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Ray Samuels Raptor Headphone Amp: A Full Review - Page 3

post #31 of 43
6/16/05 at 11:26pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by reynman
Bob,

You'll hate the Raptor so much you may have to buy one for yourself!

I "hated" the XP7, SR71, the Raptor, and the XR2 so much I have one of each!

Regards - reynman
reynman,

i think you need to update your sig


ummmm...xr2....yummy...
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post #32 of 43
6/16/05 at 11:35pm
Thanks Ryan.

Can't wait to hear the Comet/Raptor/XR2/650 combo.

Sorry for the OT!

Regards - reynman
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post #33 of 43
6/17/05 at 11:29am
Aaron, holy crap man, nice review. That was an enjoyable read. I am looking forward to hearing the Raptor sometime soon.

Quote:
Originally Posted by KenW
Now that's plain spooky. My first Bob Marley CD just arrived. I picked up "Legend" and don't know why I felt I needed that CD. Guess it just helps transport me somewhere where gentle breezes, sand and suntan oil flow liberally...
Ken, If you like Legend and want to pick up just one more Marley CD, pick up the compilation: Natural Mystic: Legend Lives On. I prefer it to Legend.
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post #34 of 43
6/20/05 at 5:18pm
Thread Starter 
Before the weekend I took out the RCA's and the GE and rolled with 3 Phillips...2 JAN 5687WB's and the JAN 5814A, and heard a deeper bass extension that is both tight and visceral. I broke out Herbie Hancock's CD "Gershwin's World" (another one of my reference CD's). The first track has a duet of drums, talking drums I believe, that are great to show off your system with. I played the song with each set of tubes, and there was an incredible difference with the Phillips. I'll have to try some more of my favorites out.
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post #35 of 43
6/21/05 at 5:18pm

Raptor vs Stealth?? Raptor as a preamp???

Has ANYONE compared these two units directly???

Has anyone tried the Raptor as a preamp???
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post #36 of 43
6/21/05 at 5:27pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by glacier_1998
Has ANYONE compared these two units directly???

Has anyone tried the Raptor as a preamp???
if you go to 6moons and read srajan's review on the raptor, he makes some good comparisons there, he also reviewed the stealth as well. For the most part i agree with his comparisons - the raptor is more tonally developed than the stealth, the stealth is deadly accurate and rock solid when it comes to sound, but the raptor offers a little more of the warmth and full bodied tonality that you would expect from something like the HR2.

Raptor appears to work and sound great as a preamp, but its not even worth comparing it to the stealth, or even the CA-2 as a preamp - those are dedicated and sound freaking fantastic, the raptor as a preamp is not up to that level as a preamp
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post #37 of 43
6/21/05 at 5:56pm
Thread Starter 
I agree with recstar24...I was asked that question, right after posting the review, and I asked the builder. First of all, the only output is the headphone jack, and the gain is too high for volume control. The Stealth would be the clear choice, between the two, as both a headphone amp, and a preamp.
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post #38 of 43
6/22/05 at 8:43am
[QUOTE=immtbiker] also listened to it, on my Maestro ZR, but again, it was a little elastic. QUOTE]
Hi Andy,
Could you elaborate a little more on the diference between the Maestro and the Raptor. Is the Raptor is less "Tubey" (in the midrange bloom sense) than the Maestro? I have an MPX3 that I love, but I am using Senn 650's, so things can tend to be a little humpy in the lower midrange/upper bass. I plan to make the Boston meet, btw.
Thanks
Bob
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post #39 of 43
6/22/05 at 9:48am
Thread Starter 
The Maestro is a great amp, but a little pricier than the Raptor. When I said elastic, I meant that, when I was listening to Dream Theater, which is a very "fast album", the response time and recovery in the speedy sections, was a tad delayed. The Orpheus, which is the King, in my opinion, of any setup, was also "trying" to catch up. When I used Jazz, or chanting music (Dead Can Dance), the Orpheus, maintains it's seat on the top of the throne, but we are talking $14K, compared to $1,200.
On the Maestro, I don't hear a hear a hump in the lower midrange/upper bass.
But the MPX3, is a different design. I owned a Supra, but it's hard to compare, because, so many notes have passed through my noggin since, then The nice thing that I found in my review, is that with the Raptor, you hear the warmth of the tubes (analog-like) that you don't get with most solid states (harsh lines....digital-like), but I didn't get the "tubey-ness", that you get from some tube amps.
Glad to meet you in Boston.
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post #40 of 43
6/22/05 at 11:57am
I have just recieved my Raptor back today. Sir Ray Samuels kindly offered to modify my Raptor to suit my taste's. I have popped in the original stock tubes that came with it. He also sent me a set of even lusher tubes.

