Raal Ribbon Headphones - SRH1A
Dec 30, 2019 at 4:38 PM Post #1,711 of 7,968
Agreed. That was one reason I wrote them and suggested a pre-order. Lots of us say we will, and that would give us the opportunity to put our money where our mouths are. And for Schiit to plan an adequate first production run. But they replied “we don’t do that.” :shrug:

Well I have been burnt on pre-orders before, so I respect that position. I just check the website daily waiting for the Jotunheim R to appear for sale.
 
Dec 30, 2019 at 5:02 PM Post #1,712 of 7,968
There are so many people waiting for the Jotunheim R I would not be surprised if the first production run sells out in a few days.

That's what I'm afraid of,LOL!

As the RAAL SR1a is made in Europe I'd be very surprised if it was not made available in Europe. Jason probably could confirm.
 
Dec 30, 2019 at 5:22 PM Post #1,713 of 7,968
So it doesn't have as much power for the volume like two Vidars have?
I listen at pretty loud levels, definitely not at moderate or polite levels so this could be a problem.
If you follow @Torq's thread at the headphones.com forum he prefers the production qualifier Jotunheim R he has been testing to any other option below $3000 and feels you will not have a problem with power.
 
Dec 30, 2019 at 6:34 PM Post #1,714 of 7,968
That's what I'm afraid of,LOL!

As the RAAL SR1a is made in Europe I'd be very surprised if it was not made available in Europe. Jason probably could confirm.

Don't worry, this amp (Jot R), or the equivalent in a slightly different exterior (not allowed to give you a model name), will be available to everyone worldwide regardless of your location.

Just be patient...

:)
 
Dec 31, 2019 at 6:00 PM Post #1,717 of 7,968
Finally home, and listening to the Jotunheim R and SR1A again...I am going to cut and edit/copy a post from one of my posts from another forum as I think it is appropriate to my previous post here and over on Jason's thread:

Brain burn-in and gear burn-in are things in my opinion… I recently made this mistake in a post on Head-fi about the Jotunheim R and SR1a…I’d gotten used to my daily listening norm of ZMF Verite Closed and my random amps/DAPs to power it… and to my “brain” when I threw my first solid listen impression of the Jotunheim R felt “lite” and under-powered… I’m beginning to think it was more the acclimation of the richness of the Verite C and my other chains that my brain had gotten accustomed to, and my quick blerb was against what I usually do for these things as I was heading out of town for a week and wanted to put something out before I left…it bit me in the butt, and had me wracking my brain why it was so off.

Now that being said, I like the idea of a first impression post like what @ProfFalkin has stated in a different thread, as it would be interesting to go back and see if anything changed =). I am now listening to the SR1A with the Jot-R and I can easily say it has plenty of power… I haven’t listened to my Verite C in over a week so starting with the SR1A and Jot-R combo and sticking with it for the next couple days =)

The other problem with the SR1A is that it defies what your brain is expecting from headphones…it is really more of a near-field speaker experience than a headphone experience. For one it is a detail monster with laser accuracy… it can be off-putting if you are acclimated to something else, or have assumptions of what you are about to hear. Honestly one of my rare “Wow” moments in listening to audio gear.

Now, as far as the enjoyment of this combo... I still stand by it being my preferred sound combo with the SR1A. Easy to use and takes up so little space for how good it is. I'm now worried I'm going to be causing my own problem of not being able to pick one up upon release if all the comments above are anything to go by lol...damn it. But, for a product like this, I can be okay waiting a bit. I am not an engineer, or professional audio-anything, just a guy that likes good audio and tech...and the Jotunheim R is really something I find very cool, and surprising as it packs such a punch in such a small form factor... makes me wonder what other products will come about due to it.
 
Dec 31, 2019 at 6:27 PM Post #1,718 of 7,968
I ordered the SR1A, will be here soon... I'll tell you how they sound paired with my darTZeel integrated...
 
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Dec 31, 2019 at 7:16 PM Post #1,719 of 7,968
I ordered the SR1A, will be here soon... I'll tell you how they sound paired with my darTZeel integrated...

Hello Nik, I bet you are going to like a LOT the SR1A with your spectacular amp.

By chance, I were at a shop the full afternoon yesterday and I tried the entry level Dart CTH-208 among other great amplifiers, and it was the best pairing I have experienced (more details in a future post).

To my tastes, while the CTH-208 slowed down a bit the RAAL and robbed a little transparency, the added body, warmth, bass bloom and treble sweetness - togheter with a very deep and holographic presentation were well worth the trade off.

I guess the 8550 will only be even better, please let us know your impressions :-;

Simone
 
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Jan 1, 2020 at 1:28 AM Post #1,720 of 7,968
I ordered the SR1A, will be here soon... I'll tell you how they sound paired with my darTZeel integrated...
Hi Nik,
I'm glad you are interested in this headset, let's define it in a simple way but it is much much more. I think that with your Dartzeel it can simply fly and provide top performance, the only memo about it, the cables provided must be properly upgraded.
Welcome back and best wishes for the new year!
 
