These luxury over-ear headphones are open-back in black

Dan Clark Audio adds an open-backed model to its high performance Noire planar headphones

Dan Clark Audio Noire XO open-back headphones on a stand next to a headphone amp. There is a brown leather chair and a pot plant in the background
(Image credit: Dan Clark Audio)
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The closed-back DCA Noire X headphones have a new open-back sibling, the Noire XO.

DCA says they've been extensively re-engineered and tuned to deliver stunning sound.

Dan Clark Audio has added a new pair of headphones to its premium Noire X range.

Based on the luxurious closed-back Noire X that arrived in the UK earlier this year, the Noire XO headphones offer similar spec but with an open back rather than closed.

The Noire XO combine the design of the Noire X with the technology of the reference-level Expanse headphones, and they're considerably more affordable than those flagship 'phones.

Where the Expanse have a price tag of £4,100, the Noire XO have an RRP of £1,300 / $1,299 (about €1,525 / AU$2,699).

Dan Clark Audio Noire XO open-back headphones on a black background

DCA says that the new Noire XO achieve levels of detail previously only available in its most expensive headphones

(Image credit: Dan Clark Audio)

Dan Clark Audio Noire XO: key features

Open- and closed-back headphones sound different. The former generally have a wider, more natural sound while the latter reduce incoming audio and limit sound leakage too.

If you're in a quiet environment, open-back are often the preferred audiophile option.

However, Dan Clark Audio says that its has done much more than popping the backs off the Noire X earcups and replacing them with mesh. The new headphones are the result of "rigorous design work and retuning" and promise to deliver a similar sonic profile to the Noire X, but with their own distinctive sonic signature.

As with the Noire X, the new model sports enhanced planar drivers, plus new manufacturing processes and V-Planar Knurling. This is a process that subtly reshapes the diaphragm for more consistent performance.

In addition, the Noire XO feature DCA's own AMTS tuning system, previously reserved for its most expensive headphones.

The Noire XO come with a detachable cable and a choice of balanced 4.4mm, 4-pin XLR or 6.35mm/3.5mm connectors. They're available now from DCA's official UK distributor Electromod.

Carrie Marshall
Carrie Marshall

Writer, musician and broadcaster Carrie Marshall has been covering technology since 1998 and is particularly interested in how tech can help us live our best lives. Her CV is a who’s who of magazines, newspapers, websites and radio programmes ranging from T3, Techradar and MacFormat to the BBC, Sunday Post and People’s Friend. Carrie has written more than a dozen books, ghost-wrote two more and co-wrote seven more books and a Radio 2 documentary series; her memoir, Carrie Kills A Man, was shortlisted for the British Book Awards. When she’s not scribbling, Carrie is the singer in Glaswegian rock band Unquiet Mind (unquietmindmusic).

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