I finally got a chance to build the cables prototypes I wanted to try for the standard* RAAL-requisite Amp/Ribbon Interface and SR1a.
“Audiophile” 4-pin female XLR connectors are very thin on the ground. The Furutech is probably the best looking (and I love their connectors), but the less-expensive Neutrik actually works better for our purposes here.
The 3.5mm TRRS connectors are from Eidolic, have big cable-entries, and have a variety of optional inserts for appearances. I went with the carbon-fibre here to match the SR1a’s build.
I also went with carbon-fiber for the Y-splitter for the same reasons:
That’s a quick cell-phone snap of the finished prototype (better pictures during the day, I expect).
I built three versions, each with differing impedances (special measurement techniques and equipment are required to properly measure resistances this low … i.e. between 0 Ω and 0.2 Ω), as impedance affects treble-response to an unusual degree with the SR1a.
The 0.1 Ω version seems to provide the best overall result … and, for me, is the final step in getting from “studio neutral”, to just “plain neutral”, without needing software-EQ.
Electron-beam irradiation (EBI) - for improved flexibility and reduced microphonics.
Cryogenic treatment - because … “Why not?”
Reflective and Glow-in-the-Dark cable sheathing.
And, of course, they’re reassuringly expensive.
*I still plan on building an alternative interface, with different connection options, selectable treble-bias, and options for dielectric biasing and active shielding.
**Options for 0.05 Ω, 0.1 Ω and 0.2 Ω.
Looks wonderful. I envy that you CAN do this and indeed DID this…
Hope your new cable not too heavy. It looks thicker to my eyes.
My new toy (aimed for a better SR1a experience) will be here tomorrow or on Tuesday. I bet the total raw cost of your cable already exceeds that of the toy I am saying…
Yes, it’s a thicker cable. There are two completely separate cable runs, one for each channel, so twice as much sheathing, and the wire gauge is higher. The cable for each channel is a tiny bit thicker than the stock cable also - but of course there are two of them.
Stock cable diameter is 3.5mm total vs. the individual runs on mine are 4mm. The interleave of two channels makes the total cable thickness of mine about 8mm
Stock cable weighs 89 grams at 7 feet long. Mine is 140 grams at 6 feet long. In both cases, 40 grams of that is the connector to the interface, so isn’t adding to the suspended weight.
Stock cable is slightly more flexible.
If I built mine without the shielding, which is definitely an option, it’d come down to ~100 grams and actually be more flexible than the stock cable.
Most boutique headphone cables are not shielded - the rely on their braiding/twisting to provide some level of noise rejection. Though since many are braided for looks as much as anything else, this tends not to be as effective as it could be. On the other hand, unless you’re dealing with long runs of cable that is in close proximity to EMI sources it’s not much of a concern on a practical level*.
Raw parts cost for the finished 6ft cable in 0.1Ω configuration, is about $400. Though unless you buy parts in bulk, you’ll add $40 to that for shipping, since each component type unfortunately comes from a different supplier.
*I can certainly put together a real-world case where the geometry and shielding makes a clearly audible (and easily measurable) difference, but you’d never encounter it in a home setting unless you went out of your way to cause it.
I got the SR1a on Friday along with the Vidar and the Performer s800 but did not have a lot of time to do a proper evaluation other than quickly running through @Torq‘s suggested songs. In a nutshell, the SR1a provide the very best sound that I’ve heard to date coming from headphones, period.
The bass response is the most detailed and well textured I’ve ever heard to date. None of the HPs that I own (009S, Utopia & Empyrean) can match its speed, attack, decay. As @Torq stated, the SR1a takes no prisoners, it reveals everything upstream as it is with unparalleled realism and accuracy without any coloration. Neutrality is one of its main personality traits, I guess that’s why it’s very highly regarded in the professional realm for music production.
In less than 2hrs of listening time, the SR1a made me reach a state of audio nirvana for the very first time, therefore I don’t want to go back to anything less than this. I’ll spare my other 3 headphones because I like the looks, comfort and still enjoy their capabilities.
I’m officially done with headphones for now…until the release of the SR2a!!!
Performer s800 vs Vidar Impressions (both using the ADI-2 DAC + Phonitor X as a pre-amp)
As previously described by other Raalers, Vidar gets ~90% of the job done. Everything sounds coherent, detailed but the bass response leaves something to be desired. If you get a Vidar and don’t listen to a higher quality and more powerful amp, you will be perfectly fine but after listening to the s800, I couldn’t go back to the Vidar and I’m currently deciding whether I keep it for my small bookshelf speakers or return it (I kinda hate doing that to Schiit).
The Performer s800 bring the most out of SR1a (vs the Vidar)! The bass is refined, tight, extremely well textured and hefty. As a former drummer, I can attest that the SR1a + s800 combo provides the most realistic presentation of kick drums I’ve heard coming from headphones. Vocals are so natural, one can hear things like the singers lips, the breath between notes, the chesty sounds. Cymbals sound life-like, you can hear the resonance from the cymbals’ plates. Listening to some percussion recordings, I heard the drumhead (aka drum skin) vibrations and resonance.
