NEW! Aiaiai TMA-1 Studio - Page 10

Looking for something more appropriate at work.  Currently have some senns px 200 but they hurt my ears after just about an hour.  Thinking of some of the beyer dt770 32ohm.

I would look at the 250ohm one and a fiio e11 and you got your self a portable rig, but the shure iem's are still highly recommended by me.

Thanks for advice.  I have never tried the iem's.  I have a set of the 80ohm, but yeah without amplification they are not good enough off my mp3 player.  The aiaiai looked interesting but worry about how comfortable the on ear design is.  Leakage might also aggravate lab-mates.

Today I got to try out the TMA studios and I compare them against the Shure 840s and the original TMA-1 with and without an amp and here is what I thought. The song I used was steve vai's "For The Love Of God" as it had everything I could reference with in one song, crowd applause, an orchestral and of course, Steve Vai's legendary guitar skills.

 

 

First, as someone has posted before me, these are NOT neutral. They have pretty loud bass which to me bled into the mids. The cans were pretty boomy compared to the shure 840s which were said to be on the warm side of neutral. Mids themselves were pretty good and a huge upgrade from the TMA-1 DJ which are less smooth and rather edgy than the Studio. Highs I felt are not strident and piercing but not crisp and felt rather dull to me. The guitar's edginess or whatever its called did not resolve as well as the Shure 840s to me. Also, crowd applause felt rather dull and less realistic than the 840s. To me, people looking for a drum headphone should probably take a listen to this but at the price, Shure 840s are a much better choice.

 

Whether out of a amp or driven by the ipod 4g straight out, there is very little change in the TMA-1 studio's characteristic frequency response given its high sensitivity.

 

Build quality wise, it is the same as the TMA-1 DJ with larger cups, it felt rather comfy with the foam pads on the head. I really dig the industrial design though.

 

Isolation wise, I think the Studio isolates worse than the DJ and probably the same or worse than the 840s.

 

In conclusion, those looking for a good studio monitor in the TMA-1 studio would be left disappointed with its treble and bass response, I felt it was kinda overpriced with the level of detail it achieved and felt those looking for a good monitor need not look further than the Shure 840(which are priced the same in Singapore).  

I still have time to return these, but I'm not sure what I'll do.
I know it's made to be lightweight with fiberglass, but these are the lightest headphones I have, and it just feels odd. I throw my other fullsize headphones all over the bed or floor, but these make me want to be gentle, and I don't like that feeling.
If anyone has had theirs for a few months, how well do they hold together?

 

Pretty good but they easily damage cosmetically. Doesn't take much to scratch or get a chunk out of the band & pads.

The sound isn't that good either lol. Don't think I'll keep mine eventually

always nice to see a hifi-guy vid show up in my sub box.

Just returned mine :/ Yeah I saw that they were scratched a little on the inside and the coating was coming off the edge. That was just like a mouse I had with the same coating. In a years time, it would look like a shedding snake or something. They could have just used flat black paint instead of that coating.
I thought the sound was pretty fun for all genres, but couldn't deal with the design. Fun can be had for less right?

I really don't think the finish should be that much of a problem unless there was a manufacturing issue. Granted, I only owned the Studios for a few days, but I've had my regular TMA-1s since last December with no issues so far and I'm pretty sure the finish is the same.

I had the regulay TMA-1 and liked it. Totally agree with peoples onions about them being a tad dark but I liked that. Suited the looks ;-) Alas a speaker blown in it and they had to go back. I asked if I could upgrade to the Studios. They said yes as long as I paid a further 55 euros. No problem!

 

I received them a couple of weeks ago and upon opening, I pulled them free of the box and noticed the headband was coming off, not a great start but it's a bit of glue and no big deal. I burnt them in for a week and yes they are more open, better soundstage, less thumpy etc etc (all the things people are saying). BUT I still prefer the originals. They had less leakage, better seal (I tried other pads and noticed 2 lugs were missing in the right cup so it wouldn't hold the pad perfectly still, though the clamping effect should help this, I'm an optimist you see ;-) Anyway, I tried the other pleather pads and really liked the comfort and again soundstage but my mrs complains about hearing the music even at moderate volumes. I tried the original TMA-1 pads (small ones) and actually prefered those. Yes you give a bit of soundstage away to them but you get a much better fit (or at least I do with my monkey magic ears) and the bass although a tad thumpy (which is easily corrected) is in my onion a better, more exciting experience. Anyway, I am just waiting to send these back yet again to AIAIAI for a replacement and I am tempted to just sell them and go with the good ol' M50's? 2 wrongs don't make a right!

Agree with some of the reviews on here. Had my TMA1 Studios for about a week now and will be passing them on ASAP.

Seem to have a nice level of bass response but the detail in the mids/highs is completely lost. When I put my AKG K550s on straight after it was clear that the TMA1s have a colourful sound that will make 'purists' looking for faithful reproduction very upset.

Having said this they are good fun and if comfortable so if you are looking for a secondary pair of closed backs that add more spice to your audio meal then maybe these are worth a shot. Not at their full retail price mind, the competition is too strong at that price point

the entire question is, how is the Price/Performance Ratio?

 

Are they worth the 200-300$?

 

im thinking of upgrading soon.

 

from Grado sr80i all the way to the Sennheiser HD600.

 

or should i make a pitstop to getting me a portable closed can that i need for school(grado's are growing to be my home-can)

 

either Sennheiser HD25-II which costs the same the price offered for the TMA1-Studio in my area

I'd take the HD25 over the Studio every time. I found the Studio to be rather disappointing. you're better off with the COP or DT770 or HD25