I’m very interested in trying the SR1a and the HSA-1b out with the intent of purchasing them. But I wonder what the future holds in terms of price and future models. For those of you who have been around the headphone industry for a while (or related industries):
Any thoughts appreciated.
For the SR1a:
I would imagine it is unlikely these will be updated prior to RAAL releasing the circumnaural version that they had mentioned they were working on (though they never committed to releasing it, much less when).
Even then, I would be surprised if an SR1a update changed anything other than the frame/headband. Wouldn’t hold my breath on this.
And the circumnaural version would be something of a different beast - effectively trading the speaker-like staging for a more powerful bottom end.
For the HSA-1b:
The HSA-1b is pretty much new. I am not sure they’ve even fulfilled all the original pre-orders yet. I wouldn’t expect anything new here for a couple of years at least. Especially where this amplifier is already future proofed for the circumaural cans if they do come to be.
If you mean how long before their MSRP drops, I would say not before they are superseded by newer models. There’s no particular trend for products at this tier becoming cheaper, officially, over time (absent being replaced).
But buying from a dealer, you may be able to get a better price - just as you can with other dealer-serviced audio products. Just depends on the dealer and your relationship with them.
Thanks so much. This is very helpful. I didn’t want to pull the trigger only to see that I could have saved a great deal by waiting a year, but I haven’t been around headphones enough to know about pricing. Much appreciated.
I wound up coming up with a way to integrate the HSA-1b’s (and HSA-1a, Jotunheim R and RAAL “Ribbon Interface”) outputs into my modular headphone cable system.
Doing that for conventional headphones would be trivial - just a converter along the lines of the included adapter but terminating in my own connector (long since done). But I wanted it to maximize the benefits when driving the SR1a as well, which was rather more involved. And that meant both new amp and headphone adapters, as well as a new “core” cable … since proper utilization of the SR1a means a total cable resistance of under 0.2Ω.
Using a combination of new raw wire, a net-higher AWG, different bonding techniques, an augmented geometry, a new shield, different spacers and binding, and a fair amount of burning candles at both ends, I was able to come up with a way to achieve my goals for the HSA-1b (etc.) and SR1a, and remain fully compatible with my existing modular cable system …
Well, with two caveats …
A different “core” cable is required to get the resistance down under 0.2Ω (with a 7 foot total cable length I was able to hit 0.1Ω) for the SR1a (more important if you’re using the “Ribbon Interface”). And if using that new core, dielectric biasing and active shielding are not available (though those are optional anyway).
But, otherwise, it’s still a fully modular system, and all existing amplifier adapters, headphone adapters and cores work with each other and the new HSA-1b and SR1a “upgraded” versions. This makes using the HSA-1b as my only solid-state amplifier with all of my cans even more flexible and capable.
Maybe post more details in the cable thread …
If you had a normal desktop setup, instead of being a space-constrained circumglobal navigator, would this be worth the effort?
Would what, specifically, be worth the effort?
(And I do have a normal desktop setup - I just don’t want more stuff on it than I absolutely have to have.)
Torq asked: Would what, specifically, be worth the effort?
Building super-custom cables with what appears to me (as a non-cable builder) to be non-std materials and non-std/innovative techniques. In asking the question I make the assumption that most people with the ability and desire to buy a RAAL-requisite HSA-1b amp will already have another high-quality amp to drive conventional headphones, and intend to keep that other amp. So they don’t HAVE to use the HSA-1b as their amp for conventional h/ps. But maybe I’m just totally missing the point of what you’re doing.
Fundamentally, that’s it.
The principal point of my cable system is the full modularity - i.e. the ability to connect any of my amplifiers/sources to any of my headphones, with varying overall cable lengths.
Without that modularity, even if I was content with a single cable length for all uses (which I’m definitely not), I would need 112* (yes, one hundred and twelve) separate cables to achieve the above. Even that would assume I was content to move cables between headphones every time I want to listen to something different.
Then multiply that by the three most common cable lengths I use.
I have no desire to have >330 cables hanging around, even where I have the space to do so. And I certainly don’t want to try and organize them. Especially not when I can just have one module for each source/amp, and one for each headphone, each of which is a foot long and can be left connected, and then just plug in the core cable length I want at the time.
And that’s without factoring in the SR1a or the HSA-1b at all.
So, travel or not, it’s a necessary evil for what I want to accomplish. I added the HSA-1b/SR1a compatibility so that for cases where that was the only amplifier I was taking along, I was fully covered by one cable setup still.
I do too, which is something that makes the modularity of my cable system even more necessary, not less.
I don’t HAVE to either. At a minimum, SR1a excepted, I could run them off my Woo WA234 MKII MONOs, straight out of the DAVE or Hugo TT2, from the RME ADI-2 PRO FS R BE, either of my DAPs, the phone/dongles and the Linn rig etc. And either the DAVE or Hugo TT 2 is going to be with me as a source no matter what I am doing unless it’s a “DAP and IEM only” excursion.
There aren’t really standard materials, every builder, hobbyist or pro, has their preferences in style, material, connectors, geometry/topology, shielded/non, sheathing/braiding (or both), and so on.
*I have amps/sources with 2.5mm TRRS, 3.5mm TRS, 4.4mm TRRRS, 6.5mm TRS, Dual 6.5mm TRS, 4-pin XLR(F), 4-pin XLR(M), Dual 3-pin XLR and 4x banana plugs. I have headphones with the 3-pin mini XLR, 4-pin mini XLR, 3.5mm TS, three different configurations of 3.5mm TRS, two different configurations of 3.5mm TRRS, HD6XX, HD8XX, LEMO-B2 (Utopia), 2-pin IEM, QDC and MMCX connectors.
