[HeadAmpTeam]

CanJam SoCal gave us all a chance to hear a lot of awesome new products, it was also the first time we got a chance to see and hear the new PDT-1A Tube Amp from RAAL! At the moment we only have a few initial specs listed but we’ll provide more information as it becomes available.

• Features 6N6P Driver Tubes and a 6AS7 Power Tube
• Frequency Response: 10Hz-100kHz -3db
• THD: <1%
• S/N: 80dB
• Power: 245mW @50ohms / 180mW @600ohms
• With Center Tap AC Heaters for low noise

 

[Makiah S]

I'd like to start by thanking Danny for giving us the chance to hear this at CanJam but also for answering a few of my questions and allowing me an opportunity to spend some more time with this amazing new product that night after the show! It was awesome to get a chance to speak with Danny in person and I believe he was as surprised and impressed by Elite with their new PDT-1A as I still am. Days after hearing it I'm still floored by how outstanding this pair were!

This was my modest little hotel set up, I was running USB out of my Samasung Tab S4 into a USB to Coaxial Converter with a RME ADi 2 FS DAC running Line out at "Auto REF" into the PDT-1A, I was happy he had this DAC with him as it was one I used to own! I used USB Audio Player Pro set to bit perfect output and listened to local files I had. I spent my night listening thru a few albums including:

• Hell Freeze's Over: Eagles
• Wu-Tang Clan: Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)
• Precious Fathers: Precious Fathers
• Jar of Dirt: Alice and Chains
• Random Access Memories: Daft Punk
• Ultimate Demonstration Chesky Records' Guide to Critical Listening: Various Artists
• Eminem: The Slim Shady LP

This was my second night with Elite. On my first night I listened on a Geek Out V2+ which was solid, with it I appreciated Elite's more even tonality ,outstanding detail and quicker but still natural and weighty presentation. Certainly enjoyable but I felt like I was missing something, after seeing how much everyone Elite on the GS-X Mini I knew I needed to hear it on a desktop set up asap!

As luck would have it tho after packing up I happen to run into Danny and we got to talking which lead to my a lovely night deeply entranced into the magical combination of Raal's PDT-1A!

What I've been most impressed with is the bass, texture and tone are excellent with enough clarity to enjoy proper vibrato in bass guitars, the double or upright bass and cello's. Strings ring out with a natural timbre, a correct proportion of fundamental and harmonic tones with proper and texture weight to them. Time and time again I found myself surprised by how well Elite was able to render low level reverb trails as well, on tracks like Hotel California Kick drums are presented with all of their innate explosiveness with no loss of power, dynamic contrast or any added body. I found the mid-range tonality to be absolutely gorgeous, with no lack of texture, presence or weight while still maintaining a constant effortlessness. Vocals are clear, present and natural with a slight fullness and I find the top end to be well extended with some slight but appreciated emphasis and sweetness.

I particularly enjoyed listening to the Slim Shady LP as I found the bass line to have excellent power and THUMP without smearing the grit and texture present in Em's voice, and that balance is really what I find most engaging about Elite, well textured powerful bass that doesn't detract from or over power vocals even on mixs that are a little overbearing in the lows such as the original cut of "Bring Da Ruckus" and "Wu-Tang 7th Chamber" off their debut album Enter The Wu-Tang (36 Chambers).

The amp itself is also dead quiet with no music I don't hear any humming or buzzing what so ever and with music playing I really appreciate the inky blackness that PDT-1A presents. All in all this combo is outstanding and I'm excited for us starting offering Raal's PDT-1A alongside of Meze Elite.

As far as comparisons go, that'll have to wait till I return home but keep an eye out for my review on the official HeadAmp Blog once it's completed!