[Jon L]

Phone end is 3.5mmTRRS - tip and ring1 is positive, ring2 and sleeve(3) are negative.
Amp end is XLR 4pin female - pin 1 = R positive / pin 2 = R negative / pin 3 = L positive / pin 4 = L negative

This actually turned out to be incorrect.
Facing Amp's XLR 4 pin female jack, pin 1=L positive, pin 2=L negative, pin 3=R negative, pin 4=R positive!

 

[Jon L]

Now that I have the 4-pin female XLR adapter, what would happen if I hooked up my other headphones to Jot R? (Baffle Step turned off of course)

 

[astrostar59]

Please don’t. I just settled down with my Abyss. Head-fi is a mistake. I need to quarantine myself from it!

Worry not my friend, IMO the Abyss still beats the RAAL. I am now ducking, hard hat fitted.....

 

[BrowChan]

Worry not my friend, IMO the Abyss still beats the RAAL. I am now ducking, hard hat fitted.....

Haha, I still need to get a good AMP for my TC. Price goes up. RAAL with JR (about the same price as TC) gave better resolution than my TC with the AMP I have but I need to compare them for a while to trusty know as I only auditioned the SR1a for a bit.

 

[565hunter]

This actually turned out to be incorrect.
Facing Amp's XLR 4 pin female jack, pin 1=L positive, pin 2=L negative, pin 3=R negative, pin 4=R positive!

Jon, my pin out is of the cable supplied by RAAL. On the XLR (F) side it is using the numbers stamped into the plug. My post was/is correct for this cable. I verified that the Right/Left channels are correct in the sound field. Are we measuring the same thing?

 

[Jon L]

Jon, my pin out is of the cable supplied by RAAL. On the XLR (F) side it is using the numbers stamped into the plug. My post was/is correct for this cable. I verified that the Right/Left channels are correct in the sound field. Are we measuring the same thing?

OK, I was looking at the 4-pin male jack on amp's face and got backward. I placed the correct diagram above.
I went back and triple checked the Raal stock cable pinout (4 pin female), and is it possible something changed in Raal between your Raal and mine? Because my Raal stock cable's 4-pin female pinout is still different from yours. Mine is pin3=L negative, pin4=L positive, which is reversed on yours. (Right pins are same).

 

[terirapt]

I just got the SR1a and the Jotunheim R.

Am using the SP2000 as the source; lineout at 2v. With the Jotunheim R volume knob at about 12 o’clock and above (which to me is not particular loud actually), I tend to get crackling distortion noise on SR1a on quite a number of tracks, I listen mostly to classical and jazz. The crackling does go away when I reduce the volume but sound is too soft. The SR1a is at 45 degree out.

Also the volume does not change much on the SR1a with the Jotunheim R knob between 12-5 o’clock.

Any advise what may be the issue and how can I resolve the crackling?

Sorry for asking; I have searched for distortion/crackle in this forum; found a number of posts but still not clear what the solutions may be. Thank you for the advises.

 

[565hunter]

OK, I was looking at the 4-pin male jack on amp's face and got backward. I placed the correct diagram above.
I went back and triple checked the Raal stock cable pinout (4 pin female), and is it possible something changed in Raal between your Raal and mine? Because my Raal stock cable's 4-pin female pinout is still different from yours. Mine is pin3=L negative, pin4=L positive, which is reversed on yours. (Right pins are same).

Jon, I just got off the phone with Danny at RAAL-requisite to determine which of our cables is correct. Yours is correct. I was sent a defective cable. He is sending out a replacement this afternoon. Listening for phase had not been on my list of tests for these but as I do it now, I clearly hear that they are not in phase. He also mentioned that they have made a change in the stock cable because it had been reported that there was channel imbalance in some of the cables that have been sent out due to manufacturing differences in the individual wires used in their original cables. The original cable had multi colored individual wires from different spools. According to Danny, irregularities in the individual wires accounted for up to 1.5 dB difference between the channels. They are now using wire from the same spool, one contiguous length of wire for each cable to negate possible irregularities. He will send a replacement cable to anyone who requests it. Send an email to danny@raalrequisite.com for more information. I'm really looking forward to hearing these properly for the first time... -Tom

 

[Jon L]

The SR1a is at 45 degree out.

Are you EQ'ing the sound somewhere else? EQ'ing the bass up will use up a lot more of Jot R's power. In addition, if you are using digital EQ, don't forget to normalize the entire EQ curve down to prevent digital clipping, which can give you crackling noise.

If not EQ'ing, fanning out the SR1a 45 degrees may be requiring too much power, especially if the music tracks are recorded quieter, e.g. classical (actually a good thing for extended dynamic range).
I actually do not enjoy SR1a's sonic signature with them fanned out that much and usually keep them less than about 15 degrees out, same thing I did with AKG K1000's.

