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Raal Ribbon Headphones - SRH1A
Mar 28, 2019 at 5:00 PM Post #496 of 7,842
HoloSpice said:
Zhanming057

"Finally, while I have not tried the HE1's, I have recently shared my SR1a's with a few people who have. The consensus seems to be that, if you put them onto a world-class speaker amp, the SR1a's are, at the very least, extremely competitive with the HE1 if not outright besting it on technical grounds. It would not be surprising that you can only push the electrostat design so far in terms of bass extension and bass control - and I did find the Shangri-La's bass not particularly competitive with top planars. The main difference between the SR1a's and something like the Abyss Phi is that the former scales up better with summit-fi 2-channel gear and is capable of fighting summit-fi electrostats on treble speed and treble extension. If I ever get a chance to demo the HE1's, I'll write up a comparison between it and the SR1a's on the DMA400/DMC 30SV, which is the strongest system, if judging on technical merits, that I have ever tried the SR1a's on."
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Fair enough - that's not my personal opinion though :)

But yes, the Shangri La is in a weird spot. I think that Fang went for the 300b layout because 300b's are seen as a (or the) premium power tube, and he personally likes that flavor. But the 300b signature comes through quite strongly, in a WA5 with vintage WE tubes kind of way. I'm not sure what to think about it. It's an "opinionated" piece with an over-the-top, but still quite pleasing signature, whereas the SR1a is super transparent. And if you want to experience the 300b "house" sound on the SR1a and don't have $50k or more burning in your pocket, you're out of luck.

I'm a bit surprised that nobody else has tried to go all-in on a 300b electrostat amp. That said, I don't want to diminish a genuinely good take on what a world-class electrostat system should be.
 
Mar 28, 2019 at 5:10 PM Post #497 of 7,842
@Zhanming057

You do know that you can just buy the Shangri-la SR headphone alone and pair it up with a T2/BHSE/Carbon right. Stop focusing on any Hifiman amps! Carbon must be nice with that headphone. Sadly no one will ever know.

It is a bloody shame that Sennisher don't do that with the HE-1. It be nice if they gave an option to just buy that HE-1 headphone alone!
 
Mar 28, 2019 at 5:36 PM Post #498 of 7,842
protoss said:
@Zhanming057

You do know that you can just buy the Shangri-la SR headphone alone and pair it up with a T2/BHSE/Carbon right. Stop focusing on any Hifiman amps! Carbon must be nice with that headphone. Sadly no one will ever know.

It is a bloody shame that Sennisher don't do that with the HE-1. It be nice if they gave an option to just buy that HE-1 headphone alone!
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As far as I can recall, the HE1's amp component is already integrated into the headphones. It is nearly impossible to drive them with other non-customized electrostatic amps.
 
Mar 28, 2019 at 5:38 PM Post #499 of 7,842
TomNC said:
As far as I can recall, the HE1's amp component is already integrated into the headphones. It is nearly impossible to drive them with other non-customized electrostatic amps.
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Yea I know. but senny could somehow work that out and get a stax adapter on it.
 
Mar 28, 2019 at 11:09 PM Post #503 of 7,842
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and dac?
 
Mar 28, 2019 at 11:15 PM Post #504 of 7,842
We'll be using Schiit Audio YGGDRASIL for the Bryston. For the Vidar, we'll just be feeding it directly with a good portable player - the idea is to show how easy (and inexpensive) it is to get great sound on the SR1a. You really don't need to break the bank to step up to amazing sound from the SR1a
 
Mar 28, 2019 at 11:26 PM Post #506 of 7,842
bluesaint said:
Do you use a single vidar or use 2? One for each channel.
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We're just going to use a single Vidar for the show, primarily to illustrate how easy it is to get into the SR1a eco-system equipment-wise. We've tried with 2 Vidars as monoblocks, it gets even better! The point is that while the SR1a scales really well with better (and more expensive) gear, at the same time it also sounds really good on inexpensive but highly competent gear like Vidar. Enjoyment of the SR1a doesn't necessarily need summit-fi amps, etc - you can start light, and go heavy later on, as and when your needs and requirements change
 
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Mar 29, 2019 at 11:01 AM Post #507 of 7,842
protoss said:
@Zhanming057

You do know that you can just buy the Shangri-la SR headphone alone and pair it up with a T2/BHSE/Carbon right. Stop focusing on any Hifiman amps! Carbon must be nice with that headphone. Sadly no one will ever know.

It is a bloody shame that Sennisher don't do that with the HE-1. It be nice if they gave an option to just buy that HE-1 headphone alone!
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The HE1's amp is in the headphone, so it wouldn’t be any good to plug it in to another amp. They placed the pre amp stage (tubes) in the box together with the DAC and volume control and the output stage (Class A) in the headphone because they think it sounded better. It also why the headphone gets a bit warm.
 
Mar 29, 2019 at 11:11 AM Post #508 of 7,842
Articnoise said:
The HE1's amp is in the headphone, so it wouldn’t be any good to plug it in to another amp. They placed the pre amp stage (tubes) in the box together with the DAC and volume control and the output stage (Class A) in the headphone because they think it sounded better. It also why the headphone gets a bit warm.
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Now I absolutely need to hear the HE-1 !!
 
Mar 29, 2019 at 11:37 AM Post #509 of 7,842
protoss said:
Now I absolutely need to hear the HE-1 !!
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I got to listen to the HE1 for 15 minutes in February 2016. It was a private session that Sennheiser held on a hotel in Stockholm. I thought the sound was good but not spectacular. It was of course too short listening to really evaluate it. It would be lovely to do a longer listening and preferably also with another DAC/source. Though right now am more interested in getting the opportunity to listen to the SRH1A :yum:.
 
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