Rosson Audio Design RAD-0 Review | Beautiful. Flawed.

The Rosson Audio Design RAD-0 is a planar-magnetic offering from Alex Rosson, former CEO and founder of Audeze. This is his first attempt at a return to the headphone space after leaving Audeze a few years back. While this headphone is a work of art in terms of its looks, there are some issues with its sound that really hold it back for me.

HUGE thanks to Headphones dot com for sending these out for review. You can check out their store here.

MiniDSP EARS Measurements: Note that the MiniDSP EARS IS NOT an accurate measurement device. Do not take these measurements as infallible, because they are flawed. There are some pieces of the measurements that are caused by flaws in the device itself such as a dip, peak, dip pattern from 4.5K-6K~ and some general imbalance due to sealing issues.

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[SamCampbell]

I would think that the reason for the strange cable is to ensure that you cannot mix up the channels (for whatever reason, I don't know why this would be a big priority). Since the tip is only wired for the left, and the sleeve for the right, no sound should be produced if you get them backwards.


Let me know if my theory is correct.

[LordVictorHalgaard]

Damn it... Audeze all over again. Won't be touching these with a 10 foor pole.... Well not if I have to pay for them. I'd happily try them - but I've been burnt badly on the Audeze, for being horrid for the price.

[divinginthedeep]

Yes we've seen this pinout before on Hifimans. I think they should have just gone with mono connector instead of a stereo. That solves this "shorting" problem.

But the thing is, you don't buy $2600 cans to still not be able to tell which side is left and which is right. You must be a God damn fucking douche - companies must just QUIT this mentality and use common sense. It's not a 6 year old that would be using these and flipping L with R. Use mono. Move along!

[haris]

Man so sad to hear that these are not good....I want to buy them soooo badly. They are 2100 at the moment.

[ResolveReviews]

Less detailed than the Clear? Madness.

[RAYSHIO]

very interesting. curious if they are much better comparing to my LCDX+Sonarworks

[DoNotTellWifeIBoughtThis]

So would you take Arya over these? thanks for the review

[rs.]

How'd you get the Audeze headband and pegs to fit on your HE6?

[Bgdee]

Awesome review... They do look beautiful though.

[queputaleche]

The pinout is meant to avoid to swap sides, also you can made it to work right, even connecting them wrong (both tips left side, both sleeves right side, no matter wich side you connect them, right is always right, left is always left)

[Riseun]

Interesting great review as always 🤔🤔🤔

[cooleycollege]

Some headphones use that method of cabling. Thanks for the info, but no reason to harp as that is not a difficult problem to have.

[mhchanellis]

I have the RAD-0 and a 2019 LCD-XC. While I would agree the bass dynamic of the RAD-0 is not the best (worse than LCD-XC), it isn't Mr-Speaker like. What I don't agree is the resolution part. The RAD-0 definitely resolves better than my LCD-XC across the frequency range (more micro details), and I believe my LCD-XC is equal to HD800 in resolution. One thing I notice is the RAD-0 in this review seems to have the headband stretched very much. My pair of RAD-0 would have the pads touching each other when being put on table.

[llysender]

I'm guessing they are side agnostic so both left and right are running through both both connectors and is side agnostic. At least thats how r70x cable is wired. Its a stupid wiring system though even if you never need to worry about wrong insertion.

[bunozen]

Hi there, I just happened to noticed that there’s a pair of the Hifiman he6se for sale at Audiogon for just in case