[davidmolliere]

I'm not trying to dampen your obvious enthusiasm, but at £800 I don't think they are a bargain. This is a TOTL flagship price as is reflected in their position within the RHA lineup.
Perhaps at half the price, somewhere between the price of the iSine 10 and iSine 20 they would be a bargain.
I'm sure the CL2 sounds very nice though and would love to try it one day.

Bargain or not, right now they're the only (?) option for a closed back in-ear planar and all in all I guess I would say they're fairly priced against N5005 and IE800S.

 

[Layman1]

£800... is a TOTL flagship price

Erm, did you just time travel out of a wormhole from 2013?
£800 is around *half* of the *lower end* of the range of most TOTL prices these days.
If this can offer TOTL sound (or something approaching it) at £800, I'd say these days, that's a (relative) bargain

NB: Am not attacking you or anything, just a bit of humour. All price-related things are by definition relative anyway
And of course, being the flagship of a company's range is not necessarily the same as being TOTL

 

[Layman1]

Bargain or not, right now they're the only (?) option for a closed back in-ear planar and all in all I guess I would say they're fairly priced against N5005 and IE800S.

Agreed; to see this kind of technology in an IEM is a marvellous thing to behold (and no doubt, to hear)

 

[435279]

Thanks for the replies, all correct of course . Its just that when I see "bargain" and "£800" in the same sentence I get a bit uneasy. Good value maybe, bargain, please give me time to process that. RHA have always offered great products at very competitive prices, the CL2 IMHO not so much, it does appear to simply be continuing on a trend in Head-Fi though.

Lets not give RHA the idea that £800 is a bargain or the CL3 will be £1200.

That said I am considering buying it.

 

[pan mores]

I'm not trying to dampen your obvious enthusiasm, but at £800 I don't think they are a bargain. This is a TOTL flagship price as is reflected in their position within the RHA lineup.

Perhaps at half the price, somewhere between the price of the iSine 10 and iSine 20 they would be a bargain.

I'm sure the CL2 sounds very nice though and would love to try it one day.

Of course I agree with you, they're bloody not cheap!

No clue how much the "novelty" markup is and how price will move over time. Looks like RHA created a marvel with those and it's their right to milk the market.

First I bought a $400 headphone and thought boy, too expensive!

So double for the RHAs... a price worthwhile paying. Spent many hours these past weeks comparing such headgear.

I felt bad to fork out the $400 for the minor quality.

I feel at ease to pay double for this quality.

 

[McCol]

The £800 segment of the market is where I think the best value lies. I owned the K10 for a while albeit the Massdrop version. Now this was until recently a £1500 earphone, now don’t get me wrong it was good but when compared to my N5005 there is no way it was double the price.

I’d go as far to say that for me the N5005 is the better of the 2, more refined and a better fit with a load of extras such as cables etc.

The CL2 is the same, for that £800 the inclusion of decent cables and a BT module along with SQ that gets close and in some respects betters more expensive options makes them a ‘bargain’ in my eyes.

 

[davidmolliere]

The £800 segment of the market is where I think the best value lies. I owned the K10 for a while albeit the Massdrop version. Now this was until recently a £1500 earphone, now don’t get me wrong it was good but when compared to my N5005 there is no way it was double the price. I’d go as far to say that for me the N5005 is the better of the 2, more refined and a better fit with a load of extras such as cables etc. The CL2 is the same, for that £800 the inclusion of decent cables and a BT module along with SQ that gets close and in some respects betters more expensive options makes them a ‘bargain’ in my eyes.

The law of diminishing return does apply, and the more time I spend in that hobby the more I think it's also not only about pure performance but signatures. Tuning is key!
Better is very subjective, for all its amazing qualities, I didn't keep the LCD i4 very long as I was not engaged by its signature like I can be with the VE8 or Phantom. In the lower tier you also have some gems and I enjoy listening to the 250€ E5000 as much as I enjoy the 10x pricier VE8.

As you say the range of the CL2/N5005/IE800 is best value for money in the sense that you get TOTL performance level without breaking the bank too much.

 

[waveSounds]

Erm, did you just time travel out of a wormhole from 2013?
£800 is around *half* of the *lower end* of the range of most TOTL prices these days.
If this can offer TOTL sound (or something approaching it) at £800, I'd say these days, that's a (relative) bargain

Ain't that the truth. To add some more perspective, you need look no further than oBravo's TOTL iem

 

[Kitechaser]

Legend x is $2250. Audio 64 totl is $3500.
Rha cl2, and the xelento are a bargain in comparison.
And these things will last literally forever, unless you lose them that is.

 

[davidmolliere]

Legend x is $2250. Audio 64 totl is $3500.
Rha cl2, and the xelento are a bargain in comparison.
And these things will last literally forever, unless you lose them that is.

Good point, customs are quite fragile and also with discontinued transfer and re-shell becoming the norm this can give you second thoughts on the lasting value...

 

[McCol]

damn these look nice

They are nice, very nice. Sound very nice as well!

 

[Kitechaser]

They are nice, very nice. Sound very nice as well!

Have you tried using the balanced cable?

 

[Tragic]

That about sums up how I hear them but others may hear differently. They also have great depth and soundstage, big sound from a wee package!!

This is the best two sentence review of these possible.
I don't post much and I'm certainly not an audiophile as far as being able to properly describe what I hear like you fine folks.
I'm 58 and I've been a machinist all my life so I'm sure my hearing isn't top notch but I have decent gear and I know what sounds right, to me at least.
My iem's include Jupiters, Vega's and JHA custom 13whatsits, I use a Schiit Lyr 2 and BiFrost MultiBit.
I've had the CL2's since Wednesday and only a few hrs listening now.
Their clarity in all ranges are what's most striking to me I think.
They're tiny little buggers and quite comfortable.
There was mention of "burn in" above and if there even is such a thing it happens quite rapidly here.
The separation, placement and mids/highs are where these shine for me most from what I'm used to hearing.
I guess they're borderline neutral all around but certainly not lacking at all in bass.
I expected a lot from these and considering all the included gear I'm very well pleased.

 

[Kitechaser]

This is the best two sentence review of these possible.
I don't post much and I'm certainly not an audiophile as far as being able to properly describe what I hear like you fine folks.
I'm 58 and I've been a machinist all my life so I'm sure my hearing isn't top notch but I have decent gear and I know what sounds right, to me at least.
My iem's include Jupiters, Vega's and JHA custom 13whatsits, I use a Schiit Lyr 2 and BiFrost MultiBit.
I've had the CL2's since Wednesday and only a few hrs listening now.
Their clarity in all ranges are what's most striking to me I think.
They're tiny little buggers and quite comfortable.
There was mention of "burn in" above and if there even is such a thing it happens quite rapidly here.
The separation, placement and mids/highs are where these shine for me most from what I'm used to hearing.
I guess they're borderline neutral all around but certainly not lacking at all in bass.
I expected a lot from these and considering all the included gear I'm very well pleased.

Thanks for sharing that. You are getting me even more stoked to be getting these.

 

[Kitechaser]

The law of diminishing return does apply, and the more time I spend in that hobby the more I think it's also not only about pure performance but signatures. Tuning is key!
Better is very subjective, for all its amazing qualities, I didn't keep the LCD i4 very long as I was not engaged by its signature like I can be with the VE8 or Phantom. In the lower tier you also have some gems and I enjoy listening to the 250€ E5000 as much as I enjoy the 10x pricier VE8.

As you say the range of the CL2/N5005/IE800 is best value for money in the sense that you get TOTL performance level without breaking the bank too much.

I'd love to hear your comparison between this and the phantom when you get it.