Doesn’t this already exceed the excursion limit of sr1a’s ribbon (111 dbSPL as far as I know)?
Anyway, it’s important to know how loud one want to hear. As a 75-80 db listener, I am happy to be almost free from power requirement curses (= lots of amp options). 
I’d like to suggest you to measure how loud you want to listen to musics. 100Wpc amp (with typical gain of 27db) easily pushes this headphone to the limit.
At this level of revealing transducer, I believe amplification quality (including both linear and non linear elements) matters more.
@Torq’s finding between Vidar vs Parasound (Pararound having higher rated power) could hint you something.
I haven’t heard the Emotiva but I have heard a few sub-$500 amps. Is the experience a compromise? Yes, but that’s true with any gear that is capable of scaling up substantially with better amplification.
A more nuanced question to ask is whether the experience is more of a compromise than, for example, driving the Abyss TC with a $300 headphone amp. In that regard, I don’t see the SR1a as being fundamentally more compromised. You do give up some quality across the FR and especially bass quality, but the great staging and resolution is, for the most part, less compromised and still class-leading. Of course if you have any plans of upgrading your speaker amp in the future, it would make a lot of sense to have the headphones in hand first.
The Vidar is pretty good for its price, though, so if you can swing for the Vidar I would go with that. It’ll also be easier to sell than an Emotiva amp, people like them and you could also add a second one down the road.
My bad, I remembered the 122 db figure from a conversation I had a while back. Just checked and maximum excursion is 111 db. Without clipping any base you should be able to at least get to 90db on about 20w, although bass quality will still depend on power supply and the amp’s components.
IMO it’s best to overshoot than experience clipping which takes away from the experience of the SR1a’s. The more powerful an amp is, the better it’ll be (usually) at ramping up power quickly at low output levels.
I personally don’t think bass clipping is a practical issue.
As I showed in the earlier post, even 10W (at 8 ohm and sufficiently low distortion) amp with very conservative assumption of being capped at 1.12A needs roughly 99 db spl on headphone end to clip (on amp side). For those who listen at 75-80 db spl on average – supposedly 85-90 db at peak (for low dynamic-range tracks; for high DR tracks average must be lower). 100 db spl on any bass region doesn’t sound likely.
Conversely, if this case can lead bass to clip (equivalently put, bass power out could exceed average+20db), then logically it means that those who listen at 91 db or higher on average (and 101+ db at peak) may cause bass clipping on SR1a side. That’s more problematic. Nearly every power amp has its own protection circuit, but headphones don’t. Considering the nature of ribbon, it may cause irreversible damage to the driver.
And for this reason, I am thinking overpower needs caution. Higher power mostly comes with higher gain – which is configured to generate (nearly) max power out with 0 dbFS source input and zero attenuation. High power could be associated with either (1) more attenuation on pre-gain or (2) higher chance to cause driver clipping (for those listen loudly).
To sum up, in my opinion, three limitations should be considered comprehensively:
And in any cases, listeners should understand attenuation needed properly to protect their ears, amps, and sr1a’s. 
This is a really great thread, I’m learning a lot! Great conversation…also not helping my desire to buy these lol
@Zhanming057 good to see you over here. The more discussion about the SR1a the better. Lately I only post at SBAF and here, Head-Fi has too much noise but is still the place to buy and sell.
Welcome @Zhanming057, nice to see you here!
I will say that, while we’ve never chatted, it was primarily the posts you’ve made (elsewhere) about the SR1a, combined with the lovely photography, that re-spiked my interest in the SR1a enough (after CanJam @ RMAF 2018) to actually follow-up on them.
This was the amplifier I tried to get instead of the Parasound for an entry-level test - but there was no way to do it without buying it - and I had no intention of keeping it (which isn’t fair to the manufacturer), so, sadly, it won’t be something I am actually going to test with.
But on the subject of driving the SR1a without compromises … they are, like any transducer, at the mercy of what’s fed them. And being so transparent, fast and resolving, they’re extremely revealing of differences and characteristics in both amplification and source.
I would, at this point, say a single Vidar is a very solid entry-point, and that the combination keeps the SR1a ahead of most other conventional headphones even when they are driven from much high-end headphone amplifiers (relative to the Vidar and were it sits compared to other speaker amps).
Comparing RME ADI-2 DAC → Parasound → SR1a and RME ADI-2 DAC → Vidar → SR1a it is clear that the Vidar is more resolving, has more low-end grip, and a more refined delivery.
Sticking with the Vidar and driving it via DAVE, the Vidar → SR1a combination still makes it easy to hear differences in the source. Though it’s clear that Vidar is not quite as transparent as is really needed to get the full DAVE experience with the SR1a. Still, DAVE → Vidar was still a clear step beyond RME → Vidar. AND adding in the M-Scaler (with either DAC) was also discernible even with just a single Vidar driving the SR1a.
This is a long winded way of saying that I would take the Vidar → SR1a combination over, say, the Phonitor X → Utopia. That’s how good it starts off …
While waiting for some other amplifiers, I got around to trying the SR1a fed by a Linn Akurate 4200 amplifier. I was going to wait to do this to maintain a steady progression up the “quality” (or “price”) chain, but curiosity got the better of me - and with a free morning I just decided to jump in.
My first impression there was … basically …
The Linn is more resolving, faster, capable of more micro-dynamic subtlety, blacker and cleaner, if a little technical vs. the Vidar. And it is relatively easy to tell the difference in amping here, even though the dual Vidars are more powerful overall.
