I am a passionate bassist and this is my qualm, 4K for SR1A an Jot R or 4K for Phi TC and a worthwhile amp…
Phi TC with Bricasti M3 most recently was breath taking and overall I just enjoy the headphone as a whole, seeing as I’m content with my HD 800 will I enjoy SR1A as much as Phi TC?
Maybe when I hear SR1A for the first time finally I’ll have stronger opinion on it…
Till then thank you @Torq for your continued coverage around Jot R and SR1A
I’m not sure where you’re going to find a Phi TC for $4,000, much less with a suitable amplifier, anytime soon. The basic Phi TC alone has been going for $4,400 used.
The SR1a ups the game, across the board, on the HD800. Other than requiring some accommodation on the amplifier front, I can’t name anything I think the HD800 (modded or not) or HD800S do better.
Vs. the Abyss, if you don’t/can’t/won’t use EQ, then the Abyss will exhibit a higher bass level and better extension. And the difference is more in the sub-bass than the bass overall. Though it doesn’t match the SR1a for bass detail, texture, articulation or speed in my opinion.
If you do use EQ with the SR1a then you can get it to >=95% of the bass level and extension of the Abyss without any trouble. And still retain the SR1a’s superiority elsewhere.
Put another way … and this is just me of course …
After running the SR1a for a little bit, and playing with bass/sub-bass EQ some, I put my Phi CC up for sale - with the intention there being to “upgrade” to the TC version. A bit more time on the SR1a, finding I was slowly backing off the EQ (bass level comes up as the ribbons settle in, and I was using amplifiers that helped there too), and spending more time back to back with the Phi TC, I just decided to skip the TC version entirely.
And I’m still selling the Phi CC (very little demand; easily the worst resale value I’ve experienced on a headphone).
That’s not to knock the Abyss; it’s still my overall favorite planar headphone, despite its fussiness.
I’ll see what JPS comes up with after the Phi TC. It’s the best-placed planar to take on the extreme resolution, speed, detail and impact of the SR1a. But at this point, even if I pulled the trigger today, I am far from convinced that there wouldn’t be another upgrade around the corner by the time they actually arrived.
this is precisely my own experience as well, with the abyss phi and the sr1a.
I second opinion by Ian,
Abyss headphone is the most accurate headphone that I had heard.
But it may need expensive amplifier to get its full potential.
SR1a is a lot of fun with open and fast sound out of ribbon transducer…
Thanks, an yea I haven’t looked at Phi TC prices yet. 4K was going off what I remember the original Phi going for with the new pads they launched before the TC driver upgrade
Either way I appreciate your input as well as some relevant information on pricing for Phi TC these days
I’d be careful interpreting or seconding what I’m saying there … as I personally do not think the AB-1266 Phi CC is the most accurate headphone I’ve heard.
I’m not even sure it makes the top 5 today.
Which is not to say it isn’t excellent, nor that it isn’t one of the most enjoyable headphones around. But that’s not the same as accuracy, and especially not from my perspective.
If you think differently, that’s great - everyone likes different things. I just don’t want my position confused due to misinterpretation or being “seconded”, when I’m not saying the same thing.
Hopefully at a future meet you’ll have time to properly adjust the fit of the Abyss (which is critical to get its proper bass response), and to run it with the high-power, state-of-the-art amplification I have. I just can’t re-arrange all of that on short notice.
Agreed. The TC has too much bass and relatively forced imaging. An improvement over the CC, yes, but not really comparable to the natural imaging of open frame cans.
The TC is fine, but at $5,000 and being very partial to amplification, I can’t really recommend them over the SR1a (or even the “only” $4,000 Mysphere 3.2). $2,500 or so for a used pair of Phi’s is a lot more reasonable.
I think Sr1a will be better value.
It reminds me of Apgoee Duetta Sig that I had been happy from 1989 to 1999.
Thus I will try out SR1a first.
But I am waiting for commercial release of Jotunheim R ”.
Hi all, first time long time. So is the consensus opinion to hold out for the Schiit Jotunheim R? I own both the Blu2 and Dave, and Torq’s excellent posts have me contemplating springing for the full Ensemble stack with an Etude. Is anyone having success driving these with a tube amp?
Many thanks for all the insightful advice and reflections to date – I took a few year hiatus from headphones after owning (too) many end-game setups despite little or no listening time, but this forum encouraged me to jump back in the fray with an SR1a-centric setup.
