[eboleyn]

The SR1a was designed in Serbia using the AHB2. However, this amp requires something warm in front of it if using it with the RAAL. My sold state CODA 07x (tubey) was not warm enough to tame the RAAL. While the Freya+ ($1000) does tame it. The 07x is a much better preamp, but I am talking about taming the beast here.

I think that's a "Your Mileage May Very" kind of comment.

Let me distinguish a term used when speaking about "neutral" DAC/amp/speakers. Often they can be called "harsh" or even "brutal" by some, but as I've explored the newer generations of extremely accurate neutral components, I'm fairly sure that this has been due to the lack of accuracy of these components, and in their attempts at neutrality they have a kind of noise which our human hearing system finds unpleasant. I will absolutely grant that people who prefer "pleasantly distorted/warm" sound can find a sufficiently accurate and neutral component as ... well, "bland" or "unexciting".

My personal listening and demoing to others of my DAC/amp/SR1a stacks with highly accurate modern DAC/amp combinations vs other extreme accuracy experiments says that the SR1a goes into that zone of high accuracy/neutrality unblemished by "harshness" and gives you exactly what you put into it.

There are 3 different DACs I use in that category of "completely accurate": Schiit Modius, Topping D30 Pro, and a Sabaj D5. All sound absolutely identical as far as myself or others I've demoed to can tell.

My favorite 2 stacks to drive SR1a after the DAC:

• Neutral:
  • Amp - Purifi 1ET400A (class D) - Overkill if anything!
  • Amp - Schiit Magnius - Needs hacked cable (to be clear, this is going into the SR1a speaker amp resistor box) but easy to do, works great as long as I don't need loud listening, sounds the same as the Purifi amp. Neutrality on the cheap!!
• "Pleasantly Distorted":
  • Pre (optional for fun) - LTA Microzotl Pre, just using stock tubes
  • Amp - Pass Labs XA30.8

Both are fun in different circumstances, but as much as I'm a "detail hound", I'll even admit that the latter (i.e. "Pleasantly Distorted") version is arguably a bit more engaging and it's easier to get ... I guess "lost" in the music more, though it does give up a bit in clarity on complex/detailed passages.

 

[yyzSB]

Here are the DACs that are considered neutral that I used with the SR1a and that had some fatigue issues for me.

- Benchmark DAC3B (still have it and not going anywhere)
- Topping D90SE
- Matrix Audio i3 Pro

My personal listening and demoing to others of my DAC/amp/SR1a stacks with highly accurate modern DAC/amp combinations vs other extreme accuracy experiments says that the SR1a goes into that zone of high accuracy/neutrality unblemished by "harshness" and gives you exactly what you put into it.

This could be the case, but the 3 DACs listed above sounded very good on my Thiel CS3.7 and KEK LS50 speakers. It just was fatiguing with the SR1a.

These are the warmer DACs that eliminated the fatigue, mainly because it was softer on the high frequencies. However, these DACs were missing some of the detail of the first group.

- Gustard X26 Pro
- AudioMirror Tubadour III SE (tube DAC)

Now the Goldilocks DAC (just right) I use which is incredible and perfect with everything is the Musetec 005. I only have the 005 and the DAC3B left from all of the DACs listed above.

*******************

In terms of power and the SR1a. I have seen and heard that more power is always better with the SR1a. I saw this with my CODA #8 amp which has power meters. In almost all cases with my hard to drive Thiel CS3.7 the power meters do not move at my regular listening levels. With the SR1a, the headphones are drawing more power at similar volume levels and the power meters are dancing. Which is kind of interesting to see.

I tried Benchmark AHB2 stereo and mono, and the mono sounded a bit better, more powerful, with the SR1a. I also noticed the same thing with a very powerful D-Sonic M3a 800s amp. I made sure my current amps have more than 150 watts and can double down, the CODA #8 and KRELL 175XD.

