[jamato8]

 
I am listening to Darol Anger, "Gloryland", what an incredible open sound and lifelike presentation. The female voice comes across with such purity faithfulness. It is like I am listening to a live feed or if I close my eyes for a minute or two, like I am there. 
 
HD>MacBook Pro 24/96>SysConcepts 1300 core optical>iBasso Boomslang balanced dac>balanced Twag IC>RSA 71B>LCD-2>Me :^)

 

[wht]

Quote:

 
I am listening to Darol Anger, "Gloryland", what an incredible open sound and lifelike presentation. The female voice comes across with such purity faithfulness. It is like I am listening to a live feed or if I close my eyes for a minute or two, like I am there. 
 
HD>MacBook Pro 24/96>SysConcepts 1300 core optical>iBasso Boomslang balanced dac>balanced Twag IC>RSA 71B>LCD-2>Me :^)

 
May I know what/which cables are you having between the 71B and LCD-2 please?
 

 

[Audio-Omega]

SR-71B provides more detail and has a bit more bass than Protector.  It's a bit bright for my liking, hopefully this will change in the next few weeks.  Currently, female vocals sound a bit cold and music is a bit grainy, not smooth with creamy vocal like Protector.  

 

[jamato8]

Quote:

Quote:

 
I am listening to Darol Anger, "Gloryland", what an incredible open sound and lifelike presentation. The female voice comes across with such purity faithfulness. It is like I am listening to a live feed or if I close my eyes for a minute or two, like I am there. 
 
HD>MacBook Pro 24/96>SysConcepts 1300 core optical>iBasso Boomslang balanced dac>balanced Twag IC>RSA 71B>LCD-2>Me :^)

 
May I know what/which cables are you having between the 71B and LCD-2 please?
 

I am using the stock cable. 
 
No grain with the 71B I am using. Female voices are smooth and natural. 
 

 

[wht]

 
Quote:

Quote:

Quote:

 
I am listening to Darol Anger, "Gloryland", what an incredible open sound and lifelike presentation. The female voice comes across with such purity faithfulness. It is like I am listening to a live feed or if I close my eyes for a minute or two, like I am there. 
 
HD>MacBook Pro 24/96>SysConcepts 1300 core optical>iBasso Boomslang balanced dac>balanced Twag IC>RSA 71B>LCD-2>Me :^)

 
May I know what/which cables are you having between the 71B and LCD-2 please?
 

I am using the stock cable. 
 
No grain with the 71B I am using. Female voices are smooth and natural. 
 

Does that mean that you have the balanced version of the stock cable?

 

[jamato8]

I have the stock cable that I balanced. 

 

[Vitor Teixeira]

Ordered a few days the SR71B.

What IC do i need to connect it to the source (W4S DAC2)?
Can anyone point me also to a good, affordable cable for the LCD-2?
(sorry for the off-topic)

 

[Gorthon]

The RSA Protector and SR-71B use the same connectors (Kobiconn part # 163-191J-E) .  You would be looking for something like this adapter  (Whiplash cable).  There are many custom cable makers and DIY people here are Head-Fi that should be able to help you out.  Shoot them a message. 
 
I had an adapter cable made by Head-Fi user FraGGleR a few months back. I'm not sure if he is still doing things like this.  Shoot him a PM if you like.  You could also check the cable for sale section at Head-FI.  Below are some links to help you get started.
 
Head-FI DIY forum
Moon-Audio RSA Protector and SR71B Cables Head-FI thread with pictures
Moon-Audio site
Whiplash Audio Site
APureSound Head-Fi Thread
APureSound site
 
Blue Jeans Cable is another source for good inexpensive cables.  I like the cables I have gotten from them.  I am not sure how much they get into specific cables like this, but it don't hurt to ask.
 

 

[Ray Samuels]

Dear Headfiers & friends.... We are almost there with our shipping to those who made the payment for the SR-71B at intro price. There are those who put their name for one at intro price BUT had not paid yet. I always give those friends a week grace period & honor the intro price this way just in case they had the difficulty of making payment during the Xmas time. The dead line to make the payment, for those who made the reservation but did not pay till now, is January 10th 2011. Thanks to those who purchased the SR-71B I am looking forward to reading your impressions or a short review as to how the SR-71B sounds in your system. RSA

 

[dj nellie]

Thanks for the update, Ray.  I received my SR71b last night, and I immediately plugged it into my newly-acquired (used) Lavry DA-10, feeding it SPDIF from my computer.  I used the XLR outs with a TWag XLR to SR71b adapter and plugged my SR71b-recabled Edition 8s in.  I guess I'm going all-in when it comes to adopting the 71b plug--the Protector made me a believer in the technology, plus the plug's small size makes it ideal for portable use, while an XLR adapter can easily be used for stationary listening with a balanced desktop amp.
 
I plan to do a more thorough listening session, but so far I'm very pleased.  The sound seems slightly more forward and aggressive than the Protector, which I recently sold but I remember being a bit more laid-back.  Like with the Protector, there is absolutely zero hiss when I plug my JH16s in, and the black background really allows details to be heard easily. 
 
