[Chris Kaoss]

The beautiful knitted headband? Where to buy?

It's a Geekria headband cover bought from amazon.

Fitted with a rectangled piece of foam with 1cm height underneath.

 

[Thfoolonthhill]

Photo note the dekoni nuggets due to my pea head

 

[Chris Kaoss]

By how much the clamping force has changed with the nuggets?
Not that the Quad has much of it, but every step of the strokes will alter that, i guess.

I'm on step "0", by the way.

 

[Thfoolonthhill]

By how much the clamping force has changed with the nuggets?
Not that the Quad has much of it, but every step of the strokes will alter that, i guess.

I'm on step "0", by the way.

As in the clamping force on the ears? I have noticed no difference, although I have a pea head my sides are wider so there was always a clamping force for me. I regularly flex the headband to stretch it outwards a little. Very gently but regularly and I feel it is loosening off.

 

[Chris Kaoss]

Strange things happen from time to time, i've to say.
Still in the process of evaluation

but

with the Chord Mojo, the Era-1 hits even harder than with my R28.
The R28 is more , ummm, mellow?!

Listen on Tidal to
Lindsey Sterlings Album "Artemis" and the song "The Upside".

Feels like the uvula hits the oral cavity on every beat. ^^

Really impressed with the slam of the Quads, again and again.

 

[mobbaddict]

Strange things happen from time to time, i've to say.
Still in the process of evaluation

but

with the Chord Mojo, the Era-1 hits even harder than with my R28.
The R28 is more , ummm, mellow?!

Listen on Tidal to
Lindsey Sterlings Album "Artemis" and the song "The Upside".

Feels like the uvula hits the oral cavity on every beat. ^^

Really impressed with the slam of the Quads, again and again.

Yesterday during my earpads testing I realized that the slam is actually nuts with the right fit. Tested with a few electronic tunes, I couldn't believe it. And what's most amazing is I hear no bloat whatsoever. The hybrid velour pads are so polite in comparison.

Do you think a class A amp adds much in terms of detail, texture maybe? I was reading about some models recently and was trying to understand how amp class impacts sound. It's actually interesting to understand how these machines work (even if I have no clue about physics in general).

 

[Anatman]

Now both rigs are better then ever. Had to buy a silver amp, no dealer in Norway could obtain a black version of this amplifier. The black edition did not reach dealers until March. but really, it is ok with a little colour variation in the stack.

The Quads really shines with increased power. I also can adjust volume on both in different variations. When driven to near max volume for my ears, ca 2 o clock, there are absolutely no form of distortion or fall away of bass or highs.

Now I really can see the potential in DACs when driven by the brothers of power. The Quads are in deed power-hungry. All over I hear a more precise punch, smoother highs, everything comes to live in the Quads, and I am really blown away of the potential of the Quads. But, I have now realised that they must be driven by decent power/DAC, then they give me even a more full blown version of them self.

 

[WorksUnit]

Had mine a few months now but the last few weeks I’ve been “running in” an HP8 valve headphone amp from Icon Audio ...

Dipped my toes into tube amps, but I did not know impedance matching was a feature...
That opens up some nice alternatives for the planars like Lcd-X, Aeon2 and Era-1.

with the Chord Mojo, the Era-1 hits even harder than with my R28.

No r2r for me yet to compare, but Mojo/Era-1 with leather pads was a bit of a "moment" for me too.

 

[Uebelkraehe]

My most preferred chain right now is Burson C3R > iFi Zen Can > ERA-1. Black background (at least with the iPower 5v which was included with my Zen Can), excellent control, punch and soundstage and i don't need the iematch as opposed to when i directly hook the ERA-1 up to the C3R. Compared to the (THX) SMSL SP200, transparency is a bit less extreme (still more than adequate) but dynamics and soundstage seem to be improved. A really great little amp for the money.

 

[Thfoolonthhill]

This thread is fascinating. I love reading it. @Anatman you are putting thoughts in my mind with your power quest and I wonder if I can encourage my cans to shine a little more. I know nothing about amps and DACs, I don't even know what a dac is.

I listen with the quads in 2 ways. Spotify/YouTube on my Sony Xperia 5 ii with the quads plugged straight into the phone. Or vinyl with the quads plugged into the Vena 11. I don't notice a massive difference between the two tbh. How can I improve this and make the era-1s shine like Anatmans?

 

[WorksUnit]

^Did you try Sp200^ with the XLR output?

