I auditioned for the DCA E3 at Moon Audio since I was always curious about that headphone compared to the Atrium Closed. I also made an appointment to try the Susvara Unveiled, but unfortunately, someone bought the demo unit right before I came in. So my entire 2 hour audition session was just focusing on comparing the DCA E3 to the Atrium Closed and I listened to the Utopia OG and DCA Stealth for fun.
- Setup:
They told they usually don’t double book audition, but there was someone still using the main audition setup, so I got just the Matrix Audio Element i2 DAC/Streamer (I think, I didn’t really ask what it was). I did say I only needed a DAC and streamer since I was going to bring my Allnic HPA-5000XL amp and the Atrium Closed to compare to the DCA E3 and the Mysphere 3.2 compared to the Susvara Unveiled (if they still had the demo unit they told me they had).
So the setup is some Matrix Audio DAC/Streamer (Moon Audio)> Allnic HPA-50000XL (Mine) > DCA E3 (Moon Audio) / Atrium Closed Olive Wood LTD [Mesh Plate Mod] (Mine). The audition was only for about 2 hours.
Source was Roon using Tidal FLAC files
https://open.qobuz.com/playlist/23367190
^ This is my Test Tracks Playlist I created for the audition. Only went through maybe 1/3 of it (about 12 songs)? In some tracks, I listened partially to the song since I am on a time limit, but I did at least listen to my favorite songs fully since this was an audition if I wanted to buy the DCA E3 or not. The audition was really limited on time limit since it was near the end of day, but it was enough to give me a good idea of what the DCA E3 is about.
- DCA E3 Final Thoughts On The Moon Audio Audition:
The E3 is a really freaking good headphone. It has really nice clarity from bottom to top. Midrange clarity, especially vocals is really good and much better compare to the Atrium Closed. The Atrium vocals is much more richer and fuller, but the E3 vocal clarity is just on another level. I had no issues with female vocals on various recording on the DCA E3 and experience no harshness. The DCA E3 is not exactly smooth, but it’s just the right amount of edge to my ears.
I thought the dynamics were pretty good, especially for percussions like in the track Poem of Chinese Drum sounded great on the DCA E3. The DCA E3 is a deep soundstage sounding headphone. While the DCA E3 Soundstage depth is really good for a headphone in general, my issue with the DCA E3 soundstage at least compared to the Atrium Closed is the soundstage width is pretty small in comparison and corners seem to “disappear” (like there is no sound there) making it feel less 3D than the Atrium Closed to me. The DCA E3 really do sound like its just front, back, left, and right soundstage. But still, the DCA E3 still sounds pretty spacious compared to a lot of cheaper closed backs I tried before like a lot of the vintage ATH woodies and the DCA E3 soundstage depth is very impressive even compared to the Atrium closed. I would say its pretty close in terms of soundstage depth, but it was a quick comparison. Imaging and instrumental separation is better on the Atrium Closed. Because on this, I feel like it’s easier to pick up smaller details on the Atrium Closed making it feel like its the more detailed headphone to me. It’s probably thanks to the Atrium Closed much wider soundstage. On the DCA E3, vocals seem to cut through the music more, making it more of the “main star” in music to me whenever vocals gets involved. Meanwhile, the Atrium Closed vocals seem more “normal” in terms of presentation to me and vocals don’t really stand out when it shouldn’t at least how I’m used to with my other gears. With the DCA E3, I wouldn’t say the vocals are more forward, but the vocals are pretty much in my head and the music took a step back, at least that’s how I felt. That makes the DCA E3 vocals stand out much more compared to the Atrium Closed.
In terms of bass, the DCA E3 is pretty good, but the Atrium Closed is much better through extension and visceral impact. Going through EDM songs like “Antares - CloZee” to an acoustic instrument like “Poem of Chinese Drum”, I can hear more subbass and feel more visceral impact on the Atrium Closed. I never realized how good the Atrium Closed visceral impact because I am more used to my Platimon speaker visceral bass. The Atrium Closed bass visceral impact is really good for a headphone. Again DCA E3 bass is still pretty good and I had no issues with it, its just not comparable to Atrium Closed.
