[Mastergill]

According to a French audio webzine, Sony announced at their "Sony Media Experience 2005" (a sort of show for the European medias held in Bordeaux 12 to 14 April) the lauch of some Qualia products in France, starting in May with the video-projector and maybe other small stuff. The Qualia 010 headphone should be available too, but there's no date nor price yet.

That's great news, that mean i should be able to try them and hear for myself if all the fuss is justified or not...hype or not?, he he, that is the question.

Actually i'm a Senn HD650 lover, but don't worry i'm not a Senn integrist, if they sound much better than my beloved 650, i'll not be afraid to tell and i may end up buying them even at their ridiculously expensive price (I can almost buy the speakers i need for that price LOL).

So that's cool for us Frenchies, we gonna have a taste of that Qualia thing.

Does any other European Head-fiers know about the lauch of Qualia stuff in their country?

Thanks for reading.

 

[JaZZ]

Sony Switzerland has suggested the possibility that it will be imported this fall. (Other than the SA5000.)

 

[jjcha]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mastergill Actually i'm a Senn HD650 lover, but don't worry i'm not a Senn integrist, if they sound much better than my beloved 650, i'll not be afraid to tell and i may end up buying them even at their ridiculously expensive price (I can almost buy the speakers i need for that price LOL).

They sound very very different from HD650s. If you are a true HD650 lover, I wouldn't worry about your wallet. But I was a HD600 lover before getting my SA5k/Qualia 010, and now my Senns don't get much listening at all anymore.

Best,

-Jason

 

[Andrea]

"They sound very very different from the HD650s." - Ouch.

 

[Mastergill]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jjcha They sound very very different from HD650s. If you are a true HD650 lover, I wouldn't worry about your wallet. But I was a HD600 lover before getting my SA5k/Qualia 010, and now my Senns don't get much listening at all anymore. Best, -Jason

I'm craving for tonal accuracy and perfectly textured sound, both things in which HD650 excel IMO. I can deal with a forward sound if that's not killing the soundstage and if there's no highs emphasis.

When you say very different i'm a little afraid because IMO there's not many way to get a tone right. You're close to the natural sound of instruments and voices or you're not.

I don't care about details but if extra details help to achieve a more realistic 3D field/soundstage i'll take them. I hope there's not a "false" impression of details due to some slightly treble emphasis.

 

[bangraman]

I can say this much... the only way you'll give them a fair hearing is to buy one and use it for about a month. Auditions won't do the 010 any favours and unless you're lucky, it's quite likely you won't get a true picture of the Qualia. If you're unsure or if $2600 is not readily disposable income, it's best to try and separate certain elements of the 010's performance and decide whether it intrigues you enough for a purchase. And that's from someone who doesn't like these anywhere near as much as some on this board.

 

[Mastergill]

Well, i'm planning to try them at home for at least 1-2 days and maybe up to 2 weeks. It depends in which store it gonna be available. No way i spend that much on gear without listening before. And trust me i don't need one month to get an opinion about their capabilities. As i told you in your Qualia thread there's something that should grab you from the start even if the whole thing is far from perfect. It took me 30mn to notice the more natural voices when i got my HD650, while bass and treble were very weak. So i'll see, it will be very interesting anyway.

 

[bangraman]

I just thought I'd mention it at least once bearing in mind my experiences. Saves me wasted typing later.

 

[Mastergill]

Your points are always welcome, thank you.

I have one question for you, maybe it's not easy to answer: Imagine you had them for try the first week in your house, honestly do you really would have kept them and paid the price? You had mixed feeling about them...at the end did you find more plus than minus?

Sorry if my English is bad it's late here, I will **** and wait to try them, that's better than speculating.

 

[bangraman]

First week? Definitely not. I was actually contemplating using my contacts to say "What is this POS?"


However in contemplating a return or repair, since I was dealing with a Japanese import company in Japanese (a language where "You screw*** c***, I'm gonna nail your balls to the screw*** wall" in a US movie would still likely be translated as "You know, I was rather unhappy with that"), I was far more circumspect than I would have been had I been dealing directly with Sony over here. The Qualias have a 5-year warranty so I had that as support if it was a faulty phone, and my #1 concern at first was that mine was faulty. However, not long after I got mine a friend acquired one as well... we compared, and I found both phones sounding the same.


It's also interesting the personal interpretation on the unique (and to me, occasionally disturbing) aspects of the Qualia. It might be that I have still not acheived the optimum fit forthe phone, but he perceives what I hear as a fault as an advantage, because it gives the sound a more three-dimensional feel and he's willing to let some negative aspects of that slide, especially in the light of the technical performance of the 010. He sold practically all his previous phones including the Omega II as he wasn't being satisfied by headphones. He says the 010 are keepers. With a Mark Levinson / Naim / Horning / Wilson Benesch mix in his house, he's hardly a novice. On the other hand, one of the two other phones he's kept is the MDR-V700DJ so it may purely be a matter of flawed taste...

I don't think they've broken in a lot in the time I have had them, although they have changed. What has really changed though is my getting a handle on the construction and sound of the 010 and learning how to tweak it for better results, because the Q010 is position sensitive IMO to impractical levels. I'm still not 100% happy with them. In fact I'm probably not even 80% happy with them. I see the strengths however and I'm trying to imagine how an everyday agreeable system could be constructed around them that does not involve too much signal processing or a technically compromised system layout. That is above all the most frustrating thing. It's fixable, but as is the 010 still sounds 'wrong' to me with many music genres... while in some others such as electronica, I can honestly say I've never heard better out of a headphone.