RHA (Reid & Heath Acoustics) MA-350 - anyone have any experience of them?

[bennyboy]

Originally Posted by dfkt

Got the RHA today... holy hell, they're bass monsters. They sound like Hippo Boom with a bit more clarity - will have to compare them to the Hippo VB later on (if I find them).
.

Yep - waaaaay too much bass if you ask me. Is this what the kids like these days?

[CrowdAds]

[IDvsEGO]

honestly, in my experience, its what kids (and mass market) have always liked. I still like having the big boom ability but I like to be able to tone it back depending on mood or listening selection.

[great_badir]

My review is up.

Looks like I disagree with you guys on nearly everything and my findings are the exact opposite!

I actually like the fabric coated cable. Whether it is really just for looks or not, I don't know, but for me the microphonics are definitely pretty much non existent (but then I have come from Sennheiser CX55s, which were microphonic-tastic).

Also, regarding the bass, I found that it settled after some burn in. They're still quite bass centric after a few days' use (which is no problem for me as a basshead), but certainly not booming bass monsters.

Just goes to show we all like different things, I guess.

[bennyboy]

There's no such thing as burn in.

You Tube

You Tube

I have this really radical theory that when you put a headphone in or on your head for the first time, thats the way it sounds. Anything else is down to your brain or your positioning of the equipment differently on or in your ears.

But if you hear these RHA things differently, thats cool with me. For myself, with my ears, I couldnt stand the inflated bass and the overcompensatory treble. Music didnt sound real to me through them and I couldnt relax into enjoying it. That's my acid test for any head or earphone.

[great_badir]

Originally Posted by bennyboy

Anything else is down to your brain or your positioning of the equipment differently on or in your ears.

Well, you may be right. As I've said in other posts, although I consider myself to be an audiophile, I'm not super techie, so when it comes to the science stuff (as in that YouTube vid) I'm next to useless. So your "radical" () theory may well be correct. But something, somewhere, definitely changes.

The other thing which I didn't mention of course, is the way they (and all 'phones) sound with the EQ on the source player. I still strongly disagree with you on the treble and wonder if playing about with the EQ may change things for you. But then, if you're anything like I was with my X5 (I'm just using one of the BBE pre-sets on my X7 at the mo), you probably spent hours fine tuning the frequencies and the last thing you want to do is change them again, which I completely understand.

All I can say is that, to me, these 'phones sound excellent regardless of the money (although not giant killers when you get to proper high-end stuff).

I also have a response for you in my review thread, but I'll post it there so as not to cross-over conversations.

[bennyboy]

Interesting. Which BBE setting do you use? I tend to favour Headphone 2 setting on my J3 - and have tweaked the customisable bands for many an hour in the past before settling mostly on that one stock setting for now.

Headphone 2 seems to give a great soundstage dimensionality without comprosing the integrity of the bandwidth. In other words, music sounds good with it.

Or, failing that, Viva is usually a good one.

[great_badir]

Originally Posted by bennyboy

Interesting. Which BBE setting do you use? I tend to favour Headphone 2 setting on my J3 - and have tweaked the customisable bands for many an hour in the past before settling mostly on that one stock setting for now.

Headphone 2 seems to give a great soundstage dimensionality without comprosing the integrity of the bandwidth. In other words, music sounds good with it.

Or, failing that, Viva is usually a good one.

I COMPLETELY agree with you about headphone 2, however I use headphone 1, the reason being that half of my commute to work is by car, during which it's hooked up to my car stereo. Headphone 2 sounds very thin and flat in the car, whilst headphone 1 is bang on and also more than acceptable with the 'phones, so for ease (or because I'm lazy and can't be assed to change it four times a day!) I just stick with 1.

I did start playing with the individual frequency settings in custom mode, but they seem to be a lot trickier to get right than they were with Rockbox on the X5.

I wasn't overly impressed with most of the other pre-sets (including Viva), but the three headphone ones and Mach3Bass and MP are all pretty good and will probably suit until an X7 Rockbox port comes along.

...if one comes along...

[dfkt]

Originally Posted by bennyboy

There's no such thing as burn in.

That is my opinion on the matter too, from a technical standpoint. I believe though that there are psychological factors at play - one's ears and brain have to get accustomed to a new sound signature, I don't think one can thoroughly evaluate a new (to oneself) signature right away. For me it takes at least a few days before I could say what I specifically like/dislike about a pair of phones.

Of course if you hate a certain sound signature right away (like it seems you're not a fan of bass heavy sound to begin with), chances are slim that it will grow on you and become your new favorite. But I was already in for a few surprises along the way (hated the SM3 at first, now love them - loved the IE8 at first, now find them not that super-awesome anymore, etc).