 

[Thenewguy007]

I tried Benchmark AHB2 stereo and mono, and the mono sounded a bit better, more powerful, with the SR1a. I also noticed the same thing with a very powerful D-Sonic M3a 800s amp. I made sure my current amps have more than 150 watts and can double down, the CODA #8 and KRELL 175XD.

How does the Coda 8 & Krell 175XD compare to each other?

 

[eboleyn]

Here are the DACs that are considered neutral that I used with the SR1a and that had some fatigue issues for me.

- Benchmark DAC3B (still have it and not going anywhere)
- Topping D90SE
- Matrix Audio i3 Pro

This could be the case, but the 3 DACs listed above sounded very good on my Thiel CS3.7 and KEK LS50 speakers. It just was fatiguing with the SR1a.

These are the warmer DACs that eliminated the fatigue, mainly because it was softer on the high frequencies. However, these DACs were missing some of the detail of the first group.

- Gustard X26 Pro
- AudioMirror Tubadour III SE (tube DAC)

Now the Goldilocks DAC (just right) I use which is incredible and perfect with everything is the Musetec 005. I only have the 005 and the DAC3B left from all of the DACs listed above.

*******************

In terms of power and the SR1a. I have seen and heard that more power is always better with the SR1a. I saw this with my CODA #8 amp which has power meters. In almost all cases with my hard to drive Thiel CS3.7 the power meters do not move at my regular listening levels. With the SR1a, the headphones are drawing more power at similar volume levels and the power meters are dancing. Which is kind of interesting to see.

I tried Benchmark AHB2 stereo and mono, and the mono sounded a bit better, more powerful, with the SR1a. I also noticed the same thing with a very powerful D-Sonic M3a 800s amp. I made sure my current amps have more than 150 watts and can double down, the CODA #8 and KRELL 175XD.

On the DAC question, 2 things:

First off, full disclosure, I was dubious about the noise floors of these guys, so to be clear I actually run all of the DACs with a set of resistors on the output to match the expected listening levels... think of it as a super-accurate preamp. That is, I run the DACs near the top of their operating range rather than closer to the bottom to minimize any possible Harmonic or Intermodulation distortion issues. Examples of what this can do to the numbers: A DAC with ~110 DB range, when listening to quiet music, will feed into the standard 26-29db typical amp boost to shave off ~50 db off the top of that range. Math: Assume approximately standard output voltage, so if you have ~90db efficient speakers, a DAC with no gain would drive it to that level max. I listen at about 65db average (assume +20db peaks, but that's not part of the average level point), so subtract that from 90 you get 25, plus the typical 29db amplifier boost, you get ~55db from the top of the DAC range that is "wasted" for the average output part, and my average level is only ~55db over the noise floor!! Anyway, so I use level matching resistors to bring down the noise floor, and back to the "full disclosure" part, that is how I'd been testing them.

Second, you might just be one of those people for which even true "neutrality" is just not very pleasant, though I'd bet your amp/speaker combos might be smoothing things over a bit for you too.

As to the power on the SR1a thing, I did indeed find when I ran it with an amp that was giving up at under 1 watt it was a bit anaemic even for my quiet listening, but when I ran it from the Schiit Magnius (through the speaker amp resistor box), which is capable of delivering ~5 watts super clean at 8 ohms, it has been fine for me for my typical quiet to even a bit louder than that listening. The numbers suggest it should work fine up to ~70db average listening (assuming the usual +20db peaks plus a bit of headroom), and I usually run it under that. Seems to hold up in any case.

For the record, I have noted that other people sometimes seem to listen to headphones CRAZY loud by my standards. But I guess all of us audiophiles are crazy in at least a few ways, just maybe different for each of us.

 

[yyzSB]

How does the Coda 8 & Krell 175XD compare to each other?

On my hard to drive Thiel CS3.7 speakers they both have enough power at 2 Ohms to drive them, though my room is not that big. There is a link to a dealer comment I posted above that sums up a comparison of the 2 very well. Though I think the KRELL has a bit more bass than the dealer.

