RHA T10i review: Standout earphones for everyday music lovers

We review the RHA T10i, high-fidelity in-ear  headphones for everyday music lovers. Also see: Best budget headphones 2015.

The T10i from RHA are in-ear headphones with what the manufacturer describes as customisable sound, as well as mouldable ear hooks. Made from stainless steel, they have three changeable tuning filters that can adjust the sound to bass, reference or treble. The full kit includes a three-button remote control with 360-degree mic for call and track control.

Premium earphones, the RHA T10i offer full noise isolation, and are made from injection-moulded steel, with what RHA calls an oxygen-free copper cable.

RHA T10i review: UK price and value

A quick scout around online and we find that you can purchase the RHA T10i earphones direct from RHA-Audio at the SRP of £149.95. The certified for iPhone RHA T10i is available for the same price, but flip across to Amazon and at the time of writing you could get a minor discount at £139.95. A Google Shopping search finds the RHA T10i available for a lot less, if you are prepared to shop from a less well-known brand.

These are, then, premium headphones. At the higher end of the range of in-ear headphones before you get to super high-end audio. As we will find out, for the quality and build the RHA T10i seem reasonably priced to us. See all headphone reviews.

RHA T10i review: Design and build

The metal shell and weight makes the RHA T10i look and feel like the higher end earphones they are. The copper cable and metal connection are more secure and robust than other wires we have used, which is reassuring.

In the ears the RHA T10i are really comfortable, especially when you play around with the 10 sets of silicone earbud options – there are five options, two pairs for each size. As the RHA T10i sit nicely in the ear – and stay in even while exercising – the sound isolation is excellent. We’re not sure if this is down to the earbud or the headphones themselves, but we don’t really care.

The mouldable wire fits around the back of the ear, and is a novel element. You do need to adjust the wire each time you wear the earphones, however. There is an on-cable controller but it’s compatible only with iPhone, not Android, which is annoying ñ make it compatible with the most popular platform, RHA. There is a three-year guarantee, too. Which is a big deal when you are shelling out this much.

We measured the cable length at a whopping 1.3m. Three sets of metal filters make the sound notably different. We’ll get into audio quality in the next section, but suffice to say that with the metal filters on the treble is a bit too, well, jazzy for our liking. The bass is the best ñ great for house music. The reference is middle ground.

RHA T10i review: Sound quality

Listening to podcasts using our LG G4 and the RHA T10i the sound is crystal clear. You get very good clarity on spoken word content.

Music-wise, deep bass tracks are punchy with the bass filter, without overpowering the music. We think you have to like bass sounds to enjoy these earphones, as there is more emphasis on this than the treble. Volume is standard ñ we personally might want it to be a bit louder but we’ll always want too much and this is probably a safe level, taking into consideration the phone setting rather than the earphones.

Overall the RHA T10i offer reasonable audio quality for the price. It’s not outstanding, but it is pretty good.

Read next: Best headphones 2015.