[KaiSc]

i have read through every post on this thread but the info starts to run together so I'll just ask. I just received the CA-1a. the headphone cable is a bit short for my liking. Is there anything special about the design of the headphone and/or T1b interface that would prohibit me from substituting a 10 foot 4pin xlr cable that I use with many of my other headphones?

You can use a longer cable between headphone amp and TI-1 interface box.
It’s not mission critical.

The cable between TI-1 and ‘phones is very special and must stay.

 

[Aleksandar R.]

i have read through every post on this thread but the info starts to run together so I'll just ask. I just received the CA-1a. the headphone cable is a bit short for my liking. Is there anything special about the design of the headphone and/or T1b interface that would prohibit me from substituting a 10 foot 4pin xlr cable that I use with many of my other headphones?

Yes, it's not very long.

Due to very specific requirements for the cable between TI box and headphones, it is not easily possible to offer variations in length. Third party cables are very unlikely that will work right as they were not designed to be terminated with 0.02 Ohms and have 0.23 Ohms of their own resistance.

So, the main idea for transformer interface is to extend the input cable (between the amp and the TI box), not the headphone cable. Then you place the TI box nearer to your listening position, but away from the amp.
The input cables do not have specific requirements to work right, as they will be terminated with 32/16 Ohms, so anything that works with headphones will work as the input to TI box.
Also, we have on offer longer input cables, in 6 and 10 ft lengths.

Look at it this way, You get a completed system (CA1a+TI1b) that plugs into a headphone amp instead of regular headphones.
You can use any third party cable just like before, but also plugging it into the amp. On the other end of that cable are not the headphones directly, but a TI1a/b+CA1a/SR1a/b "system".

Now, as for improving the "system" itself, we will offer upgrade Copper and Silver cables between TI box and headphones.
Also, the data for making a successful cable is public (0.23 Ohms loop resistance, <0.8uH at total length), so any 3rd party manufacturer is welcome to make them and everyone is welcome to use them.

 

[SteveHulk]

I picked up my sr1b today from the Very Nice Man at Hifonix It was great to meet you Aseem!

And we had a good chin wag about all sorts of interesting stuff...

 

[Hiker816]

I picked up my sr1b today from the Very Nice Man at Hifonix It was great to meet you Aseem!

And we had a good chin wag about all sorts of interesting stuff...

You're going to love the SR1b. It's like adding more DAVE to the DAVE.

 

[normie610]

Listening to the 12 Stradivari album by Janine Jensen with SR1a (while patiently waiting for CA1a to arrive next month )

 

[Dynamo5561]

Hi folks!

Received my SR1a today together with the TI-1b.

I want to share my initial impressions after listening to them for some hours.

They are definitely TOTL material Leaning to the brighter side of things, but I'd say still in fairly neutral territory. That also depends on the driver positions. The more you have them next to your ear, the less bright they are. I also applied the EQ that is shared in the thread instead of using the open-baffle-compensation.

Before I got them I thought that they will be very genre specific. I also noticed many member listing the SR1a as their only HP in their signature. And now I can see why that is. They will probably not work with every genre, but I would still consider them as kind of all-rounders. I am playing my very diverse playlists and nothing sounded bad so far, contrary a lot of my songs shine with the SR1a.

The bass is very nice, textured but will miss a bit of quantitiy for many folks. I like the IEF neutral target, therefore I don't need lots of bass. Not saying they have no bass! Mids are nice, even but with upper mids elevation. The treble is a bit more extended than neutral. The detail retrieval is very good, probably as good as it gets.

But I want to demystify lot of comments about the detail retrieval. There is not a big difference in detail retrieval between the TOTL headphones (Susvara, 1266, SR1a etc.) I think they all hit the technical limits of what is possile. The SR1a elevates the upper mids and has extended treble and tries to emphasize it's detail retrieval capabilities even more. The Bravura does the same, it additionally elevates the airy frequencies to even pretend more detail retrieval. If you apply the FR to the Susvara, you will probably subjectively perceive the same detail retrieval. I am not saying these are not detailled, but the differences between the TOTL headphones are more related to FR instead of actuall technical differences.

Anyhow the SR1a also suffers from the same issue that the Bravura has: The elevated upper mids make vocals very intimate. Even the headphones have a big soundstage, for me the perceived soundstage is more on the narrower side as the vocals are very close. Vocal lovers will say that is an advantage. For me it's based on my mood.

The speed of the SR1a is great, but the Bravura is even faster. Reading the reviews I thought they will be on the same level, but the SR1a is a tad behind.

