Best headphone under 10k$?

You may want to contact him for audition of HeDDphone


DecentLevi
1
1d


Hi guys I set up a meet up in north Seattle the last Saturday of January. It’s looking a bit quiet over there due to another competing event on the same day, but it’s a unique meet at a cafe and probably my one-and-only event in Seattle. If any of you would like to join feel free to post on its’ thread 8. If you’re not a Head-Fi member feel free to just show up… whether or not you have the HEDDphone is no problem.

Hedd Audio HEDDphone - Official Thread

It will be nice if you can listen to Sr1a side by side with HEDDphone.

 

I'm visiting family in Georgia for about another month. I won't be in Seattle for the January meet(s). However, if a HEDDphone lands in Atlanta in the next month and a little mini-meet gets planned and announced I'm golden and will get to hear it. I'm certain I'll get the hear the HEDDphone sometime this year either in Seattle or Portland. Then I'll be able to make an informed decision about buying it. I don't want to churn through $2K+ headphones trying to find the right one. I want to audition them first then decide.

 

Ham

Good luck to your trip to Atlanta.

It will be nice if you have a chance to listen to HEDDphone over there.

I myself am happy with combination of Sr1a(fast and exciting sound) and Stax 009s(nuanced details).

Thus no intention to buy or audition more headphone

 

HEDD Audio HEDDphone - Official Thread

Someone just compared HEDDphone with Sr1a.

He said Sr1a beat Heddphone hand down.

Crown XLS 2502(600$ but 775W for 4ohm)) could drive Sr1a very well.

If you have any inefficient planar speaker,like Magnepan Crown will do magic to it.

Sr1a is my end game headphone.

I recommend you to listen to Sr1a yourself before pulling the trigger for Heddphone.

 

I am listening to
Glazunov - Violin Concerto in A Minor
played by Jasha Heifetz through Sr1a.

Violin tone is sweet with marvelous details and wide soundstage.


I had lived with Sr1a for two weeks now.

This is a really amazing piece of musical instrument.

If you like ribbon speaker or headphone lover, you shall audition this.

They have unconditional 15 day's return polity.


You need speaker amplifier over 100 watts at 6 ohm ( I feel that 150 watts is better).

I noticed occasional clipping with Rogue Cronus Magnum II (80 watts for 6 ohm) although it sounds sweet with tube amp at moderate level.

Crown XLS 2502 (600$, 775 watts for 4ohm) work well with Sr1a.

 

The Sr1a is definitively NOT the headphone for me. I want something that will work with the amplification I already have and the styling is not something I feel appealing.

 

But it's sound quality is amazing and it can be driven well with reasonably priced amp.

 

I had been listening to Raal Sr1a last two weeks enjoying its open and fast sound.

Today I am back to Stax 009s driven by Kgsshv Carbon for comparison.

009s is not a slouch in speed with more bass than Sr1a.

Both of them sound nice.

009s sound more analog with rounder and liquid texture.

Sr1a sounds more digital with lively and open signature but without harsh edge.

If I have to choose one, I will go for Sr1a.

But I will keep both since I also enjoy analog sound out of 009s.

Purist Audio Design balanced cable connected between Dave and Carbon amp help 009s sound rounder.

 

Wow! If that is true, I don't see the Raal catching on with large swaths of the headphone community regardless of price. Most of the CanJam crowd think the Stax already has too little bass for their enjoyment.

Last year I got to listen to the new Warwick Aperio side-by-side against their Sonoma Model One (which I use at home). The Aperio system is a killer:

Warwick Acoustics APERIO Electrostatic Headphone System

"The Aperio is the finest headphone system I have ever had in my home, and also the finest I have ever heard (including some that cost far more than the Aperio). If you seek a highly capable and profoundly revealing music exploration tool, the Aperio is the system for you."

High praise from Chris Martens! Of course, you can't mix-and-match like with other headphones.

 

It depends on amplifier.

I heard that Stax 009s driven by Stax amp lacks bass.

But 009s driven by Kgsshv Carbon amp has enough bass impact to match Sr1a while Sr1a give slightly faster bass.

 

I got my Jotunheim R (dedicated amp for Sr1a) on Saturday.

Fresh out of box, it did sound veiled without enough bass

But it did not sound sibilant or harsh though.

I had kept playing it 4 hours then much of veil was gone with more bass coming out.

After having it on overnight, temperature on the top plate was around 90 degree, thus it appears to be fine to leave it on 24/7.

I had serious comparison between Jot R and Crown XLS 2502(775 watts for 4 ohm), using Dave and Mscaler and Purist Audio Design balanced cable.


To my surprise, they sound very similar.

Crown has slight edge on bass impact and speed.

Jot R has slight edge on clean treble and details.

Jot R has clear edge on soundstage width and depth.



https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008FVZHCW/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

With Chesky test CD, I could realize how wide and deep Sr1a can get with Jot R.

I have HD 800s, but it seems that Sr1a with Jot R give slightly more wide and deep soundstage than HD 800s.

With overall musicality and enormous soundstage out of Jot R, I can not recommend it too highly for Sr1a.

Combination of Sr1a and Jot R will be my end game headphone set.

 

LOL Thomas. Haven't we heard you say this several times before?

 

Yes I said several times.

I really like Sr1a more with Jot R with best headstage that I had experienced.

 

At least that combination is significantly under $10k.

 

Around 4K$ if they give 300 off without interface box.

