MA350:
If you’re in the market for a pair of low-cost earphones, you owe it to yourself to check out the RHA MA-350′s.

MA350:

I donned a pair of MA-350 earphones for the day and threw everything I could at it.

My first impression was that the “noise isolation” actually worked, despite the fact that there’s no technology behind it. Outside noise is being blocked out by the soft silicone tips, which fit perfectly in my ear. Other earbuds have a tendency to fall out of my ear with even the slightest provocation, so that was a huge selling point for me!

As far as sound quality goes, I found that the MA-350′s sounded really clear and detailed. They produce a decent amount of bass, but I wouldn’t have minded a little extra kick. And if you’re listening to Dubstep, you’ll probably want something else entirely..

The fabric braided cables also tend to pick up some noises when moving around, an issue I’ve experienced with other cables like this. On the flip side, these types of cables tend to last a lot longer, and they don’t get tangled up as easily.

The earphones come with a small carrying case, which was a nice surprise. All in all, there’s quite a bit of bang for your buck here, considering the RHA MA-350′s price point of $39.95.

If you’re in the market for a pair of low-cost earphones, you owe it to yourself to check out the RHA MA-350′s. You won’t be disappointed!

Read the full article at Guys Gab

Click here to view product

MA350:
I found the MA350s to be very pleasantly balanced. They produced very high highs and respectably low lows. The end result was very satisfying no mater where the song fit on the spectrum

MA350:

I got my hands on a pair of RHA MA350 earphones last week and have spent the last few days putting a pair of what are easily the best sub-$50 earphones and among the best sub-$100 earphones I have ever heard through their paces.

I’ve had the pleasure of listening to quite a few pairs of earphones in my time, all over the price spectrum. For the most part, you get what you pay for – but every once in a while you get a nice surprise like the RHA MA350s. I have spent the past week listening to these earphones and am happy to say that they have exceeded my expectations.

For the song list, I stuck to the same lineup as we used to test out the very capable Braven 650 Wireless Bluetooth speaker. I also spent some time testing out the RHA MA350s on FLAC. They excelled at every turn. They outperform a lot of earphones in the $50-100 price range, which is exceptional for a pair that only costs $40.

Before we get started, we need to talk expectations. The levels of performance that you expect to see in a pair of $50 earphones differs markedly to that which you would expect to see in a pair of $300 headphones. When you start paying a lot of money for headphones, the differences between the models in terms of quality are a matter of degrees. In the $50-100 space though, things can vary quite widely.

With cheaper earphones things tend to be either bass- or treble-heavy. I found the MA350s to be very pleasantly balanced. They produced very high highs, and respectably low lows. The end result was very satisfying no matter where the song fit on the spectrum. In fact, they performed so well that I found myself looking for tracks that did a better job of testing out their limitations – when Tori Amos and Maynard James Keenan’s Muhammed My Friend didn’t stretch the treble, I turned to Sarah Brightman’s Time to Say Goodbye. At the opposite end of the spectrum, I found myself listening to random dubstep tracks then exploring the complicated electronic and percussive soundscapes of Prodigy’s live performances – at volume. The MA3350s excelled at every turn and the louder things got, the better they became.

FLAC and other lossless codecs did not prove to be an issue. Sound quality with lossless tracks was noticeably crisper.

The RHA MA350s are well designed and comfortable to wear, even for extended periods of time. The casing of the earphones is aircraft-grade aluminum, the cord is braided, they have a mic (but no controls), and a little circular bit of plastic that you can use to keep the buds together when they are not in use. They are fairly tangle resistant, not as much as earphones with ribbon cables, but good enough.

They sat comfortably in my ears and did a very good job at blocking out virtually all of the ambient sounds in my home.

The RHA MA350s offer outstanding performance for what they cost. My earphones of choice had been a pair of aging $120 Sony in-ear earphones – these were considerably better and cost a third of the price.

