berardo93
New Head-Fier
What would be a good sub $500 DAC/AMP to the ERA-1? The Multibit Asgard 3?
QUAD ERA-1 Thread
- Thread starter FastAndClean
- Start date
strider1007
100+ Head-Fier
Or the Jotunheim / DS card.. I compared the Jotunheim amp to the Asgard amp ( No cards) using my HD660S, found the Jotunheim the clear winner. More dynamic, open and bass was much more controlled..
strider1007
100+ Head-Fier
I am sooooo relieved that in this case you were wrong..
The box had been opened, but not a blemish in sight ! Yippee !
I am sooooo relieved that in this case you were wrong..
Fast delivery as well! Probably a customer returned item since they offer 30 days try at home service. I checked their website the same day you ordered yours and the B-stock was not available anymore. I hope you'll like them as much as me! First impressions?
strider1007
100+ Head-Fier
Let's say this one won't be going back...
After about five hours of listening I am truly impressed. Sounds much cleaner than the HD660s. Clearer, more defined. I will give more impressions the next few days..
I'm a relative new headfier, but an old HiFi lover from Norway.
Also heard about a lot of negative experience with the HiFi freaks website, problem with out of stock, sending etc, but my one experience as buyer is excellent! I bought - received them yesterday - a set of ERA-1. The web site says they're out of stock, but also one is able to order them, that arouse a little doubt in my mind, and I therefore emailed them.
After a very pleasant email dialog, the nice guy that I chatted with offered me one of two demo pair left in stock. He promised that they're in mint condition.
This was last Saturday, and already same day i received confirmation that they're in transit. And the price? Wow man - 4000,- NOK!
They arrived - and i absolutely mint condition, but as I read in a lot of reviews, the the fabric on the cable loosens (against the cans them self), and small thread ends appear. I dont know if this is lowering the quality of the cables, some say it does, I dont know if its just the the outer layer of fabric or not. I will see to it later.
And I talked with the guy at HiFi freaks about the complains against them. They are a few hifi enthusiasts who run this company, he said that there had been problems, but a lot of them was caused by the world wide situation with covid-19 etc, related to sending(delivering, stock etc. That seems reasonably to me at least, and I had them bookmarked in Chrome, and will with no worries buy form them at any time.
And the cans? They're glued to my head, I love them with all my ears and heart!
Also heard about a lot of negative experience with the HiFi freaks website, problem with out of stock, sending etc, but my one experience as buyer is excellent! I bought - received them yesterday - a set of ERA-1. The web site says they're out of stock, but also one is able to order them, that arouse a little doubt in my mind, and I therefore emailed them.
After a very pleasant email dialog, the nice guy that I chatted with offered me one of two demo pair left in stock. He promised that they're in mint condition.
This was last Saturday, and already same day i received confirmation that they're in transit. And the price? Wow man - 4000,- NOK!
They arrived - and i absolutely mint condition, but as I read in a lot of reviews, the the fabric on the cable loosens (against the cans them self), and small thread ends appear. I dont know if this is lowering the quality of the cables, some say it does, I dont know if its just the the outer layer of fabric or not. I will see to it later.
And I talked with the guy at HiFi freaks about the complains against them. They are a few hifi enthusiasts who run this company, he said that there had been problems, but a lot of them was caused by the world wide situation with covid-19 etc, related to sending(delivering, stock etc. That seems reasonably to me at least, and I had them bookmarked in Chrome, and will with no worries buy form them at any time.
And the cans? They're glued to my head, I love them with all my ears and heart!
Chris Kaoss
Headphoneus Supremus
Great price, indeed.
And yes, the fabric on the cable isn't the most durable.
I used a lighter to "shrink" the loosen part gently.
But since i got my FAW Noir Hybrid, the oem cable was stored in the box and never seen. ^^
Besides that, there aren't any flaws with my Era-1.
Overall great headphone, especially even for the mrsp pricing.
Have fun with it and a great day.
Chris
And yes, the fabric on the cable isn't the most durable.
I used a lighter to "shrink" the loosen part gently.
