AIAIAI TMA-1 Closed Headphone

[Adub]

That was a great review, i can't wait for xmas lol.

[andkoppel]

Originally Posted by dfkt

Head-Fi member Curly21029 wrote a very good TMA-1 review: http://www.head-fi.org/forum/thread/...chnica-ath-m50

Hi, can we peek into your upcoming review to ask you if your impressions are similar to those from Curly21029?

[Marvin the Martian]

Amazing nobody flamed him for using EQ.....lol.

[dfkt]

Originally Posted by andkoppel

Hi, can we peek into your upcoming review to ask you if your impressions are similar to those from Curly21029?

My impressions are mostly the same, with a few differences (that shouldn't matter much in the grand scheme of things).

I don't find the treble in general recessed or feel the need to EQ it up a bit. It's rather that the TMA-1 roll off rather early in the treble, around 15.5kHz or so (have to check again with a sine sweep), while I can hear other phones up to 17kHz or even higher, sometimes. I think that's nothing that could be really fixed with an EQ, and it's nothing that I would see as a negative point. I don't perceive anything missing in the treble.

The other point is that I don't find the TMA-1 to respond/improve with amping. They basically sound the same straight out of my Clip+ as they sound out of my AudioFire, Arrow, or Headsix. I just did a few quick tests, though, mostly use them unamped from the Clip+ or Cowon X5. Maybe I should do a more thorough long term test. But it seems Curly21029 is more impressed with the lack of distortion when they go very loud.

Other than those fairly negligible points, I definitely agree with Curly21029's assertion.

[Jack4L]

Anyone else think that these headphones are pretty sensitive? I havn't had time to notice as I've been using them almost entirely with my AF4, HD5 and Desire (Which does hiss, but I listen to podcasts and audiobooks on that so- I'm not really expecting it not to ). Started using them on my work laptop and right away noticed the hissing, they also go from mute to fairly loud on a macbook pro, with a little less hiss. Was kinda hoping to take these as my only phones on a longer trip but this hissing is kinda annoying...

[The DarkSide]

I really want these,...

[dfkt]

Jack4L, they sure are some of the loudest, most sensitive phones I've heard - more like IEMs than full-sized cans in that aspect. Hiss is negligible for me though - very little hiss on the Clip+ (barely audible between tracks), no hiss on the J3. No hiss on the Audiofire either, of course.

[CLipster]

dfkt,

I your humble opinion, would these be a good set of "1st" cans? I missed out on the Panas, now these might be my next snatch, but I just want to make sure they are well worth the 200.00.

thanks

[dfkt]

Yes, IMO they're well worth it. You could do much worse for a "1st" pair.

[EddieE]

Well pulled the trigger and ordered mine last night, looking forward to getting my hands on them. I've been without closed portable cans for a while now after giving away my M50s - my ear canals are going to thank me not to be abused by IEMs every day - lets hope my ear drums like them as much….

[EddieE]

Originally Posted by gregzx

Hi guys.

I have finally received my TMA-1's. They certainly are a pair of great phones. I have been listning to the for like 2 days now.
At first, when I have first plugged them to my AudioFire I was completely dissapointed. The saound seemed muddy and not textured enough. I gave them a few hours though... [snip]

I'm not so sure it was just in comparison to your other headphones.

I got exactly the same urgh! Feeling when plugging them in straight out of the box after quarter of an hour listening to my SR303 to set up a reference.

They sounded terrible, muddy, inarticulate. I was pretty disappointed. I left them playing on my amp for a few hours while I went down stairs, made food, played some xbox, talked on the phone etc...

Then I came up again and put another half an hour on the SR303 and plugged the TMA-1 back in again -

Completely different story. The mids are there and the treble is coming out... at least with these headphones, running them in does change them.

Still too early to give real impressions yet, but I'm glad they don't suck like I thought they did at first at least!

A few more quick impressions:

1. The headset itself is one hell of a sexy beast.

2. What were they thinking with those terrible foam pads????

3. I agree - the cable is truly horrible. I wish I could DIY...

4. The headband is uncomfortable. Surprised this hasn't been mentioned more yet...

[Jack4L]

The headband can be moded with a DT880 headband cushion, if you really want...



