The ERA-1 is Quad’s first-ever headphones. Of course, this sticks out because as some of us older audiophiles know, Quad gave us the amazing ESL Electrostatic speakers. With a background like that, I’m very interested in what they might sound like. I’m currently using a set of HiFiMAN HE400i Planar Magnetics with an iFi Zen DAC v2 and Audirvana Studio to feed my FLAC, DSD, and WAVE library to the DAC. My musical taste runs from string quat=rtets to Jethro Tull and most of the Blue Note catalog, depending on my listening mood.
Does anybody have any experience with the ERA-1 headphones and can you offer some strong comments based on technical knowledge and extended listening sessions? Thanks in advance for any help on this.
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I have a couple of pairs of ESL-57s as well as the 33 preamp and 303 power amp, which I inherited from my father, and as a fan of Quad, I was keen to hear the ERA-1. I’ve not been able to audition one yet. But to judge from the lukewarm response by reviewers and posters on forums, I’m not sure how good they are.
Quad’s manufacturing is now done in China, apparently. This doesn’t necessarily mean that the quality would be any different or worse. But it does suggest that Quad is no longer the same company that made such pioneering products as the ESL speakers.
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When you say technical knowledge, it sounds like you are asking for graphs and I can’t give you that, but the ERA-1 is a lovely sounding headphone with a rather unique sound signature.
At lower volumes, they have a very softly dispersed energy to their attack that’s extremely lively, yet detailed and gentle in delivery, while at higher volumes, they develop a unique sweetness to their frequency range that’s unlike anything else I know of where it’s delivery, at least to me, is very reminiscent of sitting directly in front of large speakers in a room; at high volume the ERA-1 is soft, gently reverberating, and possibly one of the most relaxing headphones I’ve ever heard. To be perfectly honest, I blast them 10000% of the time and probably listen to just these louder than anyone should, but unlike other headphones, I think these may actually be built for that; they are tuned to sound like speakers and IMO they actually deliver on that quite nicely, that said, listen responsibly, personally, I adore my pair. I find they’re very sensitive to changes in cable materials, and while very easy to drive, they love power. In my experience, a lot of tube amplifiers can’t drive them, but when you find one that can, they become one of the most engaging planar headphones I’ve ever heard, my choice word would be “intoxicating.”
This is all with the included hybrid pads, the other pads that come with them make this an entirely different headphone, one not for me. Overall, I would say this headphone is a very underexplored treasure, very audiophile, and very tasteful. If you’re thinking about this one, I’d actually say go for it, they’re great with low end equipment and scale wonderfully as you upgrade.
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Thank you for the review. It’s exactly the type I was looking for where the listener describes real-world use by entering into possible “extremes” in their listening profile. I’m currently using a pair of HiFiMan HE400I (2020) with the custom headphone cable that terminates in a 4.4mm balanced plug to mate with an iFi Zen DAC v2. The overall sound could be described as very similar to the way the Quad ERA-1 cans have been described by trollchu.
CCJ
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Glad I could be of help, I do want make sure one thing isn’t misrepresented though.
I mentioned them as “gently” reverberating because when the ERA-1 displays this quality, it physically feels gentle against your skin and ears, but the ERA-1 is not a gentle headphone, I would actually say it’s starkly aggressive, like Elex and HE-6 aggressive, and it rumbles more than any other planar I’ve used. The rumble isn’t like the rumblings of a dynamic, it’s something unique to this headphone, and is probably both it’s most gratifying feature and what gives it that speaker like quality. I also want to note that with the secondary (not hybrid) pads that more aggressive nature of these takes center stage.
If you manage to demo one, a song I would recommend that displays that rumble quality in full detail would be Can’t Leave the Night by BADBADNOTGOOD.
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Hey 
I got mine for 2 years now. I can agree on: they are easy to drive, but not very easy like Grado for example. They are very delicate sounding, lively, quite balanced in delivery. But sometimes bass light, subbass rolls off very quickly and low highs are slightly increased.
But there is one thing… You need to buy a better cable for them, after a year of ownership I wanted to sell them, bacause I was not that happy. But first I got forzaaudioworks claire hybrid for them (because I knew already what they can do) and that was it. That detail and delicacy they provide now is awesome. The cable is really a must. peace
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But price is maybe a bit too high alltogether.
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