With stock tubes it has a more tubey sound. It has more of the midrange "bloom" which I prefer. Seeming I like only warm amps which have a full sound and warmth i felt the Raptor (original) was not to my taste's. I don't like neutral amps as I prefer to be romaticise by the music .


I know some headfiers who have the Raptor will be horrified that I had it modified to sound more like a tube amp and give it more warmth and a fuller sound. But I only like this kind of sound.

I don't care what anyone says about the Raptor. Ray Samuels has proved himself to me.

Mr Samuels has my utmost respect.

What till I drop the really lush tubes in....
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post #41 of 43
6/22/05 at 3:52pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by immtbiker
The Maestro is a great amp, but a little pricier than the Raptor. When I said elastic, I meant that, when I was listening to Dream Theater, which is a very "fast album", the response time and recovery in the speedy sections, was a tad delayed. The Orpheus, which is the King, in my opinion, of any setup, was also "trying" to catch up. When I used Jazz, or chanting music (Dead Can Dance), the Orpheus, maintains it's seat on the top of the throne, but we are talking $14K, compared to $1,200.
On the Maestro, I don't hear a hear a hump in the lower midrange/upper bass.
But the MPX3, is a different design. I owned a Supra, but it's hard to compare, because, so many notes have passed through my noggin since, then The nice thing that I found in my review, is that with the Raptor, you hear the warmth of the tubes (analog-like) that you don't get with most solid states (harsh lines....digital-like), but I didn't get the "tubey-ness", that you get from some tube amps.
Glad to meet you in Boston.

Thanks for that info.
See you at the meet!
Bob
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post #42 of 43
6/29/11 at 2:07pm

I bought my raptor over a year and a half ago.I have two phones the grado rs1i and a set of akg 701 phones.When i first got my raptor it seemed to be a good match for the grados but not so good with the akg 701.The amp seemed to be laboring when i used the akg phones.I attributed this to a less than ideal pairing at the time.I did some research on the Internet and the pairing of the burson ha-160 amp only was recommended.I bought a burson 160 amp. The burson and the akg was at the outset much more adept at driving the akg phone.Well i was very happy with this pairing the akg phones never sounding this good before.I was using the burson exclusively for a fair period of time probably about a year.I was using the raptor to drive the grados on occasion.I ultimately came to prefer my akg phones with the burson.Then one day i decided to hook up my raptor not having used it for some time and using the akg phones.Well i was not prepared for the distinct change provided by this combo.I had thought the akg 701 phones were completely broken in but apparently that was not the case.The raptor is now able to drive the akg phones with much more bravura.I must now declare that i am much smitten by this combo and prefer the pairing more than the burson.The burson is a excellent headphone amp for driving the akg 701.It has good detailing and has good low level resolution.For the price it is quite amazing.But i find it somewhat lacking compared to the raptor.The burson seems to smooth out the sound and the bass seems to be a bit less defined compared to the raptor.The raptor is  more three dimensional than the burson and seems to be even better at detail retrieval.The raptor  has better low level detail and is much more alive sounding.The raptor is also much more dynamic sounding than the burson 160.The raptor is now my preferred device when driving the akg phones.


Edited by buson160man - 6/30/11 at 9:09pm
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post #43 of 43
6/29/11 at 2:17pm

In addendum i must add that i have replaced the stock fuse in the raptor with a hi-fi tuning gold fuse and have been using the raptor with a Kubala-Sosna emotion power cord.I recommend at least upgrading the fuse in the raptor.I found there was a useful improvement in the raptors performance after i replaced the fuse.I have found that upgrading the fuse in any piece of equipment is a very cost effective way to substantially improve a piece of equipments performance.

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