[TSAVAlan]

Tutorial on How to Use Your Standard Headphone Cables with Raal SR1a

The example will be Norne Silvergarde S3 pure silver OCC litz with 3.5 mm TRS connector.
Hifiman chose to pinout tip as positive and ring+sleeve as ground.
Raal chose 3.5 mm TRRS with tip/ring1 positive, ring2/sleeve as ground. This means I needed to desolder the wire from ring on Hifiman TRS connector; otherwise, it (ground) would short Raal's ring1 (positive). Relatively simple to do as seen below.

0408201341 by drjlo2, on Flickr

Then I needed to make 4-pin female XLR to 4-pin female XLR adapter, since nobody sells such a thing.
I made one using OCC copper wire with enamel coating, making sure to observe the diagram in post above.

0408201502 by drjlo2, on Flickr

Hifiman cable's 3.5 mm TRS clicks right into Raal's 3.5 mm TRRS jack perfectly, and the end result is Glorious!!

0408201507 by drjlo2, on Flickr

There are a few places that sell the female XLR to female XLR, I got this one last year:
https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/PWP047CC--daddario-planet-waves-pw-p047cc-xlr-female-coupler

Works pretty well for those who aren't too handy with making their own cables.

 

[Thenewguy007]

There are a few places that sell the female XLR to female XLR, I got this one last year:
https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/PWP047CC--daddario-planet-waves-pw-p047cc-xlr-female-coupler

Works pretty well for those who aren't too handy with making their own cables.

So you can hook any regular 4-pin cable to the SR1a & then use that adapter to plug it in the adapter or the Jot R?

But the picture shows it has 6 pin holes.

 

[rkw]

There are a few places that sell the female XLR to female XLR, I got this one last year:
https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/PWP047CC--daddario-planet-waves-pw-p047cc-xlr-female-coupler

So you can hook any regular 4-pin cable to the SR1a & then use that adapter to plug it in the adapter or the Jot R?

But the picture shows it has 6 pin holes.

That one is a 3-pin XLR (balanced mono) female to female adapter. The 3 small holes are for screw fasteners in the connector housing (you can see it in the zoomed view).
Maybe something like this for 4-pin: https://nemal.com/products/nemal-xlr-4-pin-female-female-adapter

 

[TSAVAlan]

So you can hook any regular 4-pin cable to the SR1a & then use that adapter to plug it in the adapter or the Jot R?

But the picture shows it has 6 pin holes.

That one is a 3-pin XLR (balanced mono) female to female adapter. The 3 small holes are for screw fasteners in the connector housing (you can see it in the zoomed view).
Maybe something like this for 4-pin: https://nemal.com/products/nemal-xlr-4-pin-female-female-adapter

Ahh I derped, linked to the wrong one. Yeah should have found the 4-pin XLR to 4-pin XLR

 

[Jon L]

That one is a 3-pin XLR (balanced mono) female to female adapter. The 3 small holes are for screw fasteners in the connector housing (you can see it in the zoomed view).
Maybe something like this for 4-pin: https://nemal.com/products/nemal-xlr-4-pin-female-female-adapter

That Nemal 4-pin female to 4-pin female adapter would only work if end-user can open up the shell and re-solder the pins since Raal's pinout is completely different from the usual pro-audio 4-pin XLR pinout. Refer to this diagram. If only L and R were reversed, we could simply swap the L and R plugs at headphone earcups, but the + and - phase is reversed on one channel in Raal

RaalPInout by drjlo2, on Flickr

 

[rkw]

That Nemal 4-pin female to 4-pin female adapter would only work if end-user can open up the shell and re-solder the pins since Raal's pinout is completely different from the usual pro-audio 4-pin XLR pinout. Refer to this diagram. If only L and R were reversed, we could simply swap the L and R plugs at headphone earcups, but the + and - phase is reversed on one channel in Raal

RaalPInout by drjlo2, on Flickr

The pin assignments don't matter if it is a straight-through adapter (which it should be).
Pin 1 on one side connects to pin 1 on the other side, pin 2 to pin 2, etc.

Edit: I guess you mean if you use a "standard" 4 pin XLR headphone cable. Yes, in that case recabling is needed.

 

[Ciggavelli]

@Torq Any more HSA-1A impressions? How does it fare against the JotR?

 

[Jon L]

Jotunheim R owners who also own low-impedance planars may want to try Jot R via 4-pin female XLR adapter (with Raal pinout).
Abyss 1266 Phi TC is sounding GREAT from Jot R, which is Jotunheim reworked to deal with Raal's extremely low impedance and need for high current delivery, so perhaps low impedance planars that thrive on current do well here. *Make sure to turn off baffle step correction.

0408201821 by drjlo2, on Flickr

 

[Khronos]

Jotunheim R owners who also own low-impedance planars may want to try Jot R via 4-pin female XLR adapter (with Raal pinout).
Abyss 1266 Phi TC is sounding GREAT from Jot R, which is Jotunheim reworked to deal with Raal's extremely low impedance and need for high current delivery, so perhaps low impedance planars that thrive on current do well here. *Make sure to turn off baffle step correction.

0408201821 by drjlo2, on Flickr

Sir you are insane.

 

[rkw]

... Abyss 1266 Phi TC is sounding GREAT from Jot R ...

What amp did you usually use, and what differences do you hear with the Jot R?

 

[anach]

Jotunheim R still not available in Europe?

 

[cladane]

Hi,

Jotunheim R still not available in Europe?

In France, the Jotunheim -R is available through https://casques-headphones.com/
Mail : casques.headphones@gmail.com

 

[thomaskong78]

Hi,

In France, the Jotunheim -R is available through https://casques-headphones.com/
Mail : casques.headphones@gmail.com

Nice looking headphone showroom!

It would be nice to have similar one nearby.

 

[Torq]

@Torq Any more HSA-1A impressions? How does it fare against the JotR?

I really haven't stopped listening via the HSA-1a since it arrived, at least not while I've been indoors.

It's an impressive piece. Subjectively I like it more than Jotunheim R. The is one, maybe two, specific areas I think the Jotunheim R may be ahead on, technically, though one of them is unlikely to be relevant in a home-listening environment (I will be taking a bit more time to evaluate that properly), and its likely that's a trade-off with the specific ability to drive speakers as well vs. being ribbon headphone only.

But overall, I'd say the HSA-1a takes everything I love about the SR1a, and turns it up to 11.

I already know I'm buying myself an HSA-1a.

Of note, other than the price difference, which is substantial, the units are also physically very different. It might not be immediately apparent in pictures, but the HSA-1a is almost 4x the size of the Jotunheim and nearly double its weight - or put another way, the HSA-1a is half-an-inch in each dimension smaller than a Vidar (and about half the weight). So keeping the Jotunheim R around, in the updated case, with my 2nd set of SR1a is also a rather likely scenario for me.

Also, for me, the combination of Jotunheim R + SR1a still bests every other headphone/amp combo you can get for the same $3,999 asking price.

 

[Jon L]

its likely that's a trade-off with the specific ability to drive speakers as well vs. being ribbon headphone only.

My finger keeps hovering over "buy it" button of HSA-1a but am waiting to hear how it does with sensitive speakers, so please do try some nice sensitive speakers on them when you report back!