If you love vocals, you NEED this headphone - Raal Requisite CA1A

[@brothatwasepic]

Great vid man. The quality if these vids and B rolls just keep getting better and better!

[@PassionforSound]

So glad you're enjoying them. Thanks for the feedback!! 🙂🙂

[@timothyfreeseha4056]

Kudos to Raal for such an interesting approach. I think they look cool.

[@PassionforSound]

Me too. Industrial, but well finished

[@LuckyX2]

HIGHY suggest you try these with the filters from Mitch at accurate sound. I own these and they go from good headphones to one of the best I've ever heard. The filters fix every issue with them.

[@PassionforSound]

I actually did have a chance to try them and I agree that the convolution filters are a nice tweak. These are such an interesting platform to begin with too.

[@LuckyX2]

@@PassionforSound Yeah, the approach the designers took was to focus on letting the technicals of the ribbon driver shine at the expense of tonality. Tonality is easy to fix with EQ but you can't make a driver faster or more resolving via software/EQ. I think that was the right choice and why these especially benefit from convolution filters/EQ.

[@GadZookz]

The nice thing about those is they don’t show up on radar so you bring the tunes along on those super secret missions.

[@PassionforSound]

🥷🎧

[@asan1050]

Good review ThanksMuch!

[@PassionforSound]

My pleasure 🙂

[@gibgun]

Finally got a chance to go back and watch this! After hearing the LCD-R I am SUPER excited about the future of ribbon (I know it’s not technically a ribbon). I don’t think this is a headphone I’m going to jump on, but maybe 1-2 RAAL products from now I could see myself going for it!

[@PassionforSound]

I believe these technically are true ribbon drivers, Matt. Either way, I agree that a few generations from now could be brilliant if they can start to deliver bass to match with the magnificent imaging and vocal qualities.

[@gibgun]

@@PassionforSound apologies I meant the LCD-R aren’t true ribbon 😅 Something about the speed space, separation clarity, and top and sweet sparkle makes what I’ve heard of the LCD-R so damn pleasant to listen to. If that’s at all indicative of a true ribbon, like the RAAL then I’m very very interested in the future of ribbon!

[@PassionforSound]

Thanks for clarifying. I'm not familiar with the LCD-R so wasn't sure. 🙂

[@gibgun]

@@PassionforSound I hope the chance for you to change that presents itself at some point! 😃

[@PassionforSound]

Me too!

[@x-techgaming]

You really need to hear the CA-1a on the *VM-1a* amp. It is THE most powerful, amazing headphone system I've ever heard(including HE-1, Aperio, X9000, Bravura, Sus, etc). The VM-1a also gives you SIX unique, non-gimmick tunings PER headphone, so you get 12 tunings if you own a CA-1a and SR-1b. The CA-1a over a converter box to Jot R was nothing in comparison to the VM-1a.

[@nissanlemon4054]

Easy fix to get the added bass on the split pads without affecting the rest of the fr is to tape the bottom vents only with painters tape.These headphones compare with headphones in the 4000-5000 dollar bracket in my opinion

[@PassionforSound]

I didn't try any tape mods, but had heard that they existed. Thanks for sharing.

[@arthurhaywood2184]

I listened to these a couple of months ago. Granted, it was under show conditions but assessment of the CA1A was very close to yours. While I felt that they sounded fine, I couldn’t get past the build quality. They felt like a toy to me.

[@PassionforSound]

They grew on me as I spent longer with them, but I understand

[@MechFrankaTLieu]

Actually they are not the only Ribbon Driver headphones , there are others before them and AFAIK, there is 2 others current , one is an esoteric one , if my memory serve me right from a German brand , and another is one that only available in China by a local brand who obviously again only market there

[@ragecandy]

Goldplanar?

[@PassionforSound]

Thanks for the info!

