Will a portable player drive the Dan Clark Audio Stealth?

On power, yes — all of them. Every one of the 39 portable players in this database reaches 100 dB SPL on the Dan Clark Audio Stealth, which needs 10 mW at its 23Ω.

Power is one of three questions and the one that goes wrong least often. The other two — whether the source’s output impedance leaves the frequency response alone, and whether you will hear its noise floor — are answered further down, separately, because a source can pass one and fail another.

Whether it gets loud enough

The cheapest one that does reach it is the Hidizs AP80 Pro Max at $179, which delivers 50 mW into 23Ω — 7 dB of headroom over the 10 mW this headphone needs for 100 dB SPL.

100 dB SPL is a peak level, not a listening level. If you listen at 85 dB the same headphone needs 0.32 mW, which is 15 dB less, and the answer above changes for most of the category. The model page has the full ladder.

Whether it changes how they sound

Under the one-eighth rule the Dan Clark Audio Stealth wants a source below 2.88Ω. Of the 26 portable players here that publish an output impedance, 25 are under it and 1 are not.

The furthest over is the Shanling H5 at 4.7Ω, which is 2× the ceiling. Above that threshold the source stops being a volume control and starts being part of the frequency response. The simulator shows what that looks like.

The other 13 publish nothing at all on this, so they are not on either side of that count. This site leaves them blank rather than assuming a figure.

Whether you will hear it between tracks

Hiss depends on the source’s own noise floor and on how sensitive the headphone is. At 90.0 dB/mW and 23Ω, the Dan Clark Audio Stealth turns one microvolt of source noise into about -14 dB SPL — and the threshold where that stops being noticeable in a quiet room is around 20 dB SPL.

Of the 12 portable players here that publish a noise figure, 12 stay below that threshold with this headphone and 0 cross it.

The remaining 27 publish no noise figure, so they cannot be placed on either side.

The 12 best matches in this category

SourcePriceInto 23ΩOutput impedanceHiss in thesePower verdict
TempoTec Variations V3 Blaze$179593 mWnot publishednot publishedComfortable
FiiO JM21$199288 mW1 Ω-10 dB SPLComfortable
Shanling M1 Plus$209140 mW0.6 Ωnot publishedComfortable
TempoTec Variations V6$369237 mWnot publishednot publishedComfortable
Shanling M3 Ultra$479101 mW1 Ωnot publishedComfortable
iBasso DX180$480365 mW0.6 Ωnot publishedComfortable
FiiO M11S$499238 mW1.5 Ω-9 dB SPLComfortable
FiiO M21$599427 mW1 Ω-8 dB SPLComfortable
Cayin N3 Ultra$649180 mW0.5 Ωnot publishedComfortable
FiiO M23$699168 mW1 Ω-8 dB SPLComfortable
FiiO M33 R2R$730488 mW0.8 Ω1 dB SPLComfortable
HiBy R6 Pro II$750539 mWnot publishednot publishedComfortable

Sorted by how many of the three questions the source answers well, then by price. A blank in a column is a blank in the manufacturer’s own documentation, not a zero.

The same headphone, other kinds of source

The Dan Clark Audio Stealth on other categories: desktop amplifiers · desktop DAC/amps · audio interfaces.

The Dan Clark Audio Stealth page has every source in the database against this headphone, and the matcher takes your own numbers.