[Hader]

Hi guys,
 
I have been looking to get a good "budget" studio/audiophile headphones and have come up with Roland rh-300 and rh-a30. Would you think I would get a reasonable upgrade in sound when using a headphone amp like Spl Auditor or something Burson soloist SL or is it not worth it with these phones?

 

[koolas]

Hi,
I just bought RH-A30, and must say they are very good. Paid 200 euros, and I think it is a really great value. I listened to ATH-M50 and RH-A30 in the same time comparing them, and I found RH-A30 sounding better. Now, I tried how they sound directly from N900, and I wasn't very much astonished. For example Momentum (I also have these) sound way better here. But when at home I connected them to my NAD744 the unveiled sound quality was astounding!

My advice, go for amp and dac. DAC is important, believe me you will hear the difference, especially on these phones

I listened to this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJyBql7FUA0

on these setups:
1. source -> toslink -> NAD744 -> PMA500 -> RH-A30
2. source -> toslink -> NAD744 -> RH-A30
3. source -> toslink -> NAD744 -> Momentum

source = Linux Mint, Jack @ 44.1kHz, Xonar DG

And the absolute winner here is number 2. The clarity of sound on RH-A30 is just amazing, with these headphones you can easily hear the difference between headphone amps (PMA500 is very slow and muddy compared to NAD744).

You will definitely get even better sound with better setup, like e.g. Burson Conductor, which I would like to try some day