This really cannot be classified as headphones. I have tried many ear speakers in the past but these are my first experience with true ear speakers.
Reviewed at $3,499 USD
I have been reviewing speakers for a while now and have reviewd a lot more headphones before that. Although I always cringe when I hear a headphone being touted as sounding like a speaker (because they inherently are different in my opinion), this one really gave me a struggle. Let’s take a step back for a moment and start from the beginning…
When I was first asked to review the Raal SR1a True Ribbon Earspeakers, I was thinking it was the logical next step as I have reviewed the Stax L300 limited and the L700. In all honesty, I was not very excited because in my mind I was already imagining a similar sound to the Stax headphones and I would have a hard time making this review “not boring.” Th other factor being that these headphones are a whopping $3500.
So, I hesitantly agreed to review it on the condition that I would be sending them back without a review if I did not like them or just could not publish something worth while for my viewers to see here.
The Raal SR1a uses speaker amplifiers and the suggested power rating is at least 100 watts. Once I received them, I hooked them up to the Atoll IN100SE. The Atoll IN100SE had just come in for my opinion from Funall Audio and was conveniently rated exactly 100 watts.
I was immediately blown away. Not because of the overall sound quality (I had not gotten to that yet) BUT because of the overall tonality, imaging and sound stage which resembled so much of a stereo system. In fact, I had to check if my stereo to make sure it wasn’t playing by accident…
These headphones defer quite a bit in sound characteristics depending on the amplifier as I mentioned in the video review.
But if you are reading this, I am telling you to just give them a try, whether it be at a show or a store….it will be an experience you will never forget.
Now, a lot of you are probably disagreeing with me even before trying them, thinking “there is no way a headphone can sound like a speaker PERIOD!” But the crazy story doesn’t end there. I add on to the story of how “speakers like” these are in the video review but let me just say that I attempted to even use sub woofers with these…
Inherently, there is always going to be commotion and controversy when a new product or technology such as this is introduced. It was the same when solid states and panel speakers were introduced. There will always be people that say “nope, don’t even need to try it to know that won’t work”.
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