Kaldas Research RR1 eStats

Discussion in 'Headphones' started by Abhishek Chowdhary, Aug 4, 2019.

  1. Abhishek Chowdhary

    Abhishek Chowdhary Friend

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    RR1 is the first product from a India based company called Kaldas Research. First headphone and that too an eStat surely wouldn't have been an easy job for a new entrant
    The headphone went through several ierations and the final version is said to be have balanced bass compared to earlier demo units

    The unit in hand is a SN 7. Build quality and material quality is great. Its solid, heavy and tight QC. Front and back of the drivers have a dust cover. The cups are made of some dense plastic while the headband is quality sheet metal. The headband isn't thin springy metal headbands like on several other headphones. This one reminds me of 1976 make Yamaha HP1 orthos
    Cable quality is great. Thick and good quality connectors. Noway does it feel like a budget build. The yoke is metal and the finishing could have been rounder. The sharp edges scrape over the plastic cups

    Pads are thin and have shallow depth. Pad quality is great. Quality material and clean/uniform stitching. Tight clamp, with specs it was difficult.

    Gear used were a KGSSHV estat amp and balanced out from a Soekris R2R (DAM 1021 build with Salas PSU)

    This doesn't sound much like an eStat except for lack of any grain. Bass isn't Stax like vapour. Speed (About as fast as a Verum 1) and tone are akin Planars than eStats
    The driver sounds very clean and textures are not as smoothed out as say a 009. Resolution and microdynamics are decent. 009 is few levels above though

    While bass is meaty there is few dbs bump around 70-80hz region and the extension is okish. Couldn't really make out due to the prominent bass bump

    Midrange is linear, grainfree and DARK. Sounds like a broad but linear dip past 2khz. There is some hardness to certain instruments like gongs and flute. Measurements don't suggest a dark midrange but subjectively and IMO it was

    The dip in the midrange extends to midtreble as well. There is not much mid treble to speak of, that 10khz region is almost dead. There might be some narrow rise in upper treble since it doesnt sound completely chocked. This upper treble bump is minor (and below bass level) and doesnt introduce any artifacts or sharpness. Its pretty well defined, fast and smooth.

    Despite a dark stance, the headphone still somehow manages to sound good enough. It's LCD2 R1 kind dark sound. It does take some time to adjust to this kind of tuned sound but you would not want to look away immediately. Past that dark stance are some good qualities. Especially it doesn't sound heavy, elastic like few other estats. Despite being overall fast, 009 does exhibit this dense heaviness (due to too smooth texture maybe)
    Driver potential is there, If only the midrange and midtreble dip was few dbs less, it could have been a lot better listen

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    Minidsp Measurements
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    With Kemar
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  2. Cspirou

    Cspirou They call me Sparky

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    Build quality looks nice too. Looks like a horn loaded open back? Interesting
     
  3. shabta

    shabta Facebook Friend

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    I just received my pair. Serial number 26. Similar but not identical graph.

    First impression listening through a recapped srm1 mk2, actually this is a really great system for the moolah. The amp and headphones cost about 1000 euro with duty and everything. Feeding it through a gugnir multibit a1. Which more than doubles the price, lol.

    I have only spent the morning with them, so don't want to make too many judgments just yet. But yeah they are darkish, have that electrostatic effortless grain-free treble, and decent bass (especially for an electrostat). Good headstage too.

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  4. shabta

    shabta Facebook Friend

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    Ok after having listened to these for a few days, 4-6 hours a day while I work, I have a slightly different view that the thread starter. I don't think we are hearing majorly different things, I would imagine that the RR1 sounds way better on his kghhsv then my SRM 1 mk 2. But my gosh this is a terrific headphone for a medium amount of money.

    I will summarize what I think so those of you that have short attention spans/hate long posts/don't care enough about these headphones/have a bad attitude about life etc. can just read a brief comparo and get back to being grumpy.