I’m watching the cable thread with baited breath, especially hopeful for the type and source of the cable you are using.
Don’t hold your breath! 
Even if I told you what it was, and where it came from*, you can’t buy it yourself …
I’m only able to get it (well, “them” now, since I’m using two types of raw wire) via a former business partner, who runs an R&D lab (they’re not a vendor). They have it specially drawn, to order, in lots that are multiples of 10 km (~33,000 feet), from a manufacturer in Germany who only does industrial contracts.
My minimum purchase is 300m/1,000 ft, which is now a ~$10,000 deal (it’s gone up nearly 50% in the last year). The new wire is even more. Current economics mean that may switch to a 1000m minimum.
*Even then I’d have to go do some legwork, since while I know the specs and internal designation for what I am buying from the lab, assay details etc. I don’t have the manufacturer’s SKUs etc.
I’m sure @Torq would sell you a small batch, around 3000m length, for the low low price of $90k.
I would.
At that price, I’ll probably get two.
(Seriously though, if Torq hears meaningful improvement with that wire, I’d trust his cables to be worth it.)
In the words of the, great, late, departed, Douglas Adams, I refuse to deal with fiddling small change!
So it’d have to be an even $100,000
Besides, if I was to start selling raw materials like that, I’d have to do it as a separate “vendor”. Which means lawyer fees (yes, I could fill out the paperwork myself, but that’s incredibly unappealing), business filing fees, new business bank accounts, a website and photographs. That’s literally like almost two straight days of work …
I genuinely appreciate the vote of confidence … but … I don’t hear meaningful improvements vs. much more prosaic wire stock.
I use that wire because it’s the best, empirically, I can get my hands on. It’s good enough for ultra-sensitive instruments in the most extreme situations/environments. And the provenance behind that, more than raw costs of manufacture, are expensive.
I don’t make sonic claims for my cables.
@Torq : would you qualify the harmonic richness of the HSA-1b similar to that of the Focal Arche?
In general, do you feel the HSA-1b is a better amp for the Utopia and Stellia than the Arche (amp only)?
It’s richer than the Arche.
No.
If I was just running my Stellia and Utopia, and didn’t have an SR1a to drive, I’d take the Arche.
[Edit: This might change with a broader diet of headphones; I do find the HSA-1b to be particularly seductive with planar cans, and it’s VERY dynamic, but if JUST the Stellia and Utopia, and NOTHING else, then still Arche.]
As much of a fan of Arche’s performance as I am, given the various reported USB issues (which I’ve not personally experienced) I wouldn’t buy one myself right now.
MMMmmmm. Maybe … you should consider wi-fi. I notice that I’m not even using the wires I had from my old POP in the basement, with the punchdown block and 10baseT switch. All that good CAT 4 going to waste (others were using CAT 3 at the time, and I figured CAT 5 - which was new - was extravagant).
Or Bluetooth. Radio cleans up lots of wires, and may be more economical.
ducking and running
Done properly, that’s a cold-weld, and better than anything soldered or hot-welded. Which is part of why we do IDC in HT installations.
More than is needed for bit-perfect Redbook audio.
And most ethernet protocols are free from clock concerns (just packets of sample data).
My self/custom built “Music Conduit” streamer uses WiFi (though not exclusively).
It is provably bit-perfect.
And the sample-clock isn’t network-bound.
But none of this relates to how lovely the HSA-1b sounds, either with the SR1a (where it is absolutely spectacular) or with conventional headphones. You’re looking (hearing) at a cross between a DecWare Taboo Mk III and EC Blackwidow 2, but with more punch and slam and presence than either …
Blu-Mk2 → Chord DAVE in pre-amp mode at 0 dB (via XLR).
HSA-1b with 0 dB input attenuation, and set at about “18” on its dial …
Feeding HiFiMan HE6SEV2 … via its “ribbon” output …
Playing:
Welcome to “religion” …
ahhh, so you have the exact same set up I do…dave/blu2 into the hsa-1b and setting the dave to 0 I also am then listening to my susvara at say 15-20 for the non loud remastered stuff…most others have been suggesting they listen at much lower volumes on the hsa-1b …I dont listen all that loud so I was starting to question my sanity lol…I also find myself listening to the hsa-1b with the sr1a at around 10 with loud recordings and around 15-20 with the quiet recordings…also I am listening from an external hard drive full of my music using roon…
When I drive my VCs (switch set to HP) I only need the volume set to ~3-5 to work well for me. When using the sr1a (switch set to SR1) I find myself more in the 12-15 range (or beyond) to get a similar effect. Is this normal? I’m using the stock ZMF XLR cable for the VCs.
I was reading above about having an input level set at -10 dB vs. 0dB but adjusting that requires opening the amp, correct?
Yes you must open the amp which isn’t difficult but depending on the type of screws holding the top plate on you may have to search for the correct tool.
Changing the settings is easy just make sure the amp is off and unplugged. I removed mine to the kitchen countertop and place it on a sufficiently large enough towel to prevent damage to the exterior finish.
The little switches can be changed with a finger but my hands are large so I use a wood dowel, actually, one of those bamboo skewers used for shishkabob.