One thing that's bothering me is that the volume pot seems very stiff and difficult to turn.  I guess it will gradually loosen with time, and a stiff pot is better than one that's too loose, but right now it's hard to do very slight adjustments in volume.  My Protector had a much smoother pot, and was never so loose that it was hard to control.
 
Right now, I'm listening to the SR71b with my HM-801 and JH16.  I initially forgot to set the input to SE, and was wondering why the sound seemed a bit distant and tinny.  Clicking over to SE accentuated how forward the vocal presentation is (at least relative to the Protector).  The soundstage is still massive, and makes for a very euphonic experience with songs that have widely dispersed placements of sounds.  Headphoneaddict's observation that custom IEMs can be listened to comfortably in high gain is accurate, although the volume is too jumpy at that setting for me, so I've been listening in low gain for better volume control.
 
Overall, it seems like the SR71b is an amazing achievement for its size (not much bigger than the Protector in terms of total mass) and price.  I'm hoping it will be my all-in-one solution for full-size cans and IEMs.  Has anyone tried the SR71b with HD800 or LCD-2 in fully balanced mode yet?

 

[jamato8]

I am using the 71B for the LCD-2 on a daily basis with excellent results. I notice that some people talk about having an "in head" experience with the sound of the LCD-2 but with the 71B there is no problem for me. I get a very good sound stage that is not incapsulated within my head.
 
On the volume control, you might try to loosen the allen screws and then reset them. My volume control is smooth with just the right amount of tension so it may be possible that you need to take tension off of the volume control or move the knob out just a little bit. 

 

[HeadphoneAddict]

Thanks for the update, Ray.  I received my SR71b last night, and I immediately plugged it into my newly-acquired (used) Lavry DA-10, feeding it SPDIF from my computer.  I used the XLR outs with a TWag XLR to SR71b adapter and plugged my SR71b-recabled Edition 8s in.  I guess I'm going all-in when it comes to adopting the 71b plug--the Protector made me a believer in the technology, plus the plug's small size makes it ideal for portable use, while an XLR adapter can easily be used for stationary listening with a balanced desktop amp.


 


I plan to do a more thorough listening session, but so far I'm very pleased.  The sound seems slightly more forward and aggressive than the Protector, which I recently sold but I remember being a bit more laid-back.  Like with the Protector, there is absolutely zero hiss when I plug my JH16s in, and the black background really allows details to be heard easily. 


 


One thing that's bothering me is that the volume pot seems very stiff and difficult to turn.  I guess it will gradually loosen with time, and a stiff pot is better than one that's too loose, but right now it's hard to do very slight adjustments in volume.  My Protector had a much smoother pot, and was never so loose that it was hard to control.


 


Right now, I'm listening to the SR71b with my HM-801 and JH16.  I initially forgot to set the input to SE, and was wondering why the sound seemed a bit distant and tinny.  Clicking over to SE accentuated how forward the vocal presentation is (at least relative to the Protector).  The soundstage is still massive, and makes for a very euphonic experience with songs that have widely dispersed placements of sounds.  Headphoneaddict's observation that custom IEMs can be listened to comfortably in high gain is accurate, although the volume is too jumpy at that setting for me, so I've been listening in low gain for better volume control.


 


Overall, it seems like the SR71b is an amazing achievement for its size (not much bigger than the Protector in terms of total mass) and price.  I'm hoping it will be my all-in-one solution for full-size cans and IEMs.  Has anyone tried the SR71b with HD800 or LCD-2 in fully balanced mode yet?

 
 


So far I have compared the SR-71b side by side with my Protector, and in my case I find the SR-71b after 250 hours to actually be a little smoother, more refined and slightly less aggressive than my Protector which has over 1000 hours on it. The slight fowardness actually helps the JH13Pro to make the mids more engaging, but I don't think it's really any more forward than the Protector, Predator or 3MOVE. It is a little more forward than the Pico Slim or iBasso D4, so their soundstage is a little deeper but not as wide

 

[Jalo]

Is there a difference between burning in balance and SE? Because I am still waiting for my Hirose to 71B adaptor from Moon, I've been burning in SE.  Larry, I really hope you are right.  I have about 100 hours on my 71b and my Protector (500-600 hours) is still sounding smoother than the 71B even though the 71b sound really good with my HD800 and LCD2.

 

[HeadphoneAddict]

Quote:

Is there a difference between burning in balance and SE? Because I am still waiting for my Hirose to 71B adaptor from Moon, I've been burning in SE.  Larry, I really hope you are right.  I have about 100 hours on my 71b and my Protector (500-600 hours) is still sounding smoother than the 71B even though the 71b sound really good with my HD800 and LCD2.

I don't know.  I burned it in balanced for over 250 hours, and have about 24 hours on the SE jack so far.  I haven't heard a lot of change in the SE output during that 24 hours (done after the balanced burn-in).  I think I read somewhere that burning it in balanced mode will take care of the SE jack, but burning in via SE wont burn-in all the buffers that are used for balanced output.

 

[nc8000]

I don't know but when I got my RPX-100 Rudi told me that in single ended only 2 of the 4 mono amps are used so I would assume that if you burn-in in single ended you only burn in half the amp