RHA MA-350 Aluminium Sound Isolating In-Ear Earbuds – Product Review
In recent years, especially with the proliferation of the mp3 players, the quality of the in-ear headphones has dramatically improved, while the price has been steadily going down. This has enabled many new manufacturers to enter the market, and while this has been a great blessing for the consumers, it makes it harder and harder to distinguish the genuinely good products from the inferior ones. I have been using and testing the RHA headphones for a few weeks now, and my own impression of them is very favorable. Here are a few of my observations.
***** Sound Quality *****
For any true audiophile, as well as for the most people who care about the quality of sound that they listen to, this is the single most important characteristic that they look for in the headphones. And overall I have been very impressed with the sound quality of these small headphones. They deliver a rich, well-articulated sound, and they are a joy to listen to. The sound felt a bit “rounded” and smoothed-over, but this was not a major distraction. The headphones delivered fairly rich bass, as well pretty crisp high notes. I enjoy listening to all kinds of music genre – classical, pop, techno – in for each one of these the headphones performed quite well.
***** Noise Cancellation *****
Like most other passive noise-cancelling headphones, these use the design and the physical features of the headphones themselves in order to block the outside noise. Having said that, my impression is that MA-350 is at least as good as the best in-ear passive noise canceling headphones that I’ve tried out. I was able to listen to my music while blocking all of the surrounding household noise.
***** Build *****
The headphones are pretty well built. The in-ear buds are fairly small and feel and look like very solid. The headphones cord, on the other hand, is built out of nylon and it looks a bit cheap IMHO. Nonetheless the headphones overall seem very durable.
***** Fit and Comfort *****
These are very small headphones, but they fit in my ears fairly securely and comfortably. This is another one of the selling points for these headphones as far as I am concerned.
***** Functionality *****
These are the stand-alone headphones with no microphone. That means you won’t be able to use them and place a phone call from your smartphone at the same time. If you don’t mind that, then this issue may not be a big deal for you. A bigger issue for me is the lack of external controls on the cord of the headphones. I sue the headphones most often while exercising, and I am used to being able to use the external controls to adjust the volume and skip tracks.
*****The Bottom Line *****
At this price point you will probably not find a better sounding in-ear noise-cancelling headphones. They are also compact and comfortable, and they seem fairly durable. There are a few design choices that I am not too keen on, and the functionality is a bit rudimentary, but if you are looking for just a solid pair of no-nonsense headphones than you won’t go wrong with these.
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