Well, I have some bad news. I think I received a faulty unit, so I sent my Float QA back for repair. I wasn't sure if the headphone or the power supply was faulty (or perhaps both), so I sent both of them back.
There were two major problems with it. I wonder if anyone had a similar experience as mine.
1. It was difficult to get my Float QA to sound loud enough for proper listening enjoyment. I was told by Manfred that a speaker amp with an output of higher than 30W should be enough, optimally around 60W, to enjoy the Float QA at loud volumes. However, my Pathos Classic One MkIII amp (70W per channel) struggled to drive it. I was able to get the volume loud enough at 90-100% of maximum volume. And I'm not talking about ear-piercing loud, just loud enough to appreciate the sound quality of the Float QA fully without straining your eardrums. I thought there was something wrong with my amp, so I tried other amps at a local audio store ranging from 50W to 300W. The 50W and 60W amps all struggled just like my Pathos amp, although the 300W amp drove it effortlessly. However, there was an even bigger problem...
2. Not only did Float QA fail to deliver enjoyable volume on many amps, it produced an irritable crackling noise and severely distorted the sound at higher volumes. At low volume there was no crackling noise, but at medium to high volume, the noises became evident. At around 80%-90% of maximum volume with my 70W Pathos amp, which wasn't even that loud (as I pointed out above), the crackling became severe and the sound was distorted. At over 90% of maximum volume, the crackling persisted but the sound itself was so distorted that it was unbearable to listen to. Again, I thought maybe my Pathos amp was at fault here, but there was no difference when I plugged it into other 50W, 60W or even 300W amplifiers.
At any rate, I even recorded the music coming out of my Float QA using my iPhone do demonstrate the crackling and distortion. Manfred said it was strange, because he tested it out before shipping it to me and there was no problem with it. Well, it was very problematic when it arrived, so I had no choice but to return it. I hope they find out what's the problem and send me one that works perfectly.
Come to think about it, I think I've read somewhere earlier in this thread that some of the first buyers of the Float QA (including MuppetFace) had certain technical issues with the Float QA that they had to send it back for repair. I wonder if their problems were the same as mine. At least they felt that the Float QA sounded good even with the issues, but for me, the sound was just unbearable and terrible.
Oh well, I guess it won't be for at least another 2 weeks that I can get my Float QA back.
