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Overall Tonality
A good closed-back is worth its weight in gold. You have no idea how many times I’ve whispered to myself “Please don’t suck” whenever I get a pair of closed-back headphones for review. IEMs are a hassle to pull out whenever someone wants something from me and open-backs… they leak. Not everyone in my working area needs to listen to Gorguts whenever I do.
I’m happy to report that my pleas have been answered by Dan Clark Audio! The Noire X doesn’t suck, blow or underdeliver in any other way. Actually, I was and still am pretty floored by how neutral the Noire X sounds! Sure, there are some deviations but nothing I couldn’t forgive. A bit of extra mid-bass gives the Noire X a dynamism I’ve felt is missing from many planar magnetic headphones and a slight lower-treble peak imbues overtones with zing but never overstays its welcome even with abrasive industrial noise or death metal.
Bass
The low-end on the DCA Noire X is tastefully boosted with the midbass at around 100Hz staying 1-2dB over the sub-bass. If you’re coming from the IEM world, this low-end response will be very familiar to you but in full-size headphones, it’s less common because drivers generally lose their sensitivity as the frequency goes down.
As is customary with planar magnetics, the bass is quite clean and fast. Compared to planars with larger diaphragms, the very sub-bass can seem less clean but there’s generally more of it because of the slight boost. I’m also delighted with the fact that the 100Hz focus of the bass boost gives the lows a sense of impact usually more common in dynamic driver headphones.
Midrange
There’s not much to report about the midrange other than that it’s extremely linear. Some closed-back headphones have the so-called “W-curve” tuning with a drop in lower mids and a belly in the mids-proper but with the DCA Noire X, I hear nothing of the sort. There’s a bit of warmth from the midbass boost but the lows never intrude on the mids and there’s zero mud even with very busy recordings.
Vocal and string-centric recordings like “The Complete Ella Fitzgerald Song Books” or plain old Led Zeppelin work wonders due to the high linearity of the mid-frequency region and low distortion. Whatever you like to listen to, the DCA Noire X will render with gusto and you’ll probably never skip a track because of a mismatch with the playback equipment.
Treble
This is where the metamaterial magic ought to shine. Allegedly the honeycomb structure in front of the driver makes standing waves less likely to appear. It’s also worth mentioning that the single-ended design of the Noire X driver means that treble doesn’t need to fight its way through a magnet structure and potentially have its wavefront ruined by interference. So does the fancy theory work when it comes to music? I think so.
I will happily admit that this is the cleanest treble I’ve heard in a closed-back headphone. Is the treble completely faultless? Of course not. We are living in the real world, after all. There is a problem region in the 5-6kHz range with what seems to me a resonant boost. The good news is that the boost is a couple of decibels over the reference. You can feel that it imbues the highs with extra excitement but it’s not so much to invite ear fatigue. The rest of the high registers are no worse than I’ve heard in good open-back headphones which is quite the achievement for a closed-back.
Soundstage and Imaging
For the longest time, planars trailed behind the best dynamic driver headphones when it came to throwing realistic sonic images. And closed-backs in general were at the bottom of the pack due to their often closed-in staging. The DCA Noire X bucks these trends! Of course, it’s no Sennheiser HD800S but there’s decent width without phantom sound sources becoming fuzzy and an actual depth, provided it’s in the recording.
In other words – with the DCA Noire X on my head, I don’t feel like I’m missing anything from open-back headphones. The isolation that this headphone has on offer brings an even blacker background where details pop and sounds seem to appear from nothingness. This sensation contributes greatly to the fact that the Noire X is extremely wearable without any ear fatigue.
Comparisons
Sennheiser HD6XX
Has there ever been an even more ubiquitous reference headphone like the Sennheiser HD650 and HD6XX? It does so much right that upgrading from it is always super hard.
Sure, more expensive headphones do a few things better but finding something that improves upon it in every aspect is quite the task. It also doesn’t help that the HD6XX scales like crazy when driven by quality tube electronics.
In many ways the DCA Noire X feels like the direct upgrade from the HD6XX many are yearning for. The low-end is miles better, mids are almost equally delicious but the highs are where the HD6XX seems a tad cleaner. As for technicalities – there’s no contest, the HD6XX sounds more closed-back when it comes to imaging and it just cannot do actual stage depth like the Noire X can.
ZMF Auteur Classic
Many call the Auteur Classic the most neutral of ZMF’s offerings and thus the perfect entry drug into the system. Like Sennheiser’s top headphones, the Auteur Classic loves OTL amps but is no slouch if driven from a quality solid-state source. The earcup of the Auteur Classic can be classified as almost semi-closed with copious venting but enough wood blocking the driver’s backside to give the trademark ZMF woody sound.
