[goldwerger]

It's one of the worst legendary headphones out for sound, fit, and driver reliability.

I almost bought one a month ago, and just before the transaction went through, the seller told me one of the drivers died. That was a close call... I'm done with that..

Sony R10s drivers will last until the year 2100. Not many people know about this. It's a little secret

What's the source of this? I'm curious

 

[protoss]

No source. Just my fascination and admiration of R10s.
Just my source.

 

[goldwerger]

I definitely hope you are right…

 

[davidmthekidd]

I would like another Open back from Sony as a successor to the MDR-Z1Rs, similar to the qualia.

 

[Sp12er3]

I wonder if they ever can be, all their full size flagship for the last decade have been using the 70mm driver, with the MA900 being the only open back using it, all of the same house sound, can they be tuned THAT differently?

 

[jjcha]

Sony MDR SA5000 is like 80% the Qualia.

The MDR-SA5000 is not 80% of the 010.

It's more like the HD800 is 80% of the 010. I'd argue it's much closer than 80%. Sennheiser did a great job, in my honest opinion. But while I've had and enjoyed the HD800 and HD800S in the home, I've never given it the dozens of on-head hours it merits in order to really understand it well.

The SA5000, which remains one of my favorite headphones, has a fun, punchy, more upfront sound than the 010 that makes its sonic characteristics very, very different.

Honestly, I think the HD800 (and HD800S) is great. It's not as compelling as the 010. But it sounds quite good with far fewer of the issues of the 010. I can actually wear them with glasses on.

But I think it's also telling that I can't say much more about how good the HD800 is, because I can't say I really really know them. They just don't seem to get much on-head time for me before eventually I let them go. They just don't sound as 3D as the 010 does to me, so honestly, they're kind of boring. When you have a 010 it's hard to want to listen to the HD800 or HD800S.

I wanted to like the SA3000 but the build quality just really left a lot to be desired. I really don't see any reason to own a SA3000 unless you really can't afford or get a SA5000.

 

[omega1990]

When you have a 010 it's hard to want to listen to the HD800 or HD800S.

I would agree with this statement. I told myself I wouldn't buy one, but after being impressed by my replica of the sony r10 from eslabs and the z1r, I went back and forth on whether to buy them. The one you see here is actually the same one headamp recently acquired.

Justin of headamp was very helpful in assuring me that everything was fine with this pair. It has the stand, blue ear pads, original single ended cable and what Justin thinks is a medium sized headband as he said it was not as tight a fit as his memory of the small size headband was. I was concerned how it would fit my head, but thank goodness it is a snug fit to maintain a complete and consistent seal for me.

I actually have now owned and heard the qualia 010, an original unmodded hd800, and the ultrasone Ed 10. All 3 have been criticized for sibliance, for me though the qualia 010 seems to be about the same in sibliance from my memory of the hd800. The ultrasone edition 10 had substantially more sibliance than the other 2. At least I can listen to the qualia 010 and the hd800, but the edition 10 was unlistenable when I first got it. The previous owner bought a brand new Ed 10 and used it for less than 10 hours. So I can confirm it was painful to listen to at first. I ended up burning it in for over 600 hours and got rid of enough siblance to realize it was generally fun to listen to. However, I think the qualia 010 is much better than the Ed 10 in every way except in quantitative bass punch and slam. The ed 10 had a recessed mid range that let the bass punch harder but also pronounced the sibliance and harsh treble.

Compared to the hd800, the qualia has a more natural layering and imaging compared to the hd800's unique forced placement of sounds. Also from memory I don't recall the hd800 presenting the level of realism to sounds the way the qualia does it. The resolution of the qualia reminds me of summit fi cans of today but has more quantitative treble than any summit fi can I've heard in general. Classical is incredible on this thing and pop is also very exciting. It has a forward transient response that makes music very engaging for me. It constantly feels like it's tickling my senses with how real things sound despite not being as natural sounding as the es-r10. Still the sounds of the qualia seem to be real enough that I could almost believe I could reach out and grab the sounds appearing around me.

Still too early to say since I just got them today, but for an uncolored headphone... well, color me impressed and it weighs like literally nothing. I think my JVC HA-FW10000 which are iems weigh more than the qualias. This definitely reinforces my interest in sony headphones since I first got the es-r10 from es labs last year. I really wanna know if sony will someday make another statement piece after the z1r.

 

[goldwerger]

Wow, what a find!

 

[bozebuttons]

The O10s worked well with my Modded Cary 300sei & Original Eddie current Zana Due.they work well with tubes.
I have to take mine out To try with My ECStudio T & pacific combo
They sound really good powered by my Pass labs XA25 speaker amp off the speaker terminals it also does agreat job with My HD800 SDR
If you think these headphones Are bass light Think again Driven by the XA25

 

[omega1990]

The O10s worked well with my Modded Cary 300sei & Original Eddie current Zana Due.they work well with tubes.
I have to take mine out To try with My ECStudio T & pacific combo
They sound really good powered by my Pass labs XA25 speaker amp off the speaker terminals it also does agreat job with My HD800 SDR
If you think these headphones Are bass light Think again Driven by the XA25

Yeah I was surprised for a headphone built to be so thin, the semi open design created more bass than expected out of my audeze king amp which is a hybrid amp. Still gotta try it with my otl amp schitt folkvangr, cfa3 amp, and sony ta-zh1es.

