[Litlgi74]

Deleted...

PMd

 

[cAsE sEnSiTiVe]

I've also listened quite loudly to his sample....no clipping here either.

 

[Duncan_McCloud]

RME ADI 2 DAC --> JOTR --> RAAL SR1A

Never heard clipping as well

 

[doyouknowSBmean]

Hi there,

I sincerely thank you all for the help and suggestions. I received a lot of PMs as well since many of the HeadFiers don't want to post their SR1a clipping issues directly in this thread (I agree it might be too pushing for RAAL).

But today I received the HSA-1B and I tried it. Unfortunately, the clipping issue still remains. Please see my updated video in my original post.

Some other notes:
(1) I received one PM mentioning 'a 500 w @8ohm amplifier solved the clipping problem on Jot R'
(2) I received one PM mentioning 'a bass shelf filter solved the clipping problem'

 

[doyouknowSBmean]

More update:

I tried use my K-01 as a DAC and listening to Andrew Manze's Symphony No. 3 - "Eroica" on Youtube:

I can still hear loud clippings for the first two notes

As I agreed with sa11297. I will return this amp to him because the amp does not solve the clipping issue for me.

Please feel free to contact sa11297 if you are interested in the HSA-1B.

 

[SeniorBrother]

I have also had clipping issues.
Check your ribbons for damage.
If it's wrinkled like the one one the right then you are going to get a lot of distortion at lower frequencies.

I also noticed that the jot r clipped also more than my hsa1b.

For the jot r I determined that the issue was the baffel compensation switch.
As a test please disable baffle compensation and make a bass boost in roon. See if you still get distortion that way.

Also no matter what you do if there is a lot of energy bellow 40hz then the ribbons will clip and distort.

 

[SeniorBrother]

More update:

I tried use my K-01 as a DAC and listening to Andrew Manze's Symphony No. 3 - "Eroica" on Youtube:

I can still hear loud clippings for the first two notes

As I agreed with sa11297. I will return this amp to him because the amp does not solve the clipping issue for me.

Please feel free to contact sa11297 if you are interested in the HSA-1B.

For this song on youtube
Mac usb=>Ygdrasil balanced=>hsa1b(0db attenuation)
I get zero distortion at 20 and get some distortion at 21.

 

[doyouknowSBmean]

Hey @SeniorBrother. That's a good point. Sorry for the late reply, was floored by work. Today I finally got the chance to take a look at the ribbon driver itself.

This is the driver that clipping more often. It looks intact to me.

I think the clipping always has something to do with the volume, not the amplifier or DAC design. The gain setting on the HSA-1B is a tad lower than the Jot R. So it's 'less likely' to clip on HSA-1B because we are not tending to match up the loudness level exactly for these two amps. For the HSA-1B, going to 21/22 out of 24 on the volume knob subjectively might feel too aggresive.

 

[SykoFreak]

I don't know if this suggestion is stupid, but can you try attenuating the signal right before the amp? In other words, put a preamp after the DAC, before the Jotunheim R and turn the volume significantly down on the preamp. See if the SR1A still clips in that situation.

Also, when you had the HSA-1b in hand, did you try other headphones through the conventional output to see if they clipped?

 

[doyouknowSBmean]

I don't know if this suggestion is stupid, but can you try attenuating the signal right before the amp? In other words, put a preamp after the DAC, before the Jotunheim R and turn the volume significantly down on the preamp. See if the SR1A still clips in that situation.

Also, when you had the HSA-1b in hand, did you try other headphones through the conventional output to see if they clipped?

Hey thanks mate for the kind suggestions.

Another HeadFier also gave me the same suggestion (lower the output level for the preamp/DAC). I tried and for a moment I thought the problem got solved but it turned out it's just me subjective thinking. After I turn up the volume on the amp (jot - R) and match the volume exactly as before, the clipping came back.

As for HSA-1B, yes, I tried it with my HE6 and HD800. I did not hear clipping.

 

[Willehallem]

I have also experienced this with rock music when cranking the Jot R quite a bit. I use quite significant bass equalisation though.

 

[John Useless]

Hey thanks mate for the kind suggestions.

Another HeadFier also gave me the same suggestion (lower the output level for the preamp/DAC). I tried and for a moment I thought the problem got solved but it turned out it's just me subjective thinking. After I turn up the volume on the amp (jot - R) and match the volume exactly as before, the clipping came back.

As for HSA-1B, yes, I tried it with my HE6 and HD800. I did not hear clipping.

New poster but long time occasional lurker here. I just got my SR1A and Jotunheim R this week and was having some clipping/distortion issues myself which seemed to be the Jotunheim. I discovered your thread and it's been very helpful. I tested the same Eroica track and immediately heard the same clipping. However, I did ultimately work out that my DAC had too high an output on the balanced XLR. I was able to instead max out the volume knob on the Jotunheim R and lower my DAC/preamp volume substantially and the issue is solved. I can now play at identical volume without clipping. I measured SPL with my meter so I do feel it's not just subjective thinking and the actual headroom before clipping has improved with the lowered input to the JR.

