Article: Review | RAAL-requisite SR1a Earfield Headphone Monitor

[The Computer Audiophile]

18 minutes ago, yyz said:

BTW - I was listening to the Waterboys on the SR1a last night and wow what an experience. I tried that same music on my Theil CS3.7 speakers and it was actually more enjoyable on the SR1a. However, I am severely underpowering the CS3.7's and will have mono blocks on them sometime very soon (already ordered). I expect the Theil to be the winner but the SR1a is sure making quite the impression with me.

I'm listening to an Audio Fidelity remaster of Peter, Paul, and Mary right now on the SR1a. It's fantastic. 

[TubeLover]

4 minutes ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

I'm listening to an Audio Fidelity remaster of Peter, Paul, and Mary right now on the SR1a. It's fantastic. 

Thanks for the update Chris, I had ben wondering about the quality of that very remaster. 

 

JC

[The Computer Audiophile]

3 minutes ago, TubeLover said:

Thanks for the update Chris, I had ben wondering about the quality of that very remaster. 

 

JC

I have both :~)

 

[TubeLover]

26 minutes ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

I have both :~)

 

I would expect no less! :)

 

JC

[BearcatSandor]

 If you love Peter, Paul and Mary, I feel that their "In Concert" album is the one to have. You can hear the joy in their voices, and Paul's stand-up comedy is great. It was remastered by Kevin Gray using the original tapes, and it sounds fantastic.  Pricey but I found it to be worth every penny.

 

https://elusivedisc.com/peter-paul-and-mary-in-concert-hybrid-stereo-sacd-cd/

[The Computer Audiophile]

4 hours ago, BearcatSandor said:

 If you love Peter, Paul and Mary, I feel that their "In Concert" album is the one to have. You can hear the joy in their voices, and Paul's stand-up comedy is great. It was remastered by Kevin Gray using the original tapes, and it sounds fantastic.  Pricey but I found it to be worth every penny.

 

https://elusivedisc.com/peter-paul-and-mary-in-concert-hybrid-stereo-sacd-cd/

Thanks!

[ted_b]

I may not have searched these RAAL threads enough, but have a question:

* I am now a day or so away from trying the interface box and my monoblocks/preamp combo, and comparing it to my Jotunheim-R.  What do folks think of the short included speaker cable umbilicals from RAAL?  Anyone know of better ones that come in the short "umbilical" style (I am not going to use my own speaker cable as they are too long and bulky for my RAAL setup)?

[BearcatSandor]

Would someone with the SR1a listen to this 360 clip, and tell me whether these headspeakers will work for binaural tracks?  If so, how good does it sound?

 

Thank you.

 

[yyz]

On 1/22/2021 at 10:39 AM, ted_b said:

I may not have searched these RAAL threads enough, but have a question:

* I am now a day or so away from trying the interface box and my monoblocks/preamp combo, and comparing it to my Jotunheim-R.  What do folks think of the short included speaker cable umbilicals from RAAL?  Anyone know of better ones that come in the short "umbilical" style (I am not going to use my own speaker cable as they are too long and bulky for my RAAL setup)?

I use Audience Conductor SE for connecting to the interface box. I have 3 of these cables now. The long one is 3 meter and the 2 short ones are around a meter. I bought a long cable and had it chopped up to the 2 shirt ones. I completely forgot that I had the RAAL cables.

 

I will do a test later tonight but I am not sure how burned-in the RAAL wires are. I need to test some DACs so I cannot spend too much time this week to compare the RAAL wires.

 

BTW - I now have an extra Audience Conductor SE with banana on all ends that is gathering dust (if you are interested). Here is a thread on my amp journey with the RAAL,

 

https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/best-or-most-interesting-speakers

 

[ted_b]

YYZ, Nice report over on Audiogon.  I've had my eyes on both those integrateds (Coda and Krell) but for now have found some low cost magic by playing Roon-to-HQPlayer on two different pcs, into the Schitt Jot-R (via Holo Spring KTE dac).  The serendipitous combo of pulling Roon off my HQP server and putting it on my desktop pc for now has given me some warmth and yet tremendous detail (thx to HQPlayer).  As all of us RAAL users have stated, fatigue is one small move away if you don't watch it.  These ear speakers are so incredibly revelatory that all recipes upstream have a significant impact, plus or minus.  And since I am building my lower level audio room for my main listening (not sure what place the RAALs will have once that is opened) I am please that I don't really need to try the interface box and some of my amps.  BUT....your comments about the integrateds like Krell and Coda, along with Jeff and Chris's comments, keep that interface box sitting there staring at me.  🙂

[yyz]

3 hours ago, ted_b said:

YYZ, Nice report over on Audiogon.  I've had my eyes on both those integrateds (Coda and Krell) but for now have found some low cost magic by playing Roon-to-HQPlayer on two different pcs, into the Schitt Jot-R (via Holo Spring KTE dac).  The serendipitous combo of pulling Roon off my HQP server and putting it on my desktop pc for now has given me some warmth and yet tremendous detail (thx to HQPlayer).  As all of us RAAL users have stated, fatigue is one small move away if you don't watch it.  These ear speakers are so incredibly revelatory that all recipes upstream have a significant impact, plus or minus.  And since I am building my lower level audio room for my main listening (not sure what place the RAALs will have once that is opened) I am please that I don't really need to try the interface box and some of my amps.  BUT....your comments about the integrateds like Krell and Coda, along with Jeff and Chris's comments, keep that interface box sitting there staring at me.  🙂

 

 

I have also had the RAAL HSA-1b in the house but was only able to test with RCA. Most of my sources are RCA so I had to use an adapter. The HSA-1b was excellent as I said in prior posts on this thread. However, I will eat my words because  I said that an amp via the interface box cannot be as good as the HSA-1b. The CODA CSiB and KRELL K-300i integrated are just as good with the RAAL SR1a. The Audio Mirror Tubadore III SE was mazing with the Class A of the CODA (first 18 watts) and the KRELL (first 90 watts). Warmth, detail, and power. Just amazing sound. I kept the KRELL and sold the CODA only because of the quality of the internal DAC, especially with fibre optic streaming with an opticalRendu.

 

I just did a quick listen with the amp interface cables provided by RAAL. I only lasted 2 songs. Maybe it is not broken in but I had fatigue with these cables. The bass was missing too. I am assuming they need some break-in. I am not going to play around with these cables. The Audience Conductor SE are great with the interface box. 

 

I agree about everything being important or the RAAL will show it with fatigue (at least for me). I actually like that since it becomes very easy to hear (or feel) a negative change to the system.