RAAL-requisite SR1a Clipping Issues

[doyouknowSBmean]

Well, this is not an uncommon problem among fellow SR1a users. The discussions related to SR1a clipping are distributed vastly in the humongous SR1a thread. Some people call it crackling, some people call it bass distortion, some people just simply describe it as a stretch on the headphone. To me, it's the same thing, clipping. I just want to create this thread to specifically look for cures and measures to address this problem.

Some background here, this is the 3rd time I bought RAAL SR1a headphones. I also auditioned them at various venues including local gatherings and private meet-ups. To put the conclusion straightforward, when playing classical music, I can hear the clipping sound for every pair of SR1a headphones I heard, regardless of the upstream electronics (amplifier, DACs, etc). This problem is severe when playing dynamic passages. To be fair, I like the sound of SR1a (when it's not clipping), that's why I keep buying them. Every time I hope it was me being bad luck. But unfortunately, it is not the case. Although I never heard this pop/clipping sound when I use the SR1a to listen to pop music, rock, or even metals.

Here is a recording I made this morning: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1cJ_A8tJbzm7aZjLDVoqZxuoYwEa0-8Dj/view

You can hear very clear clippings from the first two notes (starts around the 9th second).

Here is the video recording for this clip:
Youtube compresses the sound a bit but you can still hear clear clip sound in the music, especially in the second note.

Music source: Beethoven: Symphony No. 3 - "Eroica" Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra and Andrew Manze

Gears: Esoteric K 01 SACD player - Schiit Jotunheim R - RAAL SR1A (note that I have to crank the volume on Jot R to around 2 o'clock when listening to classical music. 10 o'clock when listening to non-classical music. This is required because the recording level for classical music is low.)
Recording gears: Minidsp E.A.R.S

I have a bunch of other headphones and speakers. I never had this problem with other transducers.

I discussed this problem with some local SR1a users (I live in NJ) as well as some HeadFiers. It seems we all have this issue. Again, it only happens when we use the SR1a to play classical music during dynamic/loud passages. Here is a quote from a fellow Headfier (terirapt from Singapore) back in 2020:

Just a few examples but I get crackling for many more other tracks :

- Beethoven Piano Concerto No 5, Boston Symphonly Orchestra, Seiji Ozawa, Telarc : very bad starting from the 1st note.
- Holst Planets, Sir Adrian Boult, London Phiharmonic Orchestra, EMI : occasionally
- Karajan Gold, (Deutsch Gramophone) track 3 Violin Concerto in D major Op 61 Rondo, Deutsch Gramophon : bad when the orchestra plays
- Live at the village vanguard, Track Sand Dune, Christian McBride Trio : seems to crackle with the piano.

Thank you.

I chatted with terirapt later and he told me he never solved this issue.

I know my experience might be limited. My questions though are:
(1) Does the HSA-1b supplied by RAAL solve this issue?
(2) I tried some power amplifiers around tens of watts to 250 watts @ 8ohm. I heard the clipping no matter which amp I try. Do bigger amps (maybe 500 watts or even 1000 watts?) help solve this issue?
(3) Or is this still the unit discrepancy? My sample size is around 10. So maybe I and other folks are just bad luck?

Again, I am here sincerely for a cure, not hate. I know many fellow HeadFier regard the SR1a as the gold-tier headphones. Please help!

Van

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Updates 1:

12/31/2021, 3:44pm.

It seems the HSA-1b will solve this issue. I bought a new-in-box unit from sa11297: https://www.head-fi.org/classifieds/raal-requisite-hsa-1b.17187/

Let me see if HSA-1b works for me. Fingers crossed

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Updates 2:

1/11/2022, 10:47 pm.

The HSA-1B arrived today:

I immediately tried Andrew Manze's Symphony No. 3 - "Eroica" again on my gears. Unfortunately, the problem still remains.

(1) I am using my Marantz SA11S3 SACD player as the source in the following video:

(2) I am using my Esoteric K-01 SACD player as the source in the following video:

Note I tried both XLR and RCA connections between the SACD player and HSA-1B. The problem is the same.
Note 2: the gain on the HSA-1B is lower than the Jot-R. I have to crank the volume on the HSA-1B more (about 3-4 o'clock to be sufficient for this piece of recording).

 

[cAsE sEnSiTiVe]

Just my experience....I run the SR1a's on the rig in my signature, and listen to a LOT of very well-recorded classical music, and have never heard them clip once. Had the HSA-1b here for a time, and couldn't get them to clip on that amp either. The only amplifier that showed strain on loud passages was the Jot-R I borrowed from a friend of mine.