At times the level of definition proved to be something of a curse. With high bitrate MP3s there was no problem, but at lower bitrates things there was a slight but audible hiss. The level to which this was noticeable varied depending on the track – but it definitely had me wanting to upgrade some of my older tracks. At any rate, this is not really a failure of the speakers so much as it is an indictment of lossy music.

Five out of five stars: at just $40, the RHA MA350 earphones punch well above their weight. If you are looking for an affordable pair of earphones that does not compromise on sound quality – look no further.

Read the full article at Caledonian Mercury

Click here to view product

MA350:
Sonics are full and lifelike, and the overall package delivers an enjoyable listening experience that is fatigue free, whether you’re out for a half-hour walk or settling in for a cross-country plane ride.

MA350:

I don’t ask for too much out of my earbuds. I don’t even mind when comfort trumps quality when I’m listening to my iPod or HiFiMAN portable device. If I wanted to focus purely on quality, I’d put on a set of on-ear headphones to transport me into musical bliss. But if I’m going for a walk, I’d rather not have anything weighing my head down.

Earbuds are funny though—you would think that manufacturers perhaps think the same way when it comes to comfort. Wrong. Just look at Apple’s iconic white earbuds that come with every iPod. I can’t tell you how many people tell me that they replace those right away, and that includes myself; one long walk wearing those and my ears feel like they’ve been pressed in a waffle iron.

I’ve also tested earbuds whose bulbous design carried so much heft to them that unless I jammed them seemingly into my brain, they would keep falling out of my ear if I was out walking at even a semi-brisk pace. I don’t have too many bigger pet peeves during a walk than having to continually paw at my head making sure my earbuds aren’t about to fall out.

So when British manufacturer RHA sent me its MA-350 earbuds for an evaluation, the first thing that struck me was how utterly comfortable they are. They provide a sort of invisible-like quality, with which you barely notice they are even in your ears though they surely are working effectively.

My wife uses our iPod touch during exercise, so comfort and sturdiness in earbuds are critical. She confirmed my initial response by saying the MA-350s were the most comfortable earbuds she’d ever used, “and you know how picky I am about them.”

In terms of features, RHA says the earphones employ “the aerophonic design of a trumpet’s bell … clean, simple lines and aluminum finish” among its attributes. The aluminum gives the finish just enough oomph to keep the buds in place, and the “soft silicone tips” live up to their billing. I used them for nearly three hours straight on a train ride, and no part of my ear felt bad after the trip.

Speaking of which, RHA also notes the earphones’ noise-isolating design, which was evident during the train ride as well. As soon as I plugged in, the background noise was very muted, and PA announcements and even whistle blows were barely audible. No, not on par with over-ear headphones, but certainly respectably efficient for $40 earbuds.

Don’t let the price on these fool you, either. Performance and build quality are very good. Apart from the aforementioned comfort, I also liked the fabric cable braiding as opposed to the usual plastic wrapping that earbud cords ordinarily employ. The fabric is much easier to untangle, and for my money I would go so far as to call it trickle-down technology from quality speaker-wire manufacturers—think about it, how many high-end speaker cables do you see sheathed in plastic? I’ve been using Clarus cables in my home system, and like other high-performance manufacturers they use fabric among the fine build quality.

In terms of performance, the MA-350s are solid, especially for the price. While listening to them with an iPod touch, I found that they really delivered a nice, neutral, crisp presentation that wasn’t overly boomy like some earbuds or lean like others. Sonics came across at a good compromise, somewhere in the middle, which allowed for plenty of detail on both the low and high frequencies.

Several tracks by Jack Johnson emphasized the MA-350s’ balanced and sharp delivery. Johnson begins many of his songs with a quiet opening passage before some drums and bass kick into the usual acoustic strumming. Each time, the earbuds provided a good amount of thump to make an impact, while not overpowering Johnson’s gentle vocal style. I also felt that acoustic guitar plucking, whether it was Johnson or on albums such as Bob Dylan’s Blood on the Tracks, resonated really well through the MA-350s as you could hear every little thwang of the strings.

