Pros
- Good bass response
Cons
- Flimsy build
- Coloured treble
Key Features
-
Review Price: £39.99
-
40mm mylar drivers
-
Fabric braided cable
-
ErgoFit adjustable mechanism
-
Removable cable
Reid and Heith Acoustics’s CA-200 headphones are quite unlike many of the most popular sets of cans in some respects. They boast about their Britishness – being “Designed and Engineered” in Britain – while several big headphone names try to plaster famous US names – like Bieber, Gaga and Dr. Dre – over their cans, in a metaphorical sense at least. We appreciate this more laid-back approach. But do these £40 closed-back headphones make us want to ditch our Sennheiser and Sony staples?
First impressions aren’t all that great. Decked-out in glossy black plastic and featuring all-too-large RHA logos on each side, they lack the low-key style we appreciated so much in RHA’s MA-350 earphones. While by no means offensive to the eye, they do look a little cheap.
Unfortunately, this extends to the feel of these headphones too. There’s plenty of jiggle room to the mechanism that attaches each ear cup to the headband – there in part to make them easy to fit on your head. But, in an all-plastic construction, this also robs them of solidity. Next to similarly-priced Sennheiser models like the PX100 and HD 218, they seem flimsy and insubstantial.
This sense doesn’t vanish entirely once you pop them on your head either. The pads aren’t hugely soft, and that flimsy feeling remains. However, the fairly free movement means the cups will find an easy fit on most heads almost instantly, and the pressure the headband exerts on your head is well-judged – enough to provide some noise isolation without trying to squeeze your cranium until your eyes pop out of their sockets.
From a fairly unimpressive start, we were surprised at how comfortable they started to feel, mostly because they are very light. While we found the synthetic ear pads do warm your ears up more than many pairs, they do try to “disappear” on your head. If you have large earlobes, though, the somewhat troublesome earpads are worth bearing in mind – the pads were large enough to enclose our whole ears, but they won’t for everyone’s. Slightly higher-grade pads would have helped here.
Part of RHA’s strategy is to pack in features often associated with more expensive headphones. The CA-200 bring with them a fabric braided cable, which is removable. It attaches to both of the ear cups, using a standard mono 3.5mm jack at each side. Like the rest of the design, the cable doesn’t feel hugely high-grade, but that it is removable is a minor plus. It would usually be a major plus, but as suitable cables (stereo audio that splits into mono) aren’t as ten-a-penny as the more common stereo-to-stereo type, some of the benefit seeps away, especially when the headphones don’t cost all that much to begin with.
The RHA CA-200 experience is an odd one. We got used to the awkward feel of the headphones, but we can’t just forget that many of the big-name alternatives, most notably the similar Sennheiser HD 202, feel better-made. But how does the sound compare?
Rather like their build, the RHA CA-200 sound signature feels a little odd at first. The top end, while bright and fairly detailed, isn’t entirely natural-sounding and balanced – although the odd aural effect of this is something your ears bed into fairly quickly. It sounds as though there’s a spike somewhere towards the higher end of the frequency spectrum that’s technically a bit of a faux pas, colouring the sound and making vocals sound rather odd. It makes Regina Spektor sound a bit like she’s singing through a paper cone.
Given the slightly bright sound signature, though, that it largely manages to avoid sharpness and sibilance is impressive at £40. The bass performance is commendable too, this time without major