Raal Ribbon Headphones - SRH1A

Oct 22, 2023 at 9:20 PM Post #7,126 of 8,089
for me the VM-1a is noticably better than my CFA3 with the sr1a and ca-1a...and the CFA3 is no slouch with both
That's real tempting. I've been listening to the CA-1A today, and I'm pretty impressed with it. I can't believe the bass out of a ribbon type heaphone. After the Sr1a, I thought ribbons just couldn't extend very low, but the CA-1A has proven that theory incorrect. I'd love to hear how the CA-1a scales with the VM-1a
 
Oct 22, 2023 at 9:34 PM Post #7,127 of 8,089
The midrange hit with the donut earpads is unfortunate. I like me some V shaped curves, but I wish we could have it all. I guess you can't get something without sacrificing something else. There's got to be a way though. :thinking:
 
Oct 22, 2023 at 10:00 PM Post #7,128 of 8,089
That's real tempting. I've been listening to the CA-1A today, and I'm pretty impressed with it. I can't believe the bass out of a ribbon type heaphone. After the Sr1a, I thought ribbons just couldn't extend very low, but the CA-1A has proven that theory incorrect. I'd love to hear how the CA-1a scales with the VM-1a
In my mind it is not surprising that the CA-1a produces more bass than the SR-1b. The CA-1a being a closed-cup (or partially closed-cup) depending on the style of pads) design has much more bass reinforcement, i.e. it produces bass through a pressurization and depressurization effect within the cups which is how closed cup designs produce most of their bass from what is a midrange driver. The SR-1b is an open baffle design so its bass reinforcement is much less which leads to less bass output. I still think the SR-1b has great bass quality but not that much quantity.
 
Oct 23, 2023 at 12:38 AM Post #7,129 of 8,089
I can't believe the bass out of a ribbon type heaphone. After the Sr1a, I thought ribbons just couldn't extend very low, but the CA-1A has proven that theory incorrect.
I understand exactly what you're saying. After getting the CA-1a, I started to wonder what a planar or dynamic driver would sound like if it used an open driver design like the SR1a. Would it have any bass? Maybe not. Maybe it'd even have less bass than the ribbon driver in the SR1a! Which is kind of crazy since ribbon drivers are reputed to be bass-light. Maybe they're bass-heavy and it's solely the open baffle design that makes them seem bass-light.
 
Oct 23, 2023 at 12:47 AM Post #7,130 of 8,089
There is a dynamic driver that is a ear speaker like the Raal Sr1a and that is the Mysphere 3.2. The Midbass in the Mysphere 3.2 is very punchy, but the subbass is pretty lacking. I never really compared the subbass of the Sr1a and Mysphere to each other, but the Sr1a bass sounds a lot cleaner to me and honestly the Sr1a probably have one of the cleanest bass I heard in a headphone/ear speakers. Both of them lack subbass, but I think it's worse on the Sr1a because of how quick the bass is on that ear speaker.
 
Oct 23, 2023 at 12:53 AM Post #7,131 of 8,089
There is a dynamic driver that is a ear speaker like the Raal Sr1a and that is the Mysphere 3.2. The Midbass in the Mysphere 3.2 is very punchy, but the subbass is pretty lacking. I never really compared the subbass of the Sr1a and Mysphere to each other, but the Sr1a bass sounds a lot cleaner to me and honestly the Sr1a probably have one of the cleanest bass I heard in a headphone/ear speakers. Both of them lack subbass, but I think it's worse on the Sr1a because of how quick the bass is on that ear speaker.
I've not yet gotten a chance to hear the Mysphere, but am very curious to. I didn't realize it uses a dynamic driver. I'm not sure what I expected, but definitely not dynamic.
 
Oct 23, 2023 at 1:02 AM Post #7,132 of 8,089
Yep, I believe the Mysphere and K1000 are both ear speakers that use dynamic drivers. The Mysphere is the modern day successor to the K1000 and its probably one of my favorite-sounding headphones/ear speakers for very specific tracks and genres. The Sr1a is a different presentation and tuning too honestly. But they both are really good and I would choose both over a lot of headphones just because of their technicalities, naturalness, tonality, and presentation. The only thing they both lack is subbass, but it's a nice trade-off with what they can do with a wide soundstage. If I have to use a headphone, I rather just go with a closed back at that point since the Mysphere and Sr1a kind of spoil me since my ears feel very free (there is no cup trapping my ears).
 
Oct 23, 2023 at 10:08 AM Post #7,133 of 8,089
I've not yet gotten a chance to hear the Mysphere, but am very curious to. I didn't realize it uses a dynamic driver. I'm not sure what I expected, but definitely not dynamic.
Wrong thread, but It's a really a very interesting dynamic driver design with high excursion.
And if you have the amp for it, I prefer the 3.1 to the 3.2.
But as others have stated it's not so much that a ribbon driver headphone can't produce a similar frequency range to a dynamic driver or planar, the open nature of the SR-1A design prevents them generating any sub bass, if the SR and Mysphere didn't both rest against the ear at the front (That vertical pad on the Raal's) they'd have almost no loading at all and you'd get no bass either.
 
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Oct 25, 2023 at 10:01 AM Post #7,136 of 8,089
Hello? I've been to Raal's website in a year. But I can't see the headphone amplifier. Raal doesn't make it anymore?
I think the headphone amplifiers are made by SEAQ - SErbian Audio eQuipment.
 
Oct 25, 2023 at 10:45 AM Post #7,138 of 8,089
And you can reach out to the manufacturer of RAAL's tube amps, Solaja Audio, if you're looking for tube instead of solid state.
 
Oct 25, 2023 at 6:25 PM Post #7,140 of 8,089
So after a few days with both Raals, I like the CA-1a better than the SR1b. It just once again shows the importance of bass for me and my genres. Also, prior to having the Shang Sr, the SR1a was my most resolving pair of headphones I owned, with the largest soundstage. It still has the largest soundstage, but the Shang has a higher resolution. The Sr1b doesn't sound as expansive as I remember the SR1a sounding out of my HSA-1a. Perhaps my memory is wrong of course. With the Shang, the SR1b is redundant in my lineup.

I really want to hear how the CA-1a, and also SR1b to a lesser extent, scales with the VM-1a. I'm very tempted to pick up the amp. I just need to figure out some spacing issues that may or may not be able to be resolved. :thinking:
 

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