Dan Clark Audio Headphones: Complete Guide
A Passion for Music
The Dan Clark Audio Headphone Guide includes everything you need to know about the San Diego-based company's state-of-the-art planar magnetic and electrostatic headphones.
Dan Clark was drawn to audio at a young age. He remembers being home alone and cranking the Beatles, Jefferson Airplane, and the Grateful Dead. He usually had the bass and treble turned all the way up, which he said he's embarrassed to admit. But there's nothing embarrassing about an early appreciation for rock and roll.
That appreciation grew into a love of loudspeakers, and eventually headphones. Begun in 2012 under the name MrSpeakers, Dan Clark Audio makes headphones that are enjoyed by audiophiles and music lovers throughout the world. The company's 2019 name change reflected a shift from the design and production of loudspeakers to headphones; in fact, headphones are the only thing currently on the menu. Keep reading to learn more about the man behind the Dan Clark Audio name as well as the highly regarded headphones he has dreamed up.
Who is Dan Clark Audio?
To get to know the company is to get to know the man.
Dan Clark exhibited an early fascination with audio. He recalls experimenting with his father's tube-driven McIntosh rig as a young boy in California. Whether that sparked or fed an innate interest in audio gear is anyone's guess, but his enthusiasm was undeniable.
In college, Dan studied electrical engineering, focusing on linear circuits and power amplifiers. Jobs in high-end audio stores while he was in school kept the fires of his audio passion stoked. His senior thesis was a high-power MOSFET amp. It was pretty fun to build, though he cooked a lot of transistors, he recalled with a laugh. He went into high tech after graduating. It was a bit of a tangent, he said, though his work at Apple, Sun and C-Cube Microsystems was always tied to audio, graphics, and video.
He also consulted in the design and building of loudspeakers, including the Studio 2 and Reference 2 speakers for Platinum Audio. As his consultancy business grew, he decided he needed a name to showcase his focus and talents. MrSpeakers was born on April 1, 2012. It was April Fool's Day, but the success he was destined to realize was no joke.
After some time focusing on loudspeaker design, Dan's interests began to shift. Headphones were making the transition from accessories to primary listening devices, and Dan became interested in the pursuit of good sound from closed headphones. He discovered a community of people who were modifying Fostex headphones, where he learned many interesting things about headphone modification.
Dan became an authoritative and reliable voice in the head-fi “modder” community, sharing numerous mods. As Dan and the MrSpeakers name grew in popularity, he began developing commercial products for headphone enthusiasts using the Fostex T50RP as a build platform. This resulted in the design of Mad Dog and Alpha Dog headphones.
With revenue from those sales, Dan was able to begin developing his first proprietary headphone, the ETHER and ETHER C, released In 2015. The AEON Flow debuted in 2017, followed by the VOCE in 2018.
In 2019, with the ETHER Flow and AEON Flow RT also now under his belt, the time had come to rebrand under a name that reflected the company's current direction, and MrSpeakers no longer fit the bill. Dan Clark Audio announced its name change near the end of the year.
When asked about rebranding the company, Dan shared that the new name was required to allow the brand "to branch into new lines of products and new markets." The change set up Dan Clark Audio with the brand support it needs to continue expanding its product range without feeling limited or restrained by the restrictions implied from a name. While the decision to change the name was difficult, Dan said it was a practical consideration.
"Dan Clark Audio has no implied product limitations (besides being audio) and the new name gives us brand support to expand our product range over time."
The Dan Clark Audio Experience
Dan and his team follow the principles of "California innovation," with the goal of creating dynamic, streamlined solutions that improve performance without adding complication.
Along with a spirit of innovation comes a commitment to the headphone experience. For Dan, it's about more than just they way they sound. It's also how a headphone looks to how it feels in the hand to how comfortably it sits on the head.
"Good sound isn’t enough: if your headphones are too heavy, fit weirdly, don’t seal, or clamp too hard, it’s like having a bad seat at a concert," Dan says. "You might enjoy the music, but the discomfort keeps pulling you out of the experience. So for us it’s balancing sound and comfort to produce headphones you can wear stress-free for hours on end for the most immersive experience we can produce."
Dan likes to ensure that each aspect of his headphones is "purpose-built," with everything being done in house. Using off-the-shelf drivers, or headbands, or using contract manufacturing would mean making "me too" products, he says -- and that's just not interesting.
"We try to bring a unique approach to all aspects of our designs," he says, "to fully control the balance of sound, comfort, and style. Off-the-shelf parts make that much harder.
The AEON 2 is a great example of that "purpose-built" experience. Here you have a headphone that folds up quickly and easily so that you can bring it with you when you travel. A patented folding gimbal design allows it to pack into a compact case that you can toss into your bag or backpack. While the case is small, it easily holds your choice of headphone cable. Another neat thing about the AEON 2 is its patented ear-shaped design, which is angled to complement the natural shape of you skull. This makes them less susceptible to pinching or clamping.
Another example of that "purpose-built" design is the VOCE cable. Dan Clark sought to improve upon the typical electrostatic headphone cable that is flat, bulky, heavy and prone to noise by designing one that is round, lighter weight, and non-microphonic.
When it comes to technology, every Dan Clark planar magnetic headphone is powered by a 100 percent proprietary driver that is designed in house. A highly efficient transducer keeps weight down by reducing magnet size. Patented TrueFlow technology improves air flow through the motor, while patented V Planar technology pushes more air at low frequencies. The result is better dynamics, high-end frequency response, and lower distortion.
Another facet of the Dan Clark experience is giving people options to tweak the tonality of their headphones. The ETHER 2, dubbed "three headphones in one," supports three ear pad options, each offering a unique sound.
ETHER 2 leather pads
ETHER 2 suede pads
The pads feature a peelable mounting system with a tacky elastomer for easy changing. The synthetic leather pad puts the midrange a bit farther forward. A perforated synthetic leather pad delivers the largest soundstage and increases relative bass and treble for more fun and lively voicing, and a synthetic suede pad offers added output in the bass region and a little more sparkle on top. Dan's favorite? The perforated pads, but it's all about individual preference.
The AEON 2 and VOCE, meanwhile, come with tuning pads made from foam and felt that allow listeners to customize sound to their taste. The pads, which offer various degrees of dampening, may be inserted into the ear well.
Guides and Manuals
