Kaldas Research

[wink]

 

 

7 hours ago, spritzer said:

23 seconds... any longer and you will ruin any headphones!!! 

.....you mean .... after 24 seconds, they match the carbon...?  

Edited May 31, 2019 by wink
insert quote

[Aumkar Chandan]

9 hours ago, spritzer said:

23 seconds... any longer and you will ruin any headphones!!! 

Are you sure about that Birgir?
Last time I heard, a guy name Ralph or Rafe said you need at least a couple of days for "Electron Alignment" , I suggest swimming across the Arctic ocean for 3 days as a final measure as well. 

[Mach3]

So they're much better than the KOSS 950? Or just different?

[Rossliew]

So, when are these available for public purchase?  

[spritzer]

1 hour ago, Mach3 said:

So they're much better than the KOSS 950? Or just different?

They are quite a bit better than my Massdrop unit sitting here.  It's not stock though so angled leather earpads and a Stax Wide PC-OCC cable plus most of the damping in the earcups has been removed.  The whole sound from the RR1 is tighter and more focused while the ESP is warmer and slightly softer.  It does remind me that I need to post about something in the ESP thread...   

They do share one thing in common though, squealing.  Now the RR1 has dust covers but the left driver on this set has been noisy from the start.  It comes and goes and right now it is absolutely silent.  The right one has always been silent though. 

[Aumkar Chandan]

Just wanted to post a quick update that I will be in LA for a certain Headphone show this coming weekend. 
I hate marketing posts and I am very grateful for Head-Case to let me post without asking for Sponsorship or just simply deleting my posts. So, I will respect that and will leave it at that. 

If anybody is interested and lives in the area, please feel free to test the RR1. I will have the KGSSHV, 252-S and E/90 with a STAX adapter to cover from low-end to high-end. 

[stickyjon23]

7 hours ago, Aumkar Chandan said:

Just wanted to post a quick update that I will be in LA for a certain Headphone show this coming weekend. 
I hate marketing posts and I am very grateful for Head-Case to let me post without asking for Sponsorship or just simply deleting my posts. So, I will respect that and will leave it at that. 

If anybody is interested and lives in the area, please feel free to test the RR1. I will have the KGSSHV, 252-S and E/90 with a STAX adapter to cover from low-end to high-end. 

I, for one, am really looking forward to hearing them there. This weekend needs to come by faster. 

[Rossliew]

13 hours ago, stickyjon23 said:

I, for one, am really looking forward to hearing them there. This weekend needs to come by faster. 

Please share some impressions when you do get to audition the cans. Thanks 

[tumpux]

and some pictures please..

[stickyjon23]

On 6/18/2019 at 2:19 AM, Rossliew said:

Please share some impressions when you do get to audition the cans. Thanks 

Ouff thats a lot of pressure on a rookie, haha. I'll try my best. I own an L300 at home, but I haven't used it for a few weeks so hopefully I can remember the sound signature enough for a good comparison. 

On 6/18/2019 at 5:37 AM, tumpux said:

and some pictures please..

Will do. Hopefully, I can bring my DSLR and take some high quality shots if I am allowed too. 

[blubliss]

Met Aumkar and listened to the RR1 at CanJam today, two very pleasant experiences. The headphones sounded really nice out of both setups, one a KGSSHV (from birgir I think) and the other a little koss amp (the one that goes with their headphones, Massdrop version).  I had a very pleasant listen with the smaller setup being run from an iBasso DAP (maybe DX150).  I seriously would have bought that whole little setup on the spot for listening on vacation or the office.  It had excellent bass and an extremely musical, engaging sound.

I'll probably buy a pair of these when they are for sale.

Aumkar is a great guy! Thanks for the overview and good luck.

[Voltron]

Thanks for dropping by and giving your thoughts, Andy! 

[stickyjon23]

Kaldas Research

This was my first booth I went to at CanJam. I was super excited to listen to them and talk to Aumkar about them. At the booth, they had RR1 with a KGSSHV Carbon hooked up to a laptop with their own music source and another RR1 with the Koss energizer and an aux cable for our own music. As such, I spent most of my time with the Koss energizer. Before I dive into my first impressions, I have an L300 at home, but had not used it in a week. I was not able to a/b compare the Koss energizer with the KGSSHV carbon. 