I’d say I currently have a slight preference for the Étude + Interface vs. the Jotunheim R.
It is slight, though, and pertains primarily to a little more “refinement” or “smoothness” (not that the Jotunheim R isn’t smooth) with the Étude. I get a similar thing with the Linn AK4400 (or 2200) too.
Which might mean the “refinement” effect is down to the interface box. Where as with other amps and the interface they seem to resolve slightly less well vs. Jotunheim R. It’s when you get to the Linn/Étude level that they’re now on par with what the little Schiit manages all on it’s own (and for way less money).
I’m currently of the opinion that, unless you already have a suitable speaker amp you want to use, the Jotunheim R should be the first port of call here. And I suspect for most, it’ll be where they stay. Even with both Linn and Chord amps, I’m buying one …
I’ve done it with a couple.
An early test was with the McIntosh MA252, which had a very nice tone, but despite it meeting specs for the SR1a I had issues getting the levels I wanted out of it without getting the clipping indicators going off (tubes flash orange instead of their normal green). I wasn’t actually hearing any clipping, but I also wasn’t exactly pushing things. I’d have to turn the clipping protection off to use this, and even then it felt a bit rounded off compared to less expensive solid-state options.
I wouldn’t mind trying the SR1a with the new MA352 ($6,500), which has twice the power AND adds the classic McIntosh Vu-meters to the front panel. Though that’s as much about the aesthetic (and tubes) as it is anything else, as between the Étude (main rig) and Jotunheim R (office), I’m already covered.
Another option if you wanted some “tube flavor” is to grab a Saga+, run it it Tube-Buffer mode, and either use it’s more precise and cleaner volume control (with DAVE in DAC mode), with the Jotunheim R turned all the way up, or just turn both all the way up and let DAVE control level in “Digital Pre” mode.
Though I am not sure I’d stack the Saga+ and Jotunheim R … 
With beefier tube amps, things were more convincing, and on par with the solid-state stuff in terms of immediacy, speed and resolution, but now we’re into new-car price territory … which I don’t think is necessary here.
But still, if it kept the tone of the MA252, but had the necessary extra grunt, and maybe upped the resolution a bit, I wouldn’t mind pairing one of these with the SR1a “just because”:
Many thanks, Torq, for the not only prompt but thorough response. I will plan to check out the MA352 – and other beefy tube options short of new-car territory – and report back if I do.
In the meanwhile, I, like many of you, will continue patrolling the Schiit website for the Jotunheim R release.
I wonder if a tube or tube hybrid amp could be designed to direct drive the SR1a?
Tube amplifier with transformer could be designed to match the impedance of Sr1a.
But market will be too small.
Jotunheim R could be economical option which may be sold at the volume of several hundreds.
But how many tube amplifiers could be sold at 2k $ or more.
If Sr1a get very popular, then some Chinese or Rogue Audio may be tempted to make dedicated tube amp for Sr1a.
@Torq, I’ve read and enjoyed your “Life after Yggdrasil” series and I wanted to check with you if the SR1a is a contender or worthy of a similar series on the headphones side of things. It would be epic to have your extensive experience with headphones along with your learnings, comparisons and recommendations compiled on a single series. I can imagine the work that it would be to put such thing together but because you seem to also enjoy writing, I guess that would quickly turn into a rather pleasant affair.
I appreciate the kind words …
But I do not think I have the desire (nor time) to undertake something like that again. I am pretty much resigned to just auditioning/reviewing stuff that might constitute an upgrade to something in my primary rig and/or that it is something I’ll actually buy.
Thanks for the reply. That’s completely understandable, the previous series was indeed very extensive and I can imagine how much effort and time you took to put it together. I also understand your self-imposed limitation to just review/audition what might actually be of interest to you to acquire (and/or a potential upgrade to your current rig) because audition to anything “below” your current rig feels like valuable time “wasted” not listening to your rig.
Hi Ian
I came across your thread of “Life after Yggdrasil” today.
It must have been lot of work to go through so many Dacs.
Your comment on Nagra HD Dac was very insightful.
It was not up to the price tag of 28K$.
Thomas
I am also tempted to try Sr1a with Cronus Magum II amplifier (100Watt) with KT120 tubes.
But as I go through the thread I found that the impedance curves are down in bass region.
Sr1a may give less bass through tube amplifiers.
Thus I am more inclined to wait until Jotuheim R be released.
