RAAL-requisite SR1a Has Landed

[austinpop]

16 minutes ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

FedEx just dropped the Schiit Audio J-R. The week is off to a great start. 

 

Schiit just got real.  

[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!

[TubeLover]

21 minutes ago, ted_b said:

Schiit just got RAAL

 

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

Agreed. Can't believe they missed that! 

[AudioDoctor]

What a coincidence, Schitt and FedEx dropped some stuff at my house today as well!

[The Computer Audiophile]

@ted_b, you won't be disappointed by @schiit's Jotunheim R. Been listening through it all afternoon.

 

Can't wait for your SR1a headphones to arrive and to get your impressions.  

[djoman]

Hello CHRIS your review about SR1A is available on the RAAL officiel page. I very much liked this review; CONGRATULATIONS

[TubeLover]

On 5/4/2020 at 1:02 AM, The Computer Audiophile said:

@TubeLover These albums are a must on the RAALs. Listening tonight in amazement. 
 

 

Just listened to these earlier, Chris, thanks for the recommendation. Just sounded incredible on the RAAL's!

 

JC

[4est]

On 5/3/2020 at 10:38 AM, ted_b said:

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.

I am guessing something like the AtmaSphere MA-60s might work well. They love higher Z loads. I think they have an integrated too.

[cfisher]

I was watching "Normal People" on Netflix last night and they had the Carpenter's "Top of the World" in the background. I wondered whether the RAALs could even make 70s pablum interesting. Answer: Yes.

[MrCypruz]

On 5/4/2020 at 11:15 AM, The Computer Audiophile said:

FedEx just dropped the Schiit Audio J-R. The week is off to a great start. 

 Chris, I would love to hear your impressions of the JotR driving the SR1a. I’m eager to hear your thoughts and how you compare the SR1a performance from a relatively direct drive amp vs some your expensive speaker amps (Both tube and SS) + interface box setups. 

PS. I’m sure that you know this but I’ll just remind you anyways to not forget to turn the baffle compensation ON to compensate for the open design of the SR1a to properly reproduce the entire frequency response spectrum (very noticeably in the low and high registers of the frequency response).

[TubeLover]

18 hours ago, 4est said:

I am guessing something like the AtmaSphere MA-60s might work well. They love higher Z loads. I think they have an integrated too.

This could very well be an excellent suggestion, the power levels still concern me, but they do, as you noted deal well with more difficult loads. I would ask Ralph Karsten for his thoughts. Wonderful guy to deal with and he knows absolutely everything about his products, and audio in general. 

 

JC

[4est]

4 hours ago, TubeLover said:

This could very well be an excellent suggestion, the power levels still concern me, but they do, as you noted deal well with more difficult loads. I would ask Ralph Karsten for his thoughts. Wonderful guy to deal with and he knows absolutely everything about his products, and audio in general. 

 

JC

One could check with Ralph, who is a great guy, and see. To my knowledge however, that OTL circuit would increase it's power when driving a higher impedance load. It seems like a potentially nice pairing. Anyone is welcome to bring/send RAALs here and I'd be happy to hook them up to mine and test them! I have numerous tube amps to try them on..lol

[The Computer Audiophile]

OK, it had to be done. 
 

HQPlayer > microRendu > EMM Labs DA2 > Pass Labs XA160.5 > Ribbon / Amp interface box > SR1a. 

 

I’m using HQPlayer for DSD128 upsampling and the new EC modulator. Plus, HQP for volume control. DAC straight to amps, no built-in volume control in the DA2. 

 

Sound is as expected, amazing. Getting a bit warm in my room though. 

 

[Solstice380]

1 hour ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

Sound is as expected

 

OT but, what do think of the XA160.5s?

[The Computer Audiophile]

1 minute ago, Solstice380 said:

 

OT but, what do think of the XA160.5s?

Fabulous amps. Can blow the woofers out of any speaker without breaking of sweat. I wish I would’ve got the model one step down. Less heat, still enough power. 

[TubeLover]

2 minutes ago, Solstice380 said:

 

OT but, what do think of the XA160.5s?

They are one of the better portable heating devices available!

 

JC

[TubeLover]

2 minutes ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

Fabulous amps. Can blow the woofers out of any speaker without breaking of sweat. I wish I would’ve got the model one step down. Less heat, still enough power. 

The XA100.5's, those are perhaps the best solid state amps I've ever heard Chris. And yes, they do produce quite a bit less heat. 

 

JC

[AudioDoctor]

@The Computer Audiophile  Chris, thank you for making my headphone set up seem modest in comparison.

 

😉

[TubeLover]

7 hours ago, AudioDoctor said:

@The Computer Audiophile  Chris, thank you for making my headphone set up seem modest in comparison.

 

😉

Calling your new headphone setup modest is like referring to the Grand Canyon as a large eroded area!

 

JC

[The Computer Audiophile]

I'm getting the Parasound HINT 6 Halo integrated amp in for review to pair with the SR1a. For $2,995 I hear this amp is the best value in HiFi. Parasound's Richard Schram was excited the amp would be paired with the RAALs. He said the new JC 1+ would really take them to another level. 

 

https://parasound.com/hint6.php

 

[jcbenten]

I think it is time for you to set up brackets, ala March Madness.  Have one side the Tube amps and the other bracket SS...Pick a winner, yes you have to, and then anything new coming in has to knock off the winner.  Really would be tedious to compare to all the fallen...but you would get to listen to Ten Redux a few dozen times so not all bad.

[The Computer Audiophile]

8 minutes ago, jcbenten said:

I think it is time for you to set up brackets, ala March Madness.  Have one side the Tube amps and the other bracket SS...Pick a winner, yes you have to, and then anything new coming in has to knock off the winner.  Really would be tedious to compare to all the fallen...but you would get to listen to Ten Redux a few dozen times so not all bad.

Love it!

[The Computer Audiophile]

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

 

[ted_b]

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

[LowOrbit]

9 hours ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

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

 

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.