The Dan Clark Audio Noire X are planar magnetic closed-back headphones with AMTS (Acoustic Metamaterial Tuning System)
retailing at 1099 EUR in the EU

DCA previously Mr Speakers is a US brand specialized in producing excellent high-end headphones and their
latest model Noire X is no exception (spoiler alert)

Unboxing & Build Quality:

The Noire x is shipped in a small elegant box. Included is a high-quality cable with several choices of
termination upon ordering the headphones (single ended, 4.4 mm Balanced or 4-Pin XLR), additionally
there is a sturdy compact case to safely store the headphones when traveling.

The build quality of the headphones is excellent, they look and feel very premium, everything from the
headband to the absolutely beautiful earcups oozes quality. The Alcantara Suede earpads look gorgeous and comfy,
the glass surfaces on the cups although looking very luxurious are a fingerprint magnet. One big advantage
for those who want to use these headphones on the go is the well thought out foldable headband mechanism
making them very compact along with the stock carrying case they will not take much space in your bag pack.

Power Requirements & Synergie:

Very power (current) hungry headphones, they need quiet some juice to get to get going, so a good
quality and powerful DAP or desktop AMP is a must have. As these are a very low impedance headphone
pairing with an OTL Tube is not the best solution as it will most likely not be able to drive them and cause
some distortions in the bass. On the DAP side you will need one able to deliver enough current to the
drivers of the Noire X, during my test i had quiet some surprising results for example the Astell & Kern
Kann Ultra although very powerful on paper wasn't able to drive the Noire X adequately on the other end
the Fiio M17 Dap was an excellent partner for the Noires it drove them very well. The Noire X was less
picky when it came to desktop amps something like the Ifi Zen Can, it had enough power to drive them but they
scaled with higher-end amps. The Aune S17 Pro is an excellent pairing for the Noire X very powerful yet
controlled presentation, and finally the Gold Note HP-10 was able to (probably) squeeze out
the last drops of performance out of the Noires planar drivers.

Sound Impressions & Comparisons:

The DCA Noire X is a headphone that can still be considered as fairly neutral tilting to a warmer musical & fun
sound signature, the soundstage capabilities is quiet remarkable for a close back headphone
the low end performance is tastefully boosted, the midrange is linear and the treble is very
well done too, there's a good amount of detail & finesse, sometimes on brighter recorded tracks there
can be a bit of sharpness but it's not to a point that it would be bothersome or a dealbreaker for me.

Concerning Competition: It's less resolving and technical than it's bigger brother the DCA E3 that i had the opportunity
to listen to multiple times, but the gap is not that great at all especially considering that the E3 is more than
twice as expensive as the Noire X.

Below or around 1 to 1.5k it will be difficult to find a closed back headphone that will outperform the qualities of the Noire X.
In fact there is only one competitor that comes to mind, the ZMF Bokeh Closed another fantastic closed-back
headphone but with a slightly different tuning and built. The Bokeh is less technical than the Noire X but
has a more expansive sound signature, on the other side the Bokeh has the more impactful bass in direct comparison.
Build quality & concept is completely different the ZMF has beautiful bigger wooden cups and is a heavier headphone
but the weight is well balanced and comfort is on the same level.
Again both headphones are excellent closed back headphones and i would have a hard time deciding which one
to get.
One special mention though for the Fiio FT1 which is still a banger for the asking price of 160Eur, the built quality
of course is not as nice, technically it falls a bit behind, but the low end performance is still very
impressive and nothing short of amazing.

Conclusion:

DCA have done a great job with the Noire X, in all aspects this is a wonderful closed back headphone. The tuning for
my taste is absolutely delicious. The modern design and build quality is superb. Just be careful if you plan to use it
as portable headphone it needs a very powerful companion to work well.