RBH Sound Wireless and Beryllium Headphones Set New Industry Benchmark

[Tao1]

Thanks for the measurements, Gene. I'm also interested in knowing how the holes can be covered. I'm hoping there's a nicer looking solution that electrical tape. To me, they sound a whole lot more natural when I place my fingers over the holes.

I mentioned electrical tape since it is relatively thin. Essentially I was wondering if it would be enough to do the job, or if I would need something to plug the holes.

Ironically it looks like black electrical tape might do the most discrete job at covering the ports after looking at where they are on the cups:

http://cdn.head-fi.org/3/35/900x900px-LL-35567ced_20151207iphone042.jpeg

 

[nogaro]

Bondo?

Hmmm...do we have volunteers to experiment?

 

[Shane Rich]

Bondo?

For those who would like a little less bass from the HP-2 and are willing to do a little tweaking to get the bass response they prefer, this procedure works very nicely and maintains a nice finished look.


1.Use your fingers or tape (scotch, masking, electrical etc) to initially cover the wholes while listening. Experiment with covering 1, 2 or 3 holes to see how much reduction in bass you prefer.


2. Once you have decided how many holes to cover, put a little bit of GE black silicone (or any other brand of black silicone you can get at your local hardware store) onto the tip of a soft cloth. Lightly rub silicon into the holes you want to fill.


3. Wipe excess silicone off of headphone. It will come off very easily.

4. . VERY IMPORTANT! Let silicone dry an hour or so before using headphones.

Done! You now have modified the tuning of the headphone chamber to give you the low frequency response you prefer.


Best,


Shane

 

[nogaro]

For those who would like a little less bass from the HP-2 and are willing to do a little tweaking to get the bass response they prefer, this procedure works very nicely and maintains a nice finished look.
...

Done! You now have modified the tuning of the headphone chamber to give you the low frequency response you prefer.


Best,


Shane

Awesome! Thanks, Shane!

 

[jq1]

Some questions about the HP-2 and HP-1B.

1. How much sound is heard by someone who is near a person wearing the HP-2s?

2. How much are external noises attenuated by the HP-2s?

3. How does sound quality of the HP-1B compare to the HP-2?

4. Answers to questions 1 and 2 but for the HP-1Bs.

Thanks!

 

[Tao1]

Some questions about the HP-2 and HP-1B.

1. How much sound is heard by someone who is near a person wearing the HP-2s?

2. How much are external noises attenuated by the HP-2s?

3. How does sound quality of the HP-1B compare to the HP-2?

4. Answers to questions 1 and 2 but for the HP-1Bs.

Thanks!

I got a pair of these headphones for Christmas. I can say that they do a fairly good job of keeping external noise out. I sleep with a fan on, and when I first tried them out I tested it with the fan. I can just barely hear the fan with them on without any music playing. I haven't asked anyone about if they can hear the music they play while they are on, but I tried them playing with my hands over the cups. When they are playing fairly loud you can hear the beat at about whisper level.

They aren't specifically noise isolating, and don't reach that level of quietness, but they do a fairly good job at it considering that.

I don't have a pair of the HP-1B's, but it should be safe to say that the HP-2s will have better sound quality due to having a better driver.

 

[jq1]

Thanks.

I have three use cases for headphones.

1. At my office in a cubicle. It sounds as if they would be quiet enough there.

2. At night when my wife is trying to sleep. I am not 100 % sure if they would be quiet enough. I currently use Klipsch S-4 earbuds for that. Do you think the leakage is as quiet as that from earbuds, or more, perhaps because of the ports?

3. When traveling. Not sure if they would do for that. I do have Bose earbuds for travel that are pretty good, although the sound is not the greatest.

 

[Tao1]

Thanks.

I have three use cases for headphones.

1. At my office in a cubicle. It sounds as if they would be quiet enough there.

2. At night when my wife is trying to sleep. I am not 100 % sure if they would be quiet enough. I currently use Klipsch S-4 earbuds for that. Do you think the leakage is as quiet as that from earbuds, or more, perhaps because of the ports?

3. When traveling. Not sure if they would do for that. I do have Bose earbuds for travel that are pretty good, although the sound is not the greatest.

It seems RBH is fairly particular about who sells their stuff. From the impression I get, their dealers are supposed to showcase their products. You could look up who is a RBH vendor in your area and go and give both sets a try. That might be the easiest, at least if you are in the US.

It is just hard to answer those questions, because ambient sound can go a long way to mask any noise they make.