I like the comfort of the SR1a very much. Not sure yet, but probably the most comfortable headphone I had. It's really a pleasure to have such comfort. But I didn't figure out how to store them without both cups hitting each other. Probably will 3d print something that keeps distance between the cups.

Generally these are very nice headphones. I am very happy to have them in my collection. They are exciting, "fun" to listen to and even they are so detailled, they still keep everything good together that it doesn't sound analytical.

Be aware these are just my initial impressions. Can and probably will change over time.

 

[KaiSc]

Hi folks!

Received my SR1a today together with the TI-1b.

I want to share my initial impressions after listening to them for some hours.

They are definitely TOTL material Leaning to the brighter side of things, but I'd say still in fairly neutral territory. That also depends on the driver positions. The more you have them next to your ear, the less bright they are. I also applied the EQ that is shared in the thread instead of using the open-baffle-compensation.

Before I got them I thought that they will be very genre specific. I also noticed many member listing the SR1a as their only HP in their signature. And now I can see why that is. They will probably not work with every genre, but I would still consider them as kind of all-rounders. I am playing my very diverse playlists and nothing sounded bad so far, contrary a lot of my songs shine with the SR1a.

The bass is very nice, textured but will miss a bit of quantitiy for many folks. I like the IEF neutral target, therefore I don't need lots of bass. Not saying they have no bass! Mids are nice, even but with upper mids elevation. The treble is a bit more extended than neutral. The detail retrieval is very good, probably as good as it gets.

But I want to demystify lot of comments about the detail retrieval. There is not a big difference in detail retrieval between the TOTL headphones (Susvara, 1266, SR1a etc.) I think they all hit the technical limits of what is possile. The SR1a elevates the upper mids and has extended treble and tries to emphasize it's detail retrieval capabilities even more. The Bravura does the same, it additionally elevates the airy frequencies to even pretend more detail retrieval. If you apply the FR to the Susvara, you will probably subjectively perceive the same detail retrieval. I am not saying these are not detailled, but the differences between the TOTL headphones are more related to FR instead of actuall technical differences.

Anyhow the SR1a also suffers from the same issue that the Bravura has: The elevated upper mids make vocals very intimate. Even the headphones have a big soundstage, for me the perceived soundstage is more on the narrower side as the vocals are very close. Vocal lovers will say that is an advantage. For me it's based on my mood.

The speed of the SR1a is great, but the Bravura is even faster. Reading the reviews I thought they will be on the same level, but the SR1a is a tad behind.

I like the comfort of the SR1a very much. Not sure yet, but probably the most comfortable headphone I had. It's really a pleasure to have such comfort. But I didn't figure out how to store them without both cups hitting each other. Probably will 3d print something that keeps distance between the cups.

Generally these are very nice headphones. I am very happy to have them in my collection. They are exciting, "fun" to listen to and even they are so detailled, they still keep everything good together that it doesn't sound analytical.

Be aware these are just my initial impressions. Can and probably will change over time.

Being in the same boat, having my SR1a with the original amp interface for several days of intensive listening now:
My impressions are quite similar.

The major first step is experimenting with the various degrees of freedom in head placement.

The short video from the Raal website is sure worth a look in this regard:



I would not call myself a bass-head, but do like solid base and fundamentals in my music.
At the same time I’m generally not listening very loud, vocals in the music are a bit louder than normal humans talking.
Typical music level ca. 65-70 dBA Leq (long term average), with peaks up to 95 - 100 dB SPL.
The power amp is not challenged much: ca. +20 dBu or 10 W / 6 Ohm Peak typically is the very highest I observe.

I love music with lot’s of dynamic, try to avoid contemporary, dynamically over-squashed remasters.


First based on measurements (on my own head, mic inside my ears), then hours of fine-tuning I made an EQ setting that adresses all mentioned Issues, without overdoing it or killing SR1a’s character.

Specially the bass becomes viceral in a way I did not expect from SR1a.

The EQ slighty addresses midrange and treble too, this is very personal I guess.
Doing more in the mid/treble range sounds too much for me.
Treble is better controlled by positional variations, than excessive EQ.

With the EQ the bass and fundamentals sound punchy, compact and present in a way I did not expect from SR1a.
The fastness stays, combined with a significant gripe on the related instruments.
No hint of tizzy or thin sounding any more.


Positioning, probably quite personal, but another person found similar settings favorable too.
• Driver flaps angle: L 27 ° R 27 ° few millimeters away from pinnae contact. I made little card-box angle stencils to set this up.
• Driver horizontal position: usually ca. 5 mm to the front from the back-most possible position, very tiny bit more forward than the upper-mid-hottest position. I do use this to regulate the treble amount.
• Driver height: center driver ca. aligned with ear-canal entrance.
• Wearing angle (seen from the side): upper part, headband, slightly backwards, ca. 10 °.
• Fit: tight fit, still comfortable, don’t need the back-strap.


