You have a Jot R and it sounds great compared to what, exactly?
Nervosa is a key trait for any fledging Head-fi'er.I've learned to just enjoy the music. You can drive yourself crazy wondering if something else sounds better. Of course if I was able to completely stop wondering I wouldn't be on here or still buying new gear.
My main rig is a m-scaled Dave, but I have a TT2 in my office I travel with (long weekends at the beach etc). TT2 > JotR > Sr1a would be a killer transportable system.
Close To Heaven: RAAL SR1a on the DarTZeel CTH-8550 Integrated
Over the last year or so, I have listened to the SR1a with a collection of high-end speaker amplifiers, both tubes (Thrax Enyo, Mc Intosh MC275) and SS (NAGRA, Krell, Pass Labs, Luxman being the most notable).
All these amplifiers are of course a major overall improvement over my under-powered AIC-10, but none of them brought the SR1a to a level where I felt completely satisfied, hence motivated to upgrade. The warmest amps were actually helping with adding some body and sweetness to the studio-neutral baseline signature of the RAAL, but to some extent they were also robbing part of their magical transparency and airiness.
On the other hand, the most correct sounding SS amps – the NAGRA being the champion here – made the speed, detail excel and had excellent dynamics and bass punchiness but somewhat lacked that emotional involvement that I was looking for.
During this series of auditions, the amp I liked the most with the SR1a was the DarTZeel LHC-208, where I felt that the best sonic traits I found on warm amps (bloom, elasticity, some roundness on midrange and treble in the vocals frequency range) were well paired with a satisfying dynamics and overall clarity.
Considering that the LHC-208, while inexpensive at about 18kEuro, is the entry point of the DarTZeel line-up, I was wondering about how the SR1a could further scale with LHC bigger brothers like the CTH-8550 Integrated (27kEuro) or the NHB (Never Heard Before) series (>70kEuro).
A few days ago my friend @Nik, the righteously proud owner of an ultra-high-end system including the CTH and the SR1a, was kind enough to host me for a most enjoyable (not-only) audiophile experience at his place.
His system includes the Esoteric Grandioso K1 SACD/DAC, the CTH-8550 and a pair of Børresen 01 loudspeakers and boasts top-of-the-line Nordost Odin cable loom, Ansuz D-TC power distributor and audio-exotica room treatment gear.
The sound quality of this 2-channel setup is truly remarkable, even astonishing with jazz and vocals, but we are on head-fi and this story is for another day, or place.
As soon as I plugged the SR1a on the CTH and the first song played out of the Grandioso, a vocals jazz track, a big smile was brought to my face.
After many months of ownership, I am used to the wow-moments the SR1a produces in many ways, typically revealing hidden musical details or removing all curtains between me and the music, but this time it was different. It was a more holistic kind of shock: the there-ness of the vocals, the dynamics, the fullness of sound, everything about the presentation was way above my previous experience with the SR1a.
Timbre was similar to my AIC-10 + Mullard tube + Roon EQ, sharing with it a slight bump on the mid-bass region and a gentle smoothening of the lower treble, but further enhanced by a more substantial bass section and of course by the possibility to be enjoyed at all listening levels, thanks to the 220Wpc of the DarTZeel (which, by the way, was set to +10dB, i.e. maximum gain, for best sonic results).
A much more tonally dense and harmonically rich signature than most amplifiers I tried, without getting into a certain muddiness / slowness I noticed for the most colored ones (in relative terms, as it is impossible to make the SR1a sound muddy and slow).
The smile remained on my face for basically all the remaining – quite prolonged – listening session, where we tried many tracks we had just listened via the 2ch setup.
Compared to the 2ch, and this also stands for the comparisons I make at my place with the AB-1266, the SR1a presents the sound, and especially the vocals in a rather forward fashion. Sometimes the palpability of the singer presence, or even of his/her mouth immanence is at dentist or lips surgeon level.
This forward nature produces a riveting connection with the music, while in the long run I tend to prefer some more depth of field to the soundstage as the AB-1266 normally offer.
Also, my preference for the Abyss bass still holds, as I like its large, enveloping, voluptuous character over the precise, articulated, punchy, well-shaped SR1a supply. Again, the RAAL on the CTH-8550 don't feel lacking in the bass section at all in absolute terms, but if you are addicted to – like I am – or just subjectively prefer the signature of the planar bass kings as the Abyss or LCD-4, you will still miss some oomph.
I tried two of my most beloved large orchestral pieces - Tchaikovsky piano concerto and Beethoven 3rd -, and, again it was the best sounding version of the RAAL I have heard to date, with even a touch of unexpected warmth in the cellos and double bass timbre, a tantalizing brass section, a luminous and almost lifelike dynamic piano (the right hand score, at least). Playing with the opening of the earpieces, I was able to reach a nicely wide, yet cohesive, soundstage, yet I still prefer the even larger, deeper Abyss staging although transparency and imaging are on another level on the RAAL.
All in all, this audition confirmed the capabilities of the SR1a to scale with high end gear, but I would say that tonal pairing is also crucial, and the DarTZeel signature sound seems ideal to me.
Unfortunately, the cost of a new CTH-8550 is slightly above my budget, so I need to keep looking to a more accessible way to get close to its character without needing to sell a kidney.
Based on my trials so far, very neutral / accurate SS amps are not to my taste, and 100W+ tube amps of adequate quality are expensive, bulky and generate excessive heat (this also stands for the Pass Labs amps, which are my preferred option so far within my budget).
So, the most natural path would be a direct drive amplifier, of which only two options are currently available.