 

[dieslemat]

I just got the SR1a and the Jotunheim R.

Am using the SP2000 as the source; lineout at 2v. With the Jotunheim R volume knob at about 12 o’clock and above (which to me is not particular loud actually), I tend to get crackling distortion noise on SR1a on quite a number of tracks, I listen mostly to classical and jazz. The crackling does go away when I reduce the volume but sound is too soft. The SR1a is at 45 degree out.

Also the volume does not change much on the SR1a with the Jotunheim R knob between 12-5 o’clock.

Any advise what may be the issue and how can I resolve the crackling?

Sorry for asking; I have searched for distortion/crackle in this forum; found a number of posts but still not clear what the solutions may be. Thank you for the advises.

Can you name some of those tracks? I suspect something also but maybe only coming from the Jotunheim R (production).

 

[Ciggavelli]

I just got the SR1a and the Jotunheim R.

Am using the SP2000 as the source; lineout at 2v. With the Jotunheim R volume knob at about 12 o’clock and above (which to me is not particular loud actually), I tend to get crackling distortion noise on SR1a on quite a number of tracks, I listen mostly to classical and jazz. The crackling does go away when I reduce the volume but sound is too soft. The SR1a is at 45 degree out.

Also the volume does not change much on the SR1a with the Jotunheim R knob between 12-5 o’clock.

Any advise what may be the issue and how can I resolve the crackling?

Sorry for asking; I have searched for distortion/crackle in this forum; found a number of posts but still not clear what the solutions may be. Thank you for the advises.

I had the same problem. Turns out my preamp was causing it, by having the volume on it too high. Maybe your DAP’s volume needs to be turned down, then you can turn up the JoTR higher without crackling

 

[terirapt]

Can you name some of those tracks? I suspect something also but maybe only coming from the Jotunheim R (production).

Just a few examples but I get crackling for many more other tracks :

- Beethoven Piano Concerto No 5, Boston Symphonly Orchestra, Seiji Ozawa, Telarc : very bad starting from the 1st note.
- Holst Planets, Sir Adrian Boult, London Phiharmonic Orchestra, EMI : occasionally
- Karajan Gold, (Deutsch Gramophone) track 3 Violin Concerto in D major Op 61 Rondo, Deutsch Gramophon : bad when the orchestra plays
- Live at the village vanguard, Track Sand Dune, Christian McBride Trio : seems to crackle with the piano.

Thank you.

 

[terirapt]

I had the same problem. Turns out my preamp was causing it, by having the volume on it too high. Maybe your DAP’s volume needs to be turned down, then you can turn up the JoTR higher without crackling

Thank you for the advise. Yes, I do observe that the crackling stops when I turn down the volume of the DAP. However, the volume sounds quite low; probably my hearing is bad . I then had to turn up the volume knob of the Jotunheim R but I realise the volume does not actually increase anymore after 12 o’clock even if I turn up all the way to the max at 5 o’clock. So 12 o’clock then crackling still but a lot more infrequent compared with my DAP volume turned up.

 

[Ciggavelli]

Thank you for the advise. Yes, I do observe that the crackling stops when I turn down the volume of the DAP. However, the volume sounds quite low; probably my hearing is bad . I then had to turn up the volume knob of the Jotunheim R but I realise the volume does not actually increase anymore after 12 o’clock even if I turn up all the way to the max at 5 o’clock. So 12 o’clock then crackling still but a lot more infrequent compared with my DAP volume turned up.

That is very odd. I can go further than 12o’clock and the volume increases. I have never gone above like 2 o’clock though previously, and it is very loud.

I keep my preamp at like 9 or 10 o’clock, any higher and I get bass clipping.

I think you may have a defective unit. I just increased my volume on the JotR Gradually past 12 o’clock, and it got louder and louder. At 3o’clock it was unbearably loud.

 

[Thenewguy007]

I just got the SR1a and the Jotunheim R.

Am using the SP2000 as the source; lineout at 2v. With the Jotunheim R volume knob at about 12 o’clock and above (which to me is not particular loud actually), I tend to get crackling distortion noise on SR1a on quite a number of tracks, I listen mostly to classical and jazz. The crackling does go away when I reduce the volume but sound is too soft. The SR1a is at 45 degree out.

Also the volume does not change much on the SR1a with the Jotunheim R knob between 12-5 o’clock.

Any advise what may be the issue and how can I resolve the crackling?

Sorry for asking; I have searched for distortion/crackle in this forum; found a number of posts but still not clear what the solutions may be. Thank you for the advises.

Can you try connecting it to something else other than the DAP to see if that might be causing the anomaly? Can you hook the Jot directly to your PC?