RAAL-requisite SR1a Has Landed

[ted_b]

My Jot-R arrived today.  I will let it break in (Schiit says its ok to run with no load, etc) while I wait for updated shipping info on my SR1a's from the dealer.  They may be a couple weeks yet.   In the meantime, I am keeping my nostrils clean, ready for the Pearl. 

 

Seriously, I will use this time to unbox the dusty system and get it set up and running in a two box (server-NAA) system, sorting out what works and what doesn't, updating to HQP 4, etc etc.  I am sooo looking forward to getting back to listening to great music, and getting my system ready for its Colorado debut.  Then once the lower level is finished (we're about 50% right now, but in limbo) I can use what I learned to re-create down there.

[ted_b]

1 hour ago, Summit said:

 

Keep in mind that audio signal will have to pass through the amplifier interface box, which will degrade SQ. What I'm trying to say is that even if we would use a “better amp” the outcome will be limited to the quality of interface box and I'm not convinced it is top-notch. It’s like using a midfi preamp in a high end audio system. With a direct-drive amp no interface box is needed so a good direct driven amp may sound as good or better than the SOTA amp paired with the interface box. 

Which leads to the question: what are the good tube-based direct-drive amps out there, if any?

 

My SR1as arrive this coming week; my Jot-R is here and waiting.

[ted_b]

59 minutes ago, austinpop said:

 

Schiit just got real.  

Schiit just got RAAL

 

edit: which should be their Jot-R marketing campaign slogan, btw!

[ted_b]

Tuesday can't come soon enough!  I'm actually ready for them (thank you @lmitche )

[ted_b]

So UPS changed their mind again and delivered the RAALs today!  Yea!  I have done very little listening so far, but I very much like what I hear.  I am not using the correct cabling (just using some Mogami balanced while I search for my good audiophile cabling) but so far so good.  One thing though; there is not an overwhelming dynamism as some folks have described.  I'm wondering if it is due to break in, Jot-R, cabling, etc etc.

 

Question: if I decide to put my Microzotl tubed preamp in front of the Jot-R, I expect to use the pre's volume control.  Where should I set the Jot-R volume (woild be used as a sort of power amp only)?  All the way up?

[ted_b]

I am a bit tired and might have been too quick to respond. Stay tuned. 😀

[ted_b]

So I am continuing to go slowly, mainly due to gremlins and other pests (Roon clients can see my Roonserver but can't seem to access it; I can't find BOTH sets of my audiophile grade rca cables in order to set up Microzotl as tubed preamp, etc) but now have SU-1 running (powered by LPS1), JS-2 powering the Startech hdd enclosure and USB card, and continue to drag-n-drop playlists into HQPlayer 3.20.2 (old but works).  Still single box Win 10 but allows me to develop a baseline...my initial goal.

 

Third day conclusions: once I got the hang (pun intended) of the RAAL ear/head positioning, and got the system warmed up for about 60+ hours I can honestly say that these headphones are not very good headphones.........but they are phenomenal little ribbon speakers hanging off my head!!!  That's what they sound like...tiny Apogees strapped to my head!  Amazing, even with the somewhat clinical Schiit Jot-R amp.  Oh, and the dynamics have shown up too....VERY nice.  I can't wait for my tubed pre to add a little color and soul to the mix. 

[ted_b]

It has been unfair of me to demo/review these RAAL SP1as as I relearn the ability to be an audiophile.    It's been over 2 years since I had my system up and running, due to the move across the country (and various time-sensitive home projects, not the least of which is having my lower level audio room built...it's about 40-50% now).  I have found that using these RAALs has exposed my atrophied listening skills, let alone my atrophied audio troubleshooting instincts, etc.  Don't get me wrong, I've been listening to music, but either in my car, via bluetooth on dog walks or via Google Home devices. 

 

So...with all those caveats I am here to tell you that the wait, although not "worth it", was really revelatory!!  These ear speakers are truly astonishing in their musical chops, their ability to create a sense of two channel state-of-the-art speaker listening inside and around my head.  And the word, revelatory, is a dual-sided one.  As in many things audiophile, to reveal is to discover.  And to discover is to create more and more options, more and more decisions, more and more highlights (and some lowlights) in one's system. 

 

First, the RAAL's themselves: they are full-range ribbon speakers (as full-range as one can get without bass enclosures) that are capable of transducing tonality, timbre, depth, speed, dynamics and the subtlties of harmonics as good as anything you've heard.....given the right equipment in front of them.  My 2+ year old system choices were made with the end result being fed to Aerial Acoustic 20T V2s in a room in NE Ohio where subatntial acoustic treatment and speaker positioning created an amzing sense of magic.  Now, some 28 months later, those decisions are logically, probably, not teh same ones I'd use today....but that is the baseline.  For example, I am still using HQPlayer 3.20.2 on a Windows 10 i7 6700k server machine, sending either upsampled 352.8/384k PCM or DSD512 (with older modulators) to my Holo Spring dac.  I've no time right now to change any of that, until I change out the OS (coming), so I am evaluating with some portion of one hand tied behind my back.

