My time with the Quasar has come to its end. Much thanks for Aurorus Audio for letting me have this opportunity. 
Pros
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Easy to drive off any power source
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Sounds natural and open
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Mids and treble always stays in control
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Quality sound to the vocals
Cons
Short Version
The Quasar headphone prioritizes a neutral sound experience to give vocalists and other prominent mid range instruments the spotlight while listening. It’s overall harmonics are tuned to be controlled no matter the genre or dynamic swing in the music. The initial start of notes, especially with percussion and drums, are good, and there is a quality timbre to much of the mids.
Gear used
Wiim Ultra streamer with SMSL DDC as source
Mojo 2 dac / amp
Hifiman Goldenwave Prelude amp
Packaging / Build / Cable
What I like about the case of the Quasar is that it was clearly designed to be traveled with. It’s just large enough to contain the headphone with little wasted space, and plenty of cushioning to withstand some moderate shocks to keep the Quasar safe in normal travel conditions. It has a pair of keys to keep both latches locked shut, if one so desires, and I appreciate the thoughtfulness to security. It’s an efficient, utility minded case which gets a thumbs up from me.
The build of the Quasar has a unique, wooden spoke design that substitutes for the normal, outer shell for the headphone cups. I like the look of it but I also suspect the wood adds to the weight of the overall design. The band is a simple two part design, the thinner band directly on the head being perforated which I think allows decent airflow, that works fine for my comfort. I’ve had no hot spots or no weight fatigue from wearing the Quasar for several hours. The pads are okay, I think I may have preferred something bigger to overlap my ears as I come from egg shape hifimans, yet I think for most, the pads will feel fine with a light clamp force.
The cable is a flat type, 6.35mm male jack, that terminates into mini XLR female connections into the Quasar. It’s a first time use with mini XLR for me. The rubber has an easy bend and two distinct colors for red and black to easily identify the L and R connects. Attaching and detaching the mini XLR was stiff and a learning experience on first time handling, but has thankfully become smoother since. I suspect the makers of Quasar know their audience to have their own aftermarket cables, or have readiness to buy a quality cable, so resources could spent on the design of the headphone itself. Overall, the cable has no major faults to get going to the listening.
Overall sound impressions
Jazz, I find, is a pretty good measurement of how a headphone can handle aggressive musical passages. There is plenty of cymbal work and bombastic brass instruments tearing it up in tracks like Caravan from this album. I think the tuning of the Quasar was carefully made to never give a harsh or sibilant performance during busy instrumental passages. The timbre is good with a decent amount of separation of instruments in the soundstage from left to right, and occasionally, from the top and bottom. The depth of sounds improves a little when fed by my Prelude amp opposed to the Mojo 2 alone.
To go further into the differences of the Prelude amp versus Mojo 2 alone, the prelude supplies more bass, more pin point imaging of sounds, and slightly better texture and sustain to bass and mids. Instruments and vocals take a small step forward, high note guitar strums sounding more livelier because of this, along with the prelude providing a darker background. It’s a nice combo, Prelude + Quasar, but I also wouldn’t say it makes a grand difference. What I found most enjoyable was the extra bass on tap and with the Mojo 2 alone with the Quasar, a +3 to +6 db sub and mid bass shelf was about equally enjoyable to my ears compared to Prelude + Quasar.
On to the vocals for the Quasar; they are its strength! I had the sense of the Quasar walking the line of being neither shouty nor relaxed in its presentation for singers. On an ole’ favorite, Hotel California 1994 MTV performance, the singer comes through strong and just a touch away from becoming too forceful to my ears. The guitars and shakers play to the left and right on the soundstage in relaxed manner, letting the singer have the bulk of my attention.
I like simple, gentle, acoustical music when accompanied by a skilled singer found in the track, Birds of a Feather by Hildegard von Blingin’. The Quasar does very well in letting my ears become enchanted by the rich, smooth singing I say is on par with headphones I heard in the $2,000 range. The presentation spotlights her singing as the strongest element with the gentle drums still having enough of a presence to skip along gently to her spotlighted voice in center stage.
Who are these headphones for?
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Listeners who value strongly presented, natural vocals above all else
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Buyers with budget to mid-fi chains as the Quasar requires little power to drive and present mids very well
Personal preferences that the Quasar couldn’t satisfy:
Bass guitar and low notes on regular guitars doesn’t have enough of presence for me without having to EQ a bass shelf. An example of a couple tracks would be Luminol by Steven Wilson and One More Time by Blink 182–when I added a bass shelf the guitars took more command, with weight behind them, that felt more satisfying to me. While I understand the tuning is geared for timbre to the mids and vocals, on musical passages absent of singing, I like the mid bass and lower mids to come in with more authority.
The second caveat is that detail retrieval on backing instrumentals is harder to listen for when compared to Hifiman headphones. I think this an aspect of treble, and the tuning difference of having a dip in the mids in Hifiman tuning to let other sounds besides vocals to come in more distinctly to the listener. The Quasar has picked their strength with a vocal presentation and still does a good job rendering primary instruments well, as I heard with jazz albums. And of course the Quasar is a dynamic driver to the quite different planar tech of Hifiman headphones.
Conclusion
For listeners who want to have a closer connection to their favorite singers, the Quasar is the way. The Quasar satisfies in mid centric acoustical music as well, and has always stayed in control no matter the quality of recording or the dynamism of a loud swing in a track. The soundstage has good amount of left and right width which I always love to hear. The comfort of wearing the Quasar for the past two weeks, I think, has gotten better with time. If I were to own a pair, I would probably let it run 100% of the time with a bass shelf with the Mojo 2 for more body to cellos and other low frequency instruments. It sounds really good to me with that adjustment!
