Jeremy,

I would go with your iPhone and one of the many Dongle DACs that we have reviewed. Dongle DAC gets plugged into your iPhone (cable termination depends on the model) and you run a 3.5mm to 5-pin DIN cable which is plugged into the 33.

https://soundsheavenly.com/14-quad

IW

Hi, I have taken my 333/303 out of storage having not used them for 40 odd years. I have bought a vintage Thorens 160 Mk2 deck and some vintage KEF Concerto speakers (which I plan to change the caps on). I blew the cobwebs out of the 303 and the system is singing sweetly. I am interested in the fact that you are able to use Spotify through your Quad via your phone. I have an iPhone. I would be grateful if you could guide me on what I need purchase and do to allow me to stream from my phone through the Quad system. Many thanks and best wishes, Jeremy.

What?

Quad themselves still service & repair these components at extremely reasonable rates. A testament to their frankly incredible design and (very British) over-engineered bombproof build quality.
I had my own 33/303 pair serviced by Quad in 2018 for the princely sum of £300 (including tax). Every board was removed, dismantled cleaned & tested. Every replaced component was itemised on the invoice, along with details of the chosen equivalent replacement item. A service sticker was added inside the case giving the date & id of the engineer who carried out the work. I can tell you, the attention to detail was meticulous, and the quality of the work was exquisite. Absolutely flawless. Obviously they didn’t fix 50+ years worth of cosmetic lumps & bumps to the cases (thankfully very minor), but inside the things looked brand new. I was speechless. For any company to stand behind such aged products with the respect, care and, yes, love, that Quad do is remarkable and a very rare thing indeed.
Everything else you said about how they sound is true.
Pair them sympathetically with speakers which are on the more efficient side: 90+ dB say, and they will blow your mind. As one reviewer famously wrote “it’s like The Kinks are right there in your living room”. Where they really shine for me, however, is with music you would not expect them to be good at. Dance music, pop, hiphop, all handled with aplomb and effortlessly gorgeous sounding.
I recently added a 2nd 303 to my setup to horizontally bi-amp my 1980s Kefs of choice. Just wow.
As with everything else, they are not for everyone I feel sure. You might very well hate the grey/orange late 60’s aesthetic. And if you favour the very flat uber-analytic “modern” amp sound, these old Quads are very definitely not that. What they offer in spades though, is a sound which is just so very, VERY easy to fall in love with.

Dave

I connect the 33 to a HSU 12V subwoofer amp. The HSU amp has a 60Hz low-pass filter (LPF) to the sub and a high-pass filter (HPF) back to the 303. I think this helps the 303 perform better, as it doesn’t have to handle the sub-60Hz frequencies. I’ve ordered 52Hz and 43Hz cross frequencies modules from HSU, I’ll experiment which works best for the 303 & MG.

The sound is sweet, holographic, and quite detailed. I listen frequently and for hours end without fatigue. The music is delivered elegantly and effortlessly. Though I can, accidentally, cause the 303 to choke if I crank the volume up too high (happens with high dynamic classical recordings). But as long as I keep the volume in the 3-6 (33 volume dial) sweet spot it’s all perfect.

I recapped the 303 in 2019, but lately I’ve been hearing crackling sounds from the right speaker after a long listen, even when all sources are disconnected. After power and cool down it goes away. I hope it’s not because of the 4 ohm load of the speakers.

Curtis,

That does sound good. How much did you pay for the 303?

IW

RL,

I do that when a column starts to generate interest again and this is one of those cases. When it was originally published, the QUAD 303/33 piece generated over 30,000 reads and I noticed over the summer that it generated almost 500 in July which is normally a rather slow period. People seem to be finding these for sale online (eBay) or Audiogon, and Jeremy’s article kept popping up. I will let him answer your Niles question.

Best,

IW