RAAL 1995 Immanis

[Aetherhole]

I’ll stop here and let you enjoy your discussions with other Immanis fans.

I welcome non Immanis fans in here, like yourself! We do need balanced discussions still. I understand sometimes it feels like talking to brick walls, so I also understand not wanting to subject yourself to that. I think we all, myself included, can always improve by exhibiting more patience and understanding.

 

[BassicScience]

You’re talking about graphs, that’s exactly what the Harman Lab did: they came up with targets that maximize a subjective preference rating, nothing more. You may not like that target, fine! Immanis may be quite adrift from the target, also fine! It just won’t be “the” HP for everybody… (which, by the way, is also consistent with its price).

NO headphone (even ones that nail Harman) will ever be "the" headphone for everybody.

AFAIK, the Harman target is strictly about frequency response, which we've established is not the entirety of what dictates the subjective listening experience. If it were, all headphones could be made to sound almost identical via EQ.

I’ll stop here and let you enjoy your discussions with other Immanis fans.

Yeah, "meta" discussions about Harman, and general subjective/objective sparring, are probably best held elsewhere. Technical questions about Immanis are fair game, and of interest to many of us.

 

[marcus2704]

Well I am jumping feet first in again with the Immanis, having ordered a set courtesy of Elise Audio.

Previously, I initially paired them with an Envy W300B tubes and a May KTE DAC, it felt too warm and 'bloomy' to me. I preferred them with the SAEQ Armageddon which I still own now and will be pairing the set with, so hopefully I can build on that and end up loving them. Also, the May KTE has gone, in its place is a LAIV Harmony DAC.

I do hope I have the Star II cable as the original one was a real bugbear for me with its terrible twisting and fraying.

* update - it wont be the MKII I will be getting, I will see how the MKI goes but if its anything like my first one I will need to do something there. Does anyone know if its possible to swap out the older to newer version of the cable via RAAL, or if it needs to be purchased, how much it would be?

 

[Doug2507]

update - it wont be the MKII I will be getting, I will see how the MKI goes but if its anything like my first one I will need to do something there. Does anyone know if its possible to swap out the older to newer version of the cable via RAAL, or if it needs to be purchased, how much it would be?

Might want to check that, standard cable for Immanis package is the "Star-8 mk ii Silver" - headphone to RCD, there's also the RCD to amp "Star-8" which was recently made available along with the silver RCD & Star-12.

 

[cAsE sEnSiTiVe]

Well I am jumping feet first in again with the Immanis, having ordered a set courtesy of Elise Audio.

Previously, I initially paired them with an Envy W300B tubes and a May KTE DAC, it felt too warm and 'bloomy' to me. I preferred them with the SAEQ Armageddon which I still own now and will be pairing the set with, so hopefully I can build on that and end up loving them. Also, the May KTE has gone, in its place is a LAIV Harmony DAC.

I do hope I have the Star II cable as the original one was a real bugbear for me with its terrible twisting and fraying.

* update - it wont be the MKII I will be getting, I will see how the MKI goes but if its anything like my first one I will need to do something there. Does anyone know if its possible to swap out the older to newer version of the cable via RAAL, or if it needs to be purchased, how much it would be?

It clearly states on their website that the package comes with the mkII Star-8 cable. https://eliseaudio.com/en-us/products/raal-1995-immanis?_pos=1&_fid=a8128b8de&_ss=c

As Doug said, it's been the supplied cable for the Immanis since pretty much day one. If they are telling you otherwise, I'd ring them up and find out why.

 

[number1sixerfan]

You’re correct, but not necessarily because those don’t exist (this, I don’t know…), but because it’s just words salad to me. They don’t even translate in my (non-English) native language!

I believe Immanis is a very interesting HP. I want to learn more about it, but boy, what a hindrance this thread is !!! I’m not done reading the 450+ pages, but the yield of useful information has been disappointing so far.

Most of the words bolded/included are well defined historically in the space of audio. If it sounds like word salad, you should take the time to google and learn about the hobby a bit more. How soundstage, imaging, and dynamic range (less so) are evaluated are subjective in nature, but they have been very well defined for quite some time. There are a few highly respected sites that walk through them all and I'll try to find, but it's been some time..