These are two fantastic power amplifiers, the Krell is a bit more liquid and has a lot of the flow of a tube amp. The Coda is a bit more omph in the bass but does not have as rich of a presentation as the krell both amplifiers are super musical, the Coda is a bit more clean overall the Krell a bit lusher.

I thought the KRELL K-300i integrated, the first in the new XD lineup, was phenomenal on the SR1a. I had that amp in the bedroom and decided to get the KRELL 175XD for my office because every other amp I tried in the office with the SR1a could not keep up with the K-300i. The reason the KRELL is so good with the SR1a is that the Class A KRELL is super smooth, clean, and has a bit of roundness to the sound, though there is a lot of detail. The KRELL also has a lot of bass. All of these factors lineup well with the sR1a, which I consider a bit bright.

The KRELL 175XD has surpassed my expectations from hearing the K-300i. The CODA 07x preamp I use is a bit tubey and work perfectly with the 175XD. The CODA 07x and 175XD combo is better than the K-300i integrated. That 175 watts of Class A on the 175XD are incredible and make for a super smooth, fatigue free sound. I also have the Benchmark LA4 preamp that I have connected to my RCA source outputs and it is not as fatigue free as the CODA 07x with the SR1a. However, on the Thiel CS3.7, I prefer the LA4 preamp over the CODA 07x preamp (first world issues).

Based on past experience, I expected the KRELL 175XD would be much better than the CODA #8 on the SR1a. I have Audience FrontRow speaker cable on the CODA #8 and the much lower Audience Conductor SE on the KRELL. I can only use it this way due to the SpeakON termination on the FrontRow. I had the CODA #8 customized to use SpeakON. So. with that caveat, I can say that my CODA #8 and KRELL 175XD are both the very best sound I have ever heard on the SR1a. The CODA 07x preamp is needed to make this claim. In the future, I will get Audience FrontRow speaker cable for the KRELL and that should tip the balance to the KRELL with the SR1a.

BTW - I sold the KRELL 300i last week (and bought a used Schitt Jutonheim R). The guy who bought the K-300i wrote to me last night with his jaw on the floor. He is shocked at how good the K-300i is.

 

[yyzSB]

Second, you might just be one of those people for which even true "neutrality" is just not very pleasant, though I'd bet your amp/speaker combos might be smoothing things over a bit for you too.

My favorite gear combo is the Benchmark AHB2 + Benchmark LA4 + Benchmark DAC3B (though the Musetec 005 should be tried here). This gear used to be in my office and is now in my living room. After I got the RAAL SR1a I realized the ultra-neutral gear was not a good match to the RAAL SR1a. Danny at RAAL told me this before I got the SR1a., he was correct. The Thiel CS3.7 is a very neutral sounding speaker. Jim Thiel's last and greatest speaker.

The incompatibility of the Benchmark gear with the SR1a was the reason I went into the rabbit hole of searching for warmer gear that I would like with both my Thiel CS3.7 and RAAL SR1a. I have my favorite Benchmark gear downstairs awaiting a killer speaker (currently using KEF LS50).

 

[eboleyn]

My favorite gear combo is the Benchmark AHB2 + Benchmark LA4 + Benchmark DAC3B (though the Musetec 005 should be tried here). This gear used to be in my office and is now in my living room. After I got the RAAL SR1a I realized the ultra-neutral gear was not a good match to the RAAL SR1a. Danny at RAAL told me this before I got the SR1a., he was correct. The Thiel CS3.7 is a very neutral sounding speaker. Jim Thiel's last and greatest speaker.

The incompatibility of the Benchmark gear with the SR1a was the reason I went into the rabbit hole of searching for warmer gear that I would like with both my Thiel CS3.7 and RAAL SR1a. I have my favorite Benchmark gear downstairs awaiting a killer speaker (currently using KEF LS50).

