For context, I upgraded my iPhone to an 8+ and have been thoroughly enjoying the device, iOS 11 aside. I had upgraded from a 6s so my favorite earbuds had to be replaced thanks to Apple's courage to remove the 3.5mm jack.
My use case is for said earbuds is for air travel (noise isolation), general listening when I want to immerse myself in music and when outside doing yard work. Sweat proof, bluetooth, around the neck style and good connectivity with iPhone were all priorities. I used an older version of Jay Buds once and while the sound was pretty good, especially with Comply foam tips, the connection was pretty lousy. They constantly dropped connection so while I've heard many great things about them, I wasn't compelled to give the current versions another go.
Best Buy had a sale on BeatsX and I opted to try those for the seamless integration with Apple products. I had a business trip coming up and wanted to have SOMETHING to use whilst on the plane to drown out the noise from the engines and the passenger noise. I paid $109 for the BeatsX - they're not bad for the price, but they're not great either. I wasn't happy with the sound initially on them and in a thread I'd read about AirPods I saw a suggestion to change the EQ to "Late Nite". This significantly improved the sound quality and adding Comply foam added a great seal. They were very serviceable, given the price, but I still felt the mid range was completely missing from the experience. Bass was overpowering and treble was too much to suit me. Simply put, the quality I was looking for just wasn't there. These will go back. Had I been able to listen to them while in the store, I'm not sure I'd have purchased them. Best Buy would not let me do this.
I am not sure I consider myself an audiophile because I'm not a musician, I don't know all the technical terminology and my comprehension of the things to adjust or look for simply comes down to appreciating a good clean, clear, crisp and well rounded listening experience from the treble to bass. I know what sounds good to me and that's what I was looking for.
So onto the RHA MA650 Wireless review.
https://www.rha-audio.com/us/products/earphones/ma650-wireless
I had participated in a thread where a forum member was asking for a good recommendation on Bluetooth Earbuds, a member suggested looking at RHA Audio. As I looked into them, I quickly fell in love with the design and features I observed whilst reviewing the product description on the RHA website. What I liked about the BeatsX were the magnets in the earbuds, the good connectivity of the W1 chip, noise isolation, the fit of the earbuds and the lightning charging connector. The MA 650 Wireless has all of those features, except there is no W1 Chip and no lightning connector for charging. They do feature USB-C so that works for me.
The attention to detail of the design of the RHA product is absolutely top notch. These are premium earbuds in appearance and sound quality. Picking them up in hand, the comparison is absolutely night and day between the RHA offering and BeatsX. The earpieces are crafted of magnetized aluminum so when you pop out the earbuds, they form a loop around your neck securing them to your body. I referenced this before about the BeatsX as being a feature I liked--the magnets. You get inline controls, 12 hours of battery life, sweat and splash proof with IPX4 rating, noise isolation a multitude of tips and a nice storage bag to keep them in. Packaging and presentation was extremely high quality as well.
InMotion allowed me to listen to the 650's and I hoped to compare them to the MA 750 Wireless while there, but unfortunately the MA 750 Wireless were not in stock. The 750's have a feature a steel housing vs. the aluminum of the 650's and a better driver. They also have very thin ear hooks so they go over the ear vs. the 650's which fit in ear. Price difference is about $70 USD, 650's being the cheaper model.
I listened to the 650's for 2+ hours on the plane using both the native music app of iOS and using a music player with EQ by Radsone. WOW JUST WOW! The clarity is simply amazing, you can really hear the instruments. Each instrument. The soundstage is very full and incredibly clean. The build quality of the RHA product combined with the wonderful listening experience was beyond my expectations. Nothing is overpowering, nothing is underwhelming it's just a very crisp, CLEAN and detailed listening experience. I do think they're missing a little bit of the richness I was hoping to find, but by no means are they lean when it comes to providing a tremendously enjoyable listening experience. I'd guess if I knew a little bit more about manual EQ settings I may be able to improve this. I'm sort of splitting hairs, as it's really a challenge to find anything to complain about with the 650's. These are night and day above the quality of the BeatsX and probably many other earbuds you can buy at a big box retailer.
I used the standard silicone tips--I wasn't going to mess around with different tips in an Airport (where I purchased them) and found them to be adequate. I've since switched to foam tips and they're even better. Connectivity with iPhone was pretty comparable to the BeatsX, without the pop up screen saying they're connected and a MUCH easier to find power button. You can actually feel the raised shape of the power button and the power symbol, it's that easy to find. That was a gripe I had about the BeatsX, the button was so close to the height of the rest of the battery pod, it was hard to find and difficult to power on and off. They're also a better design by my standards because the cable is rounded vs. the ribbon of the BeatsX which I always found to get twisted. The silicone cable is very comfortable to wear around the neck--also an appeal to me of the BeatsX.
We all listen to different genres of music and prefer different listening experiences, so what we seek out will be different for all of us. I really believe you'd be hard pressed to find a better option to go with if you're looking for an around the neck, bluetooth, premium listening experience. I'd still like to try the 750's for comparison. One thing I really learned through this experience is that if you have the option to listen before buying, do that. It will save you the trouble of returns like I'll be doing. If you're in the market for a set of earbuds under $100 that provide a high quality listening experience for a variety of music, these should be on your short list folks. Like many things, a quality music listening experience is subjective so my opinions may not directly align with your preferences and I encourage you to listen before you buy if at all possible.
I will note that I have not at the time of writing, taken calls with these, so I'm not sure of the mic's quality. As I figure that out, I'll report back.
