Right, so how can a transient be "thin" lol. If anything it sounds like he's saying the transients are sharp/fast, which is a good thing.

Only thing I can think of is because it's vented in the front and not the back, maybe there's more residual sound energy in the back of the cup? Just guessing here. I could also see this being a benefit, making the soundstage wider because there's more to your side/back rather than just in...

What does thin transients even mean? How can the rate of change in a sound be thin? I'm curious about this hearing the different drivers on their own thing though.

I'll be comparing X9000 to Immanis when mine arrives anywhere between 1 month and 1 year from now :sweat_smile: Estat drivers are lighter than ribbons since they're only 1 to 2 microns thick plastic, they're basically weightless. BUT ribbons still may be faster since they move in free air...

I guess that's why we disagree, I felt the Immanis had less impact and was less dynamic than the Magna. While Magna was less spacious than Immanis. They both lose something to the other or a better way to put it is they both gain something over the other. Magna is a guitarist in a rock band...

I see them both as "flagships" It's just like how some prefer the cheaper CA-1a over the more expensive SR1a. They're both approximately the same level of performance but have different character. I put Immanis and Magna at the same flagship tier, but they have differences. Like a Porsche GT3RS...

Yup, I think many people blindly buying Immanis because "It costs more, it must be better" might not be making the right choice. I preferred Magna when I listened at CanJam. Also your impressions seem pretty similar to how I heard it so it's a nice bit of confluence I wasn't mishearing things.

I prefer to think of it as the STAX headphones have character lol. Like an old car that takes a couple turns of the key to start and smells of gas but it puts a smile on your face

Probably a similar reason to why there's 89 pages of discussion on a headphone that's not even officially launched yet. We daydream about this thing every day :smile:

So I bought a new amp and by new I actually mean it's 30 years old... Recently discovered vintage Sansui amps and wow, I think this is the best I've ever heard the CA-1a. The transformer in this thing is 28lbs alone, the chassis is copper and teflon, the capacitors are made of silk, copper, and...

Personally I think RAAL Immanis is going to slaughter that market. $9k is more than most $4-6k TOTL models but significantly less than the $30-70k "summit" segment. Yet as someone who recently heard HE-1 and Immanis within 30 minutes of each other, I feel they're comparable in performance. It...

Very interesting, I wonder how many years of development it typically takes them, it's curious they're already starting to develop an SR-X9000 successor. I would have thought that would start later but maybe that process takes many years. Also he mentioned he wishes to "complete the series" in...

Great seller, easy to work with, packed the headphone well and it arrived without any issue! Would buy from again.

Oh, I don't use the embedded version and thus I don't follow the updates for it. I didn't know that, thanks.

Is this actually coming? I would love that.

I preferred Magna in my short time I tested it at CanJam, as did Danny from RAAL and Andrew from Bloom Audio. I'm very curious to compare them at home to see if that stays the case.

Yup, I've been using it with the loudness button. That bottom end boost is a nice match for estats. Oh, that's good to know about XLR, that's what I was using. Insane that's the LOW gain port, I'm only using like 15% of the volume knob lol. That brings up a question about how the pre-amp works...

Lol, I think you want aokman to build it, his is much cleaner. Mine is a victim of "I'll throw it together now and put it in a proper enclosure later" As for what I'm hearing so far, this is the first time I've ever been scared of the volume on an amp, just a little turn of the knob and WHAM...

Time to see how the X9000 likes 200W of vintage Japanese powahhhh (Yes, my adapter circuit still looks like crap, don't judge lol)

Just to add some context to what was already said, R2R works by using a circuit of a bunch of resistors that need to be very precise. Resistors change their resistance as temperature changes, thus temperature affects the sound. Presumably manufacturers design around what the resistance is at...

Personally I enjoyed the "whilst as basic as cow manure" line. No idea what that means but I will be trying to work that into my conversations :smile: Anyway, here's what I think I was able to get from his latest update: -Magna is more relaxed -Susvara was harsh/etched/metallic in 1-3KHz...

While I (and a few others) found the Magna to be more impactful, the Immanis is still very impactful. I listened to the Magna first and then Immanis, had I listened to Immanis first, I would have had the same jaw drop experience with Immanis. In other words if Magna didn't exist, Immanis would...

Yeah, whoever said the bass is "limp and lacking impact" needs to get their ears checked. My jaw dropped when the bass hit on my first demo with Magna. Best, most impactful bass I've ever heard in a headphone and I've heard AB1266 PHI TC on the DCS Lina stack which is supposed to be top tier...

He literally said those things. I used his exact words. And no, he did NOT say it was bright compared to Valkyria, he simply said it has too much treble energy. Not too much treble energy compared to something else, too much treble energy period. And then at the end of the paragraph said the...

The jitter measurements on Cyan 2 USB are exceptional. Is the Spring/May better? Sure, but it's a 1-2% difference.