But since i got my FAW Noir Hybrid, the oem cable was stored in the box and never seen. ^^
Besides that, there aren't any flaws with my Era-1.
Overall great headphone, especially even for the mrsp pricing.
Have fun with it and a great day.
Chris
Great price, indeed.
And yes, the fabric on the cable isn't the most durable.
I used a lighter to "shrink" the loosen part gently.
But since i got my FAW Noir Hybrid, the oem cable was stored in the box and never seen. ^^
Besides that, there aren't any flaws with my Era-1.
Overall great headphone, especially even for the mrsp pricing.
Have fun with it and a great day.
Chris
Thanks for info! Where did you buy the cable? Forza AudioWorks? I couldn't browse me to the ERA-1 there, but maybe you'll bough a non-specific cable? All tips will be highly welcome!
Cheers from Norway, it's raining outside, then I'll have a perfekt reason not to de-attach those glued to head cans..., and then the sun shines between my ears, and in my heart.
EDIT: Do you think that OEM cable just isn't good enough? Have you burnt them in etc? I'm like a child in the candy store now, all about these cans are of interest!
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Chris Kaoss
Headphoneus Supremus
Yes.
At Forza Audioworks.
Picked the Beyer T1 in the drop down list and told Mateuz how to be wired on the headphone connectors, bc the T1 is a bit different.
My oem cable is a bit unbalanced between left and right in impedance.
Don't know how it impacts the sound.
But the FAW cable is really great and outperforms most other cables in terms of flexibility, look and feel.
I'm not that much in cable sound, but it compensates the 1 db peak in the midrange and make it sound a little bit better to my ears.
Maybe it could be the balanced termination in combination with my fully balanced R28. ^^
Thanks again! I will try to check out different cables, and If I find someone useful, I'll be back with a review.
Hi sorry for not getting back sooner. I got them from Hi-fi Freaks in Denmark. For some reason their website is Swedish. I believe I got the last pair. The last time I looked they had B grade ones for the price I paid.
I haven't done it yet but I'm thinking I'll put some black heat shrink on my cables before they fray.
strider1007
100+ Head-Fier
No problem, after that post I did some more digging on the Swedish website, used the online chat, got redirected to their Danish website, ordered on tuesday, and 48 hours later I was listening to my very new ERA-1. The box had been opened, but I see no traces of it ever being used.
Worked out terrific. Loving the music I hear. So, thanks for pointing me in the right direction. Ended up paying € 440 including shipping. Great deal.
strider1007
100+ Head-Fier
As promised a few first impressions.
I only use FLAC files from my PC ( ripped my 1500+ CD’s a long time ago ) through the Modius’s Unison USB input. Short balanced IXOS XLR cables to the Jotunheim. Up until yesterday it was the Sennheiser HD660S with a € 25 Amazon balanced headphone cable. For comparing I switched back to the original SE cable Sennheiser provided.
The Quad ERA-1 was high on my list. Allthough different technnologically, I have always had a weak spot for Quad. About twentyfive years ago I owned ESL63 and, when they were introduced the 988. Only telling you this because I think I might be a little biased.
Because I only had the ERA-1 some 30 hours these are first impressions, and very personal. YMMV I believe applies.
It is not night and day, more night and later that night. But there are significant differences. The words that come to my mind are: Cleaner, clearer. The same orchestra is on stage, but they have opened the curtains and I see/hear everything a lot clearer. The individual instruments are easier to locate end follow. Voices are better defined, more detailed. I can sometimes even hear better what is being sung, it sounds less smeared.
What I also noticed is that I can play a little louder without the music getting harsh, metallic.. As if there is less distortion somehow.
On some live recordings it is easier to hear distance between singers or musicians, instruments. The soundstage is definitively bigger. Again, not “Oh my god how bad is the HD660S” but more like “Yep, it’s a bigger stage for sure”..
More dynamic. Oh Yeah, on the Yello album, Essential sounds so much better. Fuller, livelier. Goes for that entire album.
Best for last: The bottom end. It reaches deeper while staying much better controlled. My go-to album is Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an exhibition by Jean Guillou on solo Organ, on the Dorian label. That litteraly moved me to tears. I’ve never hear it that good..
