I'm a little dismayed to see how many folks over in the Canjam thread at Head-fi did not like the Stealth, or rather, they thought it sounded like a really good open headphone but w/ fidelity in the $2-3k tier. It seems the Audeze CBRN and LCD-5 got the most praise even though it was noted their tuning is a bit flawed.
That's my ultimate issue w/ headphones in this tier. While I can afford a set, it better be great enough that it can be my one and only and the performance should justify the price that I won't second guess my purchase a year or two down the road... otherwise I'll let the used market dictate a purchase.
It's hard for me to put a lot of faith in Head-Fi. Page after page of "well you really should try the DragonFly Red because it's presentation is much more forward than the Onyx's recessed mids" or whatever... Obviously I haven't run a census or anything but I often feel the same people who so confidently espouse that degree of subjectivity are the first to dismiss anything evidence-based for no other reason than contrarianism, at least in the audio realm.
That said, do you happen to have a link or recall the models of any headphones they were comparing to? Nothing in my collection can match it, at least to my hobbyist ears, so I'd be interested to hear their alternatives as open backs aren't something I dig into very deeply. There's amlost nowhere outside my home where it's OK for people within 10 ft. to hear what I'm listening to, and of course inside the home it's hard to beat a proper 2.1. FWIW, the Denon 9200 is (was?) my favorite closed-back. if the pad cut-outs fit my ears better, I probably wouldn't even have tried the Stealth because I like the 9200 so much. But, maybe because it's built/designed by the Japanese, the cut-outs aren't big enough for my elephantitis lobes (I'm 6'5") and I have to fold my ears a little to get them in there. OK for about 90 minutes max, then I just get annoyed.
I agree w/
@amirm that HD800S has a tiny bit of extra spatial quality that makes for a fun ride. The Denon 9200 is so sensitive it can pummel you with the subwoofer effect with very little power (comparatively), but those 2 specific use cases are the only thing I've found so far where Stealth comes up a little short. I stress 'a little' - I've almost got the bass thing worked out, seems to be a matter of fit as
@Dan Clark states. Keeping it 10 o'clock really does matter for my tastes. Possibly the spatial thing could be worked out, too, by boosting in the HD800's "magic" range but I'm too old to spend time fixing what ain't broken.
Because someone may find it useful, and (shameless self-promotion) because I'll probably be selling most of them soon, collection includes HD820, HD800S, T1 3rd Gen, Aeon X open and clsoed, Ether CX, Stellia, LCD-X, HD650, Sony MDR-Z1R, IEM-m9 and IEM-Z1R, and I used to have a K712 Pro modded for balanced connection but I shippd it to Amir for testing about 87 years ago so I fear it may have been swallowed by the monster that lives wherever he stores his to-do list.
Lack of resonances, foremost.
I think the bass issue might be because you are hearing low distortion for the first time. My reaction was that the Stealth sounded quite close to my in room sound at home. Clean and deep and even and so forth.
Crucial information, thanks for that. Very good chance you're right. I know it's not really possible to do accurate testing between headphones, but i've been trying my hardest before the 15 day return period is up by connecting Stealth + [other] to my A90 simultaneously and switching back and forth + level matching as fast as I can. I usually try to keep the [other] headphone a tiny bit louder than the Stealth so as not to risk accidental volume advantage, but so far it doesn't matter. Placebo/expectation bias or not, I have no urge to to use any other headphone. They all sound "messy" by comparison. Stellia's closest, but I can't track the individual instruments the way I can with Stealth and when a lot is happening within a recording it all sort of smears together. Which isn't necessarily bad; I mean, that's why tape is still used in 2021. but, like most I want the artist make those decisions.
