The Dan Clark Audio E3 is already a popular set and well on its way to being one of the best-selling products from the San Diego-based audio brand ever. In fact, it's so popular that they had a hard time fulfilling all the orders piling in after the initial round of reviews, so much so that I was glad Headphones.com had a spare unit available that I could examine. I recently covered the flagship STEALTH, which sells for $4000 new, and continue to be extremely impressed by what it does. The STEALTH isn't for everyone though—especially at that asking price—but it brought with it some cool new engineering innovations that have gone into other $4000-4500 headphones from DCA too. In what is a good example of trickle-down technology, a lot of what made the STEALTH successful is now available at the $2000 price point. Is it a surprise then that it's very likely going to be a commercial success?

While it may be easy to treat the E3 as a cut-down STEALTH given the different price points, I think it's best to see it as its own thing. Dan Clark Audio does like the Harman target for over-ear headphones so the E3 being tuned similar to the STEALTH was to be expected. However, there are small things here and there which result in a different sounding headphone for many music genres. Internally to the E3 has a newer driver with a different diaphragm altogether and the bass ports also contribute towards making the E3 sound differently. Then there's the AMTS device that, as seen on page three, is custom-made to the E3 and the ear pads are also specific to the set. The end result is that the E3's bass is going to be more appealing to the vast majority of people reading this review. It doesn't come off as damped or lean as some DCA sets may have, and the end result is really good bass texture without comprising on detail or quantity alike. If anything, the bass shelf might be a bit too much for me—especially in the sub-bass—but I know this is not likely to be a popular complaint. It retains the excellent channel matching and comfort that the STEALTH was known for too.

The Dan Clark E3 is not a perfect set though, and I don't necessarily agree that the E3 bests the STEALTH even disregarding the price. There are a few caveats listed above and mentioned in more detail on the previous page that potential customers need to be aware of. The E3 came really close to winning another Editor's Choice award for Dan Clark Audio but ultimately how I personally found the 12-13 kHz presence made it hard to do so. Your mileage may vary though and, at the very least, the E3 is easily deserving of a very strong recommendation. I know $2000 is a hard pill to swallow for many people but keep in mind that you are now getting a very good closed-back headphones experience for far lower than what the previous standard—the $4000 DCA STEALTH—came in at. There is nothing else in my collection here which comes remotely close to offering the E3's level of user experience for the money.