Raal SR-1a EQ04
RME ADI-2 Pro.

THE EQ DOES NOT CONTAIN BAFFLE COMPENSATION as the standard SR1a amp interface already has it.
There are EQ bands left to do this, in case needed.

Gain / Freq / Q / Type / (comment)
.. dB / Hz
+5.5 / 130 / 0.8 / Shelf / (adjust gain to taste)
.. n.a. / 25 / 1.8 / High Pass / (High Q boost the lows SR1a is capable, removes below)
-2.0 / 2.1k / 1.5 / Peak / (vocal presence)
-1.0 / 6.3k / 3.5 / Peak / (harshness)
-2.5 / 9.1k / 5.0 / Peak / (Sibilants)

 

[Aleksandar R.]

Hi folks!

Received my SR1a today together with the TI-1b.

I want to share my initial impressions after listening to them for some hours.

They are definitely TOTL material Leaning to the brighter side of things, but I'd say still in fairly neutral territory. That also depends on the driver positions. The more you have them next to your ear, the less bright they are. I also applied the EQ that is shared in the thread instead of using the open-baffle-compensation.

Before I got them I thought that they will be very genre specific. I also noticed many member listing the SR1a as their only HP in their signature. And now I can see why that is. They will probably not work with every genre, but I would still consider them as kind of all-rounders. I am playing my very diverse playlists and nothing sounded bad so far, contrary a lot of my songs shine with the SR1a.

The bass is very nice, textured but will miss a bit of quantitiy for many folks. I like the IEF neutral target, therefore I don't need lots of bass. Not saying they have no bass! Mids are nice, even but with upper mids elevation. The treble is a bit more extended than neutral. The detail retrieval is very good, probably as good as it gets.

But I want to demystify lot of comments about the detail retrieval. There is not a big difference in detail retrieval between the TOTL headphones (Susvara, 1266, SR1a etc.) I think they all hit the technical limits of what is possile. The SR1a elevates the upper mids and has extended treble and tries to emphasize it's detail retrieval capabilities even more. The Bravura does the same, it additionally elevates the airy frequencies to even pretend more detail retrieval. If you apply the FR to the Susvara, you will probably subjectively perceive the same detail retrieval. I am not saying these are not detailled, but the differences between the TOTL headphones are more related to FR instead of actuall technical differences.

Anyhow the SR1a also suffers from the same issue that the Bravura has: The elevated upper mids make vocals very intimate. Even the headphones have a big soundstage, for me the perceived soundstage is more on the narrower side as the vocals are very close. Vocal lovers will say that is an advantage. For me it's based on my mood.

The speed of the SR1a is great, but the Bravura is even faster. Reading the reviews I thought they will be on the same level, but the SR1a is a tad behind.

I like the comfort of the SR1a very much. Not sure yet, but probably the most comfortable headphone I had. It's really a pleasure to have such comfort. But I didn't figure out how to store them without both cups hitting each other. Probably will 3d print something that keeps distance between the cups.

Generally these are very nice headphones. I am very happy to have them in my collection. They are exciting, "fun" to listen to and even they are so detailled, they still keep everything good together that it doesn't sound analytical.

Be aware these are just my initial impressions. Can and probably will change over time.

Nice impressions!

Just wanted to add a few more directions to explore in doing comparisons, for better or worse.

There are differences in TOTL headphones regarding the stored energy decay. FR EQ won't help with that.

Stand-alone detail in music won't get masked so it'll always come out.

Try comparing dense choirs, children choir background vocals and such stuff.
Try listening for each tone, each wire sound, in a piano chords on solo-piano recordings. That's what detail and speed is for, percussion and transient notes are easy...
Also, look for how decay in recordings go into fade out. How recoding ambient will sound...Chesky and such...

When quiet things (ambiance, piano chord fade-out, reverb of guitar body...) get mushed and piled up together, when individual tones get indistinguishable in fade-out, that's when energy storage is not well controlled...

I admit, the SC-2 cable is not the one that will show everything that SR1 and CA1 can do, but if we allow for the price diff. between Sus and 1266 get filled with our future cables, you will discover there is more to SR1/CA1 than the base offer allows for.

 

[normie610]

with our future cables

Any estimates on when they’ll become available?