The dynamics of the MA-350s I thought were nicely revealed while listening to Genesis’ epic Lamb Lies Down on Broadway on the iPod, despite playback at 128 MP3 (most of my iPod listening is in MP3 at 128 or 320 kbps). RHA lists the frequency range at 16-22,000Hz and the earphones handled the Lamb quite well, with all of its shifts from quiet interludes like “The Lamia” to the heavy growling of “Back in NYC” and more. The swirling energy of this album and all of its deeply textured composition came across superbly, and the rich reproduction of the percussion and keyboards from Phil Collins and Anthony Banks throughout made for a vibrant earful of sound.

Combined with their comfort and their build quality, the MA-350s are an astounding value if you’re looking for a boost in earbuds performance. Sonics are full and lifelike, and the overall package delivers an enjoyable listening experience that is fatigue free, whether you’re out for a half-hour walk or settling in for a cross-country plane ride.

Read the full article at Electronic House Review

Click here to view product

MA350:
I feel like I cannot realistically describe the clarity that is present on the upper registers. The noise isolation is also superb; I tested these with my office phone and was not able to hear the ringing with music playing in my ears and the ringer set to higher levels.

MA350:

RHA Audio sent us a set of the MA-350 Noise Isolating Aluminum Earphones. These earphones are aero phonically designed to naturally relay sounds in the user’s ear using the design of a trumpet’s bell. The earphones are precision machined from solid aluminum to provide a rich natural reproduction of the sounds that coming through the headphones.

They also come with 3 different sized silicon tips to allow a comfortable fit in the ear. The cables on the headphones are braided fabric to reduce tangling and prolong the life of the cables. All of this and a handy carry case are included in the packaging of the unit.

As a lover of all kinds of music, I always end up putting my headphones thru the paces and might be over critical when it comes to my opinion of different headphones on the market. The first thing that I noticed about these particular headphones was the attractive price point of $39.95 US on Amazon.com which includes a 3 year warranty from Reid and Heath Acoustics Ltd. Most of the other headphones that I have considered to be top of the line cost two to three times the price of these headphones. I consider anything less than $40 to be considered a “throw away” pair of headphones and really don’t expect much from those headphones. Packaging of the earbuds is very straight forward, no gimmicky slogans or motto’s, which makes me think that RHA doesn’t need flashy packaging to draw customers to their product.

Looking at the construction of the headphones there isn’t a lot left to improve upon all of the basics are met, these headphones are aesthetically pleasing and almost utilitarian in the appearance which I like. The fabric braid on the cords definitely does the job of protecting the wires and allows for the wire to resist the twisting that is o so familiar with any smaller gauge cords used on headphones. The straight plug will definitely work with any and all phones/MP3 Players that are out there. They fit wonderfully on my Samsung S2 Epic 4G Touch. The shape and design of the headphones nestles the meat of the ear bud up against the natural indention of your ear and there are no sharp edges that would irritate the ear.

The fidelity of these headphones is what blew me away. I compared these to a set of House of Marley earbuds that I reviewed a couple of months back and initially thought that these speakers were lacking in the lower registers, but a bit of adjustment for the headphones on the computer that I was using fixed that issue. These speakers focus on the higher register of the music. The mids and highs are perfect, crisp, and toeing the line of too bright. If you are listening to Jazz you can pick up the sounds of fingers sliding across the neck of a guitar as it is being played, the drumstick making contact with the cymbals, and the whisper of valves on the brass instruments. Even with adjusting the equalizer and bring the bass frequencies up to match the emphasis on the mids and highs you do not lose clarity. I threw everything I could at these ear buds including Jazz, Hard Rock, Hip Hop, RnB, Country, and even Dubstep not once did I hear any bit of distortion at the higher levels. The fidelity is constant across all volume levels. There is a bit of harshness that is introduced at the higher levels but I think that might be the 10 MM reaching the top of the excursion levels. I feel like I cannot realistically describe the clarity that is present on the upper registers. The noise isolation is also superb; I tested these with my office phone and was not able to hear the ringing with music playing in my ears and the ringer set to higher levels.