 

[doyouknowSBmean]

Just my experience....I run the SR1a's on the rig in my signature, and listen to a LOT of very well-recorded classical music, and have never heard them clip once. Had the HSA-1b here for a time, and couldn't get them to clip on that amp either. The only amplifier that showed strain on loud passages was the Jot-R I borrowed from a friend of mine.

Indeed appreciate your reply. I don't have the interface box atm. Trying to figure if I can borrow some gears from my local dealers.

It sounds like this is a common problem for the Jot R?

 

[Ciggavelli]

The Jot-R clipped at times for me. The HSA-1b hasn't. I don't listen to classical though.

 

[adornoWest]

I listen to a lot of classical music running iTunes -> Bifrost 2 -> JotR -> SR1a and it rarely if ever clips. I can hear the clipping on your recording above, but when when I play the Manze Eroica (or the Ozawa Emperor) via iTunes, it does not clip.

Have you asked Danny?

 

[dukeskd]

Clipping will happen when the signal is "hot" and over amplified. It may have to do something with the Jot-R and the gain it provides.

 

[doyouknowSBmean]

Thanks a lot for providing the information. These are really helpful!

It looks like the HSA-1b might solve this issue. I bought an HSA-1b from sa11297: https://www.head-fi.org/classifieds/raal-requisite-hsa-1b.17187/

Let me see if HSA-1b works for me. Fingers crossed

 

[cAsE sEnSiTiVe]

One thing I might add here. Judging by your pictures, you have the wings of the Raal's splayed out pretty far....I'd say like 60 degrees from what I'm seeing. Maybe you're using more volume to compensate? Although it's ultimately up to the end user, 30 degrees seems to be about the sweet spot with these. Just my $.02. Hope the HSA-1b does the trick for you.

 

[number1sixerfan]

I've experienced this a ton and it's a major annoyance for me with the Raal. And I've always called it bass distortion as it mainly happens with medium to heavy bass tracks. I almost felt crazy mentioning in the Sr1a thread when some said it doesn't happen, but when you search the thread for 'distortion', a ton of similar posts come up. I thought about swapping my pair out before seeing so many similar experiences. I haven't resolved it, but it was absolutely the worst with the Jot R (I did have a functional issue with my unit, but searches confirmed that many ppl did with it). Quite a bit better with the HSA-1b and interface box + speaker amp.

For me, it strictly happens only with bass(ier) tracks. Not at all otherwise. It's also worse with the flaps out the furthest and least offensive the closer in. (btw, the AKG K1000, with similar design, suffers from this same issue. Just to a much lesser degree.)

 

[doyouknowSBmean]

One thing I might add here. Judging by your pictures, you have the wings of the Raal's splayed out pretty far....I'd say like 60 degrees from what I'm seeing. Maybe you're using more volume to compensate? Although it's ultimately up to the end user, 30 degrees seems to be about the sweet spot with these. Just my $.02. Hope the HSA-1b does the trick for you.

I played the opening around and the crackling happens for my normal listening level regardless of the angle... I also found it happens more often for the right driver. But thanks for the tips mate.

 

[doyouknowSBmean]

I've experienced this a ton and it's a major annoyance for me with the Raal. And I've always called it bass distortion as it mainly happens with medium to heavy bass tracks. I almost felt crazy mentioning in the Sr1a thread when some said it doesn't happen, but when you search the thread for 'distortion', a ton of similar posts come up. I thought about swapping my pair out before seeing so many similar experiences. I haven't resolved it, but it was absolutely the worst with the Jot R (I did have a functional issue with my unit, but searches confirmed that many ppl did with it). Quite a bit better with the HSA-1b and interface box + speaker amp.

For me, it strictly happens only with bass(ier) tracks. Not at all otherwise. It's also worse with the flaps out the furthest and least offensive the closer in. (btw, the AKG K1000, with similar design, suffers from this same issue. Just to a much lesser degree.)

This doesn't read good to me. Did you experience clipping on your HSA-1b as well?

 

[number1sixerfan]

This doesn't read good to me. Did you experience clipping on your HSA-1b as well?

I recently sold my HSA-1b, but much much less issues with it. But it is still evident with many medium to heavy bass tracks. I listen to just about all genres, and have no problem with soul, jazz (for the most part), acoustic and anything mainly vocal heavy. But outside of that it's present here and there.

That said, with the specific genres the Sr1a doesn't have problems with, it is absolutely best in class for them imho.

