Dan Clark Audio EXPANSE - Flagship Open-Back Planar Headphones - Official Discussion Thread

[SebastienChiu]

Nice write-up as always sir!

[ra990]

Your impressions of the stage and lack of air in the treble is exactly what I’ve been struggling with. It appears that we’re in the minority, but I’ve had enough people reach out to me over PM (on headfi) that I’m sure we’re not a tiny majority. I am really struggling with the soundstage sounding very L/C/R and not having very good imaging. Maybe it does have something to do with our heads and the headphone. For comparison, I thought the Stealth nailed soundstage and imaging really well. I also really wanted to love these, but they’re just not doing it for me. I’ve listed my pair on headfi and USAudio mart, in case anyone is interested.

[Resolve]

Yeah I fully expect that this works for some people, and so to each their own. At the same time it can be hard to know from the impressions of others in various places if a headphone is going to be something you’re after. This is why it’s always best to demo if you can… but unfortunately that’s not an option for many.

[ra990]

I saw the CanJam video where DMS’s first impressions after listening to the Expanse was, if I remember correctly, “where’s the air?” (here’s the timestamped link: So many NEW headphones! CanJam SoCal 2022 recap - YouTube)

Yep…indeed…there’s no air, it’s a dark presentation for me without that missing upper treble that he picked up on immediately. Looking forward to his full review.

[Resolve]

Here’s the DCA Expanse measurements on the B&K 5128.

For those who haven’t seen it yet, we’re using a DF + 8dB slope for our target.

Raw

Compensated

Interestingly, it measures reasonably flat throughout the mids, but I definitely hear this one differently (it sounds much more shouty to my ear). It makes me think there’s bound to be a high degree of variation to how it’s perceived.

[SebastienChiu]

That is interesting! Thanks for sharing and hoping for more measurements of all the high end release from the past year on the new rig while time allows!

[Mainspring]

I had the Expanse for several days. I ended up returning them. They were excellent with one major exception FOR MY EARS. Being a drummer, they lacked the hi-hat attack in the upper treble region that I know exists in many recordings. I felt like I was missing too much in the 8khz region that I like to be more forward. If one wants a darker tuning these would be great. They just didn’t have “it” for me unfortunately. YMMV!