[Shahrose]

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.

Agree with this. The Jot R does have more accurate, sharper transients with better imaging focus. But as a tradeoff, it sounds smaller, drier and often harsher in the treble.

 

[dude120]

Out of curiosity, would a schiit ragnarok have enough power to drive the raal sr1a though the amplifier interface box?

 

[dirtrat]

Just got back from Canjam in NYC and spent tons of time at the headamp table listening to all of their TOTL headphones. This morning I ended up buying the RAAL VM-1A tube amp and SR1a Ribbon Headphones. Their 10% off coupon saved me almost $1000.

 

[foefoe]

VM-1a is ready for a pre-order on their website. The price is well... stratospheric. $6,500 for the amp that can only drive ribbons, seriously? Add shipping and VAT if you are based in Europe and you may wonder how many units they want to sell to Europeans.

 

[dirtrat]

VM-1a is ready for a pre-order on their website. The price is well... stratospheric. $6,500 for the amp that can only drive ribbons, seriously? Add shipping and VAT if you are based in Europe and you may wonder how many units they want to sell to Europeans.

I fully understood this! To each his own, I guess. I was looking for an endgame headphone setup and don't own or swap out headphones like many others in the forums. You also must understand this is a dedicated low impedance tube amp designed specifically for the Sr1a headphones. Also, it is now shipping for people in the US. I don't pay VAT and have free shipping.

 

[RickyV]

What a major disappointment, $6500. I live in Europe and I had, not sure anymore, my sights set on the VM-1. So after waiting for months and letting the sale on HSA1-b go for the VM-1 it is now a $1000 more. Really not happy

 

[Turcoda]

Yeah, I feel like my HSA1B was too rich for me and it was significantly less than that. It colors things a bit too warm and smooth for my taste. I can only imagine what that tube amp would do.

I just posted my HSA1B for sale this week. I'm gonna downsize. Maybe you can get yourself a used VM1 in the upcoming months or fallback on the HSA1B? Im curious how many months before the first used VM1 pops up for sale...

 

[dirtrat]

Yeah, I feel like my HSA1B was too rich for me and it was significantly less than that. It colors things a bit too warm and smooth for my taste. I can only imagine what that tube amp would do.

I just posted my HSA1B for sale this week. I'm gonna downsize. Maybe you can get yourself a used VM1 in the upcoming months or fallback on the HSA1B? Im curious how many months before the first used VM1 pops up for sale...

The tube amp sounds magnificent. I did extensive listening even though I was in a noisy environment it still sounded amazing.

 

[foefoe]

We all are looking forward to reading your impressions when you receive it

 

[number1sixerfan]

Yeah, I feel like my HSA1B was too rich for me and it was significantly less than that. It colors things a bit too warm and smooth for my taste. I can only imagine what that tube amp would do.

I just posted my HSA1B for sale this week. I'm gonna downsize. Maybe you can get yourself a used VM1 in the upcoming months or fallback on the HSA1B? Im curious how many months before the first used VM1 pops up for sale...

This is interesting, as although I really do like my tube speaker amp with the Sr1a.. I eventually landed on the HSA-1b as my preference. It's a bit cleaner and transparent compared to other tube amps. I also ended up preferring it alone over the WA33 as a preamp for the Jot R or HSA. I reluctantly sold it because I preferred the TC/Susvara out of my EVO 400 and WA33 by far compared to it.

I definitely sensed that the HSA-1b is better than the Jot R, but as a few others posted not really by a large margin imo. It's more so refinement than anything else. But I definitely found it more neutral than other amps and accentuated all of the Sr1a's strengths. I actually regret selling it, as though it does benefit from the color and smoothness of the EVO and sounds good, it just feels more natural on the Raal amp.

 

[Turcoda]

This is interesting, as although I really do like my tube speaker amp with the Sr1a.. I eventually landed on the HSA-1b as my preference. It's a bit cleaner and transparent compared to other tube amps. I also ended up preferring it alone over the WA33 as a preamp for the Jot R or HSA. I reluctantly sold it because I preferred the TC/Susvara out of my EVO 400 and WA33 by far compared to it.

