The Raal SR1-a: Another Love Letter
I’ve owned the SR1-a twice since I started using headphones frequently at the onset of Covid. I’ve amplified them in various ways. I have also owned now 30 different headphones since I first started participating here on the forums. Many of those were what most would consider TOTL.
The SR1-a is my absolute favorite and everything else has come up short as a replacement. I am a minimalist at heart and also happily married for almost 30 years. I want “monogamy” with my headphones, but have never found one to rule them all as I have in marriage. But the one that never leaves me is the SR1-a, despite the fact that it complicates my desk with dedicated amplifiers.
Here’s why:
Timbre. I’ve said it before, I say it again. Timbre.
As I read the forums I realize that there is an entire generation of hobbyist that only know digital music. I suspect there are many that have rarely, if ever, heard live most of the instruments their gear is reproducing for them. Many will not have played an instrument with others, have had to blend with them, surfing the beat waves of intonation, or reveled in the complicated universe of differential tones. They may never have heard a great orchestra live in a wooden clad concert hall that pre-dates electricity.
This is all fine, music is to be shared and enjoyed in all its forms. This is not a better than thou criticism. But the above mentioned experiences inform a different sense of priorities. And for me, the priority has always been timbre. The Raal simply gets this better than anything else I have listened to, besides reality itself. The Raal convey the very core nature of an instruments’ identity, very successfully. Their speed also makes the music engaging and exciting. They have realistic dynamic range. Do you listen to piano music? I do at least 50%. I have yet to hear another headphone that reproduces piano nearly as well as the SR1-a. In fact, it is often the fundamental flaw that has me selling all other headphones off.
There are many other added benefits as well. For me, the open nature does not inflame my tinnitus as do other favorites (for example the DCA Stealth, an amazing headphone). Closed backs leave me ringing more. Some of you veteran posters may remember I had an injury to my right ear that still haunts me. The Raal go easy on this.
Also, low level listening feels complete. Outside of bass (through some amplification methods) there is rarely an urge to crank it up to an unhealthy level. I hear everything, there is a completeness, even at lower volume levels. This also helps with fatigue and tinnitus.
To their credit, Raal has introduced new methods of amplification which lower the barrier of entry and I hope this will encourage more people to try them. I was ultimately unable to afford their new tube amp, which apparently has them slamming like a mule. But bass is for sure the area where many may consider the Raal disappointing. But even this is deceiving and rests on priorities. They extend very deep, and the bass is textured. However, on some amplification, the bass is not visceral. The Raal are reference, everything is there, but without any euphony.
I’ve been absent the forums for a bit, why am I yet again here to blather on about the Raal? Because I just gave them away!
My daughter lost her hearing from the age of 12 and is legally deaf. She has a cochlear implant in one ear and uses a hearing aid in the other. This is very confusing to the brain, but she has adapted, that is what the brain does with sound. The cochlear implant more or less prohibits the successful use of a traditional headphone. However, the open design of the Raal works very well. At her nearly 20 years of age now, music has become one of the central points of our relationship. My formal studies in ethnomusicology inform what I share with her, and she sends me hip hop. It is a great exchange.
The first time she listened to what she calls the “solar panels”, it was an incredibly emotional experience. Having had natural hearing for the first decade of her life, she remembers what things can sound like. The extreme detail of the Raal combined with their open design, give her more information. Even though she has competing technologies in each ear, it just works. The experience brought tears to her eyes, and as any parent can imagine, mine too.
So my Raal and JotR have moved on to her full time along with my boxes of CDs and I enjoy a flood of texts about her discovery as she listens and explores the music of the world with a detail only the SR1-a can give her.
In my hobbyist opinion, the SR1-a are simply incredible, and I encourage any enthusiast to try them. Especially now that there are so many ways to amplify them at lower cost.
A huge thank you to @RAAL-requisite for continuing their innovation and making these extraordinary windows into the musical experience. It may not even have occurred to Raal that they have made a great headphone for those with cochlear implants, but it is that realization that motivated me to share this post.
Happy Listening.