Jan 5, 2020 at 2:07 AM Post #1,721 of 7,968
I received Sr1a on Jan 2nd.




Amplifier with more than 100 Watts for 6 ohm is recommended for Sr1a.


But I started with Marantz PM5003 which got a favorable review from Stereophile.


https://www.stereophile.com/integratedamps/marantz_pm5003_integrated_amplifier/index.html



Even with 50 Watts available at 6 ohm, this one has no difficulty driving Sr1a with crisp high and reasonably tight bass.




But soundstage is not that wide or deep as I had tried with Chord Etude amplifier on last November.




I played "Autumn Leaves" sung by Eva Cassidy, " I am so lonesome tonight" by Elvis Presley


"Sound of the West and William Tell Overture " in Roundup Telarc CD and Schumann Piano Trio played by Pierre Fournier, Henryk Szeying. Arthur Rubinstein.


Also I played some old K pops that I am familiar with.


I used ripped CD's stored in SSD of Cocktail Audio X30 and Dac is Chord Dave and HMS.




Then I played same list of music using Rogue Cronus Magnum II fitted with Nos Telefuken 12Ax7 and Amperex 12Au7 (100Watts for 8 ohm)


Now Sr1a really sings with wide and deep soundstage and more refined treble.


This amp seems to work with Sr1a very well.



Then I moved to Crown XLS 2502 (This one has 775W for 4 ohm ).


I got this one to drive two 18 inch subwoofers of Scaena 3.2 speakers.


Wow this PA amp impressed me with lot of headroom and snappy transient but without hard edge.


Of course, Rogue sounds sweeter than Crown but latter does sound neutral not on the dry side.



I went back to Stax 009s driven by Kgsshv Carbon amplifier to play same list of music for comparison.


Stax give more relaxed and nuanced details although the absolute amount of details are on par with each other.


But Sr1a give much faster and open sound reminding me of Apogee Duetta Sig that I had used from 1989 to 1999.


Soundstage width is similar but Sr1a has an edge on depth of soundstage.


I think Raal Sr1a may be the best headphone under 10K$ overall although Stax 009s is musical with relaxed presentation.



Rogue Apollo monoblocks with 250 watts may work better with Sr1a with more headroom.



I will try Jotuheim R out with Sr1a after it is released.
 
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Jan 5, 2020 at 12:45 PM Post #1,722 of 7,968
After about 1 month of ownership, I found that the sweet spot of the SR1a – in the context of my system where I have the Abyss TC and the Riviera AIC-10 (10W only) amp – is, as per my previous post, with acoustic music listened at moderate level.

Baroque, jazz, vocals, solo stringed instruments all sound wonderfully realistic, and the timbre matching between the AIC-10 (equipped with a warm-ish tube like a Mullard vintage CV4003) and the SR1a is extremely satisfying, and can be further finely tuned with a very modest EQ (in my case some bass boost under 80Hz and a slight dip around 7.5kHz).

Outside this sweet spot, I use my Abyss TC (no EQ needed) and I could live pretty content with this complementary setup, of course.

But, being an audiophile :persevere:, I could not resist the itch to investigate whether / how much I can expand the envelope of situations where the SR1a outperforms the TC.

Plan A would be to find an amplifier able to drive both TC and SR1a at their max, thus replacing the AIC-10. This is most likely to end up being a very expensive plan, because to match the AIC-10 sound quality and at least 100W of output power is not going to be easy.

Nevertheless, this is what I am investigating right now.

I visited a high-end audio shop a few days ago, where I spent a whole afternoon trying a few nice amplifiers with my two headphones.

I first started with a Krell 300-I (150W on 8Ohm). This session was very brief, as I did not like the pairing with the SR1a at all, due to an excessively bright and hard sound signature.

Next came the NAGRA Classic Amp (100W). Much better! A very transparent and liquid presentation with both SR1a and TC, with a pretty neutral and refined character. Compared to the AIC-10 / Mullard, tonality was slightly colder.

The additional power allowed much more satisfying listening levels with the SR1a, a more spacious and layered soundstage (especially noticeable with large orchestral works). However, the lack of bass oomph that prevents me from considering the SR1a an all-rounder within the whole of my listening programs still stays. Organ, the lowest resonant notes of tympani or double bass section attack, or hip hop / electronica sub-bass rumble were basically non-existent with the SR1a, thus robbing a significant part of my enjoyment of some tracks of my playlist. The Abyss TC still provide an overall better experience, in my opinion / tastes, for musical content where the energy, volume and extension of the sub-bass region is necessary.

20191230_183229-01 (1).jpeg


By looking at the NAGRA VU meter, it reached the end of the scale (100W on 8Ohm) several times when I tried to listen to quietly recorded classical music at spirited levels, when the bass kicked in. Soft clipping was audible with some extreme tracks played at first-row concert-like SPL (e.g. Rikard Nordraak Funeral March, Reference Recordings).

