[joseph69]

@WilliamWykeham

Can you verifier that these dimensions & weight of the ABH2 are correct?

W - 11"
H - 3.9"
D - 9.3"
Weight - 12.5lbs

Thank you.

 

[Tugbars]

Can i drive RAALs with YAMAHA PC 2002M amp?

 

[Thenewguy007]

Can i drive RAALs with YAMAHA PC 2002M amp?

Power output: 240 watts per channel into 8Ω (stereo), 700W into 8Ω (mono)

Definitely!

 

[WilliamWykeham]

Just received my Triton Audio Neotech silver headphone cable, same as @llamaluv's but 4-wire instead of 8. My initial favorable impression has been reconfirmed: this is a significant upgrade in performance. Even better detail and transparency; wider soundstage. The overall difference is not a contrast you have to strain to perceive.

Unrelatedly, my optimal setup is dac direct to amp. Placing my ifi ican pro in the chain introduced a significant degradation in sound compared to going direct. The only drawback to my direct setup is that I get a popping sound between songs. Doesn't happen all the time, but often, and I've only noticed it direct to amp, without a preamp. Don't want to put a preamp in the chain if I can avoid it, also tried inline passive attenuators and think they robbed music of dynamics. Anyone have a diagnosis or recommendation?

Also - eagerly awaiting bridged mono impressions with the AHB2, if anyone has tried.

 

[llamaluv]

I get a popping sound between songs. Doesn't happen all the time, but often, and I've only noticed it direct to amp

Off the top of my head, here are some ideas for narrowing down the problem:

- Check if it only happens when switching between tracks with different sample rates
- See if happens only when streaming or only when playing local files
- Maybe run a trial version of some other player software and see if it happens with that as well (eg, Audnirvana).
- See if changing any DAC settings make any difference (eg, NOS vs OS, or even using different inputs).
- Possibly see if a different DAC exhibits the same issue...

 

[BreadMaster]

About damn time the sr1a gets featured in one of Jude Manshilla's head-fi video

 

[bluesaint]

Just received my Triton Audio Neotech silver headphone cable, same as @llamaluv's but 4-wire instead of 8. My initial favorable impression has been reconfirmed: this is a significant upgrade in performance. Even better detail and transparency; wider soundstage. The overall difference is not a contrast you have to strain to perceive.

Unrelatedly, my optimal setup is dac direct to amp. Placing my ifi ican pro in the chain introduced a significant degradation in sound compared to going direct. The only drawback to my direct setup is that I get a popping sound between songs. Doesn't happen all the time, but often, and I've only noticed it direct to amp, without a preamp. Don't want to put a preamp in the chain if I can avoid it, also tried inline passive attenuators and think they robbed music of dynamics. Anyone have a diagnosis or recommendation?

Also - eagerly awaiting bridged mono impressions with the AHB2, if anyone has tried.

Placed my order with d.choy as well!

 

[Torq]

I have some catching up to do in terms of posting my thoughts on the progression of amps I'm working through (things like the McIntosh MA252 simply running out of grunt, or the stereo-to-dual-mono Vidar progression). In the mean time, I am looking forward to trying the SR1a with dual-mono Aegir's, stereo and dual-mono AH2B. But ... even more than that, the more I listen, the more I think I want my pre-amp out of the chain and am thinking in terms of running my DAVE into a pair of Chord Étude ...

If anyone has tried the Étude (single or dual-mono) with the SR1a, I'd love to know what you thought ...

 

[WilliamWykeham]

the more I listen, the more I think I want my pre-amp out of the chain

This. 100%. When I placed my ifi ican pro in the chain, I found it challenging if not impossible to notice differences between my two dacs while doing instant back-and-forth A/Bing. With the preamp removed, the Pavane and Terminator sounded quite different. I'd love to do some blind testing to confirm this a real and not imagined effect, but pretty sure it's not imagined. Subsequent to my going direct for a while, I read a Poor Audiophile interview with John Siau where he says any preamp will reduce SNR substantially. I'm still a little confused because the ifi ican pro has pretty good THD figures.

Separately, think I've figured out the popping issues, which are attributable to the Terminator's processing of different sample rates as @llamaluv suggested might be one explanation - Denafrips is releasing new DSP which solves this issue.

 

[Bertel]

I read a Poor Audiophile interview with John Siau where he says any preamp will reduce SNR substantially.

Probably quite true in general terms. The new Benchmark LA4 in contrast seems to have been developed with exactly this in mind, to not degrade the performance of the AHB2, at least according to the information on the respective website. I‘m currently leaning towards giving this combination a try with the SR1a, as I can‘t go direct with my Meitner DAC.

 

[Zhanming057]

This. 100%. When I placed my ifi ican pro in the chain, I found it challenging if not impossible to notice differences between my two dacs while doing instant back-and-forth A/Bing. With the preamp removed, the Pavane and Terminator sounded quite different. I'd love to do some blind testing to confirm this a real and not imagined effect, but pretty sure it's not imagined. Subsequent to my going direct for a while, I read a Poor Audiophile interview with John Siau where he says any preamp will reduce SNR substantially. I'm still a little confused because the ifi ican pro has pretty good THD figures.

Separately, think I've figured out the popping issues, which are attributable to the Terminator's processing of different sample rates as @llamaluv suggested might be one explanation - Denafrips is releasing new DSP which solves this issue.

If it were about nothing but SNR, we'd all be using AHB2's or driving headphones straight out of resistivity moderated DAC outputs.

Preamps are often part of the tuning equation and lots of brands make a point of putting their signature into the preamp and strive for neutrality in the power amp side. Airtight, Goldmund and Spectral all stress this to various extents. While a passive pre is sometimes the best choice given a particular budget constraints, I do feel like the best way to critically evaluate equipment is listening to it as the designers intended - which is with a "stock" preamp when it comes to power amps.

I had a chance of trying out the DMC30sv (a $20k preamp) driving an DMA150s2 (a $3k power amp) versus the DMC30 (a $4kish preamp) driving the dma240 (a $15k amp) . While the former had a higher noise floor, I didn't find it objectionable with either the Abyss Phi or the Mysphere 3.2. The setup with the better preamp was more cohesive, and works far better at convincing people why Spectral is special.

 

[biscottino]

for me the ideal solution is dac with volume control and amp, short signal all in full balanced, the modern dac have great outputs comparable to the best preamps, especially if you prefer absences of colors.

 

[biscottino]

could anyone say that these headphones and his box need a burn-in?

 

[Zhanming057]

For the Europeans here - a cool opportunity to hear the SR1a's as well as the Susvara and Abyss TC on a top-flight speaker amp

The Airtight is underpowered for the SR1a, and I think (but don't quote me on this) Stefan will be using his Linn power amp for the SR1a's - should be a great combo.

 

[Tekunda]

For the Europeans here - a cool opportunity to hear the SR1a's as well as the Susvara and Abyss TC on a top-flight speaker amp

The Airtight is underpowered for the SR1a, and I think (but don't quote me on this) Stefan will be using his Linn power amp for the SR1a's - should be a great combo.

It doesn't say anything about the Abyss TC on their website.
Would you mind double checking with Stefan if the Abyss TC is indeed on display as well?