[tassardar]

After extensive testing, if you listen loud, you will need more then 3w of power. That’s about 95db on inner grill average in loud passes. I overloaded the m17 and some other amps. So far only my ferrum, burson 3x gt, A70pro can go up as high as I feel it’s listenable. I think both can go higher but at that point it’s just noise and not music. I tried as high as 105db, the headphone can reach, it’s just weather your amp can take the sustained load.

So 4w will probably be a more comfortable number if you listen loud.

 

[Buckie]

Can someone post a brief summary comparison between the CA, the LCD-5 and the Phi (any version)?

 

[biscottino]

Has anyone tried the star8 signal cable, it seems to me that the price is not crazy, 400$!
Currently between DAC and WM1A I use a professional cable that is used in control rooms to record music, nothing esoteric, but damn good.

 

[gammi]

delete

 

[gammi]

Anyone have any info on the VM2? I've been tempted lately to grab a VM-1a since it's such a good pairing but I'm concerned about doing that and then the VM2 launches immediately after.

 

[jjshin23]

Last I heard back in October was production was going to be in November but no later than December. I don't see it on their website so I guess they are behind in product. I've been wanting to get a VM2 as well.

 

[jlbrach]

in this hobby you can always wait based on new products being introduced..all I know is I love my VM-1a...simply wonderful with my SR1a and CA-1a...only issue is it is only for the Raal products..if you are looking for an amp for these 2 you cannot do better than the CA-1a and in fact may get a great deal on a used one

 

[Buckie]

So I just got my own pair of CA-1a and coupled it with Topping A70 Pro at the moment and Callia as a DAC. Can anyone explain whether I should use 32 ohms or 16 ohms input on the TI-1b? The sound does change but I'm not sure at all what I'm doing there.

Even on "high gain" setting I often find myself in the upper third of the volume control (about -23db). Given the stated 10-17 watts of power that seems strange. Certainly by that logic 6 watts would be totally insufficient. Perhaps I'm doing something wrong, but the DAC is set to output a fixed maximum volume.

 

[Clemmaster]

So I just got my own pair of CA-1a and coupled it with Topping A70 Pro at the moment and Callia as a DAC. Can anyone explain whether I should use 32 ohms or 16 ohms input on the TI-1b? The sound does change but I'm not sure at all what I'm doing there.

Even on "high gain" setting I often find myself in the upper third of the volume control (about -23db). Given the stated 10-17 watts of power that seems strange. Certainly by that logic 6 watts would be totally insufficient. Perhaps I'm doing something wrong, but the DAC is set to output a fixed maximum volume.

Gain is not the same as power. Don’t worry about volume pot position, as long as you don’t get channel imbalance you’re fine.

If you want the most power, you need to look at the specs of your amp and see whether it delivers more power at 16R than 32R (and is stable).

 

[Buckie]

Gain is not the same as power. Don’t worry about volume pot position, as long as you don’t get channel imbalance you’re fine.

If you want the most power, you need to look at the specs of your amp and see whether it delivers more power at 16R than 32R (and is stable).

How can I tell if the power is stable? It's not in the specs but 16R seems to deliver 17 watts whereas 32R delivers 10 watts, both per channel. It's weird because I also connected TI-1b to Violectric DHA V590 for a brief audition and that seems to have just 6.4 watts approximately according to its specs, however the volume and the respective pot positions were roughly the same for both amps (certainly not 2 times less). What gives?

 

[jlbrach]

the power specs and the vlume pot position are 2 different things...I have a CFA3 which is incredibly powerful but still requires me to turn the volume knob up quite a bit relative to far less powerful amps

 

[Polygonhell]

however the volume and the respective pot positions were roughly the same for both amps (certainly not 2 times less).

Volume pots are not linear in audio amps, because we hear volume logarithmically.
1/2 volume on most audio pots is closer to 10% of the maximum than it is 50%.
Doubling the power of an Amp also only nets you 3dB’s of gain.

 

[yyzSB]

in this hobby you can always wait based on new products being introduced..all I know is I love my VM-1a...simply wonderful with my SR1a and CA-1a...only issue is it is only for the Raal products..if you are looking for an amp for these 2 you cannot do better than the CA-1a and in fact may get a great deal on a used one

Last year, I sold my VM-1a since I had a need for a 2-channel amp for my office (needed $$). A sad day but had to do it. This weekend I ended up buying the VM-1a again. Maybe the last one available.

I may sell my Schitt Mjolnir preamp (Class A) and Schitt Aegir amp (Class A) which I think take you about 90% of the level of the VM-1a. I am going to do some head-2-head comparisons.

 

[ripevaime]

A little story about VM1-a.

I bought a second-hand VM a while ago.
When I received it, it didn't work (nothing to do with its first owner with whom I had a perfect transaction.)

I asked Raal for help and the same day David got back to me and put me in touch with Danny.
So I was able to talk to Danny, which was both great(I mean: Wow! a talk with Danny himself) and horrible because speaking English is a real torture for me.
Danny asked me for several tests and when he couldn't find a cause, referred me to Dragan from Solaja Audio.

After sending Dragan photos of the inside of the VM1-a, which revealed nothing, he asked me to send it to him.
Dragan immediately found out what was wrong.
A hole had been drilled in the VM's frame, damaging it.
Probably Customs wanted to check if there was anything illegal inside.(there seems to be some kind of sand inside to insulate components).
Dragan was able to repair it and send it back to me.

But on his return, when I switched it on, there was an immediate smell of burning.
This time it was me who, in the excitement of getting the VM back, must have connected a tube wrong.
It was a real nightmare, but once again, Dragan found the solution by sending me a new card which I was able to install easily.

So today I'd like to say a very big thank you to David, Danny and Dragan of course.
They did everything they could to help me, even though it's a second-hand VM and they didn't have to.
They are talented people, who design fantastic products, but they are also extremely thoughtful and generous people.

And so I can confirm that music through the VM1-a/SR-1a is incredibly beautiful.

 

[Buckie]

Fellows, help me understand whether it's Topping A70's failing, or my own misunderstanding. I'm discussing the issue with them but they are adamant it's "for my own protection".

The issue is that even though this amp can on paper output 12.6 watts per channel into 16 ohms and 17 watts into 32 ohms (much more than recommended by RAAL), I'm having issues playing at the top end of the loudness range. On 32 ohms when I put on a dynamic bassy track, like Parcels – Lightenup and go past about -10db on the amp screen, I start having audio dropouts that get worse when I start approaching -5db and the audio is completely gone by 0.0db (maximum level) on the amp. At the same time this amp starts to throw a cryptic "HP DC abnormal" message momentarily. On 16 ohms the problem starts to appear even earlier.

So Topping says "the A70 Pro is designed for different user scenarios, a protection mechanism has been set up to avoid that some users may damage the headphones unconsciously", but after reading @KaiSc post that mentioned a "problematic load at the low end" the transformer presents to the amp, I'm not sure that protection is necessary, meaning I'm highly unlikely to destroy the drivers regardless of what the A70 "feels".

If that is true, I need to argue that somehow to Topping in technical terms to make them agree to release a firmware update with an option that disables or appropriately adjusts their protection mechanism.

What's going on there? Who's right and who's wrong?