I had not spotted that QUAD had not only upgraded their PA-One DAC-Headphone Amp to 'PA-One+' status earlier this year, but also dropped the price (in USA) by 500 bucks - to US$1299.

(QUAD are distributed in USA by MoFi.)

• Re-engineered circuit topology for better freq. response and S/N Ratio.
• Improved circuitry for improved transparency
• Better DAC: ESS Sabre 9018 K2M DAC up to PCM 384kHz & DSD256
• Balanced outputs added
• Solid state rectification replaces original tube rectifier

I see that the QUAD PA-One+ has Low & High output impedance modes, so should be able to drive all manner of headphones.

Perfect match of course, for the QUAD ERA-1 planar-magnetic headphones, but the PA-One+ can also function as a stand-alone pre-amplifier in a system.

Looks possibly good value.


HEADPHONE.GURU's Apr 2019 review:

" sweet musical midrange and high end... beefy but tight lows... a huge soundstage "

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INNER FIDELITY's Rafe Arnott, conducts long-term testing of the PA-One+ with various headphones, including QUAD's ERA-1:

" ...even-handed and linear frequency response. The entire bandwidth had meat on the bone... Both treble and bass were full, detailed... smooth, rich midband goodness. "

" I found the Quad to be unfussy in its presentation of music. It was direct, emotionally engaging, projected a large, well-spaced sound stage... "

" A fun, Swiss Army Knife of an amp/pre/DAC... "

" The fact that it comes in under $1,700 USD and that it not only stands alone as a one-stop headphone amp/DAC for both digital and analog input listening duties, but can integrate itself into a larger system thanks to its unbalanced pre-amp outs makes it an even bigger bargain. "

DarkLantern blog - darklanternforowen.wordpress.com