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RAAL-requisite SR1a Has Landed


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I could not wait for another glowing (sorry, more tube puns) review. Ordered my Raals today, shipping tomorrow from Amsterdam. Want get them before the spike in demand from all the positive review and impressions causes a global shortage.

 

Going to use Ncore monoblocks short term for motive power. Probably go Jot R soon, then look for some exotic amplification later on. 

 

Chris, you probably pushed me over the edge. I appreciate it.

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1 hour ago, RickyV said:


please let us know how they do with the ncore’s?

Is Amsterdam the only place where you can audition them, that you know of? According to google it is?

I think the French stockist has them on dem.

 

I am hampered by a broken ankle at the moment, so any travel is too much hassle, so I am buying on the basis of a fourteen day money back offer from Headphones Auditions in Amsterdam. I am pretty sure I shall be keeping them though, unless my ears are totally out of step with Chris, Torq et al. 

 

The Ncores are terrific amps, but given something as ruthlessly transparent as the Raals, I am making no predictions of compatibility. I can probably get my hands on a Chord Etude, if I need a quick alternative approach. As I said, Jotenheim R is probably the mid term play, then relax and see what comes my way later. The basic nuetrality and honesty I expect from the ribbons is very much my preferred flavour.

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I have around six hours of listening on the SR1a now. My amp (NCore diy Monoblocks) is a little more humble than Chris is using, but certain traits are clear - a level of dynamics (micro and macro) that across planars, stats and dynamic headphones I've had the pleasure of owning or listening to extensively, is simply unprecedented. 

 

Tonality is lean, but richly varied. Strings are stringy, Bill Evans' piano rings with a rich harmonic and resonant truth that only fine speakers have previously portrayed, and drums thump and snap with realness. Bass is so clean and fast that it is the biggest challenge to acclimatise to. 

 

And of course, the resolution that easily lays out the delineation of instrumental parts is well documented.

 

I have recently spent a lot of time with the Shure KSE1200 inears stats, and with Spinfit tips I have been very happy. The Raals are a radical departure, and I am still adjusting.

 

 

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I am leaning on the convolution feature in HQPlayer this evening, having shaped an impulse to bring up the lower two octaves a few db. I may have overshot a little, Radioaxiom (Bill Laswell and Jah Wobble) is currently demonstrating that awesome bass is well with scope here.

 

I will probably drop it back a db or so tomorrow, but for now it's rocking my world. All the fabulous qualities previously mentioned, now with a very hefty foundation.

 

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Yes, the bass (well the whole spectrum of course) is extremely agile. So little stored energy, I'd be interested in the relative mass of the ribbon vs planars or stats .

 

As you said before, Chris, I think, the dynamics of the ribbons make it difficult to settle on a static "volume" level as these phones show up every variation within a track and between tracks. And that feeds through into the perceived level of the bass especially. Which exposes every other headphones as an averaging device, if that makes sense? 

 

I have experimented a little with the angle of the drivers, currently settled on maybe 30 degrees "open" as a compromise between bass weight and imaging scale.

 

I feel I am beginning to get a handle on the presentation of these now, and they are showing themselves at least to be equal to my expectations. And my expectations were very high, given the impressions shared across the numerous forums. 

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Peter

 

Great report, and echoes my own experience this last week. I agree with Chris - soundstage opens up with a bit of flap fiddling. It never gets way out in front, but you do get a better depth of field.

 

I don't find them bright either, very even through mids and up.

 

I am into week two of my 14 day trial period. No other headphone will come close to these, but you could certainly by some great nearfield monitors for $4k... 

 

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  • 1 month later...
2 hours ago, tapatrick said:

Can someone please clarify what's needed to run the RAALs?

- is it either a +100watt amp > interface box > headphones

or

Jotunheim > headphones

 

So if you don't have a +100watt amp the Jotunheim + headphones would be the sensible route..?

Yes  - Raal will sell you a combo of SR1a and the Jotunheim R (I think rebranded as Raal FOS (Full of Schiit)). That way, if you have no intention of using speaker amps in the future, you don't buy the interface box. You can also buy with that, for flexibility should you anticipate that you might explore the limits of the earfield monitors over time.

 

I can't comment yet on the Jotunheim R for performance, mine is shipping today. 

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9 hours ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

@ted_b You're lucky you ordered when you did!

 

Screen Shot 2020-05-10 at 8.20.00 PM.png

Well if people post rave reviews on popular audiophile websites, Chris, orders will be placed.

 

Maybe you should have given Danny a heads up so he could get some more units on the shelf.

 

As an aside the Jot R had been playing constantly more or less for a week now, and I am happy. Not as fancy as the PassLabs amps, but a good step forward from the Hypex Class D amps I was using with the interface box. Prompted me to do some work on my DSD "dac-less" source, and I am very happy with the system sound now.

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  • 7 months later...
On 12/19/2020 at 10:29 AM, RickyV said:

 

 

 

In the future when funds allow I’ll probably buy or diy a Purifi class d amp.
I think because of it’s un-colored sound and speed in high current delivery it’s well suited for the raal. And pair that with a tube pre-amp to add some tube magic.


 

I've been thinking diy Purifi too, the older Ncores worked pretty good into the Raals, but the JotR works better for me. I'm thinking Hugo TT2 (unless that gets replaced Mola Mola stylee) in AMP mode into the Purifi module without buffer. 

 

Question is just how transparent that interface box really is.

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17 hours ago, RickyV said:


Did you experiment with the input buffer opamps? This might be the key to getting the sound to your liking. You can even get tube input buffers it.

The Purifi or ncore is just there to have no sound of it’s own and deliver the drive to the raal. At least this is how it could work in my mind.

My pre-amp has two pairs of rca outputs so two power amp would work.

 

I have searched a bit on the www for 100w tube amps but proves to be expensive.

But for now my Sovereign amps have to do. I really need some experience with other amps.
 

Yeah - powerful tube amps of suitable quality are uncommon and uncommonly spendy. Chris probably has access to the best, but a pleb like me ain't planning on dropping that much moolah.

 

I never messed with the Ncore input buffer, and yes they are pretty clean and transparent. Never convinced me they were "better" than a good Class A/B amp, but still pretty good.

 

Purifi is a project for 2021 (assuming there's still civilisation out there to bring stuff I want to my bunker...) but I think the Chord DAC has enough voltage out in AMP mode to bypass the buffer stage. From what I can read in the Purifi manual that amp needs circa 11v input for full power out. We don't need 400 watts to power the Raals, so less input voltage should be just fine. 

 

We shall see :-)

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  • 4 months later...

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