Build/Quality:

I love the build on these. Compared to my L300, these feel a lot more sturdier and look better in my opinion. Even though the retro look of the Stax has its own appeal, these just look more modern and don't feel like they'll break when i hold them in my hands. Aumkar set the height to one size for canjam, which was a hair loose for my head, but nothing to complain about. He probably did not want people to adjust the sliding mechanism as these were probably his only 2 pre-production units, and he probably didn't want them broken. He told me that the chassis is CNC'd from aluminum(not sure on the metal), and it felt like sturdy and durable. The headphone was comfy and i don't think i felt any glaring hotspot. I'm also not very sensitive to headphone weight. For reference, I can wear my OG HE-400 for a few hours without complaints, so I may not be the best person to evaluate this. I also liked how the RR1 uses mini-XLR plugs on the headphones and a stax pro bias connector for the plug instead of being hard wired or using some new connection.

My only downside is with regards to handling this headphone, and it is quite minor. In front of the RR1,there is an interesting sheet on how to pickup the headphones. You are supposed to have your hand over them vertically when you pick them up instead of horizontally. I think it was to proctect the e-stat drivers, but I could be wrong. Aumkar can correct me on this if he views this post. Wish I had taken a picture of the sheet. This is the only complaint I can think off in regards to build/quality, and it is minor and maybe a little nit-picky.

Sound:

Most listening was done off the ESP95x. The first thing I wanted to test was the bass extension on these as that is what everyone has been raving about. Hot damn these have bass for an e-state. Now its not like Fostex bass, but it is nice tight bass comparable to the VOCE. I have not listened to the Sr007 Mk1 so I cannot draw a comparison to the bass on that. When I put on "Why So serious" by Hans Zimmer and fast forwarded to ~3:25, I was able to get it to arch(wet, flabby noise on e-stats), but compared to my L300's it extended deeper and didn't arch as long. Honestly though, that song destroys a lot of headphones so I'm not too concerned that an e-stat couldn't handle the section from the very beginning. I'm curious to see if the KGSSHV would've helped the RR1 with that section.

Now with bass done, lets move on to the treble. These have the great e-stat treble that I have come to adore. Orchestral pieces sound great with lots of "e-stat air". Nothing comes of as overly piercing or underwhelming. I wish I had my L300's on me so I could compare them side to side. I know they at least meet it, but cannot comment if they are significantly better.

I won't comment on mids as i am still gaining my footing around this area and did not really try to evaluate them because i was having a hard time hearing my own music as is. Some guy next to me really loved "The Weeknd", which I do too, and had it on very loud. As a result, I could hear the song very audibly and clearly bleed into my music. I also won't do soundstage for this same reason wayy too much ambient noise and am not comfortable just yet. However, I will say that it didn't sound super upfront or narrow like my HD6xx. I did not test imaging because I forgot too. Oops. I also wish I could've a/bed the Koss amp the KGSSHV amp to see how they impacted sound differences, but it would've been difficult, awkward, and rude to take up both amps simultaneously.

Before I jump into some final impressions, I just wanna talk about Aumkar quickly. It was a joy talking to him, and I wish I had asked him more questions about e-stats in general as he was clearly very knowledgeable about them. He dropped everything to pursue making the RR1, and i wish nothing but the best of luck to him. I I appreciate how, he is not rushing to take people's money as he does not think his own product his ready. He also states that the price on the RR1s will not go up at all. He is a breath of fresh air in the headphone world, and I deeply appreciate that. These are a day 1 buy for me simply to support him. If I somehow find another chance to listen to these and do a complete 180 on my impressions, i will still buy them simply to support him and his company. Even if the RR1 turns out to be a failure, which I do not think it will be, I have full faith that his next product will be even better than this.

Final Impressions:

These are a phenomenal value at $500 dollars. The bass is tight and extends well whilst still keeping that e-stat treble to die for. I think this competes with the L300 and Koss ESP95X in price range, and if it does, i think it will firmly trounce them and be the king of its price bracket. These are a day 1 purchase for me. I've attached some pictures. Apologies for the potato quality in advance.

[spritzer]

Great write-up but one note, that is a regular KGSSHV and not a Carbon. 

[stickyjon23]

6 hours ago, spritzer said:

Great write-up but one note, that is a regular KGSSHV and not a Carbon. 

Oops. My bad. I had a feeling it wasn't a Carbon. Thanks for correcting me. 

[Aumkar Chandan]

On 6/26/2019 at 4:57 PM, stickyjon23 said:

My only downside is with regards to handling this headphone, and it is quite minor. In front of the RR1,there is an interesting sheet on how to pickup the headphones. You are supposed to have your hand over them vertically when you pick them up instead of horizontally. I think it was to proctect the e-stat drivers, but I could be wrong. Aumkar can correct me on this if he views this post. Wish I had taken a picture of the sheet. This is the only complaint I can think off in regards to build/quality, and it is minor and maybe a little nit-picky

Hi,  

Yeah, so this is what I had at the booth - 



So, this was only there as a precautionary measure as the wires on the RR1 are exposed for an aesthetic purpose. Nobody is crazy enough to do it (Stupid design but, did it cause I like it) so I just wanted to make sure nobody accidentally shoved their hands inside. It's all insulated so there's not much to worry about but again, just a precautionary measure and the intended method to properly handle the Headphones. 