In closing if you are looking for a good pair of headphones that will outperform some of your higher level Sony, and Panasonic units these are a safe bet. They even won the coveted “What Hi-Fi” award in Britain during December of 2011. If you are on the fence take my word for it, pull the trigger you will not be disappointed at all.

Read the full article at Android Nerds

Click here to view product

MA350:
The amount of detail able to be drawn out by these headphones amazed me - I've never heard something on this side of the $50 mark quite so able to extract the subtleties of a song.

MA350:

The MA350
The MA350 is an earbud produced by RHA, subsidiary of the UK firm Reid Heath Ltd., based in Glasgow. RHA currently manufacture only two models earbud, both of which use the same audio guts - one of them just has inline controls. The MA350's are the model without them. They retail for $40 (buy here). A small carrying pouch and three sets of eartips are included.

The Sound

For $40, the RHA MA350's produce sound that is - I would argue - far more comparable to headphones of the $80-100 range. My primary point of comparison, therefore, were my trusty old Etymotic Research hf2's (equivalent to the hf5, which are $100 street price, $150 MSRP).

Being dynamic driver headphones, as compared to the balance armature Etymotics, there were bound to be major differences in the sound - and there are. Now, to be fair, I am comparing one headphone to another with a suggested price three times as high. So keep that in mind. I didn't have a pair of crappy iPod or in-the-box smartphone earbuds to put them up against.

The MA350's claim to fame is RHA's "reverse trumpet"-shaped soundhole which the driver sends audio through to your ear. They claim this produces a more balanced output across the spectrum of sound, which I'm not sure I really buy - but I'm not an expert on earbuds acoustics (or, as RHA calls it - aerophonics, which frankly has far more to do with instruments that headphones).

The sound signature of the MA350's is interesting. Bass-heavy, to be sure, but not to the point of sounding unnatural. They sound like a solid, powerful dynamic driver earbud. Bass also isn't so extreme that it overwhelms the decidedly gentler mids, and is fairly tight, with little muddiness. The mids feel a little too subdued to my ears, resulting in a somewhat "compressed" sound at times (like your ears need to pop), especially on tracks lacking much in the way of low-end. These wouldn't make great jazz / classical earbuds - strings and keyboards just don't have the depth of a good balanced-armature IEM like the hf2's.

The treble end of the equation is a mixed win for the MA350's. The amount of detail able to be drawn out by these headphones amazed me - I've never heard something on this side of the $50 mark quite so able to extract the subtleties of a song. The little, imperceptibly quiet things that you just don't hear on a cheap set of headphones without maxing the volume (and, as a result, destroying your ears). The drawback is that the MA350's are also very bright - without a heap of bass to balance out the equation, songs heavy on cymbals, snare drums, and other sibilant percussion can become grating and harsh. The same goes for very high vocals, or particularly shrill guitar squeals.

I found the soundstage a little wider than I expected, but nothing to write home about - which is to say, still a million times better than Apple earbuds. Instrument separation was solid, though I found this was one area where my hf2's very noticeably bested the MA350's.

Overall, the MA350's produce great sound for the price, though I'd advise you to explore other options if you're into classical, jazz, or mellower / classic rock. The MA350's are tuned great for modern rock, pop, and are plenty suitable for hip-hop. Electronica listeners may demand yet more bass, though I'd argue the MA350's have plenty for anyone who does not actively endeavor to distort their music.

The Fit

I won't say the MA350's fit brilliantly - I lost seal at times - but they do fit very well. While walking, they didn't dislodge themselves. The only difficulty really stemmed from getting them in correctly in the first place, which I found was best achieved by lodging them unusually loosely into my ears, probably due to the interesting chopped-off-egg shape of the tips. Still, once they were in, they generally stayed in. The machined aluminum housing makes them feel rather durable, as well, and didn't cause my ears any discomfort (aside from the fact that they're icy-cold when you first put them on).

