[Hiker816]

I finally got my VM-1a with tubes. I’ll listen tomorrow. I’m excited!

I'm impressed that you have the self-restraint to wait until tomorrow. No way could I hold off!

 

[Ciggavelli]

I'm impressed that you have the self-restraint to wait until tomorrow. No way could I hold off!

Nothing impresses me anymore, so I can wait. I'm tempted to try it right now though, but I'll wait. It's just very hard to impress me anymore. It's kinda sad actually. When you've heard and owned almost everything, nothing matters. I have low expectations, but hopefully they'll be surpassed.

 

[KaiSc]

I recently acquired the SR1B with the TI-1B interface. It is definitely the best recorded audio I've ever heard.

Most of the time I have the TI-1B connected to the speaker taps of my power amp. But I was curious to see if the balanced headphone outputs of my RME ADI-2 Pro would provide enough power directly to the TI-1B, with no additional amp. So I cobbled together a cable (XLR-4 male to two TRS plugs; the RME is a bit unusual in having separate L and R jacks for balanced headphone output), entered the EQ settings for open baffle compensation, and put it to the test. It sounds fantastic! Plenty of power, as far as I'm concerned. I find it sounds best with the 16-ohm input.

I'll still mainly use it with the power amp, because a majority of my listening is vinyl. But having the option to use the RME is really nice, because I can use it with my computer when I'm not sitting by my stereo.

One thing to note (on the off chance anyone else wants to try this): the cable requires TRS plugs, not TS, even though there's only two conductors for each plug. This is because the conductors are wired to the tip and the ring, not the sleeve. The RME manual has the wiring info. (Also note that all this applies only to the Pro version of the ADI-2, not the DAC version).

ADI-2 Pro should fit a tiny bit better to Ti1b‘s 32 Ohm inputs, 2.4 watts of power vs. 1.7 W into 16 Ohm, and specifically half the thermal stress on the amp.
This is 1.5 dB higher peak loudness capability, more headroom.

Specially the sub-bass, where every transformer goes to lower impedance, favorably draws less current then.

When comparing: 32 Ohm is 3 dB quieter than 16 Ohm, so you have to turn up ADI-2’s volume by that amount for a fair A/B.


To be true - you likely don’t max out ADI-2’s power, so finally it doesn’t make a difference.

 

[MokhaMark]

I recently acquired the SR1B with the TI-1B interface. It is definitely the best recorded audio I've ever heard.

Most of the time I have the TI-1B connected to the speaker taps of my power amp. But I was curious to see if the balanced headphone outputs of my RME ADI-2 Pro would provide enough power directly to the TI-1B, with no additional amp. So I cobbled together a cable (XLR-4 male to two TRS plugs; the RME is a bit unusual in having separate L and R jacks for balanced headphone output), entered the EQ settings for open baffle compensation, and put it to the test. It sounds fantastic! Plenty of power, as far as I'm concerned. I find it sounds best with the 16-ohm input.

I'll still mainly use it with the power amp, because a majority of my listening is vinyl. But having the option to use the RME is really nice, because I can use it with my computer when I'm not sitting by my stereo.

One thing to note (on the off chance anyone else wants to try this): the cable requires TRS plugs, not TS, even though there's only two conductors for each plug. This is because the conductors are wired to the tip and the ring, not the sleeve. The RME manual has the wiring info. (Also note that all this applies only to the Pro version of the ADI-2, not the DAC version).

Thanks for sharing, I am impressed that the Pro version has enough hair on its chest. I tried something similar with the ADI-2 fs non pro version and the 1b box and it was a big fail. Obviously tghe Pro must have a more robust amplifier section.....nice.

 

[MokhaMark]

I own the freya + and the aegir for my 2 channel rig driving a pair of Zu Union 6s. I just need to get the TL-1b to give that pair a try. The Mjolnir-3 is on my list to try to drive my collection on closed back headphones that I find I need at times.

I can also attest to how good the Aegir is as an amplifier for the Raal. I only ever used it with a pre-amp for additional gain, you should be fine with Freya. But timbre wise it is great with Raal, IMO.

 

[MokhaMark]

I finally got my VM-1a with tubes. I’ll listen tomorrow. I’m excited!

Have fun listening today! Congrats on your new space heater.

 

[Lokust]

I'll throw out the Wells Audio Milo. Great pairing with the SR1a... use it every so often when I'm too lazy to hook everything up to the speaker taps.

 

[kamchatka]

ADI-2 Pro should fit a tiny bit better to Ti1b‘s 32 Ohm inputs, 2.4 watts of power vs. 1.7 W into 16 Ohm, and specifically half the thermal stress on the amp.
This is 1.5 dB higher peak loudness capability, more headroom.

