Thread for all Raal headphones.
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Suprised we didnt have one of these already. My ca1a should be arrving imminently. Im pretty damn stoked
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Some initial CA-1A thoughts.
It’s a very impressive headphone for the price point. Though I’m not really sure what it’s competing with.
There is significant change in the sound over the first couple of hours.
It sounds like what it is, a ribbon driver stuck next to your ear.
Ribbon drivers in my mind have a couple of distinct properties, they are VERY fast, and have effortless treble extension, the CA-1A exhibits both of those, and I think that’s going to make it a love/hate headphone. While it doesn’t really bother me, I think some people will find the combination fatiguing, others will find it technically impressive.
I’ve only used the “coffee bean” pads on the 16 Ohm input on the WA33 so far I will mess around with various combinations later, but not while I’m still trying to get a feel for it.
The CA-1A is a very open sounding headphone, stage is wide and has enough height, separation is excellent, but it can feel a bit flat. Stage is laser focused, reminds me of the my first impression of the D8KPro in this regard, but this is even more so.
It’s probably the fastest headphone I have ever heard, and I say that even in comparison to the E-Stats I’ve heard.
There is a LOT of detail, it really is up there in this regard, Susvara/1266 levels, and that’s emphasized by the pin point staging.
The timbre is generally good, but there is a little too much emphasis on leading edges and the treble content for it to sound very natural.
Drum impacts are “special” in a good way, and it doesn’t suffer from the compressed treble of the 1266.
Tonality is a bit odd to describe, it’s not volume recessed in the mids, but it seems to emphasize them less than either the bass or lower treble frequencies.
Bass is plenty for me even with the Coffee Bean pads, the closed pads are supposed to have more.
The headphone really is defined by its driver, they don’t really sound like EStats or Planars, though they have qualities of both.
I’m going to use them exclusively for the next week or two, but overall first impressions, they are pretty damn good for a ~$2K new headphone.
Comfort, they aren’t really a very comfortable headphone, a combination of the open foam pads, weight and somewhat loose feeling fit make you want to fiddle with them, but you do sort of get used to them, and I haven’t had much discomfort over longer listening sessions.
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I was able to bend the headband slightly (like you do wothn 1266) to get a realy nice fit fwiw. 100% disapear off myhead now.
In pther news, the detail here is batshit. Will be cuttious to compaire to x9k but it may be higher. Certainly a full tier above sus. Not entierly sure how i feel abou the sound overall thoigh tbh. Need more time but im kinda nkt super inspiried currently.
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I would actually be really interested to try that new transformer box with the SR-1A, but I have too many other things to spend money on at the moment, lol.
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I don’t agree with this, it’s certainly on par with the 1266/Susvara, but I don’t think there is actually more there. like the 1266 it’s very in your face with what it’s presenting.
The speed is unreal though, it’s so fast it puts a real emphasis on how drums sound, kick and snare drums sound more like kick and snare drums than they do on pretty much any headphone I’ve heard.
I’m really liking them, I still sometimes balk at the presentation, it’s distracting enough at times I find it difficult to get into the music. The staging is impressively large and spacious feeling as well.
It’s a headphone with a lot of Wow moments, but at the moment at least I find it lacks the coherency (I hate to use such an ambiguous term) of say the Utopia, MySphere or Susvara.
Now I will say mine is still breaking in, so it might still change, and I might just get used to the presentation. But even without that I think it’s a damn good headphone.
It’s unique enough to stay in my collection, the real test for me though, is how often I pull it out after it goes back in it’s box in a week or two.
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For those that have owned/heard both a sr1a (or ca1a for that matter) and LCD R, I was thinking and honestly they share some somewhat similar characteristics don’t they? The speed/snappiness and delicacy end up being somewhat similar with the edge to the raals. Just a random thought lol
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Interesting. My impressions of the sound of these are fairly different than yours across the board. I agree on the crazy speed emphasizing drums and think it’s a major stand out of the cans. Other than that though my impressions seem to vary from yours. For example, I think staging is seriously holding these cans back from going up a tier. While they are extremely open and airy, I have been finding that they separate layers of music extremely poorly. Hell, I think they legit layer worse than my HD580. The also pan extremely unnaturally IMO. There is a lot of motion within the stage but the distance of stuff seems pretty constant and not all that big to me (not small, just not big). So far its my biggest disappointment with the cans. Im going to see what I can do to fix it with pad rolling (im hoping suede pads may add a bit more layering like they tend to with argons and ZMFs).
Also, have your tried the sealed pads yet? They are weird. I have some issues with the peakyness of the treble with the open pads (it emphasizes some stuff really up there some times and can be kinda fatiguing) and those closed pads seem to fix that. They also bring the stage in a bit and make the can over all more romantic but they seem to diminish the timbre of vocals (making them richer than normal). They also seem to reduce the speed and impact of the bass while increasing mid-bass quite a bit. The real annoying part though is that they seem to bring the detail down a fair bit (more inline with sus IMO). Overall I have some real mixed feelings here. Like I think they are worth an experience and for some they will be perfect for the price, but what im hearing currently reminds me of the tradeoffs of lambda stax. TBH I see more people liking cheap vintage labda stax + a good energizer over these so far.