Now if these things don't matter to you, and only an FR graph does, that's just a personal preference that ignores very important aspects of sound, which is your choice. Nothing wrong with that either.

NO headphone (even ones that nail Harman) will ever be "the" headphone for everybody.

AFAIK, the Harman target is strictly about frequency response, which we've established is not the entirety of what dictates the subjective listening experience. If it were, all headphones could be made to sound almost identical via EQ.

Bingo. And it's such a simple concept that every single person that claims to be data oriented and objective first should be able to simply grasp. I don't understand how it has to be explained over and over. It is absolute irony to claim to forgo everything subjective, only to keep misunderstanding and misrepresenting what a FR graph or the harman curve provides insight to. (this isn't specific to the post quoted, more general)

At least over at ASR they do include multiple, other measurements and data points if that's truly your thing (they're off in their framing too often because of agendas but at least there are other data points evaluated).

 

[XVampireX]

Well I am jumping feet first in again with the Immanis, having ordered a set courtesy of Elise Audio.

Previously, I initially paired them with an Envy W300B tubes and a May KTE DAC, it felt too warm and 'bloomy' to me. I preferred them with the SAEQ Armageddon which I still own now and will be pairing the set with, so hopefully I can build on that and end up loving them. Also, the May KTE has gone, in its place is a LAIV Harmony DAC.

I do hope I have the Star II cable as the original one was a real bugbear for me with its terrible twisting and fraying.

* update - it wont be the MKII I will be getting, I will see how the MKI goes but if its anything like my first one I will need to do something there. Does anyone know if its possible to swap out the older to newer version of the cable via RAAL, or if it needs to be purchased, how much it would be?

Can you say a few words why you changed and what are the differences between May KTE and Laiv Harmony DAC?
I've heard it's (LAIV) inferior in terms of sound but not by much, maybe you went for it because of the size?

 

[marcus2704]

Can you say a few words why you changed and what are the differences between May KTE and Laiv Harmony DAC?
I've heard it's (LAIV) inferior in terms of sound but not by much, maybe you went for it because of the size?

Yes predominantly it was a need to buy something with a smaller footprint as my listening location has changed, otherwise I was happy with the May. So far I do not feel like I am missing out on too much with the LAIV thankfully. Hopefully it will work well with the Immanis.

 

[Hiker816]

The original Raal 1995 thread in the sponsor's section has a higher signal-to-noise ratio than this one, especially on technical information:

Raal 1995 Sponsor Thread

Also, you might want to do some selective searching within each thread, either on keywords (via the "Search this thread..." box near top of thread) or by user (@Aleksandar R. , for example). You can do the latter by clicking the main "Search" icon (very top right), selecting "This thread" (instead of "Everywhere") from the drop-down menu, and then inputting a member in the "By:" box (begin with the @ sign, start typing a username until you see the desired one in the match list, and then select it).

Happy hunting!

There are also reviews. A link to mine is in my signature, and there are a bunch of other great ones in the review section of this site.

 

[Aleksandar R.]

more importantly one's own, right?

Yes, but always with caution. I always have some trusty people to check on me.

and I still wonder if the unit I had before Christmas 24 had a defective driver, that what I was hearing was indeed correct. Most likley, probably maybe yes, is my guess.

Yes, that demo unit was blown before it got to you. Thomas asked me to fix it, as he couldn't send it away for demoing any more, so at WOH Heidelberg I swapped all 4 drivers at Thomas' demo sets.

 

[nwavesailor]

I do miss this fun and informative thread when it goes quiet for a few days BUT......... I didn't expect to come home to this many posts staring our friends at ASR, graphs and lots of petty bickering.

I'm a still a very happy Immanis owner and have always used a Rooms stand for my pair.

 

[tunes]

What is a Rooms stand. Picture??

 

[genefruit]

What is a Rooms stand. Picture??

https://www.thomannmusic.com/rooms_audio_line_fs_pro_ii_bk_headphone_stand.htm

 

[nwavesailor]

A few more models:

https://www.thomannmusic.com/rooms_audio_line_headphone_stands.html

 

[tunes]

Thank you

Looks really stable and high tech. Nice