Just kinda makes them, bigger on your head ;D

[EddieE]

Ah yes, I actually have one of those hanging about, just tried it and its a surprisingly "stock" looking solution, thanks Jack.

The other one I was going to try was the adhesive HD25 headband strips, but I might stick with this. I was finding one button hole a little too big and one a little too small, with the band on the slightly too big one is now a snug fit.

[EddieE]

Some more comments about these phones.

I've never been a big proponent of "burn in".

While I have experience phones settling in over the first week of use, I never noticed the huge changes in sound many wrote about. The phones I had owned that had a most obvious "burn in" were the ATH-M50 and those only changed marginally over the first week of use. Grados change a little too over the first week. Other phones which are supposedly "burn in" marathon men - such as the K702 - I really noticed next to no changes in at all from the moment I got them out of the box right up till giving them a final listen the other day before boxing them to give to my brother. I have always put the "burn in chronicles" you read online to psycological factors; someone just "getting used to" a new sound and ascribing a real-world process it. I have always, and probably always will laughed at people who talk about cables burning in, and am extremely cynical of amp manufacturers who convince their customers they need to burn in their solid state amp for several hundred hours before judging it (who would not be used to and have tuned out any deficiencies in sound during that time frame?).

All this said - the AiAiAi TMA-1, or at least the latest phase of them, DO need "burn in", the differences between the first ten minutes of play time and ten minutes after they've been running for a few hours is the most pronounced I've ever experienced in a single set of phones.

Early adopters of the TMA-1 have reported no sonic problems at all, but those in the second wave have posted some similar experiences. I've heard other comments which described the TMA-1 exactly as I heard them. My theory is that, in the rush to meet demand following some positive early hype AiAiAi began boxing the phones without running any power through the drivers at all, so the first time they had been used in any way were by the users who were treated to the awful sound of them creaking into life and gaining their flexibility whereas with the first run they were testing each set to make sure they worked before boxing them up and hence taking the headphones past that first initial stage which sounds so bad. The theory would certainly account for the descrepancies in first impressions between early and later adopters of these phones.

This was absolutely not a case of me getting used to the sound of these headphones. I know that because I didn't listen to them during that time, and in both the first and second listens I preceeded by setting a mental reference with the same tracks on the same set of headphones. I got home from work, eagerly unpackaged the TMA-1, then spent 15 minutes listening to a variety of well known tracks on my current flavour of the month, the Stax SR303. Then I plugged in the new toys and started going through those same tracks and my face dropped.

Out of the box the TMA-1 were simply terrible - a slow, muddy sound with a cloying, farting mid-bass that obscured everything else. If I hadn't read such positive reviews from such experienced headphone enthusiasts I'd have written them off on the spot.
Instead I took them off my head but left them running and went about my evening activities. Later that night I again put on the Stax and fired up a few reference tracks then took the plunge again. The difference was night and day. That is no exagerration at all I promise you.

I'll write more about my impressions of the REAL burnt-in TMA sound once the "mental burn-in" completes. Early impressions are very, very good.

[dispose]

I decided to hold off buying these until dfkt posts a front page review...

[dfkt]

I'm 3/4 finished with the review, will be up in the next few days.

[dispose]

Originally Posted by dfkt

I'm 3/4 finished with the review, will be up in the next few days.

Good to hear. I asked AIAIAI if I could ship 'em back and get my money if I didn't like them, and they said "yes", so your review is the only thing I'm waiting for before I buy these...
I read they come with a case of some sort. Could you post a picture of it, because I'm curious about the storage of these since they don't fold up. Thanks in advance.

[dfkt]

Pics of all accessories will be in the review. It's not a case, but a pouch with zipper. Considering how sturdy the TMA-1 appear to me, they probably don't need any special protection.

[dispose]

Originally Posted by dfkt

Pics of all accessories will be in the review. It's not a case, but a pouch with zipper. Considering how sturdy the TMA-1 appear to me, they probably don't need any special protection.

This keeps getting better and better... So there should be no problem storing them in my backpack inside the pouch?

[dfkt]

Well, you leave me no other option... Here's a few teaser pics, showing the pouch, and how insanely the phones can be bent without any damage.