 

[RickyV]

Well, this is not an uncommon problem among fellow SR1a users. The discussions related to SR1a clipping are distributed vastly in the humongous SR1a thread. Some people call it crackling, some people call it bass distortion, some people just simply describe it as a stretch on the headphone. To me, it's the same thing, clipping. I just want to create this thread to specifically look for cures and measures to address this problem.

Some background here, this is the 3rd time I bought RAAL SR1a headphones. I also auditioned them at various venues including local gatherings and private meet-ups. To put the conclusion straightforward, when playing classical music, I can hear the clipping sound for every pair of SR1a headphones I heard, regardless of the upstream electronics (amplifier, DACs, etc). This problem is severe when playing dynamic passages. To be fair, I like the sound of SR1a (when it's not clipping), that's why I keep buying them. Every time I hope it was me being bad luck. But unfortunately, it is not the case. Although I never heard this pop/clipping sound when I use the SR1a to listen to pop music, rock, or even metals.

Here is a recording I made this morning: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1cJ_A8tJbzm7aZjLDVoqZxuoYwEa0-8Dj/view

You can hear very clear clippings from the first two notes (starts around the 9th second).

Here is the video recording for this clip:
Youtube compresses the sound a bit but you can still hear clear clip sound in the music, especially in the second note.
Music source: Beethoven: Symphony No. 3 - "Eroica" Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra and Andrew Manze

Gears: Esoteric K 01 SACD player - Schiit Jotunheim R - RAAL SR1A (note that I have to crank the volume on Jot R to around 2 o'clock when listening to classical music. 10 o'clock when listening to non-classical music. This is required because the recording level for classical music is low.)
Recording gears: Minidsp E.A.R.S

I have a bunch of other headphones and speakers. I never had this problem with other transducers.

I discussed this problem with some local SR1a users (I live in NJ) as well as some HeadFiers. It seems we all have this issue. Again, it only happens when we use the SR1a to play classical music during dynamic/loud passages. Here is a quote from a fellow Headfier (terirapt from Singapore) back in 2020:


I chatted with terirapt later and he told me he never solved this issue.

I know my experience might be limited. My questions though are:
(1) Does the HSA-1b supplied by RAAL solve this issue?
(2) I tried some power amplifiers around tens of watts to 250 watts @ 8ohm. I heard the clipping no matter which amp I try. Do bigger amps (maybe 500 watts or even 1000 watts?) help solve this issue?
(3) Or is this still the unit discrepancy? My sample size is around 10. So maybe I and other folks are just bad luck?

Again, I am here sincerely for a cure, not hate. I know many fellow HeadFier regard the SR1a as the gold-tier headphones. Please help!

Van

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Updates:

12/31/2021, 3:44pm.

It seems the HSA-1b will solve this issue. I bought a new-in-box unit from sa11297: https://www.head-fi.org/classifieds/raal-requisite-hsa-1b.17187/

Let me see if HSA-1b works for me. Fingers crossed

I have heard distortion a few times but I also noticed that my resistor box was pretty warm. So my conclusion was that I playing to loud for the ribbons driver. In other words I thought it was reaching the maximum excursion of the ribbon. Everybody has seen pumping bass driver in speakers, ribbons can’t do that. The only reason a small ribbon can produce such low frequencies is because it is so close to your ear and so it doesn’t have to play loud. These small ribbon are normally only used in tweeters not in mid range and not in low frequencies.

The problem with classical music could be that the volume is adjusted to a nice level for low passages but when orchestra goes at it it is to loud and exceed maximum excursion of the ribbon.

I listen to a wide variety of music but not classical nor metal. What I do is before place the headphone on my head is measure the dB’s of an average loud level of the song and adjust the volume to about 80 to 85 dB. I think maximum excursion limit starts at 96dB or so.

So how loud are you playin?

 

[Rubin]

Depending on what you're listening to and if you have EQ integrated into your playback chain, you can try shelving the bass to combat the rise in distortion. SR1a bass distortion is quite high, based on Crinacle's measurements (I'm not sure what SPL these were taken at):

If you can, try adding two shelves around 20Hz, as shown below. (Stacking shelving filters will give you a steeper slope, while avoiding the peaking of using a higher Q value).

I'll have a RAAL combo inbound soon, so I'm interested in this issue myself!

 

[Litlgi74]

This problem is severe when playing dynamic passages.

Do you have other such examples... At specific moments?

I played your music through my rig... But didn't hear the clipping. Interesting.