HEADPHONES
76 APRIL2020||COMPUTER SHOPPERCOMPUTER SHOPP |ISSUE386
RHAHASPRODUCEDsome stellar
earphones over the last few years, from the
impressive true wireless TrueConnect
(Shopper375) to the excellent-sounding
wired T20i. Building on the success of the
latter,the Glaswegian firm has now developed
the T20 Wireless, which take the sonic
components of the T20i and add wireless
connectivity to the mix.
GETTINGTHE BAND
BACKTOGETHER
Unlike the other four sets of in-ear
headphones that occupied the previous
pages, the RHA T20 Wireless aren’t ‘true’
wireless; theyemployaneckband design,
where the two earpieces are connected by
acable that hooks around your neck. This
cable has asingle-button remoteonthe
right side and arechargeable battery pod
with aUSB Type-C port forcharging on the
left. The earphones don’t have ANC, relying
instead on the passive noise isolation
provided by theear tips.
Unusually,though no less cleverly,you
don’t have to use the neckband if you don’t
want to.The RHA T20 Wireless are equipped
with special connectors that allow you to
swap out the neckband foraregular 3.5mm
wired connection; forthis purpose,RHA
includes a1.5m-long cable in the box.
As forbuild quality,the RHAT20 Wireless
are just as well made as the original T20i, with
an all-metal housing that oozes apremium
feel. Leftand right channel indicators are
engraved intothe shell so they’ll never wear
off,and magnetsare built intothe housings
so the earpieces snap them together wheeennn
you’rewearingthemaroundyourneck.
Disappointingly,the T20 Wireless don’t pppower
off automatically when clipped together,so
you’ll need to remember to power them dddown
manually every time you stop listening.
Aside from audio cables and the earbuds
themselves, the box contains plenty of exxxtra
treats. There’s aUSB Type-C-to-Type-A
charging cable,asoftcarrying pouch, a
clothing and sports clip,and agood
selection of ear tips, including two sets ooof
Comply Tsx-400 foam tips. These are
arguably the most important of the lot, aaaaassss
everyone’s ears are different, and you can
swap in different tips to get the snuggesttt
and most comfortable fit.
Youalso get three screw-on tuning
filters, which are used to customise the TTT 20
Wireless’s sound profile.The copper-coloooured
filter delivers atreble-biased sound, the bbblack
filters give you more bass, and the silver
RHAT20 Wireless
★★★★★
£140•Fromwww.johnlewis.com
VERDICT
Decentsoundqualityandapricecutmakethe
T20 Wireless agood, if not essential, option
filters provide ahappymiddddle
ground.Havingtheabilitytooo
tailor the earphones’ sound
signature isn’t essential, butttit’sa
verynicefeaturetohave.
Whicheverfilteryoupreeefer,sound
qualityisverygoodindeed.Werecommend
usingawiredconnectionwhhhenever possible,
however: switching from wireless to the wired
mode results in acrisper,lesssscongested
soundandanoticeablywideeersoundstage.
TOP20HIT
Despitethelimitationsof
Bluetooth,however,theT20 00
Wireless still sound great if
you want to stick with
wireless. Like the Creative
Outlier Air,theyuse the
higher-quality aptX codec tooo
transmit audio,which aloneeeis a
considerable advantage oveeer
headphones that only use the
standard SBC codec. In termmmsof
overall sound profile,theysssttttriiiikkkkea
balanced tone:neither tooaaanalytical of
the music, nor toolaid backkk.
We conducted most of ooouuurrrllliiisssttteeennniiinnngggttteeessstttsss
inwirelessmode,andhere,theRHAT 20
Wirelessextendwellintothehigher
frequencies all while providing apronounced
bassline with plenty of impact.Even in tracks
filled with challenging sub- and mid-bass
tones, vocals and background instruments,
the RHA T20 Wireless coped admirably by
delivering acontrolled bass response and
maintained an excellent extension in the
hhhiiiggghhhsss.WWWeee’vvveeehhheeeaaarrrdddhhheeeaaadddppphhhooonnneeesssllliiikkkeeettthhheee
SennheiserMomentumFreestruggle
withsuchcomplexsongs,soundingsibilant
andstrainedespeciallyatloudervvvvolumes.
TTThhheeerrreeeaaarrreeennnooosssuuuccchhhiiissssssuuueeessshhheeerrreee.
Unfortunately,theT20Wirelessaren’t
sonicallyflawless:they’realittleveiledin
the mids, lack control around the 250Hz
region, and have an air of closeness to them.
The Outlier Air have them beat on general
sound quality –yet another reason to be
impressed that theycost only £70 –and
the Amazon Echo Buds also do well fora
bit less cash as well. Overall, however,these
aaarrreeeeeennnjjjoooyyyaaabbbllleeehhheeeaaadddppphhhooonnneeessstttooollliiissstttentoand
betterthanmostotherwirelessearphones
onpureaudioquality.
WIRE POWER
The RHA T20 Wireless subsequeeently deliver a
respectable package,justnot an essential one.
The ability to switch cables and tttweak the
sound profile makesthem more flexible than
most, and one of ourquibbles wwwith them
when theyfirst launched last yeaaar–an
overly steep £200 price –has become
farless of aconcern nooowthat
they’ve dropped to ammmuch more
reasonable £140.
It’s also true that tttheysound
better than most true wireless
headphones. Most is noootall, however,
and if you can live without ANNNC, then
ultimately the only reason to choooose these
over the Outlier Air would be if yyyou wanted
the added stability of awiredconnection.
