• 40mm drivers

• Pliant urethane earpads

• Semi-closed cup design

• 8’ (2.5m) oxygen-free copper cord including 1/8” and 1/4” jack adapter

• Weight: 5.8 oz (165 gram excluding plug and cord)

• Impedance: 32 Ohm

• Sensitivity: 98 dB/mW

• Nominal Input Power: 100mW

• Frequency response: 20-20kHz

Price paid: US$49.5 including S+H at AMS AmericanMusical.com

Background

I finally decided to buy Yamaha over AKG, Sennheiser, KOSS, Sony or Denon after comparing specs and other reviews from various website. Though I didn’t have chance to give it a try first, I was quite sure Yamaha reputation over Pro Audio markets has been established well will not let me down. So I contacted my friend who’s traveling in US to carry the Yamaha for me when he comes back to Indonesia. 1 month later he comes with these cans I’ve long waited for. Thank you Pipin!

Unpacking the box I was quite skeptical by looking at its package. It was plastic and carton cheap box remaining me to consumer-products and Hi-Fi alike headphone brand such as Philips or Panasonic. The weight is light enough and comfort to my head gently without feeling like wearing King Arthur crown. It has adjustable headband and fits my big head at maximum stretch. For you those have bigger head than mine please try it first, the headband I think designed for small-to average head. The pad rests my ears with less pressure make me feel comfortable wearing it over 2 hours. Sometimes I forgot if I put something in my head. Comes with ¼” standard Pro-Audio jack, RH-5Ma also carries 1/8” jack adapter to suit home electronics such as CD players, PC soundcard, Stereo set and such. Rush to hear its performance, I plugged it 1/4” cord to my Denon AVR-1602 Precision Amplifier and shoot play button at Pioneer DV-533 CD player immediately.

Sound Check

First impression about the sound performance is the balance. You can hear the low and high frequency spectrum at balanced level (assuming you have good reference professionally mixed CD material). The treble spectrum is crisp and clear, no harsh cymbal or percussion I heard even at maximum volume level, therefore enhanced listening comfort over long period of time.

At middle frequency, it is clear that Dan Donegan’s guitar sound is completely different than Tonny Rombola’s Godsmack. Duel guitar performed by Mikael Akerfeldt-Peter Lindgren from super-progressive death metal band Opeth is so bold. Every note of the chordal passage seems layered double or tripled. Wow. I passed the headphone to my friend of mine who looks perplexed at me (think you can get China made headphone for $2 in Glodok and this nut willing to buy $50 for the fucking cans) and he just said waw opening his mouth by reflex drops his jaw when hearing Korn through RH5Ma….

As I move along using RH-5Ma I can identify which CD produced professionally and which is not. Some CD has hiss or noise floor so loud that really annoying. Some of them have unbalanced low-high tones so you only hear dominated high and going craze find out where the heck is the bass. Some has mixed brutally that guitar lines covering vocal left almost unheard! This headphone tells the truth. Not exaggerating or adding color to sounds. It produces natural sound in every detail whatever recorded, mixed and mastered from studio. I could find missing parts of sound which not heard before. Every nuance covered in detail. If you mix and master recording material using this headphones, you can get the sound balanced.

The semi-closed cup design has some plus and minus. Plus, it comforts the ear at long-hour listening period. Also your ear will not sweating out of hell. Minus, you need quiet listening environment to optimally use this headphone. But that’s the point. This monitor headphone designed for the studio, tracking, mixing, mastering though you can use it outdoor, you need low noise surrounding to get the performance at its best.

Similar product like AKG K-240M the most famous headphone monitor on earth, required headphone amplifier due to its high impedance. Not with Yamaha. This baby handles tiny power from PC soundcard or CD walkman with ease roaring the same results as AKG which is almost double the price, not to mention your ears will heated up as hell because tightly closed cup design!

Bottom line, RH-5Ma is recommended headphone if you pursue high quality, low priced low budget, attention to details, balanced low-high hearing session.

Summary

Pros

-low price

-balanced, natural low-high

-excellent subsonic response

-lightweight

Cons

-require quiet listening environment (not a weakness I guess)

-wish the plug is gold-coated (but the price will go higher)

Rating

Construction: **** 4 of 5

Audio: ***** 5 of 5

Value: ***** 5 of 5

Overall: ***** 5 of 5

Where to Buy?

International: zZounds.com

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