All that said, mine are also still breaking in, so maybe this will change over time. I hope they open up and start to layer better but as of now I don’t realy see myself picking them over sus. All they are really doing is reminding me of how much I love the Sr-1a (that I cant use at work)
Eh, kind of? Like I 100% see what you are saying and I do agree that the tactility/speed/texture is similar between them, but I kinda feel like that’s it. IMO the similarities between LCD-R and Raal (either) are kinda like the similarities between focal clear and LCD-X. There are some specific qualities where they both shine (punch and ultra sharp leading edge dynamics for the price) but ultimately they are pretty different cans
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Yes my take is very different, but I’m using a very different source chain.
I find they layer very well, even in complex pieces, I thought some classical pieces, especially those with am emphasis on strings worked very well.
Initially I thought the stage presented a bit flat, though that’s improved over the first 50 or so hours of listening.
Occasionally the stage can sound just incredibly open, I was listening to The Wall Wednesday or Yesterday, and there were some impressive moments in there.
No, I’ll given them a go this weekend. Along with trying a some different sources and amps.
When I get something new I like to listen to it against knowns, and not flip things around too much, so I can get a good feel for a baseline.
FWIW the different TI-1B inputs (16/32 Ohm) make a significant difference as well, I greatly preferred the 16 Ohm on the Woo when I first started listening, but the headphones have changed a fair amount since then, and I want to go back and listen again.
I don’t think mine are done with the process, but for whatever reason I really clicked with them today, and didn’t find the overall “feel” too distracting to really enjoy listening to them. The issue for me has been they like to shove every leading edge from every slight sound in your face, but it really didn’t bother me today for the first time, might be burn in, might just be me adjusting the very forward nature of the presentation.
Right now, though I’d have to go back and listen to a couple of things, I think they’d be top 4 or 5 for me headphone wise, I’d definitely take Susvara, Utopia and MySphere over them, I have enough issues with the 1266, that would be a tossup (though they sound very different).
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Just tried the sealed pads, definitely not a fan, too much bass elevation for me, I could probably get used to them, but leads to the whole thing sounding “muffled” to me.
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One last post on this for a while.
Finally tried plugging this into the DNA, it’s interesting, certainly not bad.
But not as special as on the Woo.
I swapped to the 32 Ohm input on the TI-1B, even then, the DNA takes most of the aggression out of it, and I think that it detrimental to the overall effect, some of the hyper focused staging is gone, and it’s overall smaller and arguably more “natural”, but complex pieces tend to not separate as well.
It loses some of it’s bass presence as well.
I’m having to run the DNA at 7 out of 10 in volume (that’s more than for the Susvara), it’ll get more than loud enough for me at least, and it doesn’t feel strained like the Susvara does on the same amp.
Some of this I’d have guessed, though I think the degree to which it softened things up was a bit of a surprise, along the loss of some of the expansive stage, things usually go the other way on staging.
Vocals are really nice on the DNA, and if I wasn’t coming from the Woo, I’d would consider it a very good listen.
Overall a very different experience, and one I don’t think is as compelling.
So, I’ll put these in the picky on source gear camp.
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Looks like Raal is getting out of the amplifier business, both the VM-1A and HS-1B are gone from their website. I assume they are all in on the transformer boxes at this point.
My understanding is that the manufacturers of both amps will continue making them, they just won’t be Raal products anymore.
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Where either tube amps, the OTL and the VM1-a worthy tube amps for their price?
I found this statement interesting from Raal on their third transformer box for SEt amps:
I’m borrowing the SR1-a and Ca-1, definitely not wanting to try it with Stratus with T1-b/OB unit. Worked well with my A&S amp, surprisingly well.
Transformer box worked decently with the CA-1A on the Stratus, using the 16 Ohm tap.
SE 2A3 amps like the stratus are going to be close to the bare minimum for the most part, they will almost all be in the 3 Watts and down range.
The question is what impedance those 3 watts peak into.
Whether the TI-1C will be better depends a bit on whether Donald uses an 8/3000 (or 8/something else) transformer or something designed for headphones with a higher impedance, that will push more voltage vs current when you get that 3 Watts.
I’m sure Donald would answer the question if you asked, you just need to know if it’s putting more power in to 8 or 16 Ohms.
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Finally pulled the CA-1A’s out again, been a while, including a DAC change since I last had them out, and they really are extremely good. I don’t often say this, but if it’s a signature you like, they compete extremely well with headphones at significantly higher price points.
Although it’s a different experience, overall I think they are a better headphone than the SR-1A. The more conventional presentation makes them feel less forced.
I think the swap to the Unity DAC helps as well it’s signature helps make the Raal’s feel more natural.
Closed pads still sound terrible to me, but YMMV.
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What amp are you using it with currently.
The CA-1A has become my daily driver along with the mysphere 3.1. I have the newer TI-1C transformer box and even with that the Stellaris at times struggles to drive it well. Not an issue with the Studio-T.
Did you try the filters from Mitch?
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TotalDAC Unity → WA33 → TI-1B (16 ohms)
Haven’t tried it on the Studio T, though I probably should, Stratus struggled with it, and was far less than optimal.
I’m not sure I really want the filters, I’m a bit worried about losing what I like about them, and I put VERY little stock in Head-fi impressions.
I might pick up the Raal silver cable for them though.
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Got the VM1a in on demo today:
About to do some more listening and compare to the Tyrs. This amp has a really pleasant sweetness to it but it seems to lack a bit of texture and grandness next to the speaker amps. I’ll update with more thoughts soon
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could probably cook a steak on that puppy!! Awesome looking though!
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