Comparing the two headphones from superstar Fostex T50rp modders was a real trip! With the ZMF Auteur Classic, you’re riding in a classic Jaguar where zero to whatever times don’t matter while the DCA Noire X is the more technical ride. It’s way more neutral and fast switching between it and the Auteur Classic put the ZMF woody coloration right in the spotlight. While the ZMF Auteur Classic certainly is one of the more versatile offerings from the master luthier, its coloration makes it more of a genre specialist rather than a generalist like the DCA Noire X is. If I had to choose only one headphone, the DCA Noire X would be it.
Pairing notes
The 13-ohm flat impedance curve would make one think that the DCA Noire X plays nice with OTL tube amps because their high output impedance wouldn’t modify the sound. Sadly that would be only half-right because even my Feliks Audio Euforia EVO struggled to source enough current to drive the small planar driver when it came to bass. A better choice likely would be a SET amp with an appropriate transformer output tap.
Solid-state amps did way better when it came to reigning in the DCA Noire X with discrete transistor outputs overtaking even the beefy opamp-fest that is the SMSL SH-X. When it comes to DACs, the more organic options like the Topping x HOLO Centaurus played better with solid-state amps by adding a pinch of warmth. Detail freaks obviously would enjoy a nice multi-chip ESS DAC more because the DCA Noire X has serious technical chops to play along.
Conclusion
If it’s not apparent from the wall of text above, I had an absolute joy listening to the DCA Noire X! Dan Clark has gathered a ton of experience with the Aeon series and the Noire X is a worthy culmination of the series. It’s not just “good for a closed-back”, in many cases I’d grab it over many open-backs even if isolation isn’t a strict requirement. The DCA Noire X is one of the rare cases where the utility of a closed-back headphone doesn’t come with any of the drawbacks.
Of course, this doesn’t mean the DCA Noire X is perfect. The peak in the 5-6kHz range can be a problem for some people, especially if they’re running more clinical-sounding setups. I’ve also heard that the metamaterial waveguide doesn’t work for some listeners. Neither of these caveats will keep me from awarding the DCA Noire X with the “Headfonia Recommended” award. I’d go as far as to say that it’s a pretty safe buy without auditioning first. Just make sure to wear gloves when handling the glass earcup plates!
Summary
Pros:
- Neutral and versatile tonal response
- Great micro and macro dynamics
- Not a hint of closed-back coloration
- Superb imaging for a closed-back
- Well-thought-out ergonomics
Cons:
- The glass surfaces are a fingerprint magnet
- Folding up the headphones will put a strain on the earpads
- A peak in the treble can be bothersome in some cases
Andrea
I just don’t understand the reasoning behing this sentence in your review:
“The 13-ohm flat impedance curve would make one think that the DCA Noire X plays nice with OTL tube amps because their high output impedance wouldn’t modify the sound.”
It should not have been a surprise that your OTL tube amplifier could not drive it. You need a powerful SS for this one, and one that deals well with low impendence and low sensitivity headphones (i.e. not a Violectric or SPL Phonitor).
Rudi
My remark about the resistive impedance curve was made to indicate that the Noire X, like many other orthodynamic headphones should be impervious to output impedance induced tone shifts. Most dynamic headphones have an impedance peak at the self-resonance frequency (60-ish Hz) and some have rising impedance in the highs due to voice-coil inductance. A non-zero output impedance would form a frequency variant voltage divider and increase the sensitivity of the headphone at the points of increased impedance.
With that said, the Noire X isn’t terribly hard to drive. A 110dB SPL peak requires the amp to source only 55mA or 40mW. Of course, OTLs can balk at the current requirement but a design with say more paralleled output tubes ought to do the trick.
John
Great review. Thank you. I’m assuming from the lack of discussion of them that the portable devices you mention could not drove the Noire X satisfactorily at all. Is that right?
Rudolfs
Thanks you for the kind words, John! Actually the Noire X should be fine with most portable sources. It’s a low impedance, medium efficiency headphone, so battery powered sources should be fine with it. I didn’t take mine outside a lot because of the 2m long cable. With a shorter cable, it’s a decent, if a bit overkill option.
Ear
A man of culture. I wish you would have gone deeper into how Gorguts sounded on this headphone, although I will have a caldera to fit the bill for me.
Rudolfs
Gorguts sounds pretty gutsy on the Noire X. I was surprised about the dynamic range despite that these are “small” driver planars. And there’s enough resolution for busier sections to not turn into mush.
Gareth Johnson
Go these headphones, really like them, but having a hard time picking a DAP to go with them, do you have any recommendations for under £500 mark, thanks
Rudolfs
Hey! Check out our Best DAP compendium – https://www.headfonia.com/best-portable-player-dap/
I don’t think the Noire X is particularly hard to drive, so just go with something from there.