ardgedee
Headphoneus Supremus
- Joined
- Aug 31, 2010
- Posts
- 3,774
- Likes
- 508
I've been trying the Red Giant A03 for a little over week now, albeit only sporadically due to other commitments.
They're... interesting. I am still trying to get a grasp on the character, because they're bass-heavy, to be sure, but their mercurial nature is revealed by the music they're fed - over here they're a little too reverberant, over there they snap and groove when fed a good beat. Sometimes there's a pleasant balance, sometimes there isn't.
Low-level detail is okay, not great, but this middling quality, otherwise perfectly okay for its price point, seems at odds with so many other moments of brilliance they exhibit. I've never had a pair of headphones so open at high volumes that sound so closed at low volumes - but instead of a mumbling midrange it's mostly the lower-mids that dominate at low volume. The soundstage is large and dramatic - these are possibly the only IEMs I've experienced that extend the (sound/head) stage beyond my ears - but it is strikingly shallow. It's Cinemascope rather than 3D.
Finding a comfortable setup has been a problem. Tips that are more comfortable also tend to suck out the highs and make them sound thuddy and cheap. Smaller tips will bring the shells too close to my ears and put pressure against the cartilage. RedGiant's red-brown tips are too uncomfortable, but they've shown the best sound quality yet. The black tips are kind of pointless. The best compromise I've found so far has been a smaller than usual pair of Monster gels (they're a little too thuddy, a little too much pressure, but not too much of either), but I haven't tried all my options yet.
Unfortunately my time with them will continue to be short for the coming week. I hope to have more to say eventually. I would not be surprised if my feelings change entirely with a longer appraisal.
They're... interesting. I am still trying to get a grasp on the character, because they're bass-heavy, to be sure, but their mercurial nature is revealed by the music they're fed - over here they're a little too reverberant, over there they snap and groove when fed a good beat. Sometimes there's a pleasant balance, sometimes there isn't.
Low-level detail is okay, not great, but this middling quality, otherwise perfectly okay for its price point, seems at odds with so many other moments of brilliance they exhibit. I've never had a pair of headphones so open at high volumes that sound so closed at low volumes - but instead of a mumbling midrange it's mostly the lower-mids that dominate at low volume. The soundstage is large and dramatic - these are possibly the only IEMs I've experienced that extend the (sound/head) stage beyond my ears - but it is strikingly shallow. It's Cinemascope rather than 3D.
Finding a comfortable setup has been a problem. Tips that are more comfortable also tend to suck out the highs and make them sound thuddy and cheap. Smaller tips will bring the shells too close to my ears and put pressure against the cartilage. RedGiant's red-brown tips are too uncomfortable, but they've shown the best sound quality yet. The black tips are kind of pointless. The best compromise I've found so far has been a smaller than usual pair of Monster gels (they're a little too thuddy, a little too much pressure, but not too much of either), but I haven't tried all my options yet.
Unfortunately my time with them will continue to be short for the coming week. I hope to have more to say eventually. I would not be surprised if my feelings change entirely with a longer appraisal.