 

The direct-amp Schiit Jotunheim-R (aka Jot-R) is the first amp I am trying with the RAALS and that amp cost a whopping $798.  In addition, it doesn't use the interface box (hence the term "direct") that most are using with their more standard integrated amps.  And I did not buy the interface box, so my options are limited.  That being said, the Jot-R allowed me to flex my audiophile listening for the first time in 28 months, and for that I am eternally grateful; you see this $798 amp is that good to allow me to listen to the music, and both get over the RAAL learning curve as well as relearn how to settle in to serious listening.

 

But...the Jot-R needed some seasoning for my tastes, and although I have not found all my fave audiophile cabling, I was able to scrape together a nice recipe of Microzotl S tube preamp, some tube rolling, and enough MG Audio cabling..all in front of the Jot-R-as-power-amp (with volume pot set to approx 3 o'clock......anything higher created an overdriven set of noises and crackles that let me know we had some incompatibilities afoot...I've emailed Schiit to confirm my findings). 

 

So, if I have one basic fundamental about the RAALs it is this: their ribbons need tubes to truly sing!!  A conclusion met by most of this threads users already. 

Another neat fundamental about the RAALS: their ability to swivel about on one's head makes them a perfect OCD audiophile tool...hell, one could change their toe-out to suit any and every track played!! Yikes.    I have slight 8k tinnitus in my left ear and their toe-out adjustments makes balancing soundstage a simple trick.

 

These fundamental findings are only a few days old, so my journey with these ear speakers is just beginning.  But put on the 24/192 of the late great Charlie Haden's soft duo with Antonio Forcione (Heartplay) and fire up track 1, Anna, and you'll realize how wonderfully these ribbons and the right tube bloom combine to make freaking beautiful music together.  I can't imagine this timbre in many headphone combinations (but then I am not a headphone guy...so my baseline are the Aerials..and these RAALS sound like them at a tenth the MSRP).

Or get a little crazier and fire up the bizarre Mitchell Froom/David Hidalgo techno-Hispanic combo that created two albums (more like demo tapes) under the name The Latin Playboys.  A fave is from the self titled-album, a track called New Zandu.  A headphone track if there ever was one, but done so nicely on the RAALs that you wish they had buckled down and created a real legacy with this set of musicians and engineers, instead of a couple of throw-away cds that have nuggets but no real long term sense of either Los Lobos or Froom's techno-goodies from the likes of Suzanne Vega and others. 

That revelatory feature can show its other side easily, depending on equipment or, frankly, average recording sq.  And it's this aspect that has me worried about my first goal: to use this time to not only get musical with the RAALs but also begin to build my Colorado-version of the system recipe.  I'm hoping that the decisions I make in front of these wonderful ear speakers will carry over to my audio room and my Aerial 20Ts (and their power amps, etc)...let alone to the new room acoustics (which we are paying PLENTY of attention to, while building).  So, I will venture forward slowly and methodically...but thanks to Chris, Jeff (tubelover) and others here I now have a huge smile as I venture forward.

 

Stay tuned. 

[ted_b]

I am DEFINITELY assimiliated in that I've been sitting on my ass-imilated listening to the RAALs; its made 2020 a non-suicidal year for me.   😎

 

Audions, I bow to you.  🙃

[ted_b]

Well, since I am an HQPlayer user it would require me to dial back upsampling to 192k (and add DSD-to-PCM) which would then be an interesting a/b comparison (32fs without HLC vs 4fs with HLC).  If HLC is an overall winner it would significantly reduce the heavy lifting by the server.  Note: this is all RAAL-related; I doubt I am a candidate for HLC in my upcoming main system. 

 

I may have missed it but does Mitch do trials?

[ted_b]

1 hour ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

Oh no. This is misinformation. 

 

The convolution filter for HQP, per Jussi's recommendation, is 352.8 kHz, split into mono left and right channels. This is perfect for going to 16fs or 32fs. It's what I do every day and it's fantastic. 

 

 

I could have sworn I read, and not made up, that the HLC had to come after HQP upsampling, and that it was 192k.  ?  So, please clear up this misinformation.  Are you saying Mitch will sell us HQP users the convolution settings?

[ted_b]

And since RAAL does not involve room acoustics, it is a constant, Mitch can send out filters knowing only the RAAL response?  I assume he charges something for this?  I will contact him.  Thx