 

[The Jester]

Impedance matching with valve amps is possible due to multi tapped output transformers, the HP8 has 3 ...
8-32
32-250
250-1000
So the Quads are right in the sweet spot of the “Low” setting at 20 ohms... with it and the original Eximus dac which has a good discrete class A headphone amp I’ve never been close to 12 o’clock on the volume controls, but the HP8 has better dynamics at a similar volume,
similar to matching speakers to power amps with amps being known as “high current” better able to drive low impedance speakers which can dip below 2 ohms in the bottom end ...
Driving the HP8 with a Chord Qutest/Mscaler and the Eximus via optical direct from the MScaler..

 

[The Jester]

Yesterday during my earpads testing I realized that the slam is actually nuts with the right fit. Tested with a few electronic tunes, I couldn't believe it. And what's most amazing is I hear no bloat whatsoever. The hybrid velour pads are so polite in comparison.

Do you think a class A amp adds much in terms of detail, texture maybe? I was reading about some models recently and was trying to understand how amp class impacts sound. It's actually interesting to understand how these machines work (even if I have no clue about physics in general).

Class A vs class A/B is simply output transistor switching, at low output a class A/B amp works in class A where the transistors are permanently on and then reverts to class B when power out increases, a pure class A amp is then usually a lower power output due to the heat generated and the power supply needed to run “always on” and more expensive to produce, with well made examples of both the lack of transistor switching can give a smoother sound with more micro detail, by their “always on” design all valve amps are Class A, it then comes down to listener preference between the “sound” of transistors vs valves,
with balanced vs single ended its a trade off between ultimate transparency and noise isolation, compared to single ended RCA the balanced XLR is virtually immune to external noise in the connecting cables compared to RCA, and the longer the cable the more the difference, on the side of single ended there are less components in the signal chain which can improve transparency with quality equipment, and that’s where the cable debate starts,
good RCA cables can be relatively immune to interference in short runs, usually the “pseudo balanced” type that has 2 shielded signal conductors with the shield grounded at the source end are a good start compared to the simple coax, on the output side a standard headphone cable is usually a 2 conductor shielded cable, L and R positive with the shield as the common negative, vs the “balanced” 4 pin output that has 2 conductors for both L and R with a shield grounded at one or both ends,
In my case the HP8 is single ended which I chose as my CJ pre amp is all single ended RCA, and why I made the DIY headphone cable from 4 core shielded cable, seperate conductors for L/R, +/- and a shield grounded at the amp end plus a 6.5mm plug at the amp end so no need for the 3.5-6.5mm adapter ...
by no means the only way or the “correct” way, just my choice ..

 

[Thfoolonthhill]

I've spent the morning reading up on DACs. Wow, what a minefield for the uneducated like me. My quad Vena ii has a built in dac ess sabre. What does this mean for me? I don't really have a clue lol. My era-1 sound great. So do I really need to chase anything else?

 

[mobbaddict]

Class A vs class A/B is simply output transistor switching, at low output a class A/B amp works in class A where the transistors are permanently on and then reverts to class B when power out increases, a pure class A amp is then usually a lower power output due to the heat generated and the power supply needed to run “always on” and more expensive to produce, with well made examples of both the lack of transistor switching can give a smoother sound with more micro detail, by their “always on” design all valve amps are Class A, it then comes down to listener preference between the “sound” of transistors vs valves,
with balanced vs single ended its a trade off between ultimate transparency and noise isolation, compared to single ended RCA the balanced XLR is virtually immune to external noise in the connecting cables compared to RCA, and the longer the cable the more the difference, on the side of single ended there are less components in the signal chain which can improve transparency with quality equipment, and that’s where the cable debate starts,
good RCA cables can be relatively immune to interference in short runs, usually the “pseudo balanced” type that has 2 shielded signal conductors with the shield grounded at the source end are a good start compared to the simple coax, on the output side a standard headphone cable is usually a 2 conductor shielded cable, L and R positive with the shield as the common negative, vs the “balanced” 4 pin output that has 2 conductors for both L and R with a shield grounded at one or both ends,
In my case the HP8 is single ended which I chose as my CJ pre amp is all single ended RCA, and why I made the DIY headphone cable from 4 core shielded cable, seperate conductors for L/R, +/- and a shield grounded at the amp end plus a 6.5mm plug at the amp end so no need for the 3.5-6.5mm adapter ...
by no means the only way or the “correct” way, just my choice ..

Thanks for the explanation