Specially the sub-bass, where every transformer goes to lower impedance, favorably draws less current then.

When comparing: 32 Ohm is 3 dB quieter than 16 Ohm, so you have to turn up ADI-2’s volume by that amount for a fair A/B.


To be true - you likely don’t max out ADI-2’s power, so finally it doesn’t make a difference.

That is excellent information; thank you! I probably didn't match the volume accurately when I was comparing the inputs, and that skewed my impressions. But I'm definitely in favor of reducing thermal stress (or any kind of stress!), so I will go with the 32ohm input.

 

[rlawry]

I underwent the same decision when using my SR-1b/Ti-1b with my Benchmark HPA4 headphone amp. It outputs 6W at a 16 ohm load and 3.5W at 32 ohms, so either is adequate in driving the SR-1b. When comparing the two Ti-1b the 16 ohm input sounded a little more dynamic and detailed with slightly better bass so I went with that configuration. Unless you drive your SR-1a/b to really loud levels your ADI-2 Pro should drive the phones using either Ti-1b input so you may want to see if one sounds better than the other.

 

[KaiSc]

Thanks for sharing, I am impressed that the Pro version has enough hair on its chest. I tried something similar with the ADI-2 fs non pro version and the 1b box and it was a big fail. Obviously tghe Pro must have a more robust amplifier section.....nice.

There are 4 different ADI-2 models:

RME ADI-2 FS‘s - it’s headphones out works great with ”normal” ‘phones, but is not suited to directly drive such special, extreme loads like the Raal T1a/b / ribbon phones:


RME ADI-2 DAC FS, is much more powerful, with 1.5 Watt into 32 Ohm.
It doesn’t reach the 2,4 W RME ADi-2 Pro FS offers, but the difference is smaller than the figures might suggest: just 2 dB.
The new RME ADI-2/4 Pro SE takes the crown, 3.3 W into 32 Ohm is another 1.5 dB more.

RME ADI-2 DAC FS:


RME ADi-2 Pro FS:


RME ADI-2/4 Pro SE - has an vinyl disc RIAA preamp too.

 

[Ciggavelli]

Have fun listening today! Congrats on your new space heater.

Thanks. Unfortunately, I can't listen today after all. I thought the box I received yesterday was my tubes, but they weren't Hopefully in a few days I'll get the tubes

 

[Hiker816]

Thanks. Unfortunately, I can't listen today after all. I thought the box I received yesterday was my tubes, but they weren't Hopefully in a few days I'll get the tubes

Ugh, that sucks. Hope they show up soon!

 

[Kiats]

I'll throw out the Wells Audio Milo. Great pairing with the SR1a... use it every so often when I'm too lazy to hook everything up to the speaker taps.

Agree! And it has a wonderful tonality if you like things on the warmer side of neutral.

 

[Axel]

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/raal-ribbon-headphones-srh1a.890603/page-483#post-17889318
Continued impressions:
Going back and forth between using the Mitch filters and the open-baffle compensation adapters, I've found the Mitch filters provided a more balanced overall sound. Reducing the somewhat "hot" nature of the Raal ribbon (that I would not call bright).
I do feel that with the filters (btw, I prefer the Natural filter to the Natural with added bass) the SR1b sound like a complete headphone, I'm not missing any bass, every note sounds very clear. Please take into account that most of my listening menu is classical and jazz, so no EDM or metal that have synthesized bass.
I really like the raw nature of the Raal ribbon and its dynamic swings.
OTOH, the Valkyria does sound darker, putting more emphasis on low-mid and mid notes, extracting more harmonies in these frequencies, on the account of clarity and separation.
Listening to large orchestral and vocal works, the Raal is more suitable for the task and provides a more complete picture, with a natural sound and soundstage.
The Valkyria is more suitable to intimate recordings, of single voices/instruments.

They differ, but have many things in common, mostly the ability to provide a natural timbre.

Hopefully further impressions soon as I do believe they are still breaking-in.

There's the question of using my analog setup (vinyl) with the Raal, as I cannot use it with the Mitch filters...

 

[Lokust]

Quite relieved... after listening to my LCD-4 over the Xmas break, switched back to the Raal Sr1a via speaker taps to the pass labs amp. Was shocked at how shrill it sounded. Slight panic ensued... then after checking everything came to the realization I should have hooked everything up BEFORE opening up the Schnaps bottle... I had connected the amp to the 16 Ohm input. What a positive difference with the 32 Ohm input... much more relaxed and even.