BACKGROUND
AIAIAI was conceived in the A House, an old Copenhagen industrial building that became a seminal nest of creativity around 2005. We hosted a club at the top of the building, and initiated the influx of a collective, consisting of more than 200 young creative minds, many of whom we still work closely with today. This environment didn’t just shape some of the biggest and most influential Danish artists, musicians and designers. It also shaped AIAIAI’s collective vision, which still hasn’t changed: We aim to create headphones and other consumer electronic related products that have a clear connection to the creative world, and thus make a heartfelt, different and genuine statement.

The TMA-1 headphone has been tested and tweaked by the world's most skilled DJs, designed by Danish design firm KiBiSi and further developed in cooperation with Tartelet Records, Mannhandle and Thank You For Clapping.


CONTENTS
2 sets of earpads (leather and foam)
a carrying pouch
a booklet
a 1.7 meter cable
a 6.3 mm stereo plug converter.


SPECIFICATION
Transducer Principle: Dynamic, closed
Driver Unit Size: 40 mm
Impedance: 32±15% Ohm
Load Rating: 0.1W
Frequency Response: 20 to 20.000 Hz
Total Harmonic Distortion: <0.3%
Sensitivity: 110±3dB Weight w/o
Cable: 190 Gram
Price: €180~


UNBOXING PHOTO



REVIEW
Packaging
TMA-1 packed in one luxury and sturdy box, similar to Beat By Dre's Studio headphone. But with black scheme all over it. Headphone properly contained within the box by soft foam. The box itself look like piece of ART, no kidding. Simplistic, in line with the headphone's minimalist design.

Accessories
Nothing fancy included, again, minimalist (which is bad, for this case lol) but AIAIAI is generous enough to include extra pair of foam earpads. Stock earpads is leather. 1.7 meters cable is coiled type with straight jack and quite thick. Cable can be easily swapped since connection on headphone (left cup) is typical 3.5mm port, so custom cable can be easily experimented here. A zipped double layer pouch also included in the package to protect the headphone during transport. Made from high quality cloth material with yellow inner lining mesh.

Construction
Minimalist design with velvety smooth texture. The teflon (is it?) texture is really smooth and look rugged. Fingerprint and oil resistant but not moisture resistant. In term of weight, it's lightweight compared to previous behemoth I owned, ATH-M50. It's quite portable but the simple design does not allowed any cups rotating or folding. The only adjustable parts are right and left cups and due to this, I encountered one MAJOR flaw compared to M50, more on this in next section. I noticed that the rubbery grip lining underneath the headband is glued to the headband using some sort of adhesive. When pressed together, I can hear bubble crackling which suggests that there's gap in-between both panels. My guess is that the adhesive used is not suitable to bond both materials together.

Comfort and Isolation
Compared to other cans I tried, TMA-1 exerts the lowest clamping force on my head. And here comes the MAJOR flaw. TMA-1 does not stay in position or I have yet to find a proper position to make it stay still when I move my head. SOLUTION FOUND: Reversed the input jack and the coiled cable (the weight) now shifted to lower end of the cable. The headphone now stay in position.

It is really comfortable (on leather pads) due to lack of clamping pressure. Isolation also hurt due to low clamping force, quite bad compared to my previous closed monitoring can, ATH-M50.

Sound
First impression? Really loves the overall presentation. Wide sound stage compared to regular closed cans, very detailed, smooth and no major standout across the frequency. Currently 2 hours running in, will wait for 1-2 weeks before judging it again. But definitely a keeper, if I manage to keep it stay fixed on my head.


SUGGESTION
1. Include additional short straight cable for portable usage
2. Better adhesive method/quality used between headband and grip lining


REVISION LOG
1. Initial draft
2. Added SOLUTION for headphone shifting issue
3. Added SUGGESTION section
4. Edited the Construction section.

This post has been edited by toughnut: Oct 14 2010, 09:26 AM

They put a lot of effort in making the AIAIAI looks stylish...

Yeah, but the stylish design hurt the usability. Doesnt really fit those with small diameter head, especially Asians. But it cooler than Dre's hahaha

What does AIAIAI stands for. A funny little name.

AIAIAI pronounce as eye-eye-eye, a company name hahaha

Haha..but if they make great products we can excuse the name.

woaw at the box @.@

windboy, it look better in real life due to camera crappiness in low light condition. Most of the photos taken in rapid shoot mode to compensate movement but it still look blurry.

REVIEW updated. This is probably my best purchase so far, finally I found something that can surpassed my custom monitor in term of sound quality!

Not more funnier than Hippo

wah. even have revision log, write software meh XD

To keep track since review not completely done yet.

And all for how muchie??

Hahaha, it's true, Hippo is funnier.

It's retailed at 180~ EURO plus 5 EURO for shipping.

Owh, so you bought it online...so around RM800 if you convert it to MYR.

With new cable from wotiyo,

Whoa, didn't know this headphone is so pricey, it looks so plain =)

I beg to differ. It has a very industrial look that is different from what you see out there. Kinda like a refined Grado SR or Alessandro MS. But quite pricey yes. If it was like RM500 I'd be all over it, but alas, I have to wait before something like this gets plugged into my rig.

The construction look simple but actually very heavy duty and durable. And it look "iconic". Sound wise, I am glad to say I found something that can better my custom monitor. Currently more than 250 hours burn in

I can see that AIAIAI is under the list of headphone manufacturers in Jaben's thread.
Jaben.........watch out.

This post has been edited by tunertoobe: Oct 24 2010, 06:47 PM

it looks pro~ but it cost RM500?