A Love for Music 

Dan Clark has loved music since he was a kid. He remembers cranking the Beatles, Jefferson Airplane, and the Grateful Dead when he was home alone, with the bass and treble turned all the way up. He may be embarrassed to admit it now, but there's nothing wrong with an early appreciation for rock and roll.

His love of music eventually turned into a love of loudspeakers, and then headphones. In 2012, he started a company called MrSpeakers to make headphones that audiophiles and music lovers would love. In 2019, the company changed its name to Dan Clark Audio to reflect its focus on headphones.

Dan Clark Audio headphones are highly regarded by the audiophile community. Keep reading to learn more about the man behind the brand and the headphones he has created.

Who is Dan Clark Audio?

Dan Clark has been passionate about audio since he was a kid. He remembers tinkering with his dad's tube-driven McIntosh stereo rig when he was growing up in California. Whether that sparked his interest in audio gear or he was just born with it, his enthusiasm was undeniable.

In college, Dan studied electrical engineering with a focus on linear circuits and power amplifiers. He also worked at high-end audio stores while he was in school, which kept his passion for audio burning bright. His senior thesis was a high-power MOSFET amp. He laughed as he recalled that it was pretty fun to build, but he cooked a lot of transistors in the process.

After graduating, Dan went to work in high tech. He said it was a bit of a tangent, but his work at Apple, Sun, and C-Cube Microsystems was always related to audio, graphics, and video.

Dan 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. So, on April Fool's Day in 2012, MrSpeakers was born.

After a while, Dan's interests shifted from loudspeakers to headphones. Headphones were becoming more popular as primary listening devices, and Dan was interested in creating great sound from closed headphones. He discovered a community of people who were modifying Fostex headphones, and he learned a lot about headphone modification from them.

Dan became a respected and reliable voice in the head-fi modding 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 the Mad Dog and Alpha Dog headphones.

With the revenue from those sales, Dan was able to begin developing his first proprietary headphone, the ETHER and ETHER C, which were 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 under his belt, Dan felt that it was time to rebrand the company under a name that reflected its current direction. MrSpeakers no longer fit the bill, so 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 necessary to allow the brand "to branch into new lines of products and new markets." The change gave Dan Clark Audio the brand support it needs to continue expanding its product range without feeling limited or constrained by the restrictions implied by the old name. While the decision to change the name was difficult, Dan said it was a practical consideration.

The Dan Clark Audio Experience

Dan Clark and his team at Dan Clark Audio are all about California innovation. They design dynamic, streamlined headphones that improve performance without adding complexity.

But it's not just about sound for Dan. He also cares about how his headphones look, feel, and fit. After all, you don't want to be distracted by discomfort at a concert. Dan wants his headphones to be so comfortable that you can wear them for hours on end and forget you're even wearing them.

That's why Dan insists on designing and building everything in-house. He doesn't want to use off-the-shelf parts, because that would mean making "me too" products. Dan wants Dan Clark Audio headphones to be unique, and to offer the perfect balance of sound, comfort, and style.

The Dan Clark Audio AEON 2 is a great example of a "purpose-built" headphone. It's designed to be portable and comfortable, with a patented folding gimbal design that allows it to pack into a compact case. The AEON 2 also has a patented ear-shaped design that is angled to complement the natural shape of your skull, making it less susceptible to pinching or clamping.

This means you can wear the AEON 2 for hours on end without any discomfort, making them the perfect travel companion for audiophiles and music lovers alike.

Another example of Dan Clark Audio's "purpose-built" design is the VOCE cable. Dan wanted to create a better cable for electrostatic headphones than the typical flat, bulky, and heavy cables that are prone to noise. So he designed a round cable that is lighter and less likely to pick up noise.

Dan Clark Audio planar magnetic headphones use 100% proprietary drivers that are designed in-house. These drivers are highly efficient, which means they produce great sound without being bulky or heavy.

Two patented technologies make these drivers even better. TrueFlow technology improves airflow through the motor, while V Planar technology pushes more air at low frequencies. This results in better dynamics, high-end frequency response, and lower distortion.