    Pros:
    • Liquid Mids
    • Grain Free electrostaic sound w/o plasticiness sound of some electrostats
    • You can hear the bass
    • Amount of plankton w/o the fake treble accentuated detail of some headphones like SR009 and HD800 and no annoying treble peaks
    • Price is 500 USD plus shipping
    • can be driven by a modest electrostatic amp
    • Good if you want an SR007ish sound w/o paying a lot for headphone and amp, and want more bass
    • Really great headstage (way better than any sub 2000 USD planar that I have heard or a HD6XX)
    • Black Background
    • Good weight
    • Build Quality
    Cons:
    • Not the last word on texture and layering, it's good enough just not like the very best
    • Amount of plankton, while everything is there, it doesn't feel like you can hear as far down into the mix as the very best headphones
    • Since so few headphones run on electrostatic amps, its more of a commitment than just buying a headphone
    • SR007 does things like layering a bit better and probably has a better top end when very expensively amped (since I don't have either a SR007 on hand or an expensive amp you can take this as my stupid arrogant belief that I can remember the SR007 and compare it to the RR1)
    • This headphone sucks if you don't like a slightly dark presentation
    • If you live in Europe like me you have to pay import duty and DHLExpress sucks where I live (it sure isn't express and you have to help them remember to deliver your package)

    I tried this headphone on a whole bunch of different genres (example albums)

    Lana Del Rey Norman f'ing Rockwell
    Kendrick Lamar To Pimp a Butterfly
    Rolling Stones Let it Bleed
    Beatles Abbey Road (recent remaster)
    Tomeka Reid Quartet Old New
    Carlos Kleiber Brahms 4th Symphony
    Miles Davis Kind of Blue
    Isabelle Faust and Alexander Melnikov Beethoven Sonatas
    Buddy and Julie Miller Breakdown on 20th Avenue South
    Dave Holland, Zakir Hussain & Chris Potter Good Hope
    Diana Krall Turn up the Quiet
    Isabelle Faust Mendelssohn Violin Concerto
    All sorts of classical piano music

    It's worth noting I mostly listen to speakers. I have Dynaudio Countour 20s in a very small room with a BKelectronic sub (they make parts for REL), primaluna dialog and gungnir multi a1. It is delicately brightish but balanced, no harshness or peakiness. The headphones I listen to the most are HD800S with a icon audio amp. It's a nice combo, but not the absolute best for rocking out. I didn't listen to those until the end, just for some comparo purposes and to remind myself why I wanted another pair of headphones. I love a lot of things about the senns, but the rr1 headphones compliment the senns. The RR1's are more allrounders, and especially do Dad Rock (beatles, stones, neil young) better. The senns shine on chamber music and small jazz stuff. The rr1 did really well on big symphomic stuff, I suppose it helps that these days that symphonic stuff is mastered with a mid centric bias cuz old people don't hear highs anyway and it keeps things from getting over saturated.

    I am really sensitive to weight, cuz an old woman ran a red light some years ago and I struggled with the effects of whiplash since. So planar magnetic, even if i like the sound (mostly I don't) don't usually work for me.

    3 weeks ago I spent a few hours in an amazing shop in amsterdam. I discovered, the Shangri-la and junior kind of suck. The HE1 is amazing. Didn't like the top of the line abyss (weight was unbearable) the raal was ok, actually reallly ok, and a super expensive amped Susvara was one of the best things after HE1s, Orpheus, and maybe a couple others I ever heard. But the susvara seems to need a 10k amp.

    What does that have to do with the rr1s? I have heard a bunch of really great stuff recently that totally fucked me up for listening to regular headphones. So saying I like the rr1 is a good sign, I would wager.

    I haven't heard Audeze LCD2s for a while, and god only knows which exact versions I heard. I never liked them. Narrow soundstage, no sparkle, good bass and my neck hurt. I don't think the rr1 sounds very much like them.

    I don't think that I am hearing very different things from the thread starter, I think how much you enjoy these headphones will depend as usual on what kind of sound you like. I would describe these the delightful offspring of HD650 (darkish sound, but everything is there, enough bass) crossed with HD800 ( more plankton (not at hd800 level), headstage (not as wide but realistic), pinpoint resolution (probably helped by the very black background)) at a really righteous cost of entry and the grain-free electrostatic sound. They are also comfortable for long hours, although melon heads will have to bend the headband a bit to reduce the clamp.

    So, hard to tell whether Aumkar will really make these more easily available. Hard to know what the longevity of the headphone is, build quality seems cool, but I didn't open them up. There are a lot of warnings about humidity and using these headphones. I think if you like in a place like Thailand or Florida and don't use much aircon this may not be a good choice.
     
    Last edited: Oct 20, 2019
  5. shabta

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    Seems like the online order system is up and running. Aumkar has made a few changes to the production process to improve reliability since I ordered mine.

    https://www.kaldasresearch.com/
     

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