RHA T10 High Fidelity, Noise Isolating In-Ear Headphone

Though they are not as clear and detailed as the MA750's they don't have the painful treble either. The 750's have a large spike in volume in the 11khz range that hurt my ears. I literally winced with pain on some songs. I had to send them back.The t10's, however, are more relaxed in the treble, but still detailed enough to be the clearest earbuds I own. I really like the styling on these also. I bought these for home use. I don't intend to travel with them and I see me owning them at least a decade or more; they really do seem that well-built. Also, their size is smaller than I thought they would be. They seem large in the pictures, but not so.Treble: As I said it's relaxed in the upper ranges. They seem to top out at 15khz then roll off steeply. I don't mind that so much. I can't hear much past 16-17khz myself. Even high-end Etymotics only go up to 16khz on the high end of the sound spectrum.Mids: Mids are slightly warm and also seem slightly forward, but not much. You definitely do not lose the vocals in the music. All voices are clear and separate from the music. Some people claim that female vocals are recessed; I did not perceive that to be true. Female vocals are just as loud as the male vocals to my ears.Bass: It's all about that bass. I looked down in the body of each driver and I swear there is a bass reflex ring around each driver. These earbuds have deep and smooth sub-bass the likes of which I have never heard on a set of earbuds. If you are a bass-head, you will love these. At first, the bass response is weak. I played a test tone in increments of 10 from 100hz and down. The earbuds stop on the low-end around 30hz, which is very deep. You can get 20hz out of them if you turn the volume up. Also, they sounded as if the drivers were blown when I first got them. Everything deep was distorted-sounding. That is because the driver is new and stiff/tight. Once you listen to music for about 30 hours or so, they will loosen up and the bass will get deeper and more controlled, so keep that in mind when you first get them.Filters: The filters are more delicate than extreme. There is only a 3 decibel difference between them from the "Reference" filter. Most people like the Treble filter, but I preferred the Reference filter (as I am sensitive to treble). As of late, I've been watching movies and playing games with the Bass filter in and love the beefy explosions and sound effects. The Reference and Bass filters don't turn up the bass frequencies so much as they turn down or stifle the treble frequencies. The filters have acoustic foam in them of varying amounts (more in the bass, less in the reference, none in the treble) that mutes the sound in a balanced way. As you try the filters, going from Treble, to Reference, to Bass, the sound gets "warmer" sounding. All the way at the bottom on the Bass filters, the treble detail is still there, you don't lose any clarity; only the sound signature changes. Some people say it sounds muddy, or congested, but that's how "warm" sound signatures are. It's supposed to sound like that.Ear Tips: You get some great options here. I wanted to like the foam tips, but they don't come with anything other than a Medium sized tip. I need a large. Also, the foam was designed to be durable, but it's too abrasive to me. The inside of my ears felt raw after putting them in and taking them out several times in a row as I searched for the most comfortable tips. They isolate quite well. The large and even the medium silicone tips seemed to work for me, but there was too much "thundering" for my taste. The silicone tips are thin and soft, which is good, but they act like tympani drums in my ears. I can hear every cable movement rumble, every step thunder like a giant; I can even hear my heart beating in my ears. They seal very well and I don't consider this a flaw specific to RHA. All silicone tips do this unless you have some of those Sony hybrids that are reinforced with foam. I settled on the larger pair of Double Flanged tips. They are even softer and easier to get on/off than the silicone tips. The second flange helps to stabilize the earbuds and they don't thunder as much in my ears - oh sweet silence!Cord: Thick, gray, and well made. It has oxygen-free copper inside. The plug is stainless steel with a cool-looking spring to absorb tension. Just make sure you do NOT pull the cord out of a jack by the spring; you'll stretch it out. I've not made that mistake, but I've seen reviews where someone did. The plug itself is gold plated.Memory Wire: I like the design of the memory wire. I don't find it uncomfortable. Some people say it doesn't hold its shape, but I don't have that problem. It's easy to bend. I think they are just being too rough with it, perhaps? It's comfortable for me. As I've said: I use these earbuds at my desktop. I don't walk (much) or run with them in my ears. They hold their shape and stay in place for hours at night. I have had no trouble with them.

I tried to make it fair and let them burn-in for 40 hours or so. I would also like to note that I'm not an audiophile, but I do appreciate a balanced bass (not a basshead, but on the bassy side) and low/high mids.The Good:1. They stay in your ear, no matter what. These headphones have a top-notch build quality, and after trying on dozens of in-ear headphones, these are probably the best out there in terms of ideal fit. The box comes with more than enough ear tips so you can try on and adjust one for your ear canal. If this doesn't work, you can always purchase Comply Tsx-200 Comfort PLUS Earphone Tips (Black, 3 Pair, Mixed) or Comply T-200 Isolation Earphone Tips (Black, 3 Pairs, S/M/L).2. Mic is comparable to Apple's headphones. This is something that is hard to find among headphones with a remote+mic. Usually the mic is horrible in terms of noise reduction and overall call quality.The Bad (unfortunately, here the T10i excel) :1. Sound quality is one of the most unbalanced out there. While I appreciate strong bass, the bass at this headphones, especially at a high volume, just kills the song and starts to have static-disturbance sound in some heavy bass songs. I tested this with many songs (320kbs/Flac quality) with an iPhone 6+, and at high volumes it just sounded like a one big mess. I would even argue that Sennheiser Momentum In-Ear - Black (Apple iOS version), which is $100 less, has a more balanced sound overall than the T10i.2. In continuation to #1, I think the company knows that their sound is unbalanced in the first place, so they provide you with a gimmicky screws that emphasize bass/treble and the "in between" reference mode. The reference is the most balanced, but again, one song can sound amazing, the other one is just a pure mess that you can't really understand what's going on. I even started to question my phone, but then I switched to different in-ear headphones, at the same volume level (highest for example) and everything was great again. I would say a "hit or a miss" in terms of sound, depends what you're listening to - but the tuning of these headphones overall is just bad - especially for $200 headphones. I wonder if people who reviewed this item as 5 starts with "the most amazing sound I've ever heard", really tried to listen to different in-ear headphones except for the junk Apple/Samsung give with their devices (or other stock headphones that come with music players/phones these days).3. I don't listen to music constantly throughout the day, so I put the headphones in my pocket and then put them on when I can. I do that about 5-8 times a day, and I find it a pain to adjust the ear tips to my ear every time I need to wear the headphones again. If you use it for a long periods of time without putting them on/off all day long, then you won't notice this issue. The problem is basically the adjustable cable that goes around your ear - while it helps a lot to keep the ear tips in your ears, it takes longer to adjust them every time you put the headphones on.4. They are heavy. Since they are made from stainless steal, you can feel it after an hour or so in your ear. I do appreciate that they don't fall off though while you walk (haven't tried while running, but I would guess the same).5. The buttons on the remote are blended in and hard to press on. Unlike Apple's remote, which is also blended in, the remote of the T10i is much less responsive while pressing on it. Changing a song becomes a pain, especially if you wear gloves.Overall, I was looking for great sound and a remote+mic, so I can also make calls. For $200 pre tax, I don't think these worth the money - especially in terms of sound quality. I think most of the money went here for the ergonomics, which is quite impressive for in-ear headphones, but soundwise it's far behind. If you purchase these headphones, you'll need to ask yourself the following question: are you willing to compromise sound quality for design and comfort?I prefer keeping my Sennheiser MOMENTUM In-Ear that fall from my ears here and there, but at least they have a better sound quality for half the price.