Dan Clark Audio

Dan Clark Audio designs proprietary high-end headphones.

These award-winning headphones have received five patents. Last year, this company reached $2 million in revenue, with sales in over 80 countries. Now it’s raising capital to expand.

This company is led by an experienced team:

Founder and CEO Dan Clark previously worked for Apple. In the late 1990s, he became a loudspeaker design consultant for several high-end audio companies. During this time, he developed the critically-acclaimed Platinum Audio Series 2 loudspeakers.

President Andy Reagan has been in the audio business for 40 years. Early on, he was an engineer for major acts like Fleetwood Mac, David Bowie, and Aerosmith.

More recently, he worked for Beats headphones, which was acquired by Apple for $3 billion. He was also President of Jerry Harvey Audio, a provider of custom in-ear monitoring devices. Under his leadership, this company went from $2.5 million to $13 million in annual sales in less than five years.

By 2024, global sales of earphones and headphones is projected to surpass $15 billion.

Fueling this growth is the recent coronavirus pandemic. With people staying at home, traditional events like concerts and movies aren’t available. As such, consumers are investing in headphones to increase their at-home media enjoyment.

Furthermore, more people are working from home, where video and audio conferences have replaced traditional meetings. This represents another need for quality headphones.

When setting out to create its original headphones, Dan Clark Audio first took a look at the current options on the market.

The company determined that closed-back headphones — headphones that are completely sealed around the ear — help block outside noise. But music quality isn’t great.

Open-back headphones, meanwhile, allow sound to flow through the ear cups into the room. This allows for better, more natural sound. There’s just one problem: everyone around you hears what you hear.

Dan Clark Audio decided to build a new kind of headphone. It would offer the privacy of closed-back headphones and the natural sound quality of open-back headphones.

To achieve this, the company designed its headphones using patented V-planar driver processing. It also incorporated TrueFlow airflow management. This eliminated numerous sources of distortion and created detailed, natural-sounding music.

In addition to sounding good, Dan Clark Audio also wanted its headphones to be comfortable. In fact, it aimed to create headphones “meant to disappear.”

This was based on the belief that, whether listening to music, playing games, or watching a video, headphones shouldn’t remind the user that they’re on their head.

To maintain sound quality while reducing weight, the company used carbon fiber, titanium, and aluminum to build its headphones. This allowed for maximum rigidity and acoustic performance.

It also resulted in headphones that are among the lightest in their price and performance class. In some cases, these headphones weigh 60% less than the competition.

Furthermore, the company’s patented hinge-free headband design takes significant weight out of the headband with minimal “clamp” on the head. This is done by using a nickel-titanium alloy called Nitinol, or “memory metal.”

Dan Clark Audio has two main sets of competitors: larger companies like Apple, Sennheiser, and Beyerdynamic; and smaller vendors like Audeze, Focal, and HiFiMan.

Dan Clark Audio’s advantage over its larger competitors is quality. These companies aim to serve the mass market. This means they often skimp on sound quality.

Meanwhile, the company’s advantage over smaller companies is comfort, value, and a unique design.

Dan Clark Audio sells four different headphones. Retail prices range from $899 for its best-selling AEON2 headphones, to $3,300 for its top-of-the-line VOCE Electrostatic Flagship.

The company sells its headphones direct-to-consumers online, and through U.S. retailers and international distributors. Margins vary by distribution channel, but its average gross margin is 57%.

Team Background

Andy Regan - President

Andy has been in the audio industry for 40 years.

He started as a monitor engineer for music artists on tour. Over 13 years, he toured with notable artists like Fleetwood Mac, David Bowie, and Aerosmith.

In the mid-1980s, he transitioned to the high-end audio industry and became National Sales Manager for Threshold Audio, a company making sound amplifiers. Over the next 20 years, he held executive positions at Meridian Audio, AudioQuest, Snell Acoustics, and Cardas Audio.

More recently, Andy was a project leader with Beats, the headphone company started by rapper Dr. Dre. In 2014, Apple acquired Beats for $3 billion.

Following that, he was President of Jerry Harvey Audio, a company creating custom in-ear monitors for touring musicians. Under his leadership, this company grew from $2.5 million in annual sales to $13 million in less than five years.

Dan Clark - Founder & CEO

Dan has spent 30 years in high-tech executive roles, working at companies ranging from small startups to Apple, Compaq, and Sun Microsystems.

After earning his Bachelor’s degree in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from Swarthmore College, he joined Apple as a senior marketing manager. After two years there, he joined Sun Microsystems in a similar role.

Following that, he became Marketing Director at Visual Numerics, a computer software company. Then he was Director of Product Marketing for Compaq.

More recently, Dan was Vice President of Marketing for SealedMedia, where he led communications and business strategy for the digital rights management company. From there, he was CEO of Avianta, a financial services company, where he worked for nearly four years.

After that, he was Vice President of Marketing for ESET, a computer software company. Just before starting Dan Clark Audio, he co-founded Privix, a creator of social networking applications.

In addition to his Bachelor’s degree, Dan holds an MBA from San Jose State University.

Jason Egger - Chief Engineer

Jason has been in the headphone business for seven years. He joined Dan Clark Audio as a consultant and was later promoted to Chief Engineer.

Prior to joining the company, he worked for 11 years designing and producing products for the cinema and broadcasting markets. These products included optical tools used in high-end commercials.

Jason has expertise in mechanical and electromechanical design, as well as in machine operation.

Co-Investors