From what I have read about Jot-R and HSA-1a (or 1b now), I tend to favor the HSA-1a which is reported to have a warmer tuning and more bloom in the bass region, although I am afraid that production units will not be available in Europe anytime soon.
Close To Heaven: RAAL SR1a on the DarTZeel CTH-8550 Integrated
Over the last year or so, I have listened to the SR1a with a collection of high-end speaker amplifiers, both tubes (Thrax Enyo, Mc Intosh MC275) and SS (NAGRA, Krell, Pass Labs, Luxman being the most notable).
All these amplifiers are of course a major overall improvement over my under-powered AIC-10, but none of them brought the SR1a to a level where I felt completely satisfied, hence motivated to upgrade. The warmest amps were actually helping with adding some body and sweetness to the studio-neutral baseline signature of the RAAL, but to some extent they were also robbing part of their magical transparency and airiness.
On the other hand, the most correct sounding SS amps – the NAGRA being the champion here – made the speed, detail excel and had excellent dynamics and bass punchiness but somewhat lacked that emotional involvement that I was looking for.
During this series of auditions, the amp I liked the most with the SR1a was the DarTZeel LHC-208, where I felt that the best sonic traits I found on warm amps (bloom, elasticity, some roundness on midrange and treble in the vocals frequency range) were well paired with a satisfying dynamics and overall clarity.
Considering that the LHC-208, while inexpensive at about 18kEuro, is the entry point of the DarTZeel line-up, I was wondering about how the SR1a could further scale with LHC bigger brothers like the CTH-8550 Integrated (27kEuro) or the NHB (Never Heard Before) series (>70kEuro).
A few days ago my friend @Nik, the righteously proud owner of an ultra-high-end system including the CTH and the SR1a, was kind enough to host me for a most enjoyable (not-only) audiophile experience at his place.
His system includes the Esoteric Grandioso K1 SACD/DAC, the CTH-8550 and a pair of Børresen 01 loudspeakers and boasts top-of-the-line Nordost Odin cable loom, Ansuz D-TC power distributor and audio-exotica room treatment gear.
The sound quality of this 2-channel setup is truly remarkable, even astonishing with jazz and vocals, but we are on head-fi and this story is for another day, or place.
As soon as I plugged the SR1a on the CTH and the first song played out of the Grandioso, a vocals jazz track, a big smile was brought to my face.
After many months of ownership, I am used to the wow-moments the SR1a produces in many ways, typically revealing hidden musical details or removing all curtains between me and the music, but this time it was different. It was a more holistic kind of shock: the there-ness of the vocals, the dynamics, the fullness of sound, everything about the presentation was way above my previous experience with the SR1a.
Timbre was similar to my AIC-10 + Mullard tube + Roon EQ, sharing with it a slight bump on the mid-bass region and a gentle smoothening of the lower treble, but further enhanced by a more substantial bass section and of course by the possibility to be enjoyed at all listening levels, thanks to the 220Wpc of the DarTZeel (which, by the way, was set to +10dB, i.e. maximum gain, for best sonic results).
A much more tonally dense and harmonically rich signature than most amplifiers I tried, without getting into a certain muddiness / slowness I noticed for the most colored ones (in relative terms, as it is impossible to make the SR1a sound muddy and slow).
The smile remained on my face for basically all the remaining – quite prolonged – listening session, where we tried many tracks we had just listened via the 2ch setup.
Compared to the 2ch, and this also stands for the comparisons I make at my place with the AB-1266, the SR1a presents the sound, and especially the vocals in a rather forward fashion. Sometimes the palpability of the singer presence, or even of his/her mouth immanence is at dentist or lips surgeon level.
This forward nature produces a riveting connection with the music, while in the long run I tend to prefer some more depth of field to the soundstage as the AB-1266 normally offer.
Also, my preference for the Abyss bass still holds, as I like its large, enveloping, voluptuous character over the precise, articulated, punchy, well-shaped SR1a supply. Again, the RAAL on the CTH-8550 don't feel lacking in the bass section at all in absolute terms, but if you are addicted to – like I am – or just subjectively prefer the signature of the planar bass kings as the Abyss or LCD-4, you will still miss some oomph.
I tried two of my most beloved large orchestral pieces - Tchaikovsky piano concerto and Beethoven 3rd -, and, again it was the best sounding version of the RAAL I have heard to date, with even a touch of unexpected warmth in the cellos and double bass timbre, a tantalizing brass section, a luminous and almost lifelike dynamic piano (the right hand score, at least). Playing with the opening of the earpieces, I was able to reach a nicely wide, yet cohesive, soundstage, yet I still prefer the even larger, deeper Abyss staging although transparency and imaging are on another level on the RAAL.
All in all, this audition confirmed the capabilities of the SR1a to scale with high end gear, but I would say that tonal pairing is also crucial, and the DarTZeel signature sound seems ideal to me.
Unfortunately, the cost of a new CTH-8550 is slightly above my budget, so I need to keep looking to a more accessible way to get close to its character without needing to sell a kidney.
Based on my trials so far, very neutral / accurate SS amps are not to my taste, and 100W+ tube amps of adequate quality are expensive, bulky and generate excessive heat (this also stands for the Pass Labs amps, which are my preferred option so far within my budget).
So, the most natural path would be a direct drive amplifier, of which only two options are currently available.
From what I have read about Jot-R and HSA-1a (or 1b now), I tend to favor the HSA-1a which is reported to have a warmer tuning and more bloom in the bass region, although I am afraid that production units will not be available in Europe anytime soon.
