The main fight of the day: Quad era-1 vs. Final Audio d8000
I started with
- Move D. - Amazing Discoveres
- Subsurfing - The number readers
- Pascal F.E.O.S - Down to Earth
Already after a few minutes I noticed that although the bass of the Era1, in my opinion, is terrific, he can not keep up with the d8000.
The bass of the Final Audio sounds a lot more harmonic, as well as faster / agile, which I especially noticed in the track: the number readers of Subsurfing.
On the track: Stay the Same from the album Black Sands (Bonobo),
the d8000 has, in my ears, revealed its genius.
Namely, the Mids are much more detailed, more transparent, and at the same time less aggressive than the Era1.
Andreyas singing was permeated by a lightness, as well as emotionality, as I have never experienced.
It's hard for me to put into words, but over the entire frequency spectrum, I had the impression that the playback was extremely fleet-footed, stressless, and at the same time incredibly thrilling, dynamic, "close to me", on a fantastic stage and locability.
Why worry - Dire Straits (20th anniversary Edition, DSD) Mark sounds with the d8000, more delicate, filigree, and emotionally charged.
The guitar more coherent, realistic.
Zangetsu by Minezaki Koto from the album The Art of Japanese Bamboo Flute and Koto:
Here, the quad is sometimes unpleasant, especially when using the bamboo flute by 1khz.
The d8000, on the other hand, acts more sensitively and at the same time finely dissolves.
The bamboo flute never sounds sharp.
The location of the instruments succeeds much better. As if the musicians were playing in a completely different space, a room with more depth, with more dimensions!
My conclusion: the d8000 plays in a different league.
The Quad is a talented and always dedicated student, but he does not have the skills of the Master by far.
So transparent, poignant, captivating, dynamic, excellent locatable, rich in detail, yet unobtrusive, I've never heard music before.
For me, the Final Audio d8000 is a masterpiece
Oh yes, by the way, this headphone is also very comfortable.