Near Entry-Level Price, Pro Quality Sound

These headphones are offered at nearly an entry-level price, and the sound quality competes with the best monitoring headphones available today. I have used these headphones for over two years, and have found that they are hard to beat at any price. They are efficient, offering good volume levels with equipment ranging from mp3 players and laptops to home audio/audiophile systems.

They are "semi" over the ear, offering a comfortable (wide) headband, smallish but very accurate and transparent sounding 40mm drivers (earcups) which fit on the ear, not completely over the ear. Thus, they do not offer true sound isolation, but instead offer much better comfort for longer listening sessions. They do, however, qualify for "semi-closed" design, and do block out some external noise, but do not offer not as much isolation as in-ear isolating earbuds would.

Next to my Yamaha HP-1 (no longer made), these are my all-time favorite headphones for sound quality vs. cost. And they do sound better (more like the actual music, regardless of genre) than nearly all the earbuds and headphones I have tried, regardless of cost. Sure you can spend more on headphones, but the "law of diminishing returns" will make you wonder why you spent so much more for some of the other high-end models.

High SPL, low distortion, and transparency are the signature of the Yamaha RH-5Ma headphones. An 8 foot cord and 1/4" and 1/8" plugs allow you to use this product out of the box with many different audio sources.

I have been listening to music for 30 years, and auditioning new audio gear along the way. The Yamaha RH-5Ma headphones stand out as some of the best sounding headphones ever produced in the last 30 years, and the astonishing fact is that they are relatively inexpensive and durable at the same time.

This is a "best buy" in my book, having been a very reliable and solid performer for two years now.