Damn you are really dedicated to this. Yes the raals use a femal xlr cable so the r has a male socket. So you just need a female to female adapter.
Part of why Iām still intrigued by these despite the cost is that I do have numerous receivers and power amps floating around in storage to be able to test this, from mid-to-upper tier Denon HT receivers from the early 2000s, to some classic power amps like a Phase Linear 400 and Carver M-1.0T and M-4.0T. Iād be curious if any have the oomph to drive these and what the differences might be.
Of all the things out there that I could want to buy if I had modestly fat stacks ā THIS is the one thing that has really captured my attention. This excites me.
Wow I didnāt know you were on here. Someone over at head fi noted that there are two different ribbon models being used. This was confirmed when someone pulled theirs out to reveal it was a different model than another users. There is a āsilverā one and a āgoldā one. John Massaria had practically the same conclusion as zeos with his set, and he is a man a trust a lot to evaluate headphones. Maybe you got the other model which was worse?
In other words, for the low price of 1500ā¬ you get a chance for a good headphone, or you get the āFriday couldnāt be arsed specialā.
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In other words - itās a GoldPlanar 
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For reference, the one I got was from Linsoul as well. I expect that to be the same. I actually like itā¦ sort of. Surprisingly, the velour pads have the better tuning by a mile - even though it still sounds a bit muffled and congested in the upper mids due to an imbalance for treble harmonics. But, with EQ the presentation here is interesting. Thereās a hint of microdynamic blunting going on in the lower regions, but the mids and treble have an interesting way of representing details and textures in the music - almost in like a āsofterā way. Also, the staging is really quite unique.
So, bottom line for me is that this is hard no without EQ, but with EQ thereās some potential (I like it better than the GL2k for example)
So how much power is actually needed to do these justice? Looking at what I have lying around unused at the moment, I have the following:
Denon AVR-3200 (1998). 80 watts/channel x 3 @ 8 ohms
Denon AVR-2807 (2006). 110 watts/channel x 7 @ 8 ohms
Or I could use the preamp outs from either and bolt on an ancient Phase Linear 400. 210 watts/channel @ 8 ohms.
If none of those options will suffice, Iāll probably pass as I donāt want to have to invest gobs of money also into an amp.
Based on the review on Headfi and Zās video, I would say 100W into 4 ohms is the minimum. I just got the package with the headphones today, and the back of the interface box says 150W max 6 ohm load.
Here are some pics of the components that come in the boxes.
Couldnāt get a good picture of the headphone cable, it was too dark against the table to get any detail. But itās a decent balanced cable with 8 individual conductors. Easily a $50-60 cable.
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Iām bypassing the interface box for now and using the Jotunheim R (baffle compensation off) to power these headphones. I am using this adapter to connect the two. (Edit: A custom adapter is required to use with the GL1200) Iāll be trying out the interface box with some (relatively crappy) amps my friend and I have this weekend.
Getting into the sound right out of the box: this thing is weird in great and strange ways. First off, the imaging is crazy. Not sure if itās realistic, but itās very interesting. Centered vocals sound VERY intimate and pinpointed to the center of my head. While at the same time, instruments and stereo effects sound super three dimensional. In some tracks, sound is clearly coming from above my head instead of from the sides like all the other headphones I own would normally do.
Iām going to hold off on diving into the sound signature until Iāve broken these in much more. Only an hour in and I can already tell the bass is still coming into its own. I will say though, that I did a frequency sweep and found what sounds like major channel imbalance around 8.5 and 11.5 kHz. However, shifting the headphones on my head changed the channel balance of the sound at these frequencies. It seems as if different parts of the ribbons emit some frequencies at different levels.
Which color is that? Linsoul.com lists a āsilverā option and a ātitaniumā option, but they only have one set of images.
This is the titanium option. Didnāt have a silver option when I ordered.
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So this is a very specific question only a few will probably be able to answer. How do these compare with the GL2000. To clairify I love my 2000s, I just want to know what the main differences are with these.
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I agree with most of what Resolve says here. That distortion in the bass is audible around 25 Hz on my set. But the thing is, it looks terrible on his graph, but it doesnāt sound terrible. Kinda reminds me of tubing speakers. I have to disagree about the pads though. I prefer the more even response of the pleather pads. The midrange is peaky with the suede pads, which I donāt find enjoyable. I also think the detail retrieval is on par with the HD800S. Itās actually easier to hear fine details on the GL1200. Often times fine details on the 800s come with an extra large helping of treble energy, which can drown them out.
Disclaimer though, Resolveās using the interface box, which I suspect has some kind of EQ going on like the SR1a box does. And all those resistors and whatever that black box is (coils I think?) would definitely affect sound in some way. That could explain the difference in opinion.
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Just out of curiosity, how difficult would it be for you to do an A-B comparison with and without the interface box, since you have it? Would you be able to use the same amplifier in both scenarios? If not, presumably the presence or absence of the interface would color the sound as much or more so than the difference in amplifiers. Yes, it would be a subjective test, but Iād be interested in your impressions.
The Jotunheim R is designed to drive 0.2 ohm loads directly. I wonāt be able to hook it up to the interface box since that simulates a 6 ohm load. If I do an AB test, it would have to be with different amps.
Iām planning on trying the headphones with the interface box this weekend, but the amp is gonna be an old 100 Wpc into 8 ohm class D. Itās not ideal, but Iāll leave my impressions. Unfortunately, I donāt own or know anyone with a higher quality speaker amp to test.