In recent years, especially with the proliferation of the mp3 players and now smartphones, 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. This is my third pair of RHA headphones, and these are meant to be an improved version of the RHA MA-350 and RHA MA-450i that I’ve used and tested before. With this latest pair of headphones RHA can truly claim parity – if not downright superiority – with some of the biggest names in the world of quality headphones. 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. Most noticeable improvement over the previous RHA headphones that I had tested is that sound doesn’t feel any more “rounded” and smoothed-over. The headphones delivered fairly rich bass, as well pretty crisp high notes. I enjoy listening to all kinds of music genre – classical, pop, techno. For each one of these categories the headphones performed quite well. This is as close as it’s possible to get to the true audiophile bliss with the stand-alone in-ear headphones.

***** 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-600 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. Even having the headphones themselves in my ears served as a great noise-canceling device. So if you are trying to work or study in an otherwise noisy environment, and don’t have any earplugs handy, you may want to consider using these headphones just by themselves.

***** Build *****

The headphones are pretty well built. The in-ear buds are fairly small and feel and look like very solid. The headphones cord is built out of dual-insulated oxygen-free copper cable with at least two layers of insulation. The cord feels lightweight and durable. The body of the headphones is built out of solid aluminum, which helps with both the sound quality and durability. Overall the headphones feel very strong and 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. The headphones come with eight dual density silicone ear tips, and it’s almost certain that at least one of them will fit any ear or a listening habit. The headphone cord can either be left to “dangle” downward from the ears, or it can be wrapped around the ears for added stability. (For the times when you listen to the music while exercising for instance.)

***** Functionality *****

RHA M600 don’t have any of the special functionality that distinguish some of the other headphones out there. If you want the ability to control your audio device directly from the headphones, then you should check out RHA MA600i instead.

***** Accessories and Other Observations *****

The headphones come with a really nice and durable carrying case, which can house the assortment of the ear tips as well. The attention to the detail that went into the construction of these headphones is also evident from the luxurious and quite modern-looking packaging. The headphones come with a three year warranty, one of the longest for any product that I’ve seen.

***** The Bottom Line *****

You will probably not find many, if any, better sounding in-ear noise-canceling headphones. They are also compact and comfortable, and they seem fairly durable. If you an audiophile looking for a solid pair of in-ear headphones, then you won’t go wrong with these.