In the end, the classic male mentality won "I know what I'm doing, instructions are for pussies" and hence that leaflet was mostly ignored ?

Thanks a lot for stopping by! 

Edited June 28, 2019 by Aumkar Chandan

[purk]

Have you sent one of these to Wachara?  I plan to visit him while in BKK...so might just want to check it out.

[Aumkar Chandan]

4 minutes ago, purk said:

Have you sent one of these to Wachara?  I plan to visit him while in BKK...so might just want to check it out.

Not yet but I have been in touch with Wachara from the beginning and will be visiting him in the coming months. He knows!

Was going to meet him sooner but a lot of travel came up and now I'm sorting out some production related stuff. 

[stickyjon23]

On 6/28/2019 at 2:48 AM, Aumkar Chandan said:

In the end, the classic male mentality won "I know what I'm doing, instructions are for pussies" and hence that leaflet was mostly ignored ?

Thanks a lot for stopping by! 

Thanks for posting the picture. Lol typical male mentality. Although i can't say i'm completely free from that mentality as well haha. 

[Aumkar Chandan]

This weekend I flew down to Bangkok to meet the man himself, Wachara. 

For me the the entire RR1 Project was a dream - to develop a fully in-house Headphone with Bespoke parts specific to the Headphone and to meet my Heroes along the way. 

RR1 has enabled me to meet some of the greatest people in the Industry worldwide and that's the only success I see in the Headphone. Everything else to me is irrelevant. 

With Wachara, I've met all the Heroes I wanted to meet and that ends the RR1 chapter for me. Kaldas was named after my Grandfather and our goal with the company has always been quite diverse. We started the Headphone project knowing we would be in financial turmoil by the end of it and that is indeed, the truth.

I will be managing our Headphone division not for long now, as we expand our production and settle the Manufacturing, the responsibilities will be handed over to one of my longest serving Engineer who was instrumental in the RR1 development. I will divert my attention to some of my other dreams. 





    

  




Thank you to everyone whom I've met along the way. Those memories will serve me well for a long time. 



Where it all started for me. 



Visiting G.R.A.S. in Denmark


 

Meeting Birgir in Iceland



At Audeze HQ in Los Angeles



Klippel in Dresden 

And finally. 

 

Edited September 9, 2019 by Aumkar Chandan

[chinsettawong]

Aumkar and I had a good time on Saturday.  We started the day with a short city tour.  I took him to visit the Temple of Emerald Buddha, Grand Palace, and Wat Poh.  Then we had lunch with a few of my headphones lover friends.  After that, we had a mini headphones meeting.

At the meeting, we had Stax SR007 MK1, SR009, My DIY Orpheus Clone, Omega Clone, JF Clone, and of course Aumkar's RR1 headphones.  I brought my KGSSHV Carbon, KGST, and KG Grounded Grid, and my friend brought his DIY 300B single ended amp.  

The RR1 showed very good performance with all the amps we tried.  The treble was just right and the bass was impactful and deep.  I think they're good headphones for fast music.  

Aumkar kindly gave me a pair of RR1 and an extra pair of drivers for me to play with.  Here are some pictures of the stators, spacers, and dust shield.  

I'm very impressed to hear that he actually machines down the 4 mm aluminium sheet to 0.8 mm so that he can have the absolutely flat stators. 

The look and feel of the headphones are good.  Aumkar told me that all the cups are 3D printed, sanded, and painted in house.  With all these labor intensive works, the result is quite impressive.  I basically can't tell that these components are 3D printed at all. 

All my Thai friends like his headphones and have already asked me to help place their orders with Aumkar. 

 

Edited September 9, 2019 by chinsettawong

[Tachikoma]

Awesome, too bad I left Bangkok last week  @chinsettawong: sorry for not visiting, have been busy practically every day for the last year. 

[chinsettawong]

42 minutes ago, Tachikoma said:

Awesome, too bad I left Bangkok last week  @chinsettawong: sorry for not visiting, have been busy practically every day for the last year. 

Make sure that you let me know when you come again next time.  Let’s have a beer together.  

 

 

[Tachikoma]

Will do

[Rossliew]

Now we need to know when these are available