The cord is evil. It's a very light and narrow fabric-wrapped affair, and it gets tangled and knotted up like sewing string when left to move about in your pocket. That really annoyed me, but it's far from a dealbreaker. The cord also makes a fair bit of noise, though that's the tradeoff of fabric - you don't get the annoying reverberation when the cord strikes your body/clothing, but you do when it slides up against anything.

When it comes to earbuds, my judgment of fit is generally reduced to a binary result: good or bad. The MA350's fall squarely into the "good" category.

Conclusion

I really like the MA350's. These are the sort of headphones I'd recommend to my friends who aren't particularly interested in sound, but who suffer through overpriced products like Apple's god-awful earbuds (even the new ones sound pretty terrible), or whatever marked-up Skullcandy crap Best Buy puts in the smartphone aisle. For $40, you're getting an experience, I would say, that matches or exceeds many earbuds at twice that price.

I reviewed the MA350's because I find that many of our readers tend to think spending anything more than $50 on headphones is just excessive, so I wanted to showcase something a little more economical. While I still disagree vehemently and absolutely with the notion that something like the eargasmic $400 UE 900's simply "aren't worth it," I can understand wanting the most bang for your buck - who doesn't?

In that sense, I think the MA350's are an absolutely stellar headphone. I'd argue that, compared to numerous earbuds around the $100 mark that I've tried, you're getting 90% (or more) of the performance at around 50% of the price. That's serious value.

Read the full article at New York Times

Click here to view product

MA350:
Balance is important in life. It's even more critical in a pair of headphones. That probably explains why I like the RHA MA350 earphones so much.

MA350:

Is there anyone not making headphones at this point? There are so many brands of headphones on the market now, one has to wonder if anyone is purchasing loudspeakers. Based on the number of high-end loudspeaker manufacturers rushing earphone and headphone products to market it would appear that the balance has tipped. While it is nice to see that a new generation of listeners is taking the plunge and tossing those crappy white things Apple includes and stepping up, I am almost starting to miss the days where my choices were limited to AKG, Sennheiser, Grado, or Stax.

Headphone listening is also not necessarily for folks with kids; as much as we'd like it to be at day's end. My pair of AKG K702s sit gathering dust as the lady of the house gets medieval on me should I dare to sit down at 8 pm and attempt to have a private moment with Jimi or Sam.

The best parts of my childhood (which kinda speaks volumes about my parents) involved a pair of closed headphones, a beat-up Marantz receiver, and listening to George Carlin on Sunday nights on 104.5 CHUM-FM. Just George and I discussing the seven words you couldn't say on television. Those three hours each week restored balance to my troubled nine year-old mind. Balance is important in life. It's even more critical in a pair of headphones. That probably explains why I like the RHA MA350 earphones so much.

The audiophile snob in me wants to raise an eyebrow to such a stupid question, but then again not everyone has heard of Linn. Great Britain has some of the best audio manuacturers in the world; Naim, KEF, Harbeth, Cambridge Audio, Arcam, Spendor, SME, Rega, Rotel, NAD, Tannoy, and many more. Scotland is better known for its whiskey, kilts, awful food, Sean Connery, and the television. Yes, the television was invented in Scotland. Seriously.

So where does that leave a company like Reid Heath Audio with their impressive line-up of affordable over the ear and in-ear headphones?

In really good company. Guid.

It's hard to imagine Renton or Begbie standing around a street corner in Edinburgh listening to music on a pair of headphones (let's be honest...they would be stealing a pair to pay for their next hit), but if they could, a pair of RHAs would be on or in their ears. Guaranteed.

What's most notable about the MA350s (aside from their ridiculously low price of $39.95) is how balanced they sound. Looking for a pair of bass heavy in-ears? Move along. Nothing to see here. There are a pair of Beats by Dr. Dre for almost three times the price calling out to you in that case.

