Grills finalized to my RAD 0 today, back to Alex and team they go this week!
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Nice, this is gonna look sick. Do you have pictures of the resin?
Not yet. I believe I have a couple of weeks to go before mine gets started.
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Congrats man! You are going to dig these.
The Rosson RAD-0 I am wearing at this very moment is the best headphone I have ever heard. But, I still wouldnât buy them.
The tone, timbre, balance, bass, treble and character are as close to my idea of perfect as I have ever had access to in my listening chair. Letâs take a Coltrane classic; ``Alabamaââ for example. Coltraneâs sax is saxy. Like, really really saxy. The detail retrieval capabilities of the headphone allow you to hear the mechanics of the instrument being played, the vibration of the reed against the mouthpiece, the breath passing by the reed in softer sections. When Elvin holds a high hat a cm or so apart to get the two cymbals to vibrate against each other, you can hear them interacting. You can hear Coltrane opening and closing keys when he isnât playing. And none of this is special, because every top of the line headphone I have heard can do this. What is special is how much the balance of the four pieces, drums, bass, piano and sax sound like what they sound like. There isnât a range where something disappears behind something else, or where something starts shouting for attention. Itâs just right on the money.
They are a usually beautiful headphone. This pair has white and light blue swirled into a pattern that almost looks like marble. The chrome yokes and adjusters set off the effect nicely. You really canât talk about the RAD-0 without talking about aesthetics. Or if you do, youâre wired wrong. Theyâre striking, and unlike anything else on the market. Add the extensive custom capabilities of the Rosson crew and there is a real honest chance for you to own a summit-fi headphone completely customized to your taste. I have to admit, Iâve been tempted several times to call them up and launch a custom build project named ``To hell with the Empyrean, hereâs how you do copper properââ. As far as the rest of the design goes, the headband in combination with the weight will tend to hotspot. There are DIY remedies, but it rankles that a $2600 headphone needs a suspension strap rigged to it to be comfortable.
Rosson is also a fairly young company, which has affected the reviews and information swirling around about the RAD-0, making it seem at times confusing, conflicting, or wrong. Here is the best I can determine; early sets were all tuned to what is now called ``standard or flatââ, but now sets can be custom ordered with warm, standard and bright tunings. This set predates these options, and is considered standard tuning. The early sets are heavy. @torq measured a set at 714 grams, these are 683 grams. Others I have polled have reported values between 635 and 680 grams, with the higher end all having lower serial numbers. So it seems clear there are evolutionary changes happening. Second, there is a significant weight and functionality difference between the pretty chrome grills and hardware on the ones I have for review and the black that is available. The chrome height adjustments can slip, the black is reported to grip very well. Some have reported high clamp force, mine do not have that, but are a review loaner, and who knows what has been done to them prior to arriving here.
But the sound. The sound! Imaging in the stage is crystal clear. Every challenge I threw at it had me scrambling for other headphones to try and replicate the ability to determine spatially exact placement of instruments. Some do it better, but not while sounding this good (some do it worse without sounding this natural as well). The stage isnât as expansive as some Hifimanâs, or even the ZMF Verite Open. The RAD-0 is by no means narrow or claustrophobic, but those looking for the last word in stage size may want to look elsewhere. Most importantly for me is the stage is good, and no sonic sacrifices were made elsewhere to expand it.
The sound. The planar bass. The side of the head slap. Iâm not often an electronica or dance music listener yet went looking for tracks just for the thrill of hearing these drivers light it up. Itâs deep, itâs tuneful, and it has an impact. Compared to my reference ZMF Autuer, the bass is a more present and palpable part of the music. However, it somehow stays in balance so that I can listen to a piano sonata without feeling the left most keys are louder than the right. Drums sound tight, they donât bloom or boom, at least not at the volumes I was willing to push these to. Subterranean bass may be bettered, but not by anything Iâve heard.
The sound! Gather three head-philes into a room (virtual at least) and let them talk headphones and preferences, and youâll immediately start to hear the words warm, dark, bright, treble sensitive, and these words seem often used in order to present one personâs position and preference in a better or worse semantic position than anotherâs. Are the RAD-0 a dark headphone, a warm headphone, a bright headphone. I donât care. The constant need to distill experiences, preferences and nuance to a better or worse tiered list of winners and losers is a sign of a toddlerâs mind, unable to cope with ambiguity and the vast breadth of humanity. Forced ranking is for sports fans, who need a final result so they can brag about accomplishments that arenât theirs on Mondays. Here is what I know; the treble is extended, although does not have the last degree of airiness. I know certain recordings seems overly aggressive in the top end, but that when I popped those same tracks on other headphones I had it didnât get much, if any better. I know the tuning is what I would call warm, with more in common with a ZMF that youâd expect given the difference in technologies. I know it always, always sounded like music.
So why wouldnât I buy them? The weight, the headband and the slipping cups adjustments make this a no fly for me. At this price range, it isnât acceptable to need nuggets, socks and straps to listen. We interact physically with headphones in a way we donât with any other audio gear other than instruments. comfort is personal, and personally, I canât take it for more than 80 minutes or so. I would buy a set that weighs 130 grams less, has a headband that doesnât slip. I think the decrease in weight would help the headband issue enough for me to handle the headband. Because, in the end, these sound so damn good, Iâm almost willing to overlook all of the irritation. Someday soon, I will need to return these headphones to the people that own them. Until then, Iâll be listening to them, 80 minutes at a time.
