[Benno1988]

Anyone heard the CA-1A? Meant to be out next month no?

 

[GoldenSound]

Anyone heard the CA-1A? Meant to be out next month no?

I heard a prototype of it today.
God damn it's good......

 

[Hiker816]

I heard a prototype of it today.
God damn it's good......

That is remarkably intriguing looking . . .

 

[Christer]

I heard a prototype of it today.
God damn it's good......

Hmm, interesting,
hopefully in spite of not being completely open it still retains the quite amazing openness of the first version and without the considerable adjustment problems I encountered when auditioning that one in Singapore just after it had been released.

And of course the obvious question is HOW good is it in comparison to other imho highly resolving and transparent headphones it competes against? Stax /Susvara or even Stealth?

Where did you get to hear it, and for how long? Under which circumstances and with what music? At a show or at home?
Personally I can only judge SQ with well made recordings of unamplified acoustic music in a very quiet environment.
No Audio Show I have ever been to could satify my needs , and few shops either.
The only REAL reference point that matters to me is how close any link in a reproduction chain comes to how I know things sounded live in the hall at sessions. And I listen to music with a reasonably realistic dynamic range from vey very soft to quite loud for short periods in mainly Western Classical music.
And unfortunately when I auditioned the first RAAL version it failed to reproduce some of my ref tracks without breaking up and sounding notably hard at climaxes. I strongly suspect that it was not the fault of the SRHa1 ,but the amplification used to drive it.
But with less demanding material than my large scale symphonic material it was maybe the most open sounding headphone I have heard since my own old Jecklin Float electrostatics.
The new look reminds me remotely of the German "HEDDPhone" which I had on extended home-loan, but returned because I found my HIFIMAN HEKV2 sounding more transparent than the very uncomfortable and not as good as expected HEDD.
The HEDD was the most uncomfortable headphone I have ever used. It sat like a vice on my head.
But it was quite good SQ-wise and for the price asked. But just not good enough for me to buy it.
But the new Raal ,who knows?
But I also need to hear how Stealth performs. Rob Watts sounds lyrical about his and he used it for his first Blumlein recording.
The Stealth sells for around 4K Euro in Sweden.
Do you how much will the new Raal cost with capable amplification included in the UK just to get an idea?
Cheers CC

 

[Benno1988]

I heard a prototype of it today.
God damn it's good......

Excellent.

Looks to have forced pad venting. Abyss, listen up, take notes.

How's the ergonomics?

Weight?

Edit: Think price meant to be around 3000 USD?

 

[FLTWS]

I could be mistaken but I think I remember Danny or Alex mentioning that the CA-1a has a 2 inch ribbon where the SR-1a has a 3 inch ribbon. As the magnet structure is where a lot of the overall weight resides I would guess it should be lighter.

 

[dirtrat]

If I remember right, I think Danny mentioned $2500 for this headphone. The SR1a is still the top dog in their lineup according to him.

 

[deafenears]

If I remember right, I think Danny mentioned $2500 for this headphone. The SR1a is still the top dog in their lineup according to him.

Makes sense with the larger ribbon in the SR-1a over the CA-1a.

 

[FLTWS]

Now its down to comfort and how it sounds to each individual.

 

[Benno1988]

At least I can take the pads off and use them to scrub my dishes. Looks like a abrasive side and a smoot polishing side.

 

[carboncopy]

I could try the Raal combo today at the High end show in München. I must say I was truly impressed. I tought it will sound thin, maybe sharp, analytical...On the contrary! Very lush sound with wieght together with excecptional clarity, speed and resolution. This set impressed me the most (followed by the new Stax).

 

[jlbrach]

after reading about the convolution filters and hearing so many raves I decided to give them a go and have been listening with them for several hours and I like what I hear so far...the sr1a is so good I doubted it could really be improved much but I was wrong...it is a real improvement...my only one issue is that the filters require a lot more volume than I needed without them

 

[yyzSB]

after reading about the convolution filters and hearing so many raves I decided to give them a go and have been listening with them for several hours and I like what I hear so far...the sr1a is so good I doubted it could really be improved much but I was wrong...it is a real improvement...my only one issue is that the filters require a lot more volume than I needed without them

I found that with a warm preamp and a warm DAC (not too warm for both) I did not need the Convolution filter. I expect the VM-1a to not require a filter, even with the bright Benchmark DAC3B that I have waiting for the VM-1a.

 

[jlbrach]

I m using the 1b currently with a chord dave with the filters and I like it

 

[carboncopy]

I just watched a couple of online reviews about the SR1a. I think those are mostly not valid/representative when using with the VM-1a. Actually I watched some of the reviews before and I had a preconception about the tonality of the Raals beacuse of them.

Well, they did not sound like what I thought they will sound.

Take for example this review (which is a very well made review!)



I do not think that the Raal lacked weight. I do think it had probably the best vocal performance. It had absolutely no sibillance at all. I mean I listened 10 Minutes after the Raal to the Susvara on the big Feliks Envy and while it was good it did not shocked me (in a postive way) as the Raal.

I am not saying that this review is not accurate, it is a very well done review. What I am thinking that the combination of the SR1a and the VM-1a is probably a redefining moment for the Raal. I listened to Public Memory - Butcher (please do a listen if you don't know it) and it was musically as complete as it comes.