When I reviewed the RHA MA-750i earphones a couple of months ago, I wrote about how they made me enjoy music again, and I stand by that to this day. When I wrote that review in February the MA-750i earphones were the best I had ever used.
They’re not anymore.
Coming from the same Glaswegian (Glasgow, Scotland for those outside the UK!) company, the RHA T10i earphones I have in my ears right now are better than the MA-750i alternatives in a few key ways, and that’s impressive indeed. At $200, they need to be, too, because when you are spending this kind of money you expect something a little different. Something more than earphones that sound good. You expect an experience.
The T10i’s offer that in spades. Built from injection molded stainless steel and looking like something out of a sci-fi movie, these earphones look the part. The word ‘robust’ is probably the best I can come up with to describe how these things feel in the hand – a reassuringly weighty construction adds an air of class to proceedings that cheaper models simply cannot afford. That brings with it an inherent downside though, and perhaps my only quibble with the T10i design – they’re perhaps a tad too weighty.
Luckily they are earphones that sit in your ears and then are supported by an over-ear component, but you’re not going to want to use them when, say, chasing the dog around a park or doing anything that involves moving too much for that matter.
The T10i from RHA aren’t about dashing around though. They’re about sitting in a comfy chair, kicking back and listening to your favorite music with a glass of your favorite beverage in your hand. You can take that as a negative or a positive depending on your viewpoint. I’d put it down as both.
For your $200, you’ll find your new earphones come accompanied by the usual array of extras. There’s a carry case and a range of ear tips that includes a couple of pairs of foam options for those that like that kind of thing. There’s even a clothing clip, too. Oh, and three sets of tuning filters.
Wait, tuning filters?
And here we come to RHA’s party trick.
The three different pairs of filters screw in and out with ease and it is claimed they alter the sound to better suit the listener’s tastes. Prefer something a little deeper, with more bass? Use the filters for bass. Prefer high-end clarity? Use those filters instead. There’s even a pair of filters should you want to use the T10i earphones as in-ear monitors, meaning they will try to reproduce audio as accurately as possible without meddling with what actually hits your eardrums.
And the weird thing is, they work.
With clear, noticeable differences between all three you can’t argue that this is a gimmick and that’s really what I expected it to be. In reality you’ll probably plump to use the most neutral of the three filters but it’s clear that should you find yourself siding with either the high or low filters, you won’t be disappointed with what you hear.
That’s what $200 gets you, and it’s why these earphones outperform anything else I have used so far. Listening to music with these things is a pleasure so long as you can give them the respect that they deserve. They’re not suited to jogging, no, but sit back, close your eyes and listen to what’s playing and you’ll be glad you spent the money.
And that’s not always the case in this game.