As I am writing this I am listening to Jacintha’s version of 'Danny boy'. It starts with some very intimate acapella. Better than before I can hear her voice fading in the room when she stops singing.
As it turns out I would have gladly payed the €700 the ERA-1 costs here in Holland, but having paid only €440 for a B-stock from a Danish webshop without anything to show for that, it just makes it even nicer.
I only use FLAC files from my PC ( ripped my 1500+ CD’s a long time ago ) through the Modius’s Unison USB input. Short balanced IXOS XLR cables to the Jotunheim. Up until yesterday it was the Sennheiser HD660S with a € 25 Amazon balanced headphone cable. For comparing I switched back to the original SE cable Sennheiser provided.
The Quad ERA-1 was high on my list. Allthough different technnologically, I have always had a weak spot for Quad. About twentyfive years ago I owned ESL63 and, when they were introduced the 988. Only telling you this because I think I might be a little biased.
Because I only had the ERA-1 some 30 hours these are first impressions, and very personal. YMMV I believe applies.
It is not night and day, more night and later that night. But there are significant differences. The words that come to my mind are: Cleaner, clearer. The same orchestra is on stage, but they have opened the curtains and I see/hear everything a lot clearer. The individual instruments are easier to locate end follow. Voices are better defined, more detailed. I can sometimes even hear better what is being sung, it sounds less smeared.
What I also noticed is that I can play a little louder without the music getting harsh, metallic.. As if there is less distortion somehow.
On some live recordings it is easier to hear distance between singers or musicians, instruments. The soundstage is definitively bigger. Again, not “Oh my god how bad is the HD660S” but more like “Yep, it’s a bigger stage for sure”..
More dynamic. Oh Yeah, on the Yello album, Essential sounds so much better. Fuller, livelier. Goes for that entire album.
Best for last: The bottom end. It reaches deeper while staying much better controlled. My go-to album is Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an exhibition by Jean Guillou on solo Organ, on the Dorian label. That litteraly moved me to tears. I’ve never hear it that good..
As I am writing this I am listening to Jacintha’s version of 'Danny boy'. It starts with some very intimate acapella. Better than before I can hear her voice fading in the room when she stops singing.
As it turns out I would have gladly payed the €700 the ERA-1 costs here in Holland, but having paid only €440 for a B-stock from a Danish webshop without anything to show for that, it just makes it even nicer.
Damn! I got a sound issue with these angels of sound, here is my questions to Quad: (Pardon my English, I'm Norwegian)
"Bought the headphones for a week ago. So just now I discovered a kind of low frequency and disturbing "brrrrrrrrrr"-sound on the left side, it occurs exclusively in bass tones playing. Its almost like there are some parts that are not attached or something is loose. The "brrrrrring" changes tone and frequency together with the bass tone and frequency, it follows it in parallel.
Changed the side of the cables - and altered the ears to be sure, but it is there constantly.
On the same side, there is and a kind of metallic "ting-tikk/kling/ding" sound occurs, sometimes when moving my head, and also if sitting still. If I tap/touch or very gently "scrape" with the nails on the outer metallic, almost the same sound occurs. Sounds just like it comes from the metal itself.
I really hope someone can help with this, cause these cans are fabulous!"
I Hope they will help me with this.
"Bought the headphones for a week ago. So just now I discovered a kind of low frequency and disturbing "brrrrrrrrrr"-sound on the left side, it occurs exclusively in bass tones playing. Its almost like there are some parts that are not attached or something is loose. The "brrrrrring" changes tone and frequency together with the bass tone and frequency, it follows it in parallel.
Changed the side of the cables - and altered the ears to be sure, but it is there constantly.
On the same side, there is and a kind of metallic "ting-tikk/kling/ding" sound occurs, sometimes when moving my head, and also if sitting still. If I tap/touch or very gently "scrape" with the nails on the outer metallic, almost the same sound occurs. Sounds just like it comes from the metal itself.
I really hope someone can help with this, cause these cans are fabulous!"
I Hope they will help me with this.
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