Thanks. This appears to be a great forum. Lots of knowledgeable participants.
I love the Bartok. I used to have the Chord Dave, but with the Bartok there is more “there there”. More of those wow feelings with the music.
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Sorry? You are correct. Sold the SR009s and BHSE to fund my current setup. 
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will have the possibilty for a longer listening session with the SR1a next weekend, combined with the ZMFs lineup and others
should I even give it a try? won´t have the budget for any RAAL product - not for this first nor any following version + amp …
won´t it destroy my ZMFs Auteur or Aeolus listening session? 
- one of both I consider to purchase/order in this year
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I would go ahead and give them a listen - if nothing else it’ll tell you if they’re even something you want to give any more though too between now and whenever you’d consider getting a set.
They’re not going to ruin your ZMF listening session, either. I own both SR1a and ZMF cans and the ZMF’s get plenty of head-time. They’re different experiences, and both are excellent and worthwhile. I think they’re more likely to give you better appreciate for both sides than diminish your enjoyment of one or the other.
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ok, thank you Ian - so BEFORE I listen to the the SR1a
I first try the ZMFs, decide for one over the other and stick with it.
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I think you will appreciate what the SR1A does…but you would probably get more enjoyment from the ZMFs.
The SR1A for me is the bridge between speakers and headphones. Not quite one or the other. Phenomenal sound and it can be very addictive.
On the other side the ZMFs are more what I am personally looking for in a headphone. They just sound “right” to me and I can use them with all my gear including my N6ii DAP.
SR1A is kind of like that sports car you baby and take out on occasion, while the ZMF is a Porsche Cayman daily driver 
it might not be the 911 but it sure handles phenomenally and is more fun to drive on the daily…YMMV lol
Both are works of art and exceptional performers, just in different ways. SR1A is more F-1, while ZMF is more touring racing/club car racing series.
Not completely accurate analogies but, you get the idea
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yes I get it Tyler
can´t help but always fall asleep in 2 minutes on the sofa with F1 sounds in the background - since Michael Schumacher quit F1
while I am in love with a Boxer(new 911 have stopped beeing boxer engines)-sound
or 5 valve engines - could listen all day to my Volvo C30R gaso 2,4i (without turbo)
it will be fun - so or so.
I tried once L700s but this will be different, from what I read. Wonder what they will drive them from - pictures will be posted here after the meet and update
is the SR1a any comfortable to wear? - it better is not 
it really looks like it could shred ones ears into 1000 pieces and reminds me of my old Yamaha 1000 Fazer designwise(red+black and edgy)
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They are for me. They just disappear on my head. But their adjustment is limited with the stock bands and people with larger heads may find this to be different.
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so my head goes on diat the next days
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I also find the SR1A to just disappear after I have it set to my preference. I just put it on and forget it’s there to some degree… Actually that is part of its charm, it really feels like I’m listening to speakers.
I look forward to your thoughts on the meet and your experiences with the gear and people!
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The steel band is quite malleable and can be flexed to fit you - that’s part of the design. And all of the leather is removable so you can add your own pieces/ mod to taste.
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yes it looks like it weighs nothing
@TylersEclectic - Hope to get my thoughts together in an eloquent way - will ask Katja, my wife to help me with it
Will take notes and she will hear the hole weekend nothing but my impressions hahaa
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@pennstac I’m considering selling my Stax SR-009S + KGSSHV Carbon rig because it’s just not getting enough head time to keep them around (That’s how disruptive the SR1a can be)…PM me if interested.
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What you guys think about this amp?
https://www.parasound.com/a23+.php
45 amperes peak current per channel with 1100VA transformer + MOSFETs drivers.
On paper looks like an excellent match to the SR1A
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I haven’t tried that specific amplifier with the SR1a.
I did try the much cheaper ($600 vs. $1500) Parasound NewClassic 2125 V2 and that did a perfectly fine job with them. Even with this basic amplifier the SR1a were clearly ahead of a number of other flagship headphones even when those flagships were paired with much more expensive dedicted-headphone amplifiers.
I preferred a single Schiit Vidar ($700) over the Parasound NewClassic 2125 V2 ($600), and dual-Vidar’s really didn’t get matched until I hit the AHB2 ($3000), and there I preferred the low-end drive of the dual Vidar’s over the Benchmark unit.
Can’t say where the A23+ would come vs. dual-Vidar’s in general … though I am pretty sure that, just due to the increased channel separation/reduced crosstalk that a dual-mono configuration would yield that the imaging and resolution should favor the dual-Vidar/dual-mono setup.
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Do they project big sound images like the egg shaped hifiman headphones, not to be confused with soundstage. Things sound bigger, that’s what I mean.
I missed the hifiman ananda the day I sold it and want to get either the hekse or this one and I don’t know if the sr1a will provide that big sound image. I have the Verite if you want to make a reference.
I found a review (awsome reviewer btw) of the integrated version of this amp.
Luckily he reviewed the sound of the amp section only which is the a23+ ($1500)
tldw; powerful bass, warm mids, and smooth highs, it looks like it fits like a glove with the sr1a!
It also has a really high bias of class A, 2.8w per channel.
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Hi and welcome @nishan99.
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No, things sound appropriately “sized” (based on expectations from own recordings) with the SR1a, not the “exaggerated”, more diffuse, images I heard with the HE1000se, Arya and Edition X V2.
I think the HiFiMan ovoid cans are the only headphones I’ve heard that exaggerate image size to that degree.
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What the SR1a will do is give you actual depth cues … i.e. audible, specific, front-to-back layering and positioning … which puts them in a very small club (which includes the MySphere and to a lesser extent the Abyss, if you cant the drivers forward, and to a lesser extent still the HD800S).
Lots of cans sound like the stage is in front of you to varying degrees, and is usually either flat or curved, but they almost all lack the ability to properly project degrees of depth and layering. You effectively lose the brain’s HRTF processing and so no depth delineation is apparent.
Even with cans that are mechanically situated such that they radiate sound in a pattern that fully encompasses the pinnae, allows for natural, acoustic, crosstalk/interchannel-delay, and that projects from the front back against the pinnae, true depth effects still require the music to have had it in the first place and for it to be captured … which usually means it’s either fake (and much less overt/convincing) or it’s the result of very specific recording techniques - with only proper binaural recording techniques doing it naturally and with any semblance of accuracy.
In fact it’s almost impossible to illustrate or explain the difference to someone without letting them hear both. Play some of the Chesky binaural recordings on the SR1a or MySphere vs. pretty much any other headphone and you tend to get head-slapping “Oh, now I see why you say most headphones don’t do front-to-back layering!” moments.
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Now, headphone with drivers taller than your pinnae, and not pressed right up against them, will tend to impart a sense of “height” to the image that isn’t present with smaller, round, drivers firing straight at the ear from the side. This isn’t delineating musical content or instruments at “different” heights (there’s nothing really capturing this at recording time, outside of some binaural recordings), just that there is a sense of vertical scale to what you hear. But the SR1a drivers are definitely tall enough to have this effect, which does make for larger sounding images - as now they have additional “dimensionality”. But it still isn’t exaggerated like some HiFiMan units.
Fundamentally the SR1a sound like high-end, properly-setup, near-field monitors, when it comes to imaging and stage, placement, layering and image size … where as the HiFiMan headphones (along with almost everything else) sound like, well, headphones.
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