LucyWu
100+ Head-Fier
- Joined
- Feb 12, 2015
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Here’s my take on how to handle and EQ the Raal SR1a/b:
https://www.head-fi.org/threads/raal-ribbon-headphones-srh1a.890603/post-17233113
The major first step is experimenting with the various degrees of freedom in head placement.
The short video from the Raal website is sure worth a look in this regard:
I would not call myself a bass-head, but do like solid base and fundamentals in my music.
At the same time I’m generally not listening very loud, vocals in the music are a bit louder than normal humans talking.
Typical music level ca. 65-70 dBA Leq (long term average), with peaks up to 95 - 100 dB SPL.
The power amp is not challenged much: ca. +20 dBu or 10 W / 6 Ohm Peak typically is the very highest I observe.
I love music with lot’s of dynamic, try to avoid contemporary, dynamically over-squashed remasters.
First based on measurements (on my own head, mic inside my ears), then hours of fine-tuning I made an EQ setting that adresses all mentioned Issues, without overdoing it or killing SR1a’s character.
Specially the bass becomes viceral in a way I did not expect from SR1a.
The EQ slighty addresses midrange and treble too, this is very personal I guess.
Doing more in the mid/treble range sounds too much for me.
Treble is better controlled by positional variations, than excessive EQ.
With the EQ the bass and fundamentals sound punchy, compact and present in a way I did not expect from SR1a.
The fastness stays, combined with a significant gripe on the related instruments.
No hint of tizzy or thin sounding any more.
Positioning, probably quite personal, but another person found similar settings favorable too.
• Driver flaps angle: L 27 ° R 27 ° few millimeters away from pinnae contact. I made little card-box angle stencils to set this up.
• Driver horizontal position: usually ca. 5 mm to the front from the back-most possible position, very tiny bit more forward than the upper-mid-hottest position. I do use this to regulate the treble amount.
• Driver height: center driver ca. aligned with ear-canal entrance.
• Wearing angle (seen from the side): upper part, headband, slightly backwards, ca. 10 °.
• Fit: tight fit, still comfortable, don’t need the back-strap.
Raal SR-1a EQ04
RME ADI-2 Pro.
THE EQ DOES NOT CONTAIN BAFFLE COMPENSATION as the standard SR1a amp interface already has it.
There are EQ bands left to do this, in case needed.
Gain / Freq / Q / Type / (comment)
.. dB / Hz
+5.5 / 130 / 0.8 / Shelf / (adjust gain to taste)
.. n.a. / 25 / 1.8 / High Pass / (High Q boost the lows SR1a is capable, removes below)
-2.0 / 2.1k / 1.5 / Peak / (vocal presence)
-1.0 / 6.3k / 3.5 / Peak / (harshness)
-2.5 / 9.1k / 5.0 / Peak / (Sibilants)
Your experience aligns very well with my own. My own EQ curve (fabricated over many iterations in Rephase, which allows correction of phase also) is very similar to yours, but with a little extra weight in the low end because I don't use passive baffle step correction (I don't like the result of using the filter incorporated in the JotR and my Hypex amp doesn't have it at all, but does have the reserves of power necessary to support the bass demand without distorting).
I don't like overblown bass either but, as you say, visceralality is achieveable and I am very happy with the SR1a (moving from Benchmark AHB1 and the resistor interface to the NCore amp and TI-1b has been a marked step up) and I am certainly going to hold off until the Raal 1995 headphones become readily available before I even seek out an audition.
After about four years, the SR1a remains the only headphone I need.