[kodreaming]

Instead of getting an AKG K701, someone recommended MB Quart 450.

I will be using it for mostly Classical/Jazz.

Thanks

 

[ericj]

I wish you luck but maxxsonics has put forward no effort at all in marketing the mb quart pro audio line, especially in the US.

Chances are, the world's only QP450 is on display in the bottom of a locked filing cabinet stuck in a disused lavatory with a sign outside the door saying "Beware of the Leopard."

 

[kodreaming]

lol. You are right. I can't find anyone selling them in North America. I will have to ask someone bring one from China...

I think I will be getting a MB QUART 250 most likely (heard it is a great replacement for K501 :-0).

 

[skellington]

Quote:

Originally Posted by kodreaming /img/forum/go_quote.gif lol. You are right. I can't find anyone selling them in North America. I will have to ask someone bring one from China... I think I will be getting a MB QUART 250 most likely (heard it is a great replacement for K501 :-0).

They sell the 450 on German ebay:
http://cgi.ebay.de/MB-Quart-QP-450-P...QQcmdZViewItem
They don't ship outside of Europe or accept paypal, but if you ask them they probably will. A German headfier could perhaps help you with the translation.

 

[kodreaming]

Thanks for the info. But, it is probably too much hassle..
I guess I will just have someone bring it over...

But seriously, no one in this forum owns either 250 or 450 ??

 

[ericj]

facelvega may be the only one here who's ever heard them.

we wish maxxsonics was making an effort to sell us mbquart headphones, but they almost seem to wish that business would disappear.

 

[scompton]

Here's the only place I've found online that sells them. I have know idea if they ship to the US.

http://www.rm-sound.de/index.php?cl=...1c4c8.93746532

Unfortunately, Google translation does nothing for this page

 

[Fitz]

Quote:

Originally Posted by scompton /img/forum/go_quote.gif Here's the only place I've found online that sells them. I have know idea if they ship to the US. http://www.rm-sound.de/index.php?cl=...1c4c8.93746532 Unfortunately, Google translation does nothing for this page

Well, the US is listed as an option for the shipping location in the checkout.

 

[scompton]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fitz /img/forum/go_quote.gif Well, the US is listed as an option for the shipping location in the checkout.

Since I don't speak, or read, German, I didn't want to click any buttons.

 

[facelvega]

A QP450 and a K701 are totally different headphones. First off, the QP450 is CLOSED. The open version of the same, the QP400, has circulated around head-fi a bit in the form of a pair that was at some point in the possession of both Highflyin9 and Nikongod. I recall they both said good things, but not K701 good. I had a QP95, the nearly-identical predecessor to the QP400, which I reviewed here and which last I saw was for sale on ebay from the guy I sold it to for around $100. I sure wouldn't pay 219 euros for a pair of them.

I've never heard a 450, mainly because when Willi Pressuti offered to let me borrow one (along with the possibly even better QP805 HS), I said no, thinking it would bias me too much, and I didn't want head-fiers to think I was a marketing guy for MB. Now I'm kicking myself, as head-fi is full of people with "review" pairs and amps from various manufacturers. Live and learn.

 

[bebego]

I have the QP450s and love them to bits. The sound is on the bright side. Representation of fine spatial clues (room reverb) is the best I've heard, right up there with my Stax Gamma Pro's. The Stax sound slightly more neutral, however (darker).
But look up my profile to know my bias in headphones, tastes differ.

 

[facelvega]

Nice thread bump. We should add that you can finally get a (possibly improved) version of the QP450 in the US now, from CharterOak Acoustics.

 

[Faust2D]

This thread makes me want to search the cyberspace for a good deal on QP95 or QP400

 

[bebego]

I can't tell about the QP400, having not heard them. However, a regular of german hifi-forum (m00k00h) compared QP400 and QP450 and thought the closed 450 to be the better headphone. Another member bought the QP400 and judged them as "just solid mid-fi". He already sold on his pair, I'm afraid, Faust2D...

The QP450s are most probably even harder to get on the used market, having been released just a year ago or so, in spite of their ninety-ish design. I'm very happy with them, especially out of the Corda Opera. If they're mid-fi too, then my ears are just not made for hi-fi but only for Stax- and MB-fi...

 

[facelvega]

As I wrote above, I haven't heard the qp450, but I have had a qp95 (one driver tweak before the nearly-identical qp400), and it was clearly better than solid midfi, I'd say entry level hifi. What I mean by this is that I think that although flawed, they're better than the over-praised AKG K40x/50x series and about on a level with the old DT880/990. For their treble bias and sometimes grating sound (with the wrong amp), I prefer the the Koss A250, though.

If the QP450 really are a notch above this, which they may well be, then they should easily outperform the DT770/K271S/A900 and break into the next notch higher of closed performance, like an A900ti or Denon D2000, but more treble-focused than either of those. But this is just speculation.