[julian67]

I bought a pair of RHA IEMs. They failed within a few weeks of purchase. I contacted RHA and the customer service was excellent and a new pair was despatched by return of post along with a pre-paid mailer for returning the originals. The new pair then failed within a few days in exactly the same way (left side driver or cable quit).

RHA Sound Quality: 4*
RHA Customer Service: 5*
RHA IEM design/materials/build quality: 1*

Imo far too few reviewers have anything even slightly useful to say on the subject of durability or build quality as most reviews are of products trialled over a few days and anyway many reviews are just marketing bs in dress. Very badly made and designed products with high failure rates regularly get praised for their sound quality or low price. Buyer beware, especially if return shipping cost makes warranty claim essentially pointless.

Real world reviews by real customers on sites like amazon and people relating their experiences on forums like this suggest an extraordinarily high failure rate for RHA. It doesn't matter how nice the sound is or which pro reviewers recommend a product if the thing is poorly made or has design defects which lead to failure.

I will never spend another penny on RHA, UE/Logitech or Sony headphones or IEMs because it is either money or time wasted, or both.

It would be great if pro reviewers and bloggers actually regularly used products like normal people do and then updated their reviews and ratings accordingly. First impressions and day one measurements have some value but most us buy stuff to use for months, years, or even decades (I have had Sennheiser and iRiver portable audio products achieve a decade of regular use).

 

[aramk]

  Woah I had no idea my thread had another big conversation lol
 
I just wanted to post an update on the IEMs. 
 
I'm still very impressed, I let them burn in over night for a couple of nights and that was all it took to improve the sound, I definitely don't think they need 600 hours burn in lol
 
There's only one thing that's bugging me, and that's the tips. I think maybe I have large ear canals or something because even the foam tips I find fall out a little every now and then so I find myself pushing them back in a lot of the time which after a while makes my ears a little sore. The foam tips are the only tips that sound good and feel comfy for me as well. 
 
Other than that, they still sound great, the sound isolation is fantastic, I feel I could use them at a gun range as ear protection!

Good to hear you're impressed by them. I upgraded from Apple Earpods, so I thought the sound was exceptional from the beginning. I think your ear canals might be large, because I couldn't get the foam tips to fit without excessive force and I stuck to the medium size silicone it came with. My biggest issue was that I was too eager with trying different tips for a good fit and I disrupted the pressure in my left year, giving me something like an ear infection where I lost half the hearing for a day. It's better now, but basically I've learnt to pull the ear before inserting the tips and to not jam them in like I'm packing gunpowder in a canon. If I find the free time I might write a quick review with pics, because otherwise I'm very happy with these headphones, and forcing the tips in was my fault.

 

[aramk]

I bought a pair of RHA IEMs. They failed within a few weeks of purchase. I contacted RHA and the customer service was excellent and a new pair was despatched by return of post along with a pre-paid mailer for returning the originals. The new pair then failed within a few days in exactly the same way (left side driver or cable quit).

RHA Sound Quality: 4*
RHA Customer Service: 5*
RHA IEM design/materials/build quality: 1*

Imo far too few reviewers have anything even slightly useful to say on the subject of durability or build quality as most reviews are of products trialled over a few days and anyway many reviews are just marketing bs in dress. Very badly made and designed products with high failure rates regularly get praised for their sound quality or low price. Buyer beware, especially if return shipping cost makes warranty claim essentially pointless.

Real world reviews by real customers on sites like amazon and people relating their experiences on forums like this suggest an extraordinarily high failure rate for RHA. It doesn't matter how nice the sound is or which pro reviewers recommend a product if the thing is poorly made or has design defects which lead to failure.

I will never spend another penny on RHA, UE/Logitech or Sony headphones or IEMs because it is either money or time wasted, or both.

It would be great if pro reviewers and bloggers actually regularly used products like normal people do and then updated their reviews and ratings accordingly. First impressions and day one measurements have some value but most us buy stuff to use for months, years, or even decades (I have had Sennheiser and iRiver portable audio products achieve a decade of regular use).