[@doncowgill9566]

The Precide AMT, and the ESS Hybrid. I have both. I just purchased the Raal CA1A. Should have them next week. The Precide AMT with it's matching class A amp are one of the best headphones I have experienced and this includes my Stax 009's and my Blue Hawaii. If you get a chance try them out. If you can review them I think you'd be amazed.

[@PassionforSound]

Thanks for the tip, Don! I'll see if there's a local distributor

[@BillyKueekSG]

Lachlan, do you think that electrostatic headphone should be in a collection like mine?

[@PassionforSound]

I think it depends. Stats produce a unique and very enjoyable sound, but they also require a separate energiser and do have their own drawbacks (like bass presence and note weight) depending on the specific model

[@aceofspades6667]

dang I had a chance to buy a pair of these used for around 1600 usd about 5 months ago. I passed but wish I had the extra funds as I think they are quite an experience at that price point.

[@PassionforSound]

Yes, at that price, they're a great option! You might get the chance again 🤞

[@davidbruce8786]

Very nice thorough review as always but I’m curious as to why a headphone under review is only compared to another within a similar price range. What if, for example, you compared the Ananda, XS, or Arya to this CA1A and honestly thought that they sounded almost the same in tone and imaging? You could then advise “If you only have $500-$1000 to spend, you can get a similar sound to what I’m hearing here”. Or is there some sort of reviewing “law” that you have to stay within a price bracket so as not to potentially embarrass the manufacturer?

[@PassionforSound]

Thanks David. There's no rule like that. Basically, during my pre-review listening, I spend time thinking about how the headphone is performing and then decide what to compare it to based on that. It's very rare for a lower end headphone to outperform a higher level one unless the higher one is flawed somehow (the Abyss Diana TC would be an example of this for me). So, my standard comparisons will be with similarly priced options, but I'll stray up or down in budget if I think there's any relevance in the comparison. Actually I did this recently with the HD 660S2 from Sennheiser because they were an interesting headphone that wasn't clear cut as to their performance so I went down to the Sivga SV023 and up to the Meze 109 Pro.

[@IHearEverythingDude]

With that look it should never left the drawing board...

[@PassionforSound]

I don't mind it - one of those subjective things

[@IHearEverythingDude]

@@PassionforSound yes the look is subjective thing. But not in this case. You see you pay premium for hi end product so it perform and look good (at least have some premium materials or/and top notch build quality). These are 3k (?) headphones, we as customers should demand high quality materials for that price. You can argue between Meze Empy vs gorgeous looking ZMF headphones which one is better build etc - as you said it's subjective. But here materials used are just joke. Stamp metal headband + some strap with simple adjust mechanism. Cups look like printed on 3d printer in garage, pads... please it's beyond any comment. As I said we (customers) pay premium for premium product. Here I feel that somebody just want my money, nothing more nothing less.

[@PassionforSound]

That's your preference and it's a completely reasonable one. I don't mind it so much though - hence the subjectivity. What's unacceptable to you is fine to another and preferable to another still. 🙂

[@IHearEverythingDude]

@@PassionforSound one more time. It's not about preference, it's about honesty from manufacturer.

[@Nuevo_El_Nagual]

CA-1A was much better with leather pads from other headphones. I tested that at CanJam NYC 2023.

[@PassionforSound]

That's interesting. How did you get them to fit?

[@Nuevo_El_Nagual]

@@PassionforSound somebody who brought them to the show made an adapter. Or you can just hold the pads for testing. I'm sure you have tons of ZMF pads. Try those.

[@PassionforSound]

I had to sell the CA-1As to fund other purchases for review ☹️

[@wric01]

HEDDphone® is another another type amt.

[@PassionforSound]

Yes, I'm keen to try them at some point

[@sjqideez6626]

But Raal make pure Ribbon transducers whereas Hedd Audio make AMT drivers, they are different & sound so.

[@PassionforSound]

Yes. The OP did flag that it's AMT, not ribbon. 🙂