However, I can still ultimately turn up the DAC volume to a point where I do get clipping again and it happens well before hitting the spec'd maximum SPL on the SR1As. It is though at a higher than comfortable listening volume for me anyway, so not a huge issue for me. I do feel like the Jotunheim R has a tendency to clip sooner than I'd expect though so I'm eager to try out some other amp options over the next few weeks.

 

[doyouknowSBmean]

New poster but long time occasional lurker here. I just got my SR1A and Jotunheim R this week and was having some clipping/distortion issues myself which seemed to be the Jotunheim. I discovered your thread and it's been very helpful. I tested the same Eroica track and immediately heard the same clipping. However, I did ultimately work out that my DAC had too high an output on the balanced XLR. I was able to instead max out the volume knob on the Jotunheim R and lower my DAC/preamp volume substantially and the issue is solved. I can now play at identical volume without clipping. I measured SPL with my meter so I do feel it's not just subjective thinking and the actual headroom before clipping has improved with the lowered input to the JR.

However, I can still ultimately turn up the DAC volume to a point where I do get clipping again and it happens well before hitting the spec'd maximum SPL on the SR1As. It is though at a higher than comfortable listening volume for me anyway, so not a huge issue for me. I do feel like the Jotunheim R has a tendency to clip sooner than I'd expect though so I'm eager to try out some other amp options over the next few weeks.

Glad that you found the thread helpful. I did try to lower the volume on my DAC. But I ended up maxing out the volume on Jot - R but still not loud enough if I really want to keep the clipping off.

PS: I don't have the RAAL anymore

 

[number1sixerfan]

New poster but long time occasional lurker here. I just got my SR1A and Jotunheim R this week and was having some clipping/distortion issues myself which seemed to be the Jotunheim. I discovered your thread and it's been very helpful. I tested the same Eroica track and immediately heard the same clipping. However, I did ultimately work out that my DAC had too high an output on the balanced XLR. I was able to instead max out the volume knob on the Jotunheim R and lower my DAC/preamp volume substantially and the issue is solved. I can now play at identical volume without clipping. I measured SPL with my meter so I do feel it's not just subjective thinking and the actual headroom before clipping has improved with the lowered input to the JR.

However, I can still ultimately turn up the DAC volume to a point where I do get clipping again and it happens well before hitting the spec'd maximum SPL on the SR1As. It is though at a higher than comfortable listening volume for me anyway, so not a huge issue for me. I do feel like the Jotunheim R has a tendency to clip sooner than I'd expect though so I'm eager to try out some other amp options over the next few weeks.

Jot R definitely clipped more than my HSA-1b. I also found my unit to be defective. I wouldn't hesitate to send it back if the clipping issues are very frequent.

On the HSA-1b and through the Raal speaker interface, I only experience distortion on tracks with considerable bass at louder listening volumes. If it happens more than just that scenario, I would even send the Sr1a back to Raal (if you find out it's not just the Jot R). But I think some clipping in some scenarios is normal. I think the evidence in this thread and in the actual Raal thread confirms that.

 

[John Useless]

Jot R definitely clipped more than my HSA-1b. I also found my unit to be defective. I wouldn't hesitate to send it back if the clipping issues are very frequent.

On the HSA-1b and through the Raal speaker interface, I only experience distortion on tracks with considerable bass at louder listening volumes. If it happens more than just that scenario, I would even send the Sr1a back to Raal (if you find out it's not just the Jot R). But I think some clipping in some scenarios is normal. I think the evidence in this thread and in the actual Raal thread confirms that.

Thanks for the advice, I am more than confident Raal will offer me great support, but I have wanted to make sure I'm having a real issue with the Jotunheim R before bugging them.

In a classic audiophile move I decided I was excited enough about the SR1a so far that I should just buy a second direct drive amp to truly compare. Then of course I splurged for the new Raal VM-1a which just arrived today. I'm excitedly listening.

What I can immediately report in terms of the distortion at the end of the second note in Eroica, is that in Triode mode I first reproduced similar clipping. For sure an issue is that the volume level on this recording is low so one must really crank the DAC/preamp and the amplifier itself to get to desired listening levels. That was at first discouraging, but I flipped over to Ultra-Linear which increases power from 10W to 15W vs Triode mode and now have no issue at all. Ultra-Linear on the VM1-a seems to have more than enough power for this track and my crude SPL measurement shows me playing around 10db higher in terms of SPL vs the Jotunheim R but now without distortion. I should also note this measured around 98db and well higher than I would normally listen. I turned the volume down a little to comfortable listening levels and haven't heard any distortion listening further into Eroica.

Finally, although I haven't had nearly enough critical listening time yet, both Ultra-Linear and Triode sound great in my initial impressions. I suspect I'll flip between modes for different styles of music and different source volume levels at times. Have not yet tried Pentode at all. Still loving these headphones despite the work trying to tune pre-amp and amplifier volumes so far.