My last audition was also the longest and the more enjoyable: enter the DarTZeel LHC-208.

This is an all-in-one streamer-DAC-amplifier (200W) which sits at the entry level of the DarTZeel offering. It lists for 17kEuro, where the next amplifier from DarTZeel is the 28kEuro :confounded: CTH-8550 (which I could neither afford nor audition, sadly).

The LHC-208 has a warm, inviting sound with a very sweet treble, a rich (not over-)saturated midrange and a bloom in the bass which – all put together – significantly change how the SR1a (and the Abyss TC) present sounds to your ears compared to a more linear amplifier like the NAGRA.

20191230_174009-01 (1).jpeg


If you want to further leverage on the unique strengths of the SR1a (speed, transparency, resolution, treble extension etc.), this may not be the best option.

However, in my case I was happy to trade-off some transparency for the added meat to the bone the DarTZeel provided to the RAAL in the low end (more present bass, longer decay times), the additional harmonics richness of the midrange and the softer treble.

Also, with 200W on tap I found no situations where the DarTZeel was struggling to handle even dramatic dynamics swings at any listening level / frequency range. The additional body in the bass region made the SR1a feel warmer overall, and ... bassier of course, yet still the sub-bass response was not extended enough to capture some atmospherics rumble and render appropriately the heft of tympani strokes or the lowest notes of the organ.

As much as I liked the pairing of the LHC-208 with the SR1a, I was much less convinced by its performance with the TC, where the bass came out a bit overdone and slow, and the transparency loss was too noticeable. The Riviera AIC-10 remains the best match, to my ears, I have auditioned so far with the AB-1266.

My takeaways from this listening session were:

- With an appropriate amplifier pairing (like the LHC-208) I could actually enjoy the SR1a more than what I am doing right now with my underpowered amp;
- No matter the power available, the sub-bass response is not going to reach the quantity levels I feel as necessary for part of my listening, hence I do not see the SR1a as able of entirely replacing my Abyss TC;
- Power is not the only figure to look at, as the utterly transparent nature of the SR1a is going to show the weaknesses of any amplifier. So good quality is necessary and – at least to my preferences – also the right tonal matching (as blasphemous as it may sound for whom see amplifiers as 'wires-with-gain' gear).

My research is going to continue in the next months, being the next step to audition a VIVA Solista and possibly some other great tube amps suitable for both SR1a and TC.

In the meantime, when the Jotunheim R becomes available, I could give it a try, as it is too appealing as a solution (read: cheap, simple, small) to pass :L3000:.
 

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Jan 5, 2020 at 1:09 PM Post #1,723 of 7,968
No, I sit in a chair with my head against the chair, no issues. You will not be able to lie down though, have to sit up or they will fall off.

How about leaning back on an office chair? (~50 degree angle)
 
Jan 5, 2020 at 11:54 PM Post #1,724 of 7,968
I received Sr1a on Jan 2nd.


I think Raal Sr1a may be the best headphone under 10K$ overall although Stax 009s is musical with relaxed presentation.

It scares me that Raal Sr1a is making the Stax 009s sound "relaxed" in comparison!

yet still the sub-bass response was not extended enough to capture some atmospherics rumble and render appropriately the heft of tympani strokes or the lowest notes of the organ.

Instead of spending a gazillion dollars on some super-amp, which will probably still not completely satisfy in bass, have you considered playing your Raal Sr1a while a good subwoofer is playing, preferably with you sitting on top or very close to it?

I used to do this when I had the AKG K1000. The completely open design of AKG K1000 and Raal Sr1a allows the subwoofer bass to blend great with headphone output, and great balance can be achieved by playing around with subwoofer crossover frequency/phase. If you actually sit on the subwoofer with a cushion while listening, you get the large extra benefit of physical bone/body conduction with bass, which is the last unsolved frontier for SOTA headphones IMO.
 
Jan 5, 2020 at 11:56 PM Post #1,725 of 7,968
It scares me that Raal Sr1a is making the Stax 009s sound "relaxed" in comparison!



Instead of spending a gazillion dollars on some super-amp, which will probably still not completely satisfy in bass, have you considered playing your Raal Sr1a while a good subwoofer is playing, preferably with you sitting on top or very close to it?

I used to do this when I had the AKG K1000. The completely open design of AKG K1000 and Raal Sr1a allows the subwoofer bass to blend great with headphone output, and great balance can be achieved by playing around with subwoofer crossover frequency/phase. If you actually sit on the subwoofer with a cushion while listening, you get the large extra benefit of physical bone/body conduction with bass, which is the last unsolved frontier for SOTA headphones IMO.
Stax 009S sound relaxed with full bass driven by KGSShv Carbon amp.

But with lesser amp, it could sound analytical.

On the other hand Sr1a sounds fast and open but also on the neutral side, not analytical or relaxed.
 
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