It is a pretty good value.

Other Totl headphone, Abyss 1266 TC, Susvara, Stax 009S with reasonable headphone amp cost upward of 7k$.

 

Electrostatics is a realm that I have not heard yet. Must be fun to be able to experiment with these. I'm very happy with my Feliks Elise and Meze Empyrean combination in the meantime.

 

Sr1a use ribbon like Apogee speaker.

Stax 009s is electrostatic.

I recommend you try Sr1a first than Stax since it gives much more open and exciting sound.

 

Although I had enjoyed Raal Sr1a driven by Jot R for the last three months for open and exciting sound, sometimes it got close to hot.


I ordered Freya+ to tame the sound of Sr1a.


I received Freya+ this morning


I skipped JJ stock tubes and inserted Nos Amperex 6sn7gtb in gain stage and Sylvania 6sn7gtb in buffer stage.


After running demagnetization tracks twice( 6min each) on Freya and Jot R, I started listening to Capricio Italian (Tchaikovsky) directed by Bernstein.


Wow, Freya with Jot R sounds much better than Jot R only with more relaxed and nuanced details but with minimal loss of transparency


While it sounds slightly thin with Jot R only.


Old Jazz recording by Benny Goodman sounds more relaxed with less hot edge from Freya and Jot R.


My digital source is Dave and HMS.


I use 20ft Purist Audio Design balanced cable between Dave and Freya and 6ft Synergistic Research balanced cable between Freya and Jot R.


I still have several choice of tube rolling with Sylvania vt231, RCA gray glass 6sn7gt and all quad Syl 6sn7 gtb.


Audio depends on personal preference, but Freya fitted with Nos tubes and Jot R sounds much more musical to my ears than Jot R only with overall nuanced presentation.


Although I had enjoyed fast and exciting sound out of Sr1a driven by Jot R for the last three months, I keep going back to 009s driven by Kgsshv Carbon amp to get more relaxed sound.


With Freya and Jot R, Sr1a move halfway between Jot R only and 009s with relaxed presentation.


I will also apply Freya to Kgsshv Carbon amp later today to find its effect on sound of 009s.

Out of curiosity, I am driving HD 800s out of Rca output of Freya using "Hosa TPR-257" adapter bought from Amazon.

Wow, Freya+ is also a killer amp for HD 800s.


I had driven HD 800s by headphone output of Dave and HMS.


It sounds transparent but with one note bass.



But with Freya in the chain after Dave, HD 800s sounds almost perfect with nice soundstage, clean details and full and textured bass.

 

Taking one for team headphones - ordered the Mysphere 3.2 headphones to pair with the Burson Audio 3x DAC/preamp/headphone amp.

 

Heddphones + DCS bartok = outstanding

 

Have you tried the Fostex TH-900?

 

No.

I have only four headphones including sr1a, Stax 009s, Senheiser HD 800s.

 

Currently listening to Miles Davis' Kind Of Blue with the Mysphere 3.2/Burson Audio Conductor 3X Reference - the sound-field is as wonderful as many reviewers have mentioned. Dynamics (especially softer micro-dynamics of drumming) are far better presented and faster than anything I've heard before, except the dynamics have been expanded downwards, rather than just being able to play louder. The midrange and highs sound natural. The bass - yes, not as prominent or deep as the Neumann NDH-20 - but nicely present, rather than in your face. It's not surprising that the old AKG K1000 sets were much admired back in the day (and still are). However, the Mysphere 3.2 can be powered by something far less than a powerhouse amp, compared to those AKG K1000 phones.
Lastly, the imaging is superb and out of the head. It's like seeing an OLED TV for the first time - the dynamic range has been extended downwards from the median, rather than upwards from the maximum (ala QLEDs) and it's far easier to ignore tape hiss to visualize the players who now appear in the studio space, rather than in a mixed up haze of tape hiss, studio reverb and actual direct playing sounds. I feel that all the extraneous stuff is separated far more from the music than before and it really is like the door has been opened into the studio. I've not heard anything like it before. My previous favourite phones were the Stax Sigma Pro "Earspeakers", which operated on a similar principle to the Myspheres. No longer - the Myspheres have the lead.

At Casa Buchanan, of headphones, we have:
AKG K701
Beyerdynamic T1 Gen. 2
Microsoft Surface headphones
Mysphere 3.2
Neumann NDH-20
Stax Lambda Nova Signature
....and to play them:
Burson Audio Conductor 3X Reference
SPL Phonitor
Stax SRM Monitor.

 

Picking up a copy of Dr Chesky's Sensational, Fantastic and simply Amazing Binaural Sound Show CD to add the Stax' Space Sound CD. Thanks for the heads up @thomaskong

 

I purchased the SR1a a couple of months ago after many months of research and reviews.
I’m playing them through the Jonumet preamp running off zone 3 from my Marantz preamp.
My previous headphones for comparison are Stax Sr-007mkii, Stax Sr-009, Sennheiser Hd 800, and 2 Grados.
In my opinion the SR1a is superior to all of them and one of the most important upgrades to my music listening experience. The soundstage is incredible and adjustable. The clarity and precision is phenomenal. The comfort is better than any headphone I’ve ever had as I can listen for many hours and feel no need to take them off, no fatigue.
I’m hoping to upgrade the preamp to the Hsa that according to Dan from Raal, will be available again hopefully in July.
Highly recommend trying them.