Associated gears:
Pi2AES, Chord TT2, HeadAmp GSX-Mini, Cables by Worldâs Best & Blue Jeans.
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Strong work, excellent.
Were these considered the âstandardâ tuning, not sure if it was mentioned and didnt want to assume.
The fit and comfort seem to be holding this beauty back a ton (pun intended).
This is a can Im very interested in but not sure what to make of this comfort issue, perhaps theyâll figure it out in future iterations. Keeping the price point where it is while doing so may be an issue.
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Yes, I will edit to add, and should have been more clear, these predate the custom options, and as such , are standard tuning.
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i can confirm that the black ones I have do grip very well.
I also think the cushion on the headband is different. I the one I owned previously did âhotspotâ but this one doesnât. Iâm not sure what has changed though - maybe itâs me.
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Youâve done another excellent job with your writeup. I for one really enjoyed reading it. Those headphones look so pretty, and I know you can make them any colour configuration you wish. I would love to try some someday.
You have a wonderfully descriptive style and I look forward to reading more of your writeups.
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One point I forgot to bring up in my review:
The RAD-0 is a piece of cake to drive. I enjoyed it on a $99 schiit Hel2, Chord Mojo, Chord TT2, HeadAmp GSX-Mini and my Peachtree Nova integrated ampâs headphone socket.
Iâm not sure if you can call a case that is about 12x9x6 âportableâ, but this headphonea and a Mojo, Hugo2 or capapble DAP would make one heck of a hotel room system, or a system for your office that could easily be locked in a file drawer overnight.
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Another excellent review that youâve authored, with descriptive impressions that put me there. You effectively address the nuances among the early vs later releases, tunings, headband material.
This. Iâm smitten with my RAD-0 as I cross 3 weeks of ownership. Other headphones may further excel in certain areas, but when taking into account the entire package, the RAD-0 is my selection as a high sensitivity headphone to pair with my preferred amplification (single ended tube amps). Most high sensitivity headphones that are well suited to pair with tube amps have historically been dynamic drivers, which Iâve found to be more susceptible to noise (especially those with more revealing beryllium drivers). With a high sensitivity planar such as the RAD-0, it has the pleasing tonality and timbre of a Verite (EDIT: that does not require EQ) , with the elevated technical performance of a planar, that can be run on a headphone tube amp without audible noise. It checks all the boxes for me, where the comfort is not an issue, not to mention the build quality, aesthetics, and unique bespoke custom order experience.
Some have referred to the RAD-0 as the ZMF/Verite of planars. Iâve spent multiple sessions comparing the VC alongside multiple tunings of the RAD-0 in both the resin and wood rings. I previously owned the Eikon. There are definitely commonalities in the sonic presentation.
Understandable. As you mentioned, a black headband should help address the cup slippage; I believe they can be manually tightened also.
Brilliant! I find myself managing/adjusting the headbandâs position on my head for the hotspot similar to regularly slightly adjusting my seat position on a road bicycle saddle when going for a 4-hours plus ride. Iâm also experimenting with using Dekoni nuggets.
Labels are for jars, not⌠While relevant and perhaps a gating item, listening doesnât occur in a vacuum of frequency response.
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Iâve found throughout the years that descriptors of a headphonesâ frequency response helps me determine whether or not I will like a headphone based on what Iâve listened to. If all of a sudden no one talked about whether something was warm, bright, dark, etc etc, I think it would make audio purchasing much harder. Saying something sounds like music only confirms that the headphones are producing sound and that they are not broken.
AFAIK, warm, bright, or dark are not rankings. Theyâre just ways to describe what people are hearing.
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If I could transplant the cups and drivers to a zmf suspension strap/yolk system, Iâd completely ignore the quibbles I had with the pads and weight.
Great review man, I enjoyed the read
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I donât believe anyone is refuting the utility of FR descriptors. It depends on the descriptors used and context/baseline provided, which doesnât always happen.
One personâs warm is another personâs neutral, so if no context or baseline is provided, the descriptors are not/less worthwhile/useful.
You may have glossed over the thrust of the point above. Some say the use of the term neutral is intended to convey that the listener believes that the tonality is correct/preferred. Thus, any perceived deviation from such would equal not neutral, which by implication means not correct and thus an asserted ranking/hierarchy.
On the contrary, musical is a defined term. See:
Should this dialogue continue, perhaps letâs relocate to an Off Topic, On Topic thread.
This is an assumption. Many people actually avoid neutral cause they view it as boring or not musical. Why else do people flock to ZMF that have been described as warm?
For the same reason people listen to Grado and Beyer. They have preferences.
Yep but heâs saying someoneâs preference is someoneâs neutral unless Iâm reading that incorrectly.
He said any deviation from the listenerâs correct/preferred tonality is not neutral. I guess thatâs where I disagree. By that logic, if I really enjoyed Empyreans, I could call Empyâs neutral and thatâs far from the truth.
With most things biological and psychological (i.e., learning, training, experience) â truth is variable and probabilistic. While most peopleâs anatomies make Beyer, Grado, and Empy ânon-neutral,â they can be neutral to some subset of the population. These people have uncommon ear shapes or uncommon neutral configurations, while some are lucky enough to have both. In fact, human differences form normal distributions/bell curves so outliers in perceived neutrality and preferences are expected.
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Like you said, those people have uncommon ear shapes. Maybe Iâm one of those people but I donât believe Empys or Beyers are neutral.
Add to that, each personâs preference will differ, blowing up the possibility of a true neutral being able to exist at all.
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