[paulpaul]

Would like to know how Absolare integrated amp compares to the new Vinnie Rossi L2 Pre & power amp. L2 has very good reviews recently, but I haven't had a chance to have an audition in my region.

Today I got a chance to try the (excellent and not pictured) MSB Reference DAC at Sound by Singer in NYC. I'm now seriously tempted to buy the MSB, assuming that I can liquidate some gear and work out a deal on it.

What really surprised me, though, was the Absolare Integrated, a hybrid design rated at 150wpc at 8 ohms. Andy had some issues with his CH power amp so he asked me to put the SR1a on the Absolare. This is a fantastic amp - it's not the first hybrid design that I've listened to with the SR1a's, but it's definitely the best execution in terms of combining the great things about tube and solid state. In particular, you get almost all of the speed and control of a high end solid state amp, and yet the treble tonality and vocal presentation is entirely tube-like. Compared to warm solid state designs (Pass), this amp pulls off the "euphoria" characteristic of strong tube setups much more convincingly. Outside of the fantastically expensive Thrax Spartcus, I would say this amp has the best femal vocals of any SR1a system that I've ever listened to.

That and it's a beautiful amp. The leather is supple and the color is blindingly rich in person, in a good way. If price were no object I would definitely want one - but I'm not a huge fan of tubes (other than the 300b) personally, and I want to prioritize upgrading my DAC if possible. If any of you happen to be in NYC (@llamaluv ), I would recommend checking out Andy's showroom. He's a New Yorker and can come across as a bit blunt, but if you know what you're doing and am serious about buying gear, he's a great person to talk to. We had a nice conversation about DAC topology and the MSB vs. DCS debate.

 

[Vicks7]

The stock bananas are actually pretty good. I use Stealth silver ribbons which I really like, but the pair I have is also 3 ft and a bit short after I rearranged my stack. Just sold them and am looking into build a pair with bananas and some wire I got from Danny. Not sure if I'll like it but I can always use it for something else. If you buy loose speaker wire, something like the Cardas bananas are really easy to use for DIY. You don't even need solder, just route the strands and clamp it down onto the plug.

@Vicks7 You may want to use bananas instead of spades because then you would be able to run a XLR adapter off the taps of the adapter box. Then if you unplug the SR1a's, you can listen to your normal headphones by running a short adapter off the box itself.

Thanks. Do you have a photo of this set up so can better understand the connections?

 

[P.Car]

Use bananas and spades. SR1a can be spades or bananas as long as your adapter for Susvara is the opposite.

This way you can hook up two cans to the rear of the SR1a adapter box and they can both be active at the same time.

This is done all the time when hooking up high end subwoofers to stereo amplifiers.

I believe this is what Zhanming057 is trying to say...

 

[llamaluv]

I'm interested in replacing the stock interconnect cables that go between the speaker amp and adapter box, the main reason being that the stock cables are just a little too short for me.

The stock bananas are actually pretty good. I use Stealth silver ribbons which I really like, but the pair I have is also 3 ft and a bit short after I rearranged my stack. Just sold them and am looking into build a pair with bananas and some wire I got from Danny. Not sure if I'll like it but I can always use it for something else. If you buy loose speaker wire, something like the Cardas bananas are really easy to use for DIY. You don't even need solder, just route the strands and clamp it down onto the plug.

Thanks Zhanming, that's useful. Now I want to pose a related question, which opens up a bigger can of worms that this thread has been (mercifully?) (miraculously?!) free of so far, but let me do so anyway.

Has anyone make any inquiries from any cable makers yet on making an SR1a cable?

I asked Kevin at YourFinalSystem (thanks v much @P.Car for the tip) and they make a custom copper litz cable for the SR1a. And can make speaker cables using the same material to go with it, which makes it an even more attractive proposition, I think.

But now I'm thinking about something silver-based because I think it could go well with the amp I've just started to use recently, which is the PL X150.8 (more on that later ). Just wanting to explore options, really...

 

[Zhanming057]

Thanks Zhanming, that's useful. Now I want to pose a related question, which opens up a bigger can of worms that this thread has been (mercifully?) (miraculously?!) free of so far, but let me do so anyway.

Has anyone make any inquiries from any cable makers yet on making an SR1a cable?

I asked Kevin at YourFinalSystem (thanks v much @P.Car for the tip) and they make a custom copper litz cable for the SR1a. And can make speaker cables using the same material to go with it, which makes it an even more attractive proposition, I think.

But now I'm thinking about something silver-based because I think it could go well with the amp I've just started to use recently, which is the PL X150.8 (more on that later ). Just wanting to explore options, really...