In terms of listening to pop songs and bad recording, I say its preference, but both headphones does it well. I mod the Atrium Closed by installing the mesh plate on it so the upper midrange is more smooth to me while the DCA E3 had some edge to it. But a lot of recordings sound more “clearer” on the DCA E3.
Atrium Closed is easier to get loud compared to the DCA E3. I say it’s easier to drive the Atrium Closed compared to the DCA E3.
Overall, I really liked the DCA E3, especially for its clarity it provides for vocals. If this was the old me where I used to like vocals sticking out of the music and is always the main star, I think I would’ve love the DCA E3. But I really like soundstage right now in my audio gears and if I wanted vocal clarity, my Platimon VC 1 speaker and Mysphere 3.2 provide a much much clearer vocal than the DCA E3. So I think I will probably stick with the Atrium Closed because I like the soundstage presentation more and the bass on the Atrium Closed.
Bonus Thoughts
I had fun chitchatting with the Moon Audio sales rep. I am not too sure how genuine his replies were to me, but I think I sold him the idea of the Mysphere 3.2 lol. When he told me the Susvara Unveiled demo unit just got sold and he was sorry that I wasn’t informed. He told me I could try the Susvara instead and I told “I’m good”. That was when I told him about the Mysphere 3.2 and showed him the headphones. He looked genuinely surprised and interested in the Mysphere 3.2 so I continue explaining the headphone to him of how cool they look and how everything is magentically attached to each other. He ask me the price and I told him its like $2K average for used and the lowest I saw was probably around $1500 - $1700 because I couldn’t remember the lowest used price I saw. After I told him the price, he took a picture of the mysphere 3.2 and told me he wants blind buy one lol. I warned him that its amp picky not because its hard to drive (I told him its easy to drive), but you want high quality gear and high quality recording in order for it to shine as its quite picky. I hope if he do buy one that he give it a real chance and wear it correctly. I offer to him he can listen to it, but it was passed closing time and he was really nice in letting wrap up my last listening session with the Focal Utopia OG since I spent way too much time on the DCA E3 comparison on the Atrium Closed. So in the end, he didn’t get to listen to the Mysphere 3.2.
Another thought is that this experience got me really loving my home setup and appreciate it more! My current antipodes S series source and Mystique Evo B4B 21 DAC are very revealing in the music. It makes the Atrium Closed sound much more detailed compared to the DAC Moon Audio DAC/Streamer let me use for the audition. I feel like on the Atrium Closed on my home setup, I can hear much more nuance and tiny details in the music and instrumental separation is on a greater scale!
I also talked if Moon Audio is open on the idea of hosting local meet and inviting local NC users on headfi, similar to what Schiit does, but it can be on their HQ since they some audition rooms. The sales rep told me maybe, but it doesn’t seem like a lot of NC users are interested in that kind of stuff. After the last thread for a local NC meet on headfi, I agree as the thread died because of a lack of interest. If there is another NC meetup, idk if I will attend anyway as the rest of the year is going to be busy 
But it’s good enough that I know these are going to be keepers for me (selling off others). This chain is also working very well with my Utopia. It’s interesting how very different the load from these cans are, but the V550 handles them both well.
and the sound quality is very enjoyable for me, not fatiguing, fun to listen to. With the price falling into the $2.5k to $2.8k range, I think these are well priced on the used market. But my gut feeling is they need the right signal chain to shine.
). I will say in exchange going from the Atrium Closed to the DCA Stealth, this is smoother experience. The DCA Stealth is much easier to listen to and you’ll melt into the music. Combine it with its high quality comfort, this is a really nice headphone to just sit back and listen to for hours which was my goal with this headphone.
. For aftermarket cables, I think the Vivo stock cables seem pretty good. I swap from that to the Moon Audio Black Dragon Premium cable and the difference is barely noticeable which is good. Because to me, that means the stock cable is pretty good already that it doesn’t really need to change compare when I swap the Mysphere stock cable to my other headphone ribbon cable where it made a noticeable improve difference.