 

[Xerath]

there's a Japanese dude listed a junk Qualia auction start at 1 yen and thought we wouldn't notice lol

 

[number1sixerfan]

I would agree with this statement. I told myself I wouldn't buy one, but after being impressed by my replica of the sony r10 from eslabs and the z1r, I went back and forth on whether to buy them. The one you see here is actually the same one headamp recently acquired.

Justin of headamp was very helpful in assuring me that everything was fine with this pair. It has the stand, blue ear pads, original single ended cable and what Justin thinks is a medium sized headband as he said it was not as tight a fit as his memory of the small size headband was. I was concerned how it would fit my head, but thank goodness it is a snug fit to maintain a complete and consistent seal for me.

I actually have now owned and heard the qualia 010, an original unmodded hd800, and the ultrasone Ed 10. All 3 have been criticized for sibliance, for me though the qualia 010 seems to be about the same in sibliance from my memory of the hd800. The ultrasone edition 10 had substantially more sibliance than the other 2. At least I can listen to the qualia 010 and the hd800, but the edition 10 was unlistenable when I first got it. The previous owner bought a brand new Ed 10 and used it for less than 10 hours. So I can confirm it was painful to listen to at first. I ended up burning it in for over 600 hours and got rid of enough siblance to realize it was generally fun to listen to. However, I think the qualia 010 is much better than the Ed 10 in every way except in quantitative bass punch and slam. The ed 10 had a recessed mid range that let the bass punch harder but also pronounced the sibliance and harsh treble.

Compared to the hd800, the qualia has a more natural layering and imaging compared to the hd800's unique forced placement of sounds. Also from memory I don't recall the hd800 presenting the level of realism to sounds the way the qualia does it. The resolution of the qualia reminds me of summit fi cans of today but has more quantitative treble than any summit fi can I've heard in general. Classical is incredible on this thing and pop is also very exciting. It has a forward transient response that makes music very engaging for me. It constantly feels like it's tickling my senses with how real things sound despite not being as natural sounding as the es-r10. Still the sounds of the qualia seem to be real enough that I could almost believe I could reach out and grab the sounds appearing around me.

Still too early to say since I just got them today, but for an uncolored headphone... well, color me impressed and it weighs like literally nothing. I think my JVC HA-FW10000 which are iems weigh more than the qualias. This definitely reinforces my interest in sony headphones since I first got the es-r10 from es labs last year. I really wanna know if sony will someday make another statement piece after the z1r.

Always wanted the Qualia. They're just so rare, and then there's the weird fit system. But always wanted to own one. I think it's a bit of a niche headphone, but pretty sure I'd really like it as well. In terms of hearing it's a more improved HD800/S, which is very intriguing, how is the bass relative to it? About similar, or noticeably different?

 

[omega1990]

Always wanted the Qualia. They're just so rare, and then there's the weird fit system. But always wanted to own one. I think it's a bit of a niche headphone, but pretty sure I'd really like it as well. In terms of hearing it's a more improved HD800/S, which is very intriguing, how is the bass relative to it? About similar, or noticeably different?

Bass from the qualia has no roll off to my ears when you get the fit right. It's pretty flat from top to bottom. So it's tight bass but kinda reminds me of my stax 404le when you get the seal on that. The qualia is tight and fast, but the bass along with the overall sound is much thinner than modern headphones released today. So better extended than hd800 but nothings gonna be emphasized in quantity in the bass. It has a fast and snappy sound to it, but lacks body to the sound overall that modern headphones have.

 

[number1sixerfan]

Bass from the qualia has no roll off to my ears when you get the fit right. It's pretty flat from top to bottom. So it's tight bass but kinda reminds me of my stax 404le when you get the seal on that. The qualia is tight and fast, but the bass along with the overall sound is much thinner than modern headphones released today. So better extended than hd800 but nothings gonna be emphasized in quantity in the bass. It has a fast and snappy sound to it, but lacks body to the sound overall that modern headphones have.

Very insightful. I really appreciate the transparent response and level of detail here. I missed a couple chances to buy them before (and at much better prices), still regret it. Hopefully I get to hear them one day.

 

[bozebuttons]

Bass from the qualia has no roll off to my ears when you get the fit right. It's pretty flat from top to bottom. So it's tight bass but kinda reminds me of my stax 404le when you get the seal on that. The qualia is tight and fast, but the bass along with the overall sound is much thinner than modern headphones released today. So better extended than hd800 but nothings gonna be emphasized in quantity in the bass. It has a fast and snappy sound to it, but lacks body to the sound overall that modern headphones have.

if you ever get the chance listen to the hd800 or O10 off of the Pass labs XA25 any bass concerns will be alleviated
They both can do Bass really well.I have both & have used them with the XA25 off the speaker Taps with adapter cables.