Just curious why you state you were shocked how good the SR1a sounds with just a Vidar then say you don't have the budget for an amplifier for the SR1a? If you don't have the budget for the Vidar, my apologies for asking. But, if you do have the budget for the Vidar why would you say this?
Raal Ribbon Headphones - SRH1A
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Zhanming057
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I think that Seth is an employee at BKK and is using their amp?
Don't know the guy, but visited BKK a bunch of times way back when I did field work in Bangkok. Great people there and worth a visit, if you ever find youself in the city.
He may have, but he states he was shocked with the SR1a/Vidar, so he must have heard the combo which leaves me wondering what would be wrong with this combo for him then?
I'm also asking because I may just end up with the SR1a at some point in the future due to reading nothing but excellent user reviews/comments (but I'd like to demo them first) and I would consider using 2 Vidars in mono configuration and my GS-X as the pre amp, or one of the other favorable amps mentioned here. I went through a journey with Stax and I really don't feel like going through it again with the SR1a looking for the right amp pairing for my sound preference, and of course, I wouldn't stop until I found it!
Zhanming057
500+ Head-Fier
He may have, but he states he was shocked with the SR1a/Vidar, so he must have heard the combo which leaves me wondering what would be wrong with this combo for him then?
I'm also asking because I may just end up with the SR1a at some point in the future due to reading nothing but excellent user reviews/comments (but I'd like to demo them first) and I would consider using 2 Vidars in mono configuration and my GS-X as the pre amp, or one of the other favorable amps mentioned here. I went through a journey with Stax and I really don't feel like going through it again with the SR1a looking for the right amp pairing for my sound preference, and of course, I wouldn't stop until I found it!
I just re-read Seth's post and it's a collection of comments from BKK customers - Seth himself hasn't weighed in on how the system sounds yet.
The Vidar in a monoblock is probably fine. I know someone who's using a single Vidar with the SR1a's as a placeholder while he waited for a better amp. He's still pretty happy with the performance of the system, but did replace the vidar (very) recently with an Esoteric I03.
Seth Warshavsky
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@joseph69 Sorry for the confusion, I was just summarizing numerous comments that we got from different visitors throughout the day. Those were two different people.
Seth
We didn’t have a very technical bunch visit so the comments were not as technical as we had hoped, but it was clear that 9 out of 10 thought the SR1A was the best sounding headphone out of the bunch, as we expected going into this.
Seth
We didn’t have a very technical bunch visit so the comments were not as technical as we had hoped, but it was clear that 9 out of 10 thought the SR1A was the best sounding headphone out of the bunch, as we expected going into this.
Re-reading the post myself, you're right, looks like he's posted several individuals comments.
"as a place holder" This is what I don't want to go through again like I did with Stax even though I know getting into this it is inevitable (as expected) as well as part of the enjoyment (too a certain extent) of the journey. Maybe I'm just not ready to start the journey just yet, and I should enjoy what I have for the time being (which I absolutely am doing) but reading this thread definitely doesn't help me any, at all, because of course I want to hear the SR1a for my liking at its fullest potential.
No problem, @Zhanming057 brought it to my attention.@joseph69 Sorry for the confusion, I was just summarizing numerous comments that we got from different visitors throughout the day. Those were two different people.
Seth
Thank you.
Seth Warshavsky
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As for my own opinion I auditioned the HE-1 at ConnectIT in Singapore last weekend for CanJam and I truly think I prefer the SR1A. They are the best headphones I have ever heard and I own about 10 pairs of headphones of all varieties (all TOTL). That was my reason for conducting the shoot out, to hopefully educate the Thai market on the product and make them aware of the new technology, We have a few local audio publications and media companies reviewing it now and the opinion seems
pretty consistent. That’s my 2 cents. The Vidar and Hiby are decent for me, but I need a little more power to really feel that I’m getting the full potential. I’m waiting for Vidar mono blocks, using a bryston 3b3 now and auditioning a moon amp today.
Overall I was pleased with the results of the shoot out, I just wish we had a few more technical people come in!
Seth
pretty consistent. That’s my 2 cents. The Vidar and Hiby are decent for me, but I need a little more power to really feel that I’m getting the full potential. I’m waiting for Vidar mono blocks, using a bryston 3b3 now and auditioning a moon amp today.
Overall I was pleased with the results of the shoot out, I just wish we had a few more technical people come in!
Seth
Would really like for you to share your impressions using the Vidar mono blocks.
HoloSpice
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Are you also planning on selling any of your Gears?
HoloSpice
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That's it? Give us more of your impressions! We all want to read more! 
Zhanming057
500+ Head-Fier
Fullest potential is not going to be pair of Vidar's. TBH, I don't know where that point is for the SR1a's. I know that I like the way Spectral interacts with the SR1a's, and I know what Spectral pieces will actually fit inside my room. But I could dump another $30k into that stack and it will just keep getting better, and I know this from swapping out preamps and power amps all the way up to their flagship monoblocks driven off a 30SV. As Srajan at 6moons put it, you want to drive them as if they're $10k+ bookshelf speakers, not as a pair of $3.5k headphones. The real question is what part of the performance frontier do you want to maximize (speed? midrange? control? resolution?) and how much you're willing to spend toward achieving that. You might lose more money trying to sell two Vidar's compared to, say, selling a used amp or even a demo unit from a local 2 channel store. Some of the best power amp deals I've ever found were from local dealers looking to bring in new gear and liquidate older gen products.
There's nothing wrong with the SR1a on cheap equipment, at least to my ears. But if you really want to achieve a point where bass quality and midrange performance isn't being held back by the amp, I think starting at $2k - 3k, preferably used, isn't a bad idea.
No, not really, but that could possibly change if I hear the SR1a and like it enough that my other gear/headphones weren't being used as much as they should be.
I definitely shouldn't have said "fullest potential" in hindsight because I realized with power amps (and everything else) the sky is the limit. What I should said was to a potential that is most satisfying and enjoyable for me. Good advice on picking up a used amp. Even better is what @paulpaul is going to do which is bring his SR1a to some shops to demo amps.
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I would be interested to hear your impressions of using the Bryston 3B3 amplifier with the SR1A - this is a much more expensive amplifier than the Vidar and is configured as two mono amps with separate power supplies within a single chassis !! I am currently using a 2.5B3 Bryston with the SR1A and would like to see whether there are better options available.
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