A rare and unique piece
"The sony qualia 010 is very hard to come by. I was very lucky to buy one from headamp. This headphone was in like new condition, the blue pads show some age (not something anyone can do about), the original stand and headamp sold it to me in a pelican case to keep it safe. Justin was very helpful throughout this transaction, can't thank him enough. The headphone itself is really a product of its time, has a mostly colorless sound, a large soundstage presenting things in a somewhat atmospheric way (the hd800 was inspired by this). Has some sibilance which the hd800 was also known for. It's semi open design does help give it punchy bass, but it is very fit dependent. While you cannot adjust the headband size unless you had a completely different headband of a different size to swap it with, this pair fits perfectly on my head. The bass reaches deep and is punchy and tight. This headphone presents images in a more natural way than the hd800 and treble past the sibilance is crystal clear, reminds me of an estat in some ways. Mid range is very detailed and this headphone is highly resolving and quick to my ears. The qualia 010 has an incredibly black background and vocals sound like they're in the room with you. This headphone is remarkably lightweight coming in at 200 grams. This headphone is pretty easy to drive and sounds perfect on my sony ta-zh1es. A headphone that sounds similar to the qulaia 010 to me is actually the sony mdr-z1r in someways. The z1r is also pretty colorless and it tries to present things with a large stage (well, large for a closed back anyway), has more bass in general, and unlike the qualia 010, the z1r has an adjustable headband. Overall the qualia 010 has become one of my favorite high end headphones, right up there with my stax 009S."