Guns N’Roses

PERSONAL FIDELITY
FEATURE
FEATURE
tunes by k.d. lang, Lana Del Ray, Cat
A great companion
Power, Chris Isaac, Enya, Jeff Buckley,
Admittedly, I prefer sound to the
Adele, Leonard Cohen and others, the
slightly warm side of neutral – especially
when using headphones. The
Quad’s smoothness provides the performances
with a very beguiling and addictive
quality. The PA-One does a stellar job
Quad delivers smooth sound that
makes possible hours of listening, at
of presenting the entire musical picture
reasonable volume levels, without fatigue.
No matter which headphones
with vocalists upfront. It’s easy to get
drawn into the “just one more song” syndrome,
and suddenly you realize several
or IEMs are used to enjoy music
through the Quad, the PA-One has
hours have evaporated.
the power and impedance options to
deliver plenty of oomph, detail, and
Big Iron
musicality.
Connected to a conventional two channel
system, the PA-One serves as a great
While the soundstage is not as
wide and airy as a few more expensive
headphone amps I’ve encoun-
preamplifier. The sonic characteristics
of the headphone amplifier remain true
tered, instruments are well separated
and vocals deliver the power and
through an external amp and speakers
with a slightly warm character. The
emotive presence of the vocalist. A
beguiling ease and organic quality to
Quad’s soundstaging, transparency,
the audio presentation remains evident
in the Quad’s voicing regardless
characteristics cannot match that of more
resolution of ambient cues, and bass
of musical source, yet the PA-One
expensive, dedicated preamps, but this
doesn’t over-embellish either, striking
is an excellent place to build a very enjoyable
two channel system, as your needs
a great balance. Tracks like Massive
Attack’s “Angel” which commands
expand.
the listener’s attention from the get-go
At $1,799 Quad’s latest offering
with its low frequency opening notes,
serves up major sound and value. And
could benefit from a little more heft.
considering you’re getting a great preamp
and highly competent DAC all on
On the other hand, for long listening
sessions, not having the eardrums
one chassis for this price, it’s an amazing
used as punching bags remains a
value. However, it’s important to reiterate
all its owner receives in capability and
welcome voicing choice.
The PA-One accepts high resolution
format up to 24 bit/192kHz.
PA-One and would place it on a personal
value. I very much enjoyed time with the
There’s no DSD capability, but then
list of headphone amplifiers I could enjoy
again, many listeners still have the
daily. If you are seeking a component
bulk of their audio collection as CDquality
16/44.1 or prefer streaming
the hood, do yourself a favor and head to
with great sound and a lot of value under
options from a computer, NAS, or a
your local Quad dealer for an audition. l
service like Tidal, so this shouldn’t be
an issue for most listeners.
Quad PA-One Headphone Amplifier
Putting the Quad through its
$1,799
paces with a plethora of vocally driven
www.quad.com
114 TONE AUDIO NO.78
AUGUST 2016 115