Inspired by the aerophonic design of a trumpet's bell, the MA350s are a simple-looking design constructed from solid aluminum that weigh only 11 grams. The construction of the headphones reminded me of a carbon fiber tonearm I once owned from another British manufacturer; Wilson Benesch. The A.C.T. One tonearm was the lightest I've ever tried but also one of the best sounding.

The MA350 uses a 10mm Mylar driver with an impedance of 16ohms. It's quoted frequency range is 16-20,000Hz and at 103dB sensitivity is a relatively easy load for tablets, smartphones, and iPods.

Like the Paradigm Shift in-ear headphones, I recently reviewed, the MA350 use a very strong fabric-braided 1.2m cable with a 3.5mm gold-plated connector. It is a sturdy pair of headphones for a rather paltry asking price.

Unfortunately for the MA350s, this little thing called Hurricane Sandy decided to punish my section of the Jersey Shore so listening to music became an afterthought as we stood in line for gas at 4 am and ate outside on our BBQ before falling asleep at 7 pm in a frozen house surrounded by downed trees. It was an awesome experience to bond even further as a family and the worst time for me to settle in at 3 am listening to music when I needed to be on the lookout for looters.

Sitting in my driveway one morning as we charged our phones on a powerstrip connected to a generator (which is a good way to ruin your phone BTW...), I decided to forget about how awful life was at that exact moment and drift away to the sounds of Sam Cooke, Animal Collective, Kraftwerk, and the Who.

Unlike the Paradigm Shift E2ms which sounded rather heavy-handed out of the box, the MA350s were remarkably easy to listen to; although their bass response was a tad too anemic to my ears.

The bass became more taut over time, but they don't match the more expensive Paradigms which have a more visceral punch and better definition in the upper bass and lower midrange.

The MA350s also suffer from a mild case of chestiness with male vocals compared to the E2ms which have a cleaner midrange. Nothing too terrible for $39 but even my sleep-deprived brain could discern the clarity of Sam Cooke via the more expensive cans from the colonies. Greater presence for sure.

It was impossible to stream movies on my Nexus 7 or iPad 2 post-storm on the shore (no Wi-Fi) but I found a working Starbucks on Staten Island and relaxed with the kids who desperately needed to watch something to take their minds off ur living situation.

Movies had a nice sense of clarity and spaciousness via the MA350s and while I refuse to let my six year-old son listen to headphones (let him ruin his hearing as a teenager like the rest of us), his older sister has displayed enough maturity with the volume control to earn a limited amount of time with headphones. After six days without power, she needed something to make her happy and it almost brought tears to my eyes to watch her smile for once as she watched a cartoon on Netflix. She's a rather visual kid so when I lifted my fist with thumb raised high, she gave me both thumbs way up. Nice job RHA.

The MA350s have a genuinely balanced sounding presentation but do they favor certain types of music? Yes, Ewan...they most certainly do. If heavy metal is your thing, I'd look for something else as the MA350s do not have the ability to really blast your ears into oblivion with bone crunching bass. Should your brain prefer something more cerebral like Dvorak or Sharon Van Etten, there is a distinct possibility that you may like their laid back, more ethereal presentation.

Electronic music such as Kraftwerk sounds quite energetic via the MA350s but they don't posses the E2m's ability to recreate that sense of space which I found to be one of their strongest points of differentiation. But compared to the latest "new and improved" set of earbuds from Apple, the MA350s are dramatically cleaner sounding and far easier to listen to for extended periods of time.

Noise isolation? One of the best I've used so far and that includes headphones that are 3-4 times the price. You lose yourself completely with these in your ears.

If it sounds like I have been slightly hard on the RHA MA350s, that's because I like them a lot. Huh? If the folks in Glasgow can work on altering the tonal balance just a tad (need more meat in the bass), they have a monster in the affordable in-ear category. $39 for these quality headphones is a steal and something to think about when buying gifts this holiday season. Quality Scotish engineering that will leave a warm fuzzy feeling in your belly like a good scotch. The world of headphones just became even more crowded with these.

Read the full article at Big Picture Sound

Click here to view product