I'd love to see a AKG k1000 review by Amir. God help me, one day I'll at least hear one. I'd love to add one to my collection, but before I hear one, it may not be prudent (at the current prices).
I'd love to see a AKG k1000 review by Amir. God help me, one day I'll at least hear one. I'd love to add one to my collection, but before I hear one, it may not be prudent (at the current prices).
I owned two different K1000s and drove them with a variety of amps. They were very fun, some of my favorites, but I suspect they show their age now. I don't think there's much a K1000 does well that an HD800 does not do better, let alone the Raal.
You could get some very interesting spatial effects by spreading the wings out wide, but the sound suffered.
You're welcome to audition my pair if near Moorpark, 93021I'd love to see a AKG k1000 review by Amir. God help me, one day I'll at least hear one. I'd love to add one to my collection, but before I hear one, it may not be prudent (at the current prices).
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I've checked and my listening level is typically not even 1 watt, and only around that when I'm hitting the bass notes in harder tracks, though I'll admit that I am typically a "quiet listening" sort.
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On a last note: For my HE-6se headphones I have a Schiit Modius/Magnius stack which should arrive in the next week or so (I have also run the HE-6se on the stack listed above and while they sound good on that, it's much less portable), and I admit to being just curious to try the SR1a out with some appropriate extra resistors added in to see if that will drive them to the quiet levels I use.
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NOTE: If you're not careful and you use this formula on a headphone amp which can't handle low impedances (~8 ohm for the SR1a using the resistor/impedance matcher box) well, you could damage your headphone amp, so fair warning!
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It sounds fabulous and there is even clearly headroom to spare when watching the RTA input on the Behringer DEQ2496 unit I use for digital equalization before the DAC. I turned it up a bit to the level I found uncomfortable with no apparent issues while watching the RTA meter to see how hard it was driving it. The resistor box for the SR1a remained stone cold through like 2 hours of music playing.
So quiet listeners rejoice, there is a formula to connect some of those super-high-fidelity-but-low-wattage headphone amps to drive an SR1a! It is useful to note that the highest quality playing happens near the higher end of the power delivery range, and this methodology gets you there without needing to use a multi-$1000 amp! I'll probably try some experiments on some other even higher-power headphone amps like the Schiit Magnius and Topping A30 Pro to see how they work as well.
So this morning I did some listening using that list between the Sabaj D5 internal balanced headphone amp vs using the same Sabaj D5 as just a DAC using balanced audio connection then using a Schiit Magnius as the amp, and while the Sabaj D5's amp indeed sounds good enough that it's not immediately noticeable modulo the issue mentioned above, the Schiit Magnius doesn't seem to have any issues at all and matches my subjective memory of using world-class speaker amps with the SR1a, even run louder than I'm comfortable listening to. Looking up the stats on the Magnius and their testing suggests this should be the case, as it has both very good voltage and power delivery capability.
Having said the above, the next test will be to compare it to my Purifi 1ET400A speaker amp, but that will probably take a few days to arrange. Ideally of course, I'd measure the actual output voltage and power used to confirm that the Magnius is truly in a non-distorting range, but we'll see if I can do that reasonably with the equipment I've got on-hand.
RAAL has a new "interface box" allowing use with conventional headphone amps:Most of the power is dissipated in the 'interface box' which basically is a huge resistor + capacitor network = about 7 Ohm.
Of course, this one will be much less resource hungry.RAAL has a new "interface box" allowing use with conventional headphone amps:
TI-1b • RAAL-requisite
Transformer Ribbon/Amp Interface in Molded Box, includes: Cables (SC2 & ITI-XLR)raalrequisite.com
Would that be more efficient than the previous with less power dissipated as heat?
RAAL has a new "interface box" allowing use with conventional headphone amps:
TI-1b • RAAL-requisite
Transformer Ribbon/Amp Interface in Molded Box, includes: Cables (SC2 & ITI-XLR)raalrequisite.com
Would that be more efficient than the previous with less power dissipated as heat?
I ordered one of the new TI-1a adapter boxes yesterday after the announcement, and should have it in maybe 1 1/2 to 2 weeks from what they told me, and will report initial findings back to the forum.Yes, you can now even drive it with a few watt from a normal (will >1W in 32 ohm) headphone amp.
The speaker adapter also had some EQ in it which this one does not have. (At least that's what I got from the reading material).
You will have to use an XLR or RCA input filter on the used amp to get the right sound.
I figure they could not combine this with the toroid transformer in the box.
It also comes with a new cable. Obviously they had some issues with the original cable which (I presume) had a too high resistance eating up power. Not a problem using 100W power amp but driving it from a low wattage means the cable must not consume too much.
The EQ (aka open baffle compensation) is now done via adapters. The NEWS page has more pics:The speaker adapter also had some EQ in it which this one does not have. (At least that's what I got from the reading material).
I ordered one of the new TI-1a adapter boxes yesterday after the announcement, and should have it in maybe 1 1/2 to 2 weeks from what they told me, and will report initial findings back to the forum.
Personally, I like the idea of the OB compensation not being done in analog in the box. I'm already doing some digital correction to compensate for peaks and valleys and it's not hard to add the OB as well to keep it all in the digital domain.