AIAIAI TMA-1 - Page 60

I've got an icon mobile and it's not bad. Emphasises details over my laptop/iriver h340. The one thing I've noticed though and I don't know if this is normal or if it's defective but when it's charging I'm getting a slightly annoying high pitched whine through it. You don't notice it all the time, just quieter tracks, but it can be very annoying at times. 

It's normal. The E7 does that, too.
 

 

 

Thanks, to me that seems like terrible design given you can't even disable charging on the icon mobile...
 

 

The Icon is the one product I've returned without listening to. The build quality was so bad I returned it right out of the box.

EDIT: Well, I gave it a listen for a bit. I'd already decided to return it though.
Edited by MorbidToaster - 7/25/11 at 7:43am

I can't say that's bothered me so much. I've dropped mine plenty of times and generally leave it unsecured with my iriver in my bag and aside from a couple of unsurprising minor dents in the metal cover it has stood up pretty well. Now if only it'd stop whining!

Thanks for the quick response, guys. So in your opinion, do you think the TMA-1s "need" an amp or a dac? Or is it enough the sound coming out from my ipod touch? Do the quality of sound varies a lot? if needed, which amp/dac would you recommend? 

They don't need one, but they benefit from the right one. My favorite pair with it was the Headstage Arrow 3G (although the 4G may be a better option). Did an excellent job of lifting the veil that they suffer from.

 

I would strongly recommend getting EQu for your Touch and bumping up the mids just a little. Makes them even stronger, IMO.
 

 

 

From what I have learned through experience of others and my own:

A DAC can be incredibly useful and will have a substantial impact in sound if a source's intergrated DAC is sub-par. Most notable benefit would be extended detail and sound stage (think of it as a sound card, but for portable devices). Because you are playing music through your iPod, you can completely bypass it's DAC with a proper cable (plugs in to the bottom; otherwise plugging it in to the 3.5mm defeats the purpose of a DAC)

An Amp is nice to have if your source is already clean and well ranged. It can further tailor the SS of a headphone; and in some cases synergise very well. However, if you have a crappy signal (line noise) and you try to amp it, you'll just end up with more crap

Edited by aleki - 7/25/11 at 9:18pm

Just recently bought these out of the classifieds and waiting for them to arrive. From what I've read so far, the sound sig is different from what I normally prefer, but I'd like to try something new. What are some good albums that sound nice through these?

 

 

Almost anything under the Electronic umbrella. They do it sooooo well. Really anything with some fun bass (as that's the best part of the TMA-1).
 

 

 

Alright, thanks for the suggestion. Don't know or have heard much of electronic styled music other than Scorn. Looks like I'll need to hit up lastfm.
 

 

Are any stores selling the mic cable separately?

will be getting one soon, cant wait!

how does the sound compare to the HD650? does anybody have both or have experience with both? im looking for a portable set that sound somewhat similar. what i wanna know is whether the TMA-1's have more or less bass than the HD650, and more or less treble than the HD650. i have come to realize my ears aren't quite the golden ears i thought they were, but i also dont want another headphone as bassy and dead up top as the XB500's either.

 

NEVERMIND - i found this review and the reviewer states over and over how similar these are to the HD650's. 

 

http://anythingbutipod.com/2010/12/aiaiai-tma-1-review/

Edited by jasonb - 9/7/11 at 7:15pm

I received one of these yesterday. I put maybe 2.5 hours on them already and I am very impressed.

 

DURABILITY, BUILD & COMFORT:

The design is simple yet beautiful. They seem well built and durable, only had them a day, but I can see they lasting me a very long time. They are comfortable on the ears but where the headband rests on my head is not the most comfortable. I plan to fix that comfort issue though. I already taped some foam to the bottom of the headband, but it still doesn't seem soft enough to be worn for hours at a time. I plan to come up with something to make the headband feel better on my head. It may be the same basic idea that I'm already using just with thicker foam, we will see. The package I received has 2 sets of earpads. It must be a newer packaging though because one of the two sets is not the plain foam pads I have seen pictures of. One feels like real leather, the other is a thinner obviously fake leather. I have actually been using the thinner fake leather looking ones, the ones that look and feel like the pads on the Koss DJ100.   

 

THE SOUND:

All of my listening with these has been from my iPhone 4's headphone out (no extra amping) using mostly 320kbps mp3. This source seems to work very well with them as it drives them plenty loud and just sounds very good overall. I'd describe what I am hearing as warm, smooth, but still very detailed with a very good sound-stage considering it's a small closed headphone. They are very smooth with nothing exaggerated or missing. The bass and mids seem to run the show and the treble is just there along for the ride. They have a present bass, but are not bass cannons like the XB series from Sony, they are still pretty balanced. The bass is both punchy when called for, and deep and rumbles when asked to. The mid-range is very nice, not to forward, but definitely not recessed either. The higher end is smooth and never sibilant or tiring. It's decently extended and can still be a bit sparkly and airy, but the treble is definitely not going to steal the show. The overall sound signature in terms of frequency response is pretty close to my HD650's and my Sleek Audio SA6's in the treble+ and bass+ tuning configuration. I pretty much have 3 different setups that all sound pretty similar. This is the sound that I prefer, so that's fine with me.

 

The sound-stage is actually pretty wide, even when comparing to my desktop setup which is a HeadRoom amp/DAC and HD650's. However, I admit that I do use the crossfeed on my HeadRoom amp when listening to the HD650's which does kill some width and separation in exchange for some depth. So comparing the sound-stage and imaging, the TMA-1's sound just as wide, but lack a bit of depth. When comparing the two (again, with crossfeed on the HD650's) I hear better stereo separation on the TMA-1/iPhone 4 setup, but that should be a given considering what crossfeed does, so no surprise there. The two sound close in terms of detail. Both produce excellent detail, the crossfeed once again probably effects the HD650's here as well. I'm actually starting to realize the negative effects of crossfeed as I'm listening and writing this.

 

When comparing sound-stage and imaging of the TMA-1'a to my SA6's, it's no contest. The TMA's being a headphone rather than an earphone explain that. The SA6's don't have a bad sound-stage for an IEM, but the TMA's just kick their ass here. The extra width also makes stereo separation seem that much better too. The TMA's can definitely give an out of the head width on the right music. Certain Rush and Yes songs are quite an experience on these.

 

I listen to quite a range of music, anywhere from dubstep to rock/metal then back to ambient/chillout/downtempo. These do well with all of it since they have a somewhat balanced sound.

 

I got them for $159, open box from an authorized seller on ebay, and for the price they are definitely well worth it. If anybody is looking for a cheaper, smaller, easier to power HD650 with better isolation, better portability and less sound leakage, this is the answer.