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Quad Era-1 Planar Magnetic Headphones

£47.495£94.99Clearance
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About this deal

When sound enters our ears, it has a planar wavefront with all spectrum components in phase. A typical dynamic headphone driver disrupts this coherence with its phase irregularity, resulting in less than perfect signal peak reconstructions. Quad's planar magnetic driver has much better phase coherency since all parts of the diaphragm vibrate in harmony without break up or delayed resonance. The driver's flat conductor pattern, without inductive components, eliminates inductance-related intermodulation distortion, this is especially common in dynamic drivers with high impedance and a high number of voice coil turns. Superbly Compatible The soundstage is one of the most impressive things about this headphone. There’s a great sense of dimension with generous height and imaging that feels spot on. And, in this respect, it might even supersede other more famous models in this price range, like the Mr. Speakers Aeon Flow. SUMMARY

In terms of build quality HD660S are nice but not ERA-1 nice, HD660S is made out of plastic with just a metal band and grille. However, HD6xx series proven to be very resistant and stood the test of time. My 12-year-old HD600 that I gave to a friend are still going strong and don’t want to die, HD660S should be the same. ERA-1 have better materials, my only gripe is the cable, more exactly the textile surface that peels already. Quad states that ERA-1 have a sensitivity of 94 dB per one mW of power, it also has a nominal impedance of just 20 Ω, for a planar-magnetic headphone this is very unusual. That included cable terminates in two dual-entry 3.5 mm stereo plugs, plugging in just below the yoke towards the rear of the earcup. Sheathed in braided nylon, the cable may kink just a little too easily, but the materials offer additional strength to combat wear and tear. The Quads are among the very best options available under 1k. It's hard to put the four or five real contenders in any kind of ranking without knowing what someone is looking for, but IMO the ERA-1 is the best option for an all-rounder that leans towards the warm, relaxed side of neutral. In that sense, it's much e All my former planars needed gobs of power and most of the time you would end up be very limited by portable solutions. ERA-1 are very different in this regard.Cable is detachable, quality is quite nice, without microphonics whatsoever, it is quite sturdy and flexible.

The Focal Elear and Elex are dynamic driver headphones. They are the same headphones, just with different pads (the Elex has the pads from the original Clear). From the moment I started listening to Arya I knew they have something different from my other two headphones and that is dynamics. The difference between a low intensity sound and high intensity one is very big, so much that I needed to readjust the volume once per song. They possess better dynamics even than my Quad Era-1, which already did impressive in terms of dynamics. Again they sound remarkably similar. They are very similarly tuned. The biggest difference is that the ERA-1 has a tighter and better defined bass, whereas the 109 is a bit more bloomy and punchy. The discontinued Questyle CMA800R is one of my favourite solid-state amps, with slight warmth but stellar control. I often chose to use that amp for the ERA-1 in my headphone comparisons. The Violectric V200, Auralic Taurus and Bryston BHA-1 are great too. However, the Monolith THX AAA 887 gets you very close. As the leakage responses show, this is one of the few headphones that are largely unaffected by compromised earpad sealing, which means that a broad range of listeners are likely to experience similar tonal balance from it. This is reflected in the relatively small changes in the Harman PPR rating to 43/53 ≡ 38%/47% and 33/55 ≡ 29%/48% respectively in our spectacles and 'hair' tests.These are in the same price range but are very different. The 660S2 is an evolution of the HD6** line, which all headphone enthusiasts know has a reputation for above all, presenting a natural-sounding mid-range. Once placed on my head, the fit seems just a little loose. My ears remain fully surrounding by the over-ear cups, but the headband feels like it could sit just a little tighter on my head.

Cable: Detachable cable 2 m, 3.5mm TRS connectors on headphones, 3.5mm to amp with 6.35 mm TRS adapter LCD-2 have worse sub-bass layers, an elevated midrange performance and subdued treble response. LCD-2 are great on midrange, good on bass and weak on everything else. LCD-2 can also be overly smooth sometimes. the Quad isn't that far behind in terms of resolution, with slightly better tonality for long term usage (D9200 was a bit bright to me) Both Verum and Quads have a well-defined bass, that goes deep. The Quads are performing better here I think, they have more defined, detailed (most notable when listen for example to all variations an acoustic bass or cello can produce) and "feelable" substance in the bass, and that substance/texture follows down to the very deep of the last roll off.

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

Second, the ERA-1 has wonderfully well defined, nuanced, and revealing mids and highs, especially relative to the norms for its price class. Many models in this class are either bright sounding (to simulate “detail”), or else dark-sounding and slightly softly focused (to convey “richness”), but the ERA-1 instead hews toward a more satisfying and accurate middle path. To appreciate how this plays out in musical terms, listen to the hauntingly beautiful ‘Nublado’ from Será Una Noche’s eponymous album [MA Recordings]. ‘Nublado’ is a mesmerizing Candombe (a tango-like Afro-Uruguayan dance) that features delicate, shimmering percussion and the solo voices of a guitar, cello, bandoneon, and wind instrument(s). In every case, the ERA-1 deftly captures the defining tonal colours and textures essential to each instrument’s voice, not to mention the reverberant acoustics of the recording venue.

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