Yeah, this is something I deliberately tried to stay away from talking about...it's not something which I have any intuition over, but what I will say is that in my experience some wires sound better than others, it's not a strictly price-related thing and certainly only a marginal improvement at best. In particular the first few times I demo'd the Tia Fourte I was not very happy with it, but after I switched to a 2 pin cable made from DHC copper, something seemed to have clicked and I felt that they finally "worked" for me.

There shouldn't be any issues with making a cable for the SR1a's - but the total resistivity should not exceed 0.2 ohms. One thing that I wonder is how the SQ will respond to a very low resistivity cable (e.g. <0.1 ohms). @RAAL requisite Alex Have you experimented with this before? Would there be any issues with the box driving a 0.1 ohm or lower load instead of 0.2 ohms? I'm also under the impression that the stock wire is silver, but I could be mistaken.

 

[llamaluv]

I getcha. Yea, I gotta confess, it's not like the SR1a is lacking for detail, nor do I feel the need to modify its tonal characteristics either exactly, it's just curiosity on my part. And the ingrained habit of being unable to leave well enough alone.

 

[ctemkin]

My SR1a arrived on Thursday, and I have finally have had some time to listen to it and to compare it with my main headphone, the SR009 amped by a BHSE. It was easy to add the SR1a to my set-up because I already had an integrated amp, the Plinius Hautonga, to power a pair of Dynaudio speakers. The amp puts out 200 wpc at 8 ohms, 280 wpc at 4 ohms; it seemed entirely adequate to the task.

First, some background items. Having tried various categories of headphones, I have extremely pleased with the SR009, and I have not been looking to replace it. In fact, I have not felt the need to go to meets to experience other first-class headphones that have come on the market more recently. So I can't compare the SR1a to the other usual suspects. Part of what intrigued me about the SR1a was that it does not enclose the ears. This is a big plus for me because the room where I listen, my home office, has the worst AC in my house, and it can be too warm for me to comfortably put on regular headphones.

I listen mostly to classical music, blues, classic rock, and some jazz.

My technique in comparing the SR009 and the SR1a was admittedly pretty sloppy. I couldn't think of an accurate but easy way to set them to the same volume, especially since the volume of the SR1a seems to be affected by how you angle the speakers, and so I just adjusted the volume by ear.

My impressions so far, based on listening mostly to classical music and jazz, are (i) that the SR1a has a larger soundstage, or at least the sound does seem external to your ears and (ii) the SR1a consistently was somewhat more detailed. On organ music I could hear more of the ambience of the building where the music was recorded, more reverberations, more note decay, or whatever this is exactly. I noticed this same effect on piano music, especially in the lower register, and in orchestral music that had drums and other instruments in the lower register (for example, The New World Symphony). The effect was not limited to the lower register, however. I also noticed it during tenor saxes solos. As a result of this, the music was more realistic, had more presence.

That said, the differences between the headphones were not huge. The soundstage/presence factors were barely noticeable on many pieces. Also, I found the overall sound signatures to be more or less identical; it did not seem to me that either was warmer than the other, for example. It is entirely possible that the differences are within the range that would be influenced by the kind of tubes in the BHSE, or the natures of the particular speaker amps you used with the SR1a, or maybe just the volumes at which the headphones were played. Nevertheless, I found this a stunning performance by the SR1a. I look forward to plenty more listening with each of the setups.

 

[PeteSTRADAMUS]

@joseph69 So, what did you think?

 

[P.Car]

As far as cables go:

In my system, I cannot use silver as it will be too bright. For example, I think of Bryston and I think copper right away. They sound good together. It's the opposite with a really warm tube amp. I would go with silver if my system needed more clarity / resolution in a warm tube amp scenario.

The Litz copper mates really well with the SR1a ribbon driver. They sound good together. The 'sharpness' that some recordings can have end up turning into listening fatigue for me.

I want to be able to fall asleep while listening. That's when I know my system is dialed in. The new copper Litz cable allowed me to achieve this and add length as 7 ft is too short for me. I ended up with a 12 ft cable, which allows me to listen from my couch.

The stock cable is made of silver plated copper. I thought I would stick with it until I heard the copper. I guess my curiosity got the best of me, just as llamaluv mentioned. I think I added the finishing touches on a great headphone, which is what aftermarket cables are for.

The stock cable is more than adequate though for most applications and systems. It just depends on your rig. In my office set up, which I use for burning in cables and other gear, the stock cable sounds fine. In my big rig in the listening room, the stock cable is too bright as my reference gear is too revealing.

I use copper in the rest of my reference system as well. I am sensitive to listening fatigue so that's why I'm a copper guy.

It's definitely system-dependent and your mileage will vary.

 

[llamaluv]

Thanks, that's really useful feedback.

 

[PeteSTRADAMUS]

As far as cables go:

In my system, I cannot use silver as it will be too bright. For example, I think of Bryston and I think copper right away. They sound good together. It's the opposite with a really warm tube amp. I would go with silver if my system needed more clarity / resolution in a warm tube amp scenario.