My test speakers have a set of RAAL ribbon tweeters in them using a DEQX unit directly driving the tweeters and mid/woofers with separate amps with 192 db/octave crossover frequency, then used a calibration microphone which produces flat response in both amplitude and time with linear phase. They are simply the best speaker I've ever heard.

My RAAL SR1a with the tuned up high accuracy chain sounds tonally essentially identical to my best set of test speakers, though now that we're going through the details, I did forget to mention that I use digital EQ (with a DEQ2496, so 31 band EQ) before the DAC to tame the peaks/valleys in the typical measured response. They did sound a bit off before I did that, but I'd almost forgotten about it since I did that back over a year ago now. Every high-end headphone I've ever tried has needed EQ to be "flat".

One could also argue that the tweeters being nearly identical tech means I'd get that opinion.

In any case, interesting to hear that some people think the SR1a is kind of brutal.

 

[yyzSB]

If you are using EQ then that makes things different. I was able to use the AHB2 and LA4 with the SR1a when I used Mitch Barnett's Convolution filter for the SR1a. In fact, Mitch created Convolution filters for my Thiel CS3.7 and office (I did measurements for him). Today, I use neither of the filters because I moved physical objects around in the acoustically treated office, and I no longer use neutral gear with the SR1a. I would rather avoid DSP if I can.

In any case, interesting to hear that some people think the SR1a is kind of brutal.

I spent a lot of money to make the SR1a work for me because I think it is the very best headphone I have heard. It comes close to my favored 2-channel sound and my only concern now is buying a backup for long term use.

 

[jlbrach]

the sr1a is the most accurate recreation of music I have yet heard...yes it lacks the bass of planars but the space,imagining and detailing is at times eerie

 

[Turcoda]

I also spent a lot of money maybe the ribbon headphones work for me. However, not that I said ribbon headphones and not specifically the SR1A. For a while I owned both the GL1200 and the SR1A and I kept the GL1200 for reasons most people might not find obvious. I no longer have the same setup as before and therefore can no longer do a proper A/B comparison with my current setup, but I can say that the GL1200s sound better to me with this setup than the SR1A sounded to me with the interface box amp combo I ran it with. I think the Chinese blatantly ripped off the SR1A down to everything except the open baffle thing Raal has going for it. While Raal deserves your money more than Gold Planar, I think the GL1200 offered 2 things for me that Raal desperately left me wanting:

1) A ribbon driver that sits PARALLEL to your ear. I cant stress this enough. I hated having to shift the Raals around every time I took them off in order to find that sweet spot. The sweet spot makes the world of difference.
2) Comfort. One of the most comfortable headphones I've ever tried. Large, light, beefy and soft. All you can ask for.

Anyway, anyone interested can look up Zeos' review. But just note that he's totally full of crap. The headphones sound like diarrhea if you run them with the provided interface box that he reviewed them with. Raal did a significantly better job with their adapter box. However, with that said, both adapter boxes have some EQ built in, with the GL1200's box offering far worse tonality and completely lacking detail. They only sound good if you plug them into the Raal interface box OR either the Jot or HSA1B. The baffle compensation on both of these amps just sounds awful to me and can't imagine why anyone would run it. If I leave that off and I get what I consider to be really amazing sound from the GL1200 + HSA1B. The GLs come with gold and silver ribbons. The ribbons that I prefer are the neutral silver ribbons, but the gold ribbons offer a decent bass boost that would suit any basshead looking into getting the SR1A. They're not quite neutral in the mids, but the added bass does a pretty decent job, one that is significantly better than the baffle compensation built into the Jot R and HSA1B.