So while Vidar is a very satisfying pairing, there’s clearly more to wring out of the SR1a (as @Zhanming057 has said both above, and in many other posts). This is not surprising, given how resolving and fast the RAAL’s really are, but it is unusual to hear differences between amplifiers quite so readily.
To put this in perspective … a single Vidar costs $699. The Linn Akurate 4200 costs $6,900 (though technically you could do the 2200 for $4,700 as two of the channels on the 4200 are not being used here).
Also, while it won’t be Vidars driving the SR1a in my main rig ultimately, even next to the Linn pairing they are more than good enough that if I keep them to drive the SR1a in another rig I would be quite happy with the result. And if not, they’ll be easy to repurpose or sell.
This is a huge endorsement coming from you @Torq…I’ve been following you and reading your posts/impressions/reviews for quite some time and the Phonitor X + Utopia combo was really high up on your reference gear list. Therefore, no more words needed, the SR1a + Vidar combo it is… the trigger has been pulled and I’m officially $4k+ down! I hope the combo blow up my skirt. I think I’ll have to tame my expectations down to a more realistic level because at this point I think I’m fantasizing about a sound quality that I never heard and don’t even know if it exists! Lol
Oh man…I can see where this is heading to…the endless quest to scale the SR1a to its limit! That will most likely set me back another $10k+. Lol
Congrats!
I hope you enjoy them as much as I do … though of course you have two weeks to decide once you get them (both).
I do still consider the Phonitor X -> Utopia pairing as the overall technically-best conventional solid-state headphone setup I’ve heard, even if the Vérité is more broadly enjoyable.
And, at least right now, I have no intention of letting either the Phonitor X or Utopia go. The Utopia is still the most overall technically adept headphone I can run with multiple, conventional, sources and amps, and the Phonitor X is still the best solid-state headphone amp I’ve heard.
Perhaps yes:
RAAL-requisite SR1a = $3,500
Benchmark AHB2 = $3,000 (x2?)
RME ADI2DAC = $1,100
Now I’m on the fence between the Benchmark AHB2 and the SPL Performer s800 as my contingency plan if I feel like the Vidar is “not enough”…but I can only get one of the two.
Advices/recommendations are more than welcome.
Thank you Sir! I also hope I like it, it’s going to be even better if I end up loving it.
@MrCypruz If you live in an area with a local 2 channel store, it might be worth your time to head over and test amps for yourself, and you could probably get good deals on demo equipment. That’s how I usually buy power amps, my local dealer has a superb trade-in policy on Spectral upgrades and I’ve already used that once for the SR1a’s.
The AHB2 is good with the SR1a’s if a bit too reference-y. It’s a working professional’s setup, resolving and neutral but for personal listening I’d lean toward something that’s just a bit more opinionated, if only because the SR1a’s are already extremely neutral. If you’re set on the AHB2, call Danny and see what he can do on a bundle. I know that they were talking about a “full stack” SR1a+DAC2+AHB2 bundle a while back, not sure what became of it but you may be able to get a small discount on both pieces.
In roughly the same price range, I’m seeing an Anthem STR and a Bryston 4B3 on USAM, both of which are good choices. A friend of mine based in NYC is selling his Pass INT150 on Headfi, which is also a great option if you prefer a warmer and slightly tube-like signature. At around $3,000-4,000 used my first choice would be Accuphase, but the used amps I’m seeing are mostly in 100v and will require aftermarket modifications for use in North America.
@Torq Thanks for the welcome! I’ve seen the Linn 2200 go for as low as $2,000, it’s not at all far out of reach when compared to a dual Vidar setup. The power amps on their own are indeed on the lean and dry side, Linn flavors up the system just a bit through the preamp. The entire stack running through a KDSM3 is quite something to behold - but certainly not the only way to experience their amps!
I’ve already got the required amp, but it doesn’t have multiple choices for speakers, just one. So the outputs are connected to the Rectilinear IIIs. If I wanted a RAAL SR1a, I’d need to put in some sort of switching box, which is probably not that good an idea.
I recently bought new cables for the Rec IIIs, not crazy, but about $350 or so litz cables, equal length, 11.5 gauge. This replaced old Monster Cable. I’m not anxious to interrupt this run of wire, or to put in something else.
Prior to switching to the Linn Exakt system (something that came about because I knew I was going to downsize my speakers), I was running “Aktiv” 242s from a Klimax DS (pre-Katalyst), Klimax Kontrol (best pre-amp I’ve ever come across, at any price), 2x 4200 and 1x 2200 amps … and that was something to behold … (and I kept one of the 4200s … i.e. the one I’m using at the moment).
The KDSM/3 (Katalyst) was quite an upgrade … though of course in an Exakt system it’s DAC and analog stages are not longer used.
Sound wise the 4200 is very compelling, especially for speed and detail. And not as clinical as I found the AH2B (with other speakers - haven’t tried one with the SR1a here yet). But still on the dry and technical side of things.
It’ll be interesting to see how Chord’s amps fair … as I can easily accommodate a Choral/Ensemble stack (even with dual Etudes), though one of their bigger amps is more compelling still - especially if they’ll cleanly stack with the Ensemble stands …
I’m still interested in hearing about pairings with quality class D amps. These can be had in the $2k-3K range, compared to Linn, Conrad-Johnson, Moon, etc.
I’m going to have a hard time not ordering the same combo over the next couple days @MrCypruz…