[Lokust]

I imagine Immanis will be around on High End Munich?

Will bring my Susvara to A/B=)

Hopefully, I'll manage to get there as well. What day will you be there w/ your Susvara?

 

[Hiker816]

Just wanted to say thanks to all those who posted impressions thus far. They're very helpful and very much appreciated. Please keep them coming!

 

[Leto Dal]

Hopefully, I'll manage to get there as well. What day will you be there w/ your Susvara?

My dap and demo amp like Envy should be enough for a quick A/B session

 

[ThanatosVI]

Just wanted to say thanks to all those who posted impressions thus far. They're very helpful and very much appreciated. Please keep them coming!

Certainly a ton more incoming on the weekend during Canjam.

 

[chrisnyc75]

You’re stealing some of what I was going to say in my ‘Day in Heidelberg’ summary but this is something I did discuss with Alex so I’ll address it here. It’s clear the 2 phones are from the same family and Alex described it very well earlier in this thread when he said if you consider Immanis to be like a large floor-stander with a 15 inch woofer then Magna is from the same ‘family’ of floorstanders but is limited to 70L. If you have lived your life in Hi-Fi with big floorstanding speakers or with added sub-woofers you will probably prefer the Immanis, but if you‘re happy with smaller speakers of very high quality and don’t need the extra weight in the bottom end you will be entirely happy with Magna. I know Alex feels that people will gravitate towards Immanis because of the 3 v 2 ribbons compared to Magna but people should actually hear both before deciding; they‘re both very good, but Immanis is “bigger” in sound. If you don’t need that then go with Magna. Is there a compelling case for Magna over Immanis? Other than what I’ve written above? No, I don’t think there is. BUT, I think the Magna should not be ignored or discounted because of Immanis. And you especially have no excuse. You live so close to Ventura that you can go and listen to both and then make your choice…..easy.

I really appreciate this characterization. Good food for thought for those of us seriously interested in these.

 

[SteveM324]

Well you are going for very expensive if you go with Immanis already, so why not to give in to the madness completly ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

But yes I am currently deciding too, if I stay with Bliss or go with 300b amp like Envy or Ha-300

You can always get a tube preamp to use with the Bliss. I use a tube preamp as a source to my Bliss and it takes it to a higher level imo. It's like having a powerful hybrid headphone amp. The tube preamp adds a touch of warmth, expands the soundstage and definitely adds liquidity to the midrange. I no longer listen to the Bliss without my tube preamp. I do the same for my solid state Enleum 23R, I use my WA23 Luna by itself and as a preamp to the 23R. The WA23 Luna takes the 23R to a completely higher level in every way. My source in the system with the Bliss is a May KTE and the source in the system with my 23R is my Bricasti M1 S2.

 

[Lokust]

Anyone ever listen to the LCD-4? Am curious how the Immanis would compare, especially regarding low-end/bass.

 

[jlbrach]

owning the sr1a and the CA-1a and having owned the LCD-4 I can without hearing the new model say it will be far more open sounding, far more detailed...far larger sound stage to start

 

[SageM]

Will RAAL be at the 2024 Axpona Show with the Magna and Immanis?

Yes, I'll have both Magna and Immanis, plus SR-1b and CA-1a. That way, if you already have SR or CA, you can get a quick impression of the differences.
We'll also be in NYC for CanJam. Danny

 

[SageM]

Will RAAL be at the 2024 Axpona Show with the Magna and Immanis?

Yes

 

[SageM]

Apologies, but I am new to this game and haven’t yet worked out how to write something without it being a reply to another post. So, here is my ‘report’ on my day in Heidelberg and which you should all know started out with only 3 objectives:- Say hello to Thomas from headphone.shop, not seen him for a few months; say hello to Alex and ask a few questions; say hello to Immanis….full stop. There was some exotica there today but I was not interested.

For some context look at the photo Alex posted last night in post # 302. I am sitting on the right side with my back to you, my partner is seated on the sofa to the right. The glass door in the background is open and Alex is there entertaining many guests and their questions. To my left is a guy listening to Magna or Immanis via the Envy and I can tell you no matter how loud I listened to the Immanis I could still hear everything he was listening to……
The amp I’m using is the HSA-1c, released by SAEQ as a development of the 1b, but now outside of the ‘control’ of Raal-Requisite’ and the upgrade from 1b to 1c was to improve the amp for use with Planars; it did not improve on the 1b as far as Ribbons are concerned. The orange/red cable you can see in the photo was made for Alex by SAEQ to ‘soften’ the output and bring it more in line with the 1b. If you need more details please ask Alex. The RCA cables are ‘terminated‘ with a 3.5mm adaptor so it would have been a very disappointing day had I not taken my SP3000 DAP (Thomas did tell me to bring it). Alex told me that the RCA-3.5mm adaptor cost about 50 cents which I found somewhat amusing given I’m listening to a €10K headphone. You can also see in the photo the completed interface, disguised as a headphone stand, now complete with leather covering on the upper surface. I did not use the interface during my all too brief listening session as I stayed with the HSA throughout.
My playlist as follows:- Mars, the Bringer of War, from the Planet Suite, Charles duToit, Montreal Symphony Orchestra; Song for Zimbabwe, Antonio Forcione, Sketches of Africa; Concerto for two Violins, Amandine Breyer and Gli Incogniti (as a prelude to Vivaldi’s Four Seasons); Songbird, Eva Cassidy; Alegria, Cirque du Soleil; The Curse, Agnes Obel; Barracuda, Heart.

