The stunning minimalist design of the phones, conceived by Danish design studio KiBiSi, and of course the name as well, is what got me interested in them. “TMA-1” stands for “Tycho Magnetic Anomaly 1”, the name of the monolith in Arthur C. Clarke’s sci-fi novel “2001: A Space Odyssey”. Can’t really get more awesome than that, methinks.
Hard-boiled headphone veterans’ alarm bells might go off after that introduction: Stylish design? Cool name? Made for DJs? Those must sound bad; those must be style over substance. At first I was a bit wary myself – but fret not: AIAIAI definitely made sure that the TMA-1 sound as good as they look.
Specs
- Design: supra-aural, closed back, removable cable (standard 3.5mm jack/plug at the headphone end)
- Driver: 40mm dynamic
- Impedance: 32 Ohm +/- 1.5 Ohm
- Sensitivity: 110dB +/- 3dB
- Load Rating: 0.1W
- Frequency Response: 20 Hz – 20 kHz
- THD: less than 0.3%
- Accessories: 2 pairs of ear pads (protein leather, foam), coiled 1.7m cable, 3.5mm-to-6.3mm screw-on TRS adapter, carrying pouch, booklet
Pros
- Great sound quality for a closed phone – warm, dynamic, punchy, fast, non-fatiguing, not nasal or honky, no recessed midrange
- Very efficient, very loud even with underpowered MP3 players
- Excellent minimalist design
- User-replaceable cable (with standard 3.5mm plug at the headphone end)
- User-replaceable ear pads
- Comfortable for a supra-aural phone
Neutral
- Average isolation from outside noise – not high, not low
- Low-ish clamping force
Cons
- Might sound too “weighty”, “full”, or mid-heavy for some kinds of acoustic music
- Heavy and awkward coiled stock cable (can be easily replaced)
- Foam ear pads don’t deliver balanced sound quality (use the leather pads instead)
- Slight background hiss with sub-par sources (no hiss with good sources)
