman for it sounding boring and flat. Still many of the generally considered best headphones are notably close to Harman. I assume EQ doesn't help with the core weaknesses?

it should named expensive instead of expanse

Harman target is too V shaped. Both too shouty and bright but also way too much fatiguing bass for long listening sessions

For $4K a headphone had better not only sound perfect, but the damned thing should make you breakfast and powder your bottom.

I have 2 DCA headphones. The Aeon 2 Noire & the Drop + DCA Ether CX. I think that both offer the biggest value in the DCA line & among high-end headphones in general. The Noire is the better all arounder and if I had to live with just one headphone for every instance, it would be what I would choose. The Ether CX is clearly the more neutral & the better technical headphone. It’s my baseline for neutrality. I say all of this because my experience with both is that they each required extensive burn-in. Basically, take DCA’s recommendation and double it! FTR….., I do the burning in on a separate rig and only casually check in to listen every 24 to 48 hours during the process so no comments about “brain burn-in”. No, they’ll never get to the point of the dynamic level of a Focal or other dynamic headphone but they get 80% to 85% of the way there. You’ll know that a DCA headphone is fully burned in when you notice having to decrease the volume about a notch or so. I would also add that the Noire sounds pretty damn good straight out of the box and improves to a lesser degree over time while the Ether CX starts off less impressive but shows significant improvements over its burn-in process. I don’t own the Expanse nor do I have any plans to, but I will say that I’m always a little skeptical of reviews of DCA products when they don’t include info about burn-in.

Great review. Honest. $4k and so many issues... hard to believe how companies try to get away with it these days. Call it flagship, ask $4 or $5k and done. Insulting to the community. Thanks for the honest, well articulated thoughts, DMS.

I was so disappointed when I heard these at Canjam SoCal. All the marketing and features honestly make it worse. It looks nice but it felt like the design was kinda half assed since the ai honeycomb thing doesn’t really blend together fully. $1200 headphone. For $4k or whatever it is… nope.

$4000, for that price too many negatives, all I want is for him to say it sounds like Adele or whoever is next to you singing into your ear.

I find the shifting attitude towards Harman really vindicating. A year ago or so, I was getting constant hate for saying that the (IEM) Harman Target is bad, and I never had a high opinion of the over ear one either (though it is much better than IE). Nowadays, with more and more sets tuned closer and closer to Harman, I see all the big reviewers starting to say what I’ve been saying for a long time now, that Harman just isn’t very good at sounding natural. Resolve, Super Review, HBB, now you as well, seems like we’re not taking Harman as “the goal” anymore in the audio community and I’m all for it. I can’t wait for the fad to pass and for companies to start producing unique stuff again.

This hobby is just so ridiculous at times. It’s completely subjective and yet people give their opinion as fact and act as if there’s something wrong or amazing depending on how they perceived it. The music you listen to, how loud you listen to it, your hearing, your amp, your dac, your source all have an impact on the sound so why should it should the same for me as it did for you.

The Harman target curve is outdated. It makes music esp bass sound dead. Time to reconsider how these headphones are tuned

It's super funny to hear all of this subjective critique of expanses from a guy who advocated for the most distorted set of headphones in the history of hi-fi:) you really need to get your hearing check.

Expensive, polished turd.

I find my original Apple earbuds that I have plugged into my PC (with an extension) sounds fine to me. 👌 Most of my audiophile headcans sit on a shelf as decoration at this point. Even my tube amp is tucked away in a cupboard. Looking back at how much time I spent looking up reviews and figuring out what to buy,and what to combo with what, I realize it's a giant waste of time and money.

lolz, another costly danclark going to dustbin...

Currawong thinks they're one of the best headphones he's ever heard. I'm wondering if DMS has too much wax in his ears.