This is concerning to read about. How did you store the cables? I'm avoiding wrapping them at all and just leaving them under my shirt or unfolded on the desk to avoid any strain. The reviews I've seen on Amazon and Apple are glowing though. Presumably if they failed people would return and update the review.
 
http://store.apple.com/au/product/HC457VC/A/rha-ma750i-noise-isolating-in-ear-headphones
http://www.amazon.com/RHA-MA750i-Isolating-Headphone-Microphone/dp/B00ELAM8NC

 

[julian67]

Thanks for the comment. As it happens I'm not a complete idiot (maybe close though) and I don't wrap or strain cables. I had Senn headphones which lasted a decade, I have some Senn CX 95 IEM used regularly which I bought in 2009 which now look very used but but work perfectly. I've had several Shure IEMs which lasted years. On the other hand I had two pairs of RHAs fail the same way in a matter of weeks. I just used them as IEMs, not as tow ropes and I also avoided using them as bungee straps or suspenders cos I am real clever.

 

[aramk]

Thanks for the comment. As it happens I'm not a complete idiot (maybe close though) and I don't wrap or strain cables. I had Senn headphones which lasted a decade, I have some Senn CX 95 IEM used regularly which I bought in 2009 which now look very used but but work perfectly. I've had several Shure IEMs which lasted years. On the other hand I had two pairs of RHAs fail the same way in a matter of weeks. I just used them as IEMs, not as tow ropes and I also avoided using them as bungee straps or suspenders cos I am real clever.

Heh, fair enough, I can sympathise with that. Hopefully it was a bad batch in a short time-frame. I guess time will tell, but I'll definitely be watching out for sound loss. From what I can tell RHA are newcomers and both Shure and Sennhieser are established brands.

 

[RHA Team]

I bought a pair of RHA IEMs. They failed within a few weeks of purchase. I contacted RHA and the customer service was excellent and a new pair was despatched by return of post along with a pre-paid mailer for returning the originals. The new pair then failed within a few days in exactly the same way (left side driver or cable quit).

RHA Sound Quality: 4*
RHA Customer Service: 5*
RHA IEM design/materials/build quality: 1*

Imo far too few reviewers have anything even slightly useful to say on the subject of durability or build quality as most reviews are of products trialled over a few days and anyway many reviews are just marketing bs in dress. Very badly made and designed products with high failure rates regularly get praised for their sound quality or low price. Buyer beware, especially if return shipping cost makes warranty claim essentially pointless.

Real world reviews by real customers on sites like amazon and people relating their experiences on forums like this suggest an extraordinarily high failure rate for RHA. It doesn't matter how nice the sound is or which pro reviewers recommend a product if the thing is poorly made or has design defects which lead to failure.

I will never spend another penny on RHA, UE/Logitech or Sony headphones or IEMs because it is either money or time wasted, or both.

It would be great if pro reviewers and bloggers actually regularly used products like normal people do and then updated their reviews and ratings accordingly. First impressions and day one measurements have some value but most us buy stuff to use for months, years, or even decades (I have had Sennheiser and iRiver portable audio products achieve a decade of regular use).

Hey julian, thanks for the feedback.
 
Sorry that you've experienced issues with RHA products, it's rare for someone to experience repeated faults, especially in such a short timeframe. Regarding Amazon reviews, it's often the case that people are more inclined to make the effort to write a critical review than they are to praise the product, so please consider there is likely to be some bias.
 
As you've noted yourself, we're proud to offer efficient customer care and cover the cost of return postage so that the user is not inconvenienced.
 
Apologies again.
 
RHA Team
 

 

[julian67]

Hey julian, thanks for the feedback.

Sorry that you've experienced issues with RHA products, it's rare for someone to experience repeated faults, especially in such a short timeframe. Regarding Amazon reviews, it's often the case that people are more inclined to make the effort to write a critical review than they are to praise the product, so please consider there is likely to be some bias.

As you've noted yourself, we're proud to offer efficient customer care and cover the cost of return postage so that the user is not inconvenienced.

Apologies again.

RHA Team

 

I did write a positive review on amazon.co.uk which is where I bought the items (from your own R H A market place store). I then updated (added to) it to reflect the two failures, while leaving the original positive comments intact.

