If I could weigh in here, I use carnauba wax, the hardest wax, to polish my 2.5s a couple of times a year. My carnauba wax is the same wax I use for my car.

I also found a significant difference between the stock RAAL umbilical cable and the relatively inexpensive silver-plated OFC copper Pine Tree Audio umbilical I had them make up. In a like fashion, the Star 8 cable run from the Ti-1b interface to the SR-1b makes a sonic improvement on a similar...

Glad to see JM was able to retune your phones more to your liking. I have had good luck with Geekria headband covers and their carrying case looks like one that came with my 1More Triple-Driver-Over-Ears phones. You might be able to order this on Amazon as they carry Geekria gear and if they...

I liked the Steven Wilson remixes of Gentle Giant's records. Their fidelity, at least on Qobuz streams, are much improved.

I can also confirm that there is no detectable noise using the SR-1b/Ti-1b with my Benchmark HPA4 solid-state amp. The HPA4 amp has what is almost certainly the lowest distortion and highest signal-to-noise ratio of any amp existent and the result using the TI-1b is dead silence between and...

It is always hugely satifying to find a headphone system that gives more than a taste of what high-end headphone listening is all about. Sounds like you found one incorporating the JM modified Hifiman R7.

For sale is a Sonore/Linear Tube Audio optical ethernet system to essentially eliminate RFI and EMI electrical noise riding on your electrical ethernet streaming system. This system works by converting electrical ethernet streams to optical ethernet and then back to electrical ethernet, thereby...

There is a family resemblance with the 1.0 and 2.5, the 2.5 just more refined and spacious with deeper bass and a little more dynamic.

Hey, ya gotta have priorities in life.

OK, I'll bite on the bad bass question. IMO, there are two ways to produce bass. First, produce the bass fundamental tone. For a 30Hz tone, the wavelength is about 32 feet. In other words, you need at least a 32 foot dimension in your listening space to produce a 30Hz tone. Obviously in the...

I had a pair of these prior to moving up to the XTC-C 2.5 phones. One of the best closed-back phones I have heard. And if you don't like the tuning you can send them back to John Massaria for a free retune, paying only for the shipping.

I am glad Aleksander does not put complete stock into frequency response measurements. On another forum there is a guy who is determined to denigrate a particular brand of headphones and uses FR graphs solely in an attempt to prove his point. Aleksander points out the folly of using such...

I would imagine RAAL 1995 to be happy with that positive review.

I know what you mean regarding the BM HPA4 amp, which I own. In the quest for more neutrality, detail, and spaciousness over that supplied by my then Quicksilver tube amp I bought my HPA4, which then sounded lean, hyperdetailed, and lacking bass weight and punch. As it took a while to sell the...

Wow! Those are beautiful, both of them. Will check them out. I wonder whether the 300B tubes operate in push-pull or parallel single-ended configuration.

I have a pair of these in African Blackwood Burl and I concur that in many ways they are the best closed-back headphones I have heard, particularly bass, dynamics, and midrange body. You can send them back to John Massaria to have them retuned to practically any sound you like for only shipping...

Nice writeup. I for one am glad JM stuck to his guns and ignored the nattering nabobs of negativity at ASR. As a side note, I have been experimenting with optical ethernet and ethernet switch systems to reduce streaming electrical noise and the results have been surprisingly profound. These...

First time I have seen these rare headphones.

Well, I bought an inexpensive Geekria headphone headband cover on Amazon and attached it as shown in the picture below. It fit pretty well except for being a little short but hopefully it will reduce shredding of the stock headband when placing it in and out of the carrying case. Maybe I will...

Usually transients are described and measured in speed. I read somewhere that the fastest transient sound is a drum rimshot. So accordingly, a fast transient means that its risetime is the shortest and that the component can respond the fastest to a demand for a transient sound and it will...

To each his own I guess. I apologize if I offended anyone.

I cannot for the life of me understand why we all put so much stock in professional reviews. Like that recent drivel from that legend-in-his-own-mind 6 Moons guy, an incessant blathering where he goes on page after page and says exactly nothing and wastes everyone's time except for his own...

Great. It all worked out then. Enjoy your phones.

There also is a VM-1a for sale on US Audiomart. There are many RAAL phone users here singing the praises of the sound of this amp.

If you don't want to wait for a transformer interface to become available, an alternative is a dedicated amp like the Schiit Jotunheim R or one of the RAAL or SAEQ offerings. There is a HSA-1b listed for sale in the post above yours on this thread.