REVIEW – Quad ERA-1 Headphones

Quad has never made a headphone before and so we were delighted to hear about, and get the chance to try, their ERA 1  planar cans costing £599. Janine Elliot takes a listen. 

“I grew up during probably the most exciting time in audio, eager to own a Quad 33/303 and then a 405 and saving up so I could one day get an ESL57 or better still an ESL63. Actually, I didn’t get any of these until an adult. I made do with Sansui amp and Audiomaster loudspeakers, though I did get a pair of PWB electrostatic headphones as I could hear the importance of good personal stereo. That was when Mr Belt made some good British products.  I pretended that my headphones were Stax Lambda Earspeakers or miniature ESL57s. With the rise in sales of headphones over the last 5 years up by 50% this is now a very big market, so it was great to hear that Quad finally bit the bullet and introduced a headphone to plug into their PA-One headphone amplifier…”  

Read the full review here

Next / Previous

Latest posts

Ten Reasons Why I Hate Listicles May 24, 2026 Orpheus Lab H Three M1400 Opus II Monoblocks Launch At High End Vienna 2026 hifi news Orpheus Lab H Three M1400 Opus II Monoblocks Launch At High End Vienna 2026 May 22, 2026 Revox Studiomaster CD100 CD Player hifi news Revox Studiomaster CD100 CD Player May 22, 2026 Pristine Vinyl ViVac RCS Record Cleaner May 22, 2026