The Litz copper mates really well with the SR1a ribbon driver. They sound good together. The 'sharpness' that some recordings can have end up turning into listening fatigue for me.

I want to be able to fall asleep while listening. That's when I know my system is dialed in. The new copper Litz cable allowed me to achieve this and add length as 7 ft is too short for me. I ended up with a 12 ft cable, which allows me to listen from my couch.

The stock cable is made of silver plated copper. I thought I would stick with it until I heard the copper. I guess my curiosity got the best of me, just as llamaluv mentioned. I think I added the finishing touches on a great headphone, which is what aftermarket cables are for.

The stock cable is more than adequate though for most applications and systems. It just depends on your rig. In my office set up, which I use for burning in cables and other gear, the stock cable sounds fine. In my big rig in the listening room, the stock cable is too bright as my reference gear is too revealing.

I use copper in the rest of my reference system as well. I am sensitive to listening fatigue so that's why I'm a copper guy.

It's definitely system-dependent and your mileage will vary.

That's when I know I love a sound in a system. Lay down, drift away into my sleep. Smoothness!

 

[HoloSpice]

My SR1A is sitting at my local UPS facility.

Will be out for delivery tomorrow! WHOOPIE!

 

[PeteSTRADAMUS]

My SR1A is sitting at my local UPS facility.

Will be out for delivery tomorrow! WHOOPIE!

You didn't even own it yet? Thought you did?

 

[HoloSpice]

You didn't even own it yet? Thought you did?

What bout you? i thought you were coming over to llamaluv place to watch anime together and demo the Raals? It's twice that i didn't see you mang

 

[llamaluv]

Pass Labs X150.8 impressions

I've been listening to the X150.8 a lot since I got it back from the shop earlier this week and feel ready to share some thoughts. The local Pass Labs tech gave it a clean bill of health, said there was nothing wrong with it, but acknowledged he could agree with some of my misgivings about it based on his own listening tests. He increased the gain using jumpers on the PCB and it turned out to have a really big impact, actually. Which doesn't fully make sense to me I have to admit, but I'm also not complaining at this point, as it sounds fully "on song" to me now. I also discovered that the original owner used it only minimally ("200 hours at most" over an extended period of time), so I also wonder if it just needed to burn-in more. It's still kind of an enigma to me so far, and there's a lesson in there somewhere, though I'm still trying to piece together what that is, lol. That's a long-winded pre-amble but seems necessary in context, since @WilliamWykeham and I both commented here earlier about our disappointment with this unit when directly compared to my Bryston 2.5B SST2 and his Luxman L505-u previously.

Here's a bullet-point format comparson to the Bryston 2.5B SST2, which it will most likely be replacing in my system.

PL X150.8

• More solidity, density, fullness.
• Thick, rich layering.
• Deeper soundstage. Greater dimensionality. Pretty enthralling, TBH.
• Sounds bigger, more expansive (expensive). More drama.
• More forward in the 500-~1500hz range (upper vocal range, violins, trumpets, etc.).
• More forward in general.
• More rolled off in the treble.
• A bit more mid-bass.
• Better at vocals.
• Better at bass guitar, acoustic bass.
• Better at minimalistic acoustic music with a lot of black background, where you can appreciate isolated, individual textures.
• Better at crowded and compressed material due to weighter low-end among other things.

Bryston 2.5B SST2

• More relaxed and lively (think HE1000v2 vs Susvara)
• More space between instruments.
• Easier to track separate layers.
• Good at microdetails; plankton over smoothness.
• More air.
• Wider but shallower soundstage.
  
• Slightly more bass extension.
• Quite a lot lighter in tonal weight.
• Oftentimes better at PRaT to me, actually, even if less engaging overall (sounds like a contradiction, I know).
• Better at snare drums and sharp, transient moments.

These impressions also carry over to the Susvara as well.

So it's an interesting contrast between different "styles" of presentation. On its own terms, I like the Bryston a lot, and I've always thought of myself as being more in the "analytical" camp, but the Pass Labs amp has easily won me over. @joseph69 and @ESL-1 quickly preferred it to the Bryston when they heard the SR1a on the two amps earlier this afternoon as well.

Be forewarned, however, that the X150.8 is wildly impractical as an amp to be used just for headphone listening (which I have to admit was also part of its appeal for me, perversely ). It's 88 lbs, consumes 375 watts while idle, and has stupendous heat-generating powers. And the Pass Labs tech insisted it sounds its best when left on all the time (!!). So yeah...

Also, bear in mind that the current Bryston "Cubed" series is supposed to sound meaningfully different from the Bryston SST2 series which it replaces, the former being reportedly less "analytical" and more "musical", or so I've read.