It’s not fully representative of what I listen to but there’s enough variation there to get a flavour of what Immanis offers. Alex told me I had to hear both phones so I listened to only 1-2 minutes of each track on the Immanis and then repeated most of it on the Magna. In total I think I had about 30-40 minutes total listening time. Throughout this time there was somebody sitting in the chair opposite making sure I knew that I was consuming THEIR listening time.

Mimaximax, please don’t confuse detail-intensive and detail-retrieval. If anything I sensed more details from the Immanis than I get from the SR-1b. It’s at least as detailed but it’s smoother, more refined and less intensive, but it’s all there. AND my comments are made on the basis of having heard both phones. The standout sensation though, in comparison to the CA-1a which is my daily driver, is the bass. The bass is more deeply extended and it retains a high quality but with no bloom or boom or encroachment into the lower mids. This sensation; this thought, has remained with me throughout the day. This feeling of added weight or fullness but still retaining the detail, speed, clarity of the SR and CA. Imagine the best of the CA and SR joined together but with an overall smoother, more refined presentation but with all the details still there BUT with added cleaner, clearer, deeper bass. Yes, there isn’t the flexibility of the variable angles of the SR, nor the open sensation especially on a warm or hot day, but Immanis basically makes the CA-1a redundant, in need of a new home etc., and apart from the cooler ears on a warm day, or the flexibility of the open baffles, pretty much does the same to the SR in terms of sound quality.

Please accept this as a summary of my experience today and that it could be entirely different to what you will experience, especially those of you who own the VM-1a. My own experience at home with Roon, feeding my Holo Audio May into the HSA-1b could be very different to me using my SP3000 as the source into the HSA-1c. The surrounding noises of people engaged in hearty discussion and laughter, coupled with the loud noises coming from the Magna/Immanis of my very noisy neighbour do not lend themselves to hearing the fine details that these phones can provide…BUT…I had some real WOW moments on some tracks I know very well, you know the clichés …details not noticed before, or tonal qualities never before heard in the same way; Eva Cassidy bringing tears to the eyes; THOSE long-bowed cello notes on The Curse; the last minute or so of Barracuda…..it’s very old school rock but it sounds so good….

And FINALLY…the absolute 100% stand-out unforgettable moment of the day (apart from meeting Alex and saying hello to Thomas again) was when I passed the Immanis to my partner, who doesn’t like headphones. Let me just emphasise that; she really doesn’t like headphones. She listened to some of Songbird, the opening fretless bass on Alegria and then The Curse by Agnes Obel. Normally after 10 or 20 seconds she hands headphones back to me with just ‘that look’, no comments. But when she was listening to The Curse I looked up and she was listening……I mean she was LISTENING. I held my hand out and she passed Immanis back to me and without any prompting she said…..”I understand now…..”

Excellent, very informative. Thanks

 

[nfandi]

You can always get a tube preamp to use with the Bliss. I use a tube preamp as a source to my Bliss and it takes it to a higher level imo. It's like having a powerful hybrid headphone amp. The tube preamp adds a touch of warmth, expands the soundstage and definitely adds liquidity to the midrange. I no longer listen to the Bliss without my tube preamp. I do the same for my solid state Enleum 23R, I use my WA23 Luna by itself and as a preamp to the 23R. The WA23 Luna takes the 23R to a completely higher level in every way. My source in the system with the Bliss is a May KTE and the source in the system with my 23R is my Bricasti M1 S2.

I like the idea and will certainly explore this type of option. The WA23 has great visual appeal but I also wonder how much of what I would pay is for the aesthetics and not the sound quality. When I look at what the price might be in Europe, not taking into account exchange rate variances, I’m looking at c. €11,000 (20% VAT) for the WA23 and €4,000 for the Bliss. If I’m going to spend this kind of money I’d much rather do it through my dealer and not via personal imports from the US. We have several very good makers of tube amps here in Europe that must be investigated and I must say that the price of the WA23/Bliss combination suddenly makes the Feliks Envy seem like a bargain. But thanks again for adding to my thought processes.

 

[Fafner]

Nothing firm yet, sorry.

Then is the "3-4 weeks" estimate on headphone.shop to take with a grain of salt?

 

[Leto Dal]

Bin grain to be honest. Thomas tends to overpromise on ETA fullfillment to secure a sale.

 

[nfandi]

owning the sr1a and the CA-1a and having owned the LCD-4 I can without hearing the new model say it will be far more open sounding, far more detailed...far larger sound stage to start

owning the sr1a and the CA-1a and having owned the LCD-4 I can without hearing the new model say it will be far more open sounding, far more detailed...far larger sound stage to start

I’m glad you posted something ‘cos I thought of a couple of things I wanted to ask you. Are you already in line waiting for promise date and delivery info or are you waiting for more feedback from NY CanJam? I‘m interested because you’ve been such a vocal supporter of the SR1 and CA1 with the VM-1a and how good they really are that I was just thinking forward to when we get to read your actual experience with either Magna or Immanis. With VM-1a no longer available I‘m considering the Hyperion GE as one of my alternatives to replace my HSA-1b mainly because in post #69 Aleks describes the VM in Triode Mode and the Hyperion as being very, very similar, almost identical, and in post #70 Aleks says Immanis does not need a big warm sounding amp to complement their tonal balance. So I’m wondering what the already much bigger, fuller-sounding Immanis will sound like when being driven by your big warm sounding amp? Any idea when you might be able to share your thoughts with us or is it still ‘as yet unknown’? And of course if the Hyperion is very similar to the VM in tonal characteristics I’m wondering if this could be leading to too much ‘warmth’ when partnered with Immanis. This I can easily try with an audition at my dealer along with a session with the envy. To try a tube pre-amp with the Bliss will not be at all practical to arrange and so I may be entirely dependent on other people’s experiences and thoughts for this.