I closed my eyes while listening to some well recorded jazz and prog rock performances and I was literally transported to the recording studios…It seems like the SR1a allows you to understand the intents of the sound engineer with the mics placement, mixing techniques and chosen compromises for each recording. You may also be able to evaluate the quality of different mics used on different recordings…The SR1a paired with a good DAC & Amp can draw you into the recording and make you navigate through the stage, panning from one instrument to another all the way to where the singer is positioned - it’s that revealing!
The cherry on top for me is the possibility to adjust the soundstage to one’s desire without major compromises on the frequency response. With the baffles “fully” open, I got to experience the largest soundstage I’ve heard on any headphones at the expense of some sub-bass loss. Closing them in to a point to where they almost touched my ears, gave me a more intimate sound although still wider than the Utopia.
The SR1a made me question my need for a high-end speaker system - I think I’ll hold that project off for now because I feel like I can have similar sound quality without bothering the missus nor my neighbors.
Later on (I expect), I’ll share additional impressions with specific songs for reference.
I’m afraid I don’t know the answer…the volume knob on the Phonitor X is at 10 - 11’o clock most of the time and occasionally goes to 1’ o clock. I tried at maximum level and I was surprisingly still “comfortable” to listen to the SR1a at that level for a few seconds (mostly because of fear instead of pain). I can’t do that with any of my other headphones, the max I can get to is about 2’o clock before I’m in pain.
Thanks for your impressions anyway. As I was largely underwhelmed by ahb-2’s subpar performance (I don’t want to pay no more than 2x THX789 for that amping…), s800 seems a definitely better in-production choice (or candidate at least) if I go up higher – which I don’t think quite necessary at the moment though.
The only dip switch I’ve on is #6 to switch the s800 into standby when I switch the Phonitor X to headphones output and/or when I turn it off. I guess the answer is 110 dB then.
Off topic: I’m so happy with the PX’s functionalities…it’s my pre-amp for SR1a, turntable and my headphone amp for the Utopia/Empyrean without the need of messing around with cables, just by switching inputs and outputs on the front panel - it’s extremely convenient when compared to the XE.
I’m going to assume that means 110 dB peaks, with most program material being less than that. Overall seems very loud.
Part of why I asked is that I wonder if the design of the RAAL supports/encourages listening at louder levels, which would of course increase detail, impact, etc. assuming that it can handle those levels without distorting.
First, depending on wing angle, perceived SPL varies a lot in the treble. Ribbon driver doesn’t have as wide dispersion as other drivers. Note that ribbon, amt, and planar(OD) are similar in mechanism, but have very different directivity character in free space. There is a specific angle that could minimize SPL loss but otherwise, SPL on eardrum is typically lower than SPL on ribbon. Even in optimal angle, 5-10 db lowered depending on frequency.
Second, I found this driver was not particularly strong in high excursion (= higher moving distance). In my experiments, driver generates higher levels of 2nd and 3rd harmonics quickly over a certain SPL level. That’s nothing with amp, as sr1a is transformer-coupled. From amp’s side, it has pretty easy impedance load (6-8 ohm over frequency spectrum). Fortunately it didn’t sound like clipping. But non-linearly colored.
That said, I prefer to hear sr1a at a lower volume. Actually I can and should.
Reason of ‘should’ : explained above
Reason of ‘can’ : the driver nicely resolves low level information at lower volume than usual
I’m listening at my normal levels (80-85 dB depending on expected length of session).
I can wind things up a lot further without it seeming as loud as other cans at the same SPL (measured from the ear canal). I attribute that to lower distortion. But I have no need to do this. Resolution/detail (apparent, and real) at lower volumes is already superior to pretty much everything else so there’s no need to.
Fundamentally, it’s a shift in treble level; the lower the cable resistance the lower the perceived treble energy (I’ve yet to measure it, but it’s clearly audible).
With my 0.1 Ω cable, and driven off the Linn or Chord amps, I would cease describing the SR1a as “studio-neutral” and would lean more towards just straight “neutral”. One perceptual (but probably not actual … i.e. I bet it doesn’t measure differently) effect of which is the mid-range seems to have a little more body than before.
This has me wanting to add an additional feature to my “enchanced” interface box. The first version I had planned was just going to swap the single 4-pin male XLR over to a pair of female 3-pin XLRs (so I could have a better choice of speciality connectors for the headphone cable) and have a couple of switchable levels of treble-emphasis for the interface’s existing response curve (basically switching in/out some resistors in that circuit).
Now I am thinking about also adding a selectable additional resistance to change the effective resistance of the cable. It might be redundant or unnecessary (I haven’t modeled the existing curve implementation yet, so it might just be possible and, indeed, easier, to do it there), but it’s a thought … and one that would mean I could just build the lowest-impedance cable I can manage and then use a selectable inline load to get the effect I (or anyone else) wanted.
Though if I do that it’ll probably have to either be a discrete relay-switched affair or use a stepped attenuator and some fancy, precision-matches, resistor networks, as none of the digitally-controlled analog attenuator ICs I can find are anything like low enough in resistance to be used directly.
Hmm, I might like to try 0.05 ohm (or as low as possible) when I get any chance.
My understanding is that resistor is frequency-invariant. So, my conjecture is probably compounded effect with L or C components of cable line transmissions plays some roles. Normally it’s too small to consider, but 0.018 ohm ribbon load could make it evident.
Anyway very interesting. Thanks for the data point!