The odd bad review is not noteworthy or remarkable, and where there is just a handful of reviews it's not that interesting. But your RHA150 have 170 customer reviews on amazon.co.uk and 19 are only 3 star, 19 only 2 star and 19 a mere 1 star. Most of those refer to product failure, not any issue with sound quality or comfort or similar. That is really unimpressive and confirms that my experience of an RHA product which quickly fails is not unusual.

 

[Apex Eight]

This is... Interesting. Subbed.

 

[MAGICAL ESKIMO]

Can confirm mine are still A-Okay
 
I use them at work a lot and so they don't get handled particularly gently and they're still still in perfect condition!

 

[aramk]

  Can confirm mine are still A-Okay
 
I use them at work a lot and so they don't get handled particularly gently and they're still still in perfect condition!

Can confirm. Still no issues and the sound is amazing. The only issue I'm having is that one of my ears is near-constantly blocked from wax buildup when I'm using it. I suspect it's because none of the tips fit me well. The small silicone ones are the only kind that stay in, but they become loose and fall out after 5 minutes, forcing me to push them back in. This constant pressure change is probably pushing the was deeper. I might try Comply T200.

 

[aramk]

I just ordered the Comply T-200. I'll update how that goes in two weeks or so.

 

[aramk]

I ended up getting the T-200 for the RHA 750i and I'm very impressed - I should have got them sooner! Like I said, none of the tips fit for extended periods of time and the best fit started falling out after 5 minutes. With the comply tips I was surprised they kept the sound reasonably unchanged. There was more bass because it was a better seal and made of foam, but I didn't detect any loss in the treble as I expected. Most importantly, they don't fall out and the isolation is even better. Very happy with them.

 

[aramk]

Also another thing - since I'm not pushing in the tips every 5 minutes the pressure that was blocking my right ear happens less often and goes away after a while.

 

[lawnchairs]

I did write a positive review on amazon.co.uk which is where I bought the items (from your own R H A market place store). I then updated (added to) it to reflect the two failures, while leaving the original positive comments intact.

The odd bad review is not noteworthy or remarkable, and where there is just a handful of reviews it's not that interesting. But your RHA150 have 170 customer reviews on amazon.co.uk and 19 are only 3 star, 19 only 2 star and 19 a mere 1 star. Most of those refer to product failure, not any issue with sound quality or comfort or similar. That is really unimpressive and confirms that my experience of an RHA product which quickly fails is not unusual.

I'm considering buying the RHA MA750's, and I'm assuming julian had repeated issues with the 150's and I'm hoping the 750's will be a lot more reliable given the apparently better build quality. I am glad to see RHA's noted excellence in customer service, I just hope that if one or the other drivers quit on me I can get a replacement; I'd like for these to last me a long time. Since they include the carrying case, I'm assuming it shouldn't compromise the cable even after extensive use...I always worry about IEM's that come with tiny cases for that very reason.

 

[julian67]

.... julian had repeated issues with the 150's and I'm hoping the 750's will be a lot more reliable given the apparently better build quality....

Good luck with that hoping...

Check the customer reviews at amazon or any place that has high turnover/footfall for the product. Read the reviews, not just the 5 star and 2 and 1 star. 1 star and 2 star automatically means angry customer and most of the 5 star reviews mean "I just opened the box and it worked! Duh!" But also look at the 3 star reviews, most of which are by people who are disappointed, occasionally by the sound but usually because the things broke. Most of the 3 star reviews seem to be by people too polite to simply say "these things are badly made, badly designed so don't make the same mistake I did!"

For every RHA product there are far too many indifferent and outright negative customer reviews. Forget about the professional reviewers who get an item for a few days, or even as a gift. By definition they have the item for just a few days and they are incapable of offering a realistic assessment of the items in daily use, even worse is they are also being financially induced to ignore any failings (and anyway most of them write like fanbois, not journalists or testers). That includes well respected reviewers here and elsewhere. Take some notice of the poor saps who actually spent their own money and who have genuine real world daily experience of the products.

Really, unless the retailer is close by and reliable and honest with returns just buy another brand.