 

[ParadigmDawg]

I just ordered the Wireless one's. I have never really even had Headphones but I am excited.

 

[Dave Lackey]

As a dealer for RBH Sound headphones, I can assure you that the isolation in the HP-2 is excellent - much better than similarly priced options we carry from Sennheiser and Beyerdynamic. The HP-2's headband and earpad design provide an excellent fit and seal. The sound is remarkable for $200 headphones. Anybody in or around NYC who wants to take a listen, let me know.

 

[king2b]

I just got the RBH H2 headphones this morning and are listening with them as I write this. I listen to jazz and classical music so the first thing I wanted to wasHolst's The Planets. I am hearing an expansive sound stage and most of all the strings are the cleanest I have ever heard not scratchy. A great upgrade from my Shure's. Glad I took the plunge and got these. Now for some joazz!

 

[mikey d]

I got my hp2's this weekend. The right driver appears do be defective unfortunately. 2 ports covered seemed better than all open, I'll reserve judgment until I get a non defective pair.

 

[bobs]

Gene, thank you very much for the recommendation of the HP-2. Amazing performance. Sound is clear, no excess bass. My only concern is the cabling. I got a long 3.5 to 3.5 cable so I can listen on the couch. Not an extension, with two plugs so I only need the 6.3 converter on one end. Didn't work. Somehow he 3.5 connector on the HP-2 seems to be "different". I could only get sound from one speaker. I'm now waiting for a 3.5 coupling, maybe then it will work. It just concerns me if I ever need a replacement cable.

 

[ParadigmDawg]

Gene, thank you very much for the recommendation of the HP-2. Amazing performance. Sound is clear, no excess bass. My only concern is the cabling. I got a long 3.5 to 3.5 cable so I can listen on the couch. Not an extension, with two plugs so I only need the 6.3 converter on one end. Didn't work. Somehow he 3.5 connector on the HP-2 seems to be "different". I could only get sound from one speaker. I'm now waiting for a 3.5 coupling, maybe then it will work. It just concerns me if I ever need a replacement cable.

Something seems odd, I have tried various cables and extensions and everything has worked fine. I have the wireless version so maybe that could be different but I wouldn't think so.

In all likelihood, if you are getting sound from just one side the 3.5 isn't pushed all the way into the headphone. You have to give it a twist as you are pushing.

 

[bobs]

In all likelihood, if you are getting sound from just one side the 3.5 isn't pushed all the way into the headphone. You have to give it a twist as you are pushing.

I have just received a 3.5 coupling, cheap off Amazon. Works fine now.

 

[David Caporale]

From what I gather from the review of the RBH HP-1B is that sound quality is "good" but their is a trade off for not having the Berilium drivers. Has anyone had experience between these and the Master and Dynamics MW60?

 

[gene]

I just published my HP-2 review.

 

[Tao1]

I just published my HP-2 review.

Nice review, Gene; although you had me sold back at Christmas time

I am a bit confused at the final scoring though: Are the scores meant to be performance/price for this review (as the italicized note above says), or more so of an overall performance (regardless of price)? Mainly I am wondering what your thoughts were exactly for "dynamic range" and 'performance'?

 

[sholling]

I agree with Gene that RBH's HP-2 headphones are absolutely outstanding for the money. Based on his review I bought a set for a trip with the intention to use them with my smartphone and one of my Lenovo laptops and eventually found them to be really good headphones. I say eventually because at first the HP-2s didn't sound all that impressive. I have faith in Gene's taste and the reason for my disappointment was pretty obvious to me - the cheap DACs and anemic headphone amps found in most laptops and smartphones just can't do justice to really good headphones, not even relatively efficient ones like the HP-2. Adding a USB DAC/Amplifier to the mix made all of the difference in the world. When I played the same 24/96 FLACs through my Dragonfly DAC/AMP my HP-2s suddenly became all of the wonderful things that Gene described in his review. My point is that don't expect to get anywhere near the sound quality that the HP-2s are capable of unless they are being fed from a good source.

 

[itlnstln]

I have a question about weight. I currently have a pair of V-Moda M100s. I love how they sound, but I feel like they're too heavy sometimes. I wear my headphones for long stretches of time for both music listening and teleconferencing (OT: the V-Moda Boom Pro mic is awesome). Would anyone happen to know if the HP-2s would be more comfortable? The M-100s are about 280g while the HP-2s are around 230g. I'm thinking they would be lighter, but not really "game-changing."