If you've made it this far, thanks for reading and apologies for the long backstory and review.
My use case is for said earbuds is for air travel (noise isolation), general listening when I want to immerse myself in music and when outside doing yard work. Sweat proof, bluetooth, around the neck style and good connectivity with iPhone were all priorities. I used an older version of Jay Buds once and while the sound was pretty good, especially with Comply foam tips, the connection was pretty lousy. They constantly dropped connection so while I've heard many great things about them, I wasn't compelled to give the current versions another go.
Best Buy had a sale on BeatsX and I opted to try those for the seamless integration with Apple products. I had a business trip coming up and wanted to have SOMETHING to use whilst on the plane to drown out the noise from the engines and the passenger noise. I paid $109 for the BeatsX - they're not bad for the price, but they're not great either. I wasn't happy with the sound initially on them and in a thread I'd read about AirPods I saw a suggestion to change the EQ to "Late Nite". This significantly improved the sound quality and adding Comply foam added a great seal. They were very serviceable, given the price, but I still felt the mid range was completely missing from the experience. Bass was overpowering and treble was too much to suit me. Simply put, the quality I was looking for just wasn't there. These will go back. Had I been able to listen to them while in the store, I'm not sure I'd have purchased them. Best Buy would not let me do this.
I am not sure I consider myself an audiophile because I'm not a musician, I don't know all the technical terminology and my comprehension of the things to adjust or look for simply comes down to appreciating a good clean, clear, crisp and well rounded listening experience from the treble to bass. I know what sounds good to me and that's what I was looking for.
So onto the RHA MA650 Wireless review.
https://www.rha-audio.com/us/products/earphones/ma650-wireless
I had participated in a thread where a forum member was asking for a good recommendation on Bluetooth Earbuds, a member suggested looking at RHA Audio. As I looked into them, I quickly fell in love with the design and features I observed whilst reviewing the product description on the RHA website. What I liked about the BeatsX were the magnets in the earbuds, the good connectivity of the W1 chip, noise isolation, the fit of the earbuds and the lightning charging connector. The MA 650 Wireless has all of those features, except there is no W1 Chip and no lightning connector for charging. They do feature USB-C so that works for me.
The attention to detail of the design of the RHA product is absolutely top notch. These are premium earbuds in appearance and sound quality. Picking them up in hand, the comparison is absolutely night and day between the RHA offering and BeatsX. The earpieces are crafted of magnetized aluminum so when you pop out the earbuds, they form a loop around your neck securing them to your body. I referenced this before about the BeatsX as being a feature I liked--the magnets. You get inline controls, 12 hours of battery life, sweat and splash proof with IPX4 rating, noise isolation a multitude of tips and a nice storage bag to keep them in. Packaging and presentation was extremely high quality as well.
InMotion allowed me to listen to the 650's and I hoped to compare them to the MA 750 Wireless while there, but unfortunately the MA 750 Wireless were not in stock. The 750's have a feature a steel housing vs. the aluminum of the 650's and a better driver. They also have very thin ear hooks so they go over the ear vs. the 650's which fit in ear. Price difference is about $70 USD, 650's being the cheaper model.
I listened to the 650's for 2+ hours on the plane using both the native music app of iOS and using a music player with EQ by Radsone. WOW JUST WOW! The clarity is simply amazing, you can really hear the instruments. Each instrument. The soundstage is very full and incredibly clean. The build quality of the RHA product combined with the wonderful listening experience was beyond my expectations. Nothing is overpowering, nothing is underwhelming it's just a very crisp, CLEAN and detailed listening experience. I do think they're missing a little bit of the richness I was hoping to find, but by no means are they lean when it comes to providing a tremendously enjoyable listening experience. I'd guess if I knew a little bit more about manual EQ settings I may be able to improve this. I'm sort of splitting hairs, as it's really a challenge to find anything to complain about with the 650's. These are night and day above the quality of the BeatsX and probably many other earbuds you can buy at a big box retailer.
I used the standard silicone tips--I wasn't going to mess around with different tips in an Airport (where I purchased them) and found them to be adequate. I've since switched to foam tips and they're even better. Connectivity with iPhone was pretty comparable to the BeatsX, without the pop up screen saying they're connected and a MUCH easier to find power button. You can actually feel the raised shape of the power button and the power symbol, it's that easy to find. That was a gripe I had about the BeatsX, the button was so close to the height of the rest of the battery pod, it was hard to find and difficult to power on and off. They're also a better design by my standards because the cable is rounded vs. the ribbon of the BeatsX which I always found to get twisted. The silicone cable is very comfortable to wear around the neck--also an appeal to me of the BeatsX.
We all listen to different genres of music and prefer different listening experiences, so what we seek out will be different for all of us. I really believe you'd be hard pressed to find a better option to go with if you're looking for an around the neck, bluetooth, premium listening experience. I'd still like to try the 750's for comparison. One thing I really learned through this experience is that if you have the option to listen before buying, do that. It will save you the trouble of returns like I'll be doing. If you're in the market for a set of earbuds under $100 that provide a high quality listening experience for a variety of music, these should be on your short list folks. Like many things, a quality music listening experience is subjective so my opinions may not directly align with your preferences and I encourage you to listen before you buy if at all possible.
I will note that I have not at the time of writing, taken calls with these, so I'm not sure of the mic's quality. As I figure that out, I'll report back.
If you've made it this far, thanks for reading and apologies for the long backstory and review.
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