I also had both the HSA1B and the Jot R for a period of 2 weeks each. While I was not able to A/B them, I am going to say something that will surprise some of you. I actually preferred the Jot R. Why would someone prefer an 800$ amp to a 4.5k amp? Easy. The Jot R sounded generally more laser focused and sharper, the transients were a bit faster and leaner, and most important of all, the mids were more neutral. That's my personal preference for sound and why I took up ribbons over electrostatic headphones. Now the HSA1B is good for sure, but it doesn't really offer a whole lot more than the Jot R does. It offers a different presentation. It offers a somewhat smoother and more evened out presentation. When people said the HSA1B was more refined, I can get behind that. It makes it easier to enjoy the music instead of engaging yourself with insane details the Jot R shoves down your throat and chokes you with. The Jot R had a somewhat exaggerated highs and it caused me to stop liking some of my favorite songs a tiny bit. But the mid range was better to be and I kinda miss the laser focus it offered over the HSA1B. This combination was truly unique in what it did. Anyway, I returned the Jot R thinking the HSA1B would be the straight up upgrade that everyone says it is. I also need it to run some bookshelf speakers I'm planning to buy, as well as other kinds of headphones. I kinda regret not keeping the Jot R though. I'm stuck with the HSA1B, so I'm keeping it for the foreseeable future, but I recommend the Jot R more for the price. The jump in performance isn't 4 fold as the price would suggest. I don't recommend the HSA1B at all unless you need it to run multiple things and you were going to buy a Benchmark amp or something just as expensive anyway. For what it is, it offers good value and can unclutter your space by serving as a 3 in 1 device (ribbons, + conventional headphones + bookshelf speakers) while offering, what I consider to be, great typical class A performance.

 

[jlbrach]

funny review, you praise the jotr then tell us why it isnt all that good...I have both and think the jotr is excellent for the cost but the 1b is far better

 

[Turcoda]

I didn't say it's not that good. My point is that I feel that the cost detracts from the HSA1B too much to make it worth it. I think its a matter of differing tastes and they both offer something different. The HSA1B offers a somewhat thicker and fuller sound, whereas the Jot R is slightly more neutral, leaner and sharper. I've seen too many reviews and comments stating the HSA1B was obviously superior in every way to the Jot R. I strongly disagree and I want to offer another perspective. Besides, they exist for different use cases. Jot R is only for ribbons and nothing more. Pick the HSA1B if you've got more to run than ribbons.

 

[Turcoda]

Does anybody know whether the HSA1B can drive any of the Magnepans at average listening volume?

 

[SykoFreak]

Does anybody know whether the HSA1B can drive any of the Magnepans at average listening volume?

I drove the 4-ohm, 88dB sensitivity floorstanders (Polk LSi15) in my living room, just to see how loud they could get (not as a normal listening setup). At about level 19 on the volume, they were a ~3dB louder than my normal listening level in the living room.

Now I have it driving 6-ohm, 87dB sens bookshelves (Sony SS CS5) in a near-field desktop setup. I never go past level 12 on the knob.

Remember to open the HSA-1b up and set the input attenuation to -0dB. It ships with -6dB.

 

[yyzSB]

I think this was mentioned previously on this thread. The ZMF Pilot Pad (lambskin is what I got) is perfect to keep the SR1a fitting nicely on your head. It also is more comfortable that the stock setup. For $30 it is well worth trying.

https://shop.zmfheadphones.com/products/pilot-pad

**************************
I just bought a used SS amp, NAD M22 V2. It is being delivered and I will use it with play with the SR1a. I have 2 AMP INTERFACE boxes, so I wanted to use both. I also had all the extra cables and preamp options to do this without having to plug and unplug cables.

- CODA 07x preamp (XLR) | NAD M22 V2 | SR1a
- Schitt Freya+ preamp (XLR) | Benchmark AHB2 | SR1a
- Schitt Freya+ preamp (RCA) | NAD M22 V2 | SR1a

I also have available, but I need to unplug speaker cables and move the AMP INTERFACE box, so I do not use this much.
- CODA 07x preamp (XLR) | KRELL 175XD | SR1a

I have the JotR in my bedroom and it is not too bad. Great for the bedroom usage. It is not as good as my 2-channel amp setups.