I stand directly in front of, or sit on top of a stack of 30Hz bass bins at the office. These isolate well enough to cue music at the loudest volumes I can create with the foam cups. The leather cups do not seal to my head, however. I guess my ears are too big, but the cups just don't deflect enough internally, forcing one's ears to do the deflecting.
With a touch of EQ to lift the highs, I rather enjoy extended listening with them at home. It's obvious that they start to roll off early. The published curves also reflect this. No doubt a benefit for those listening all day long. I do find myself fidgeting with the headband position quite a bit. Maybe I have a pointed head or something, but, even with the extra padding on the "Studio," it takes a minute to rub a flat spot onto the crown of my nugget to get them fixed. I can't imagine what the standard TMA-1 might feel like. Not a deal breaker, but I wouldn't buy em strictly for home listening. That's not their job. No, I hired these to be reliable, rugged, stylish, amazing performers in a club setting and still have a fair amount of audio snob factor. They do all of this with a sense of presence and style that is unattainable elsewhere.
AiAiAi seem to be rather prolific at creating customized versions of their products. Perhaps they'll come out with a TMA-1 "lounge" for the recliner scene.
**There is one caveat: The foam ear cups were completely separated from the metal base plates. You can see the "trail" of adhesive, but the cups themselves fell off before I got them on my head the first time. I contacted both the retailer and Aiaiai directly and had near immediate response. Proaudiostar.com offered replacement or refund (they are great to deal with on everything) and Aiaiai responded as follows:
__
"Thanks for contacting us. We are sorry to hear about this issue and apologize for the inconvenience.
Unfortunately we have experienced problems with the gluing of the ear pads and are currently working on producing replacement ear pads with improved gluing. What you can do for now (the events this weekend) is to glue them yourself with some super glue - just take the cushion plate off the ear cups to make sure no glue drops on the headphones. This should hold for a couple of weeks until we can ship you replacement ear pads. Alternatively you could also use the leather ear pads maybe?
Let me know if this is working for you so I can put you on a waiting list for the replacement cushions."
__
If you want the great deal: proaudiostar.com - call or ask for the "hook up price" in the chat window. Couldn't ask for more from a retailer. $160 landed.
I'm satisfied.
Eric
With a touch of EQ to lift the highs, I rather enjoy extended listening with them at home. It's obvious that they start to roll off early. The published curves also reflect this. No doubt a benefit for those listening all day long. I do find myself fidgeting with the headband position quite a bit. Maybe I have a pointed head or something, but, even with the extra padding on the "Studio," it takes a minute to rub a flat spot onto the crown of my nugget to get them fixed. I can't imagine what the standard TMA-1 might feel like. Not a deal breaker, but I wouldn't buy em strictly for home listening. That's not their job. No, I hired these to be reliable, rugged, stylish, amazing performers in a club setting and still have a fair amount of audio snob factor. They do all of this with a sense of presence and style that is unattainable elsewhere.
AiAiAi seem to be rather prolific at creating customized versions of their products. Perhaps they'll come out with a TMA-1 "lounge" for the recliner scene.
**There is one caveat: The foam ear cups were completely separated from the metal base plates. You can see the "trail" of adhesive, but the cups themselves fell off before I got them on my head the first time. I contacted both the retailer and Aiaiai directly and had near immediate response. Proaudiostar.com offered replacement or refund (they are great to deal with on everything) and Aiaiai responded as follows:
__
"Thanks for contacting us. We are sorry to hear about this issue and apologize for the inconvenience.
Unfortunately we have experienced problems with the gluing of the ear pads and are currently working on producing replacement ear pads with improved gluing. What you can do for now (the events this weekend) is to glue them yourself with some super glue - just take the cushion plate off the ear cups to make sure no glue drops on the headphones. This should hold for a couple of weeks until we can ship you replacement ear pads. Alternatively you could also use the leather ear pads maybe?
Let me know if this is working for you so I can put you on a waiting list for the replacement cushions."
__
If you want the great deal: proaudiostar.com - call or ask for the "hook up price" in the chat window. Couldn't ask for more from a retailer. $160 landed.
I'm satisfied.
Eric
