RAZRr1275
500+ Head-Fier
- Joined
- Nov 22, 2011
- Posts
- 721
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- 60
First of all thanks to RHA Audio for sending me a set of these to sample
You can find them on their website here
[size=10.0pt]http://www.rha-audio.com/us/earphones/ma350.html[/size]
or on Amazon here
www.amazon.com/RHA-MA-350-Aluminium-Isolating-Earphones/dp/B0053R0WWG
A couple some disclaimers as usual
1) I'm a headphone guy. The last IEM's that I had were apple earbuds or skullcandys so some of my criticism may just be me coming from a headphone background and ones that are either modded or just flat out way more expensive with these at that.
2) I'm a mid head - AKGs, Fostex T50RPs and Grados are among my favorite headphones. I don't like having them recessed.
Now onto the review
What's good
1) Soundstage - These give a good illusion of space. I noticed sounds coming from a few different places and it was quite expansive for an IEM - almost as wide as a headphone with a smaller soundstage.
2) Vocals - Quite smooth and pleasing to listen to - What I like about the presentation is the depth that the sound has - you get a lot of the lower end so the sound is very warm and fluid.
3) Guitars - Tones like Stevie Ray Vaughan's really stand out in that you get a very thick tone that's also a bit piercing on the high end when it needs to be. Otherwise these are pretty good at creating the sort of wall of sound effect that's good for a large amount of rock songs as long as the song is not too busy.
4) Bass - The greatest strength of these IEMs - You can feel them pulsing in your ears although it is in a way that it doesn't intrude very much on the detail of the bass - you get a nice rounded an warm, yet impactful sound out of these
The bad
1) Clarity - Specifically the bass blending into the lower mids caused things to sound a bit muddy at times which gets somewhat irritating on busy sorts of complicated recordings (think bands like The Receiving End of Sirens with multiple guitarists playing loud interlacing riffs).
2) The sound signature - This is just a personal preference thing but I find the V shaped sound signature to not work so great in this instance in that it makes setting volume hard due to recessed mids. I find that if I set volume to get the mids that I like the treble and bass gets too loud and vice-versa
The Ugly
1) The Cable - Really microphonic. I can hear every little bend and flex that this cable makes over the music which makes it kind of difficult to enjoy unless you can stay dead still for as long as you have them in your ears.
2) The treble - Quite hot with a lot of tzzz on cymbal crashes causing these to get fatiguing really quickly.
Conclusion
Good IEM for the price - There are some things that need to be worked on but I think it's a really solid product especially if the treble and cable are fixed at some point down the line. It also seems very durable as well and I wouldn't hesitate to use these to travel with.
You can find them on their website here
[size=10.0pt]http://www.rha-audio.com/us/earphones/ma350.html[/size]
or on Amazon here
www.amazon.com/RHA-MA-350-Aluminium-Isolating-Earphones/dp/B0053R0WWG
A couple some disclaimers as usual
1) I'm a headphone guy. The last IEM's that I had were apple earbuds or skullcandys so some of my criticism may just be me coming from a headphone background and ones that are either modded or just flat out way more expensive with these at that.
2) I'm a mid head - AKGs, Fostex T50RPs and Grados are among my favorite headphones. I don't like having them recessed.
Now onto the review
What's good
1) Soundstage - These give a good illusion of space. I noticed sounds coming from a few different places and it was quite expansive for an IEM - almost as wide as a headphone with a smaller soundstage.
2) Vocals - Quite smooth and pleasing to listen to - What I like about the presentation is the depth that the sound has - you get a lot of the lower end so the sound is very warm and fluid.
3) Guitars - Tones like Stevie Ray Vaughan's really stand out in that you get a very thick tone that's also a bit piercing on the high end when it needs to be. Otherwise these are pretty good at creating the sort of wall of sound effect that's good for a large amount of rock songs as long as the song is not too busy.
4) Bass - The greatest strength of these IEMs - You can feel them pulsing in your ears although it is in a way that it doesn't intrude very much on the detail of the bass - you get a nice rounded an warm, yet impactful sound out of these
The bad
1) Clarity - Specifically the bass blending into the lower mids caused things to sound a bit muddy at times which gets somewhat irritating on busy sorts of complicated recordings (think bands like The Receiving End of Sirens with multiple guitarists playing loud interlacing riffs).
2) The sound signature - This is just a personal preference thing but I find the V shaped sound signature to not work so great in this instance in that it makes setting volume hard due to recessed mids. I find that if I set volume to get the mids that I like the treble and bass gets too loud and vice-versa
The Ugly
1) The Cable - Really microphonic. I can hear every little bend and flex that this cable makes over the music which makes it kind of difficult to enjoy unless you can stay dead still for as long as you have them in your ears.
2) The treble - Quite hot with a lot of tzzz on cymbal crashes causing these to get fatiguing really quickly.
Conclusion
Good IEM for the price - There are some things that need to be worked on but I think it's a really solid product especially if the treble and cable are fixed at some point down the line. It also seems very durable as well and I wouldn't hesitate to use these to travel with.