 

[Dynamo5561]

Was thinking of how to store the SR1a when not used at my desk. The main issue is that the bottom of the ear cups are touching each other. I 3d printed this very simple construction and it works perfectly for me:

 

[KaiSc]

Was thinking of how to store the SR1a when not used at my desk. The main issue is that the bottom of the ear cups are touching each other. I 3d printed this very simple construction and it works perfectly for me:

I’d suggest not to press the cussions while storing.
Over the time they will flatten.

Hang on the metal headband instead.
Maybe print a rounded hanger, in this style, but 14-15 cm wide:

 

[KaiSc]

Being in the same boat, having my SR1a with the original amp interface for several days of intensive listening now:
My impressions are quite similar.

The major first step is experimenting with the various degrees of freedom in head placement.

The short video from the Raal website is sure worth a look in this regard:



I would not call myself a bass-head, but do like solid base and fundamentals in my music.
At the same time I’m generally not listening very loud, vocals in the music are a bit louder than normal humans talking.
Typical music level ca. 65-70 dBA Leq (long term average), with peaks up to 95 - 100 dB SPL.
The power amp is not challenged much: ca. +20 dBu or 10 W / 6 Ohm Peak typically is the very highest I observe.

I love music with lot’s of dynamic, try to avoid contemporary, dynamically over-squashed remasters.


First based on measurements (on my own head, mic inside my ears), then hours of fine-tuning I made an EQ setting that adresses all mentioned Issues, without overdoing it or killing SR1a’s character.

Specially the bass becomes viceral in a way I did not expect from SR1a.

The EQ slighty addresses midrange and treble too, this is very personal I guess.
Doing more in the mid/treble range sounds too much for me.
Treble is better controlled by positional variations, than excessive EQ.

With the EQ the bass and fundamentals sound punchy, compact and present in a way I did not expect from SR1a.
The fastness stays, combined with a significant gripe on the related instruments.
No hint of tizzy or thin sounding any more.


Positioning, probably quite personal, but another person found similar settings favorable too.
• Driver flaps angle: L 27 ° R 27 ° few millimeters away from pinnae contact. I made little card-box angle stencils to set this up.
• Driver horizontal position: usually ca. 5 mm to the front from the back-most possible position, very tiny bit more forward than the upper-mid-hottest position. I do use this to regulate the treble amount.
• Driver height: center driver ca. aligned with ear-canal entrance.
• Wearing angle (seen from the side): upper part, headband, slightly backwards, ca. 10 °.
• Fit: tight fit, still comfortable, don’t need the back-strap.


Raal SR-1a EQ04
RME ADI-2 Pro.

THE EQ DOES NOT CONTAIN BAFFLE COMPENSATION as the standard SR1a amp interface already has it.
There are EQ bands left to do this, in case needed.

Gain / Freq / Q / Type / (comment)
.. dB / Hz
+5.5 / 130 / 0.8 / Shelf / (adjust gain to taste)
.. n.a. / 25 / 1.8 / High Pass / (High Q boost the lows SR1a is capable, removes below)
-2.0 / 2.1k / 1.5 / Peak / (vocal presence)
-1.5 / 6.3k / 3.5 / Peak / (harshness)
-2.5 / 9.1k / 5.0 / Peak / (Sibilants)

Reply to myself

With the above EQ, listen to:

Janine Jansen - Vivaldi • The Four Seasons (Violin Concerto 1-4).
Even if you‘re not into classical, these well-known tracks in a fresh interpretation sound almost like rock music.

There‘s a Tidal-Master version too, but I prefer the original.
If you use the RME ADI-2 switch DA Filter to “SD Sharp”.

https://tidal.com/album/5128616



Here’s one more - and no, I’m not specially into violin - a bit more special:
Not exactly classical, more like crossover.
Sounds great on SR1a.
Nigel Kennedy - The Doors Concerto - Riders On The Storm

https://tidal.com/album/4642155

 

[Aleksandar R.]

Any estimates on when they’ll become available?

Not sure yet.
Right now, we're working out the right annealing cycle(s) after the Silver has been twisted into Star 8.
It's a necessary step for a really good sounding Silver, especially for solid-core. You have to remove any strain after the wire is cold-worked, so it must be done after the cable is twisted, but before jacketed and terminated...
Basically, we want the cable to work right away, without break-in.
Jackets aren't ready yet, as well, but will be finished soon.
I guess we'll be able to start shipping in 10-15 days.

 

[normie610]

I guess we'll be able to start shipping in 10-15 days.

That’s actually sooner than I expected. Thanks Aleksandar.

 

[SteveHulk]

Is there anybody running the sr1 with a Woo Audio WA5 headphone/speaker amplifier?