I definitely sensed that the HSA-1b is better than the Jot R, but as a few others posted not really by a large margin imo. It's more so refinement than anything else. But I definitely found it more neutral than other amps and accentuated all of the Sr1a's strengths. I actually regret selling it, as though it does benefit from the color and smoothness of the EVO and sounds good, it just feels more natural on the Raal amp.

Yeah I can get behind that. Ok so I feel that the amp is really made to pair with the SR1A and took the default SR1A tonality into consideration into its design. What I mean by that is that the ribbons are quite sharp and focused and fast by nature. The amp kinda smooths that out a bit to make it sound closer to what normal sounds like. However, I don't think it's entirely neutral. There's something happening with the lower mids that bothers me just a tad bit. I feel like there's a small recession there. Its just a bit overall too warm for my taste. And that's fine because that's what the SR1As lack, so it works well. With all this said, the problem that I have with this amp is that I purchased this for other headphones as well. The amp is imparting this signature on other headphones plugged into the headphone jack as well. Its not really neutral and sharp on other headphones, and thats what I cant forgive about it. When I tried this amp on a HD800 I noticed it sounded too warm and smoothed out and I wasn't enjoying it. I also bought this to use for a pair of Susvaras, but I decided not to open it and go down that rabbit hole, so I'm selling those. To my ears, the Jot R has better mids and sounds more neutral and sharp. But like others have said, even the Jot R isnt perfect and that comes at a cost - the highs are a bit too harsh and the sound is more lean. Sadly, in the end, I dont see myself ever using the HSA1B for headphones that aren't ribbons, and I bet I can say the same about speakers as well, so I can't justify the cost anymore and decided to sell it.

My misgivings about using the word "refinement" here that everybody seems to be using is this: "refinement" has different meanings to different people. The amp provides a bit of what SR1A lacks - body and smoothness and tamed highs. Here's what I strongly feel it does NOT do compared to the Jot R: provide more bass, provide more detail, provide more neutrality. I wish I knew that ahead of time.

 

[MacedonianHero]

I was using my Jot R this weekend and for the price...it's a peach of an amplifier and gets you into a very happy endgame with the SR1a. That said, switching back to my HSA-1b, there was no comparison across the board, the latter was simply better in almost every way...bigger, with improved dynamics and detail extraction (using the Chord DAVE as my source). Again, the Jot R is pretty stellar in what it offers and it's price point to performance is off the charts. Own both...will continue for quite a while. Throw in the fact that the HSA-1b drives my Phi TC and Susvara brilliantly...its a no brainer for me.

 

[jlbrach]

agreed all around...the jotr isnt as good but it is damn good for the price.....the 1B makes a great backup amp for planars and surprisingly given the power output stated it does a fine job with the susvara

 

[MacedonianHero]

agreed all around...the jotr isnt as good but it is damn good for the price.....the 1B makes a great backup amp for planars and surprisingly given the power output stated it does a fine job with the susvara

Schiit really dominates in this space for sure.

 

[Turcoda]

I was using my Jot R this weekend and for the price...it's a peach of an amplifier and gets you into a very happy endgame with the SR1a. That said, switching back to my HSA-1b, there was no comparison across the board, the latter was simply better in almost every way...bigger, with improved dynamics and detail extraction (using the Chord DAVE as my source). Again, the Jot R is pretty stellar in what it offers and it's price point to performance is off the charts. Own both...will continue for quite a while. Throw in the fact that the HSA-1b drives my Phi TC and Susvara brilliantly...its a no brainer for me.

You don't find it colors the Phi and the Sus too much? Does it considerably smooth out the sound? Its what bothered me with my quick test with regular headphones, but I didn't test for long enough. I sold all of my headphones except for my ribbons and I had to borrow a pair. I'm not convinced I'd enjoy using conventional headphones with the HSA1B.

Im sure my dac isn't the best. I'm thinking of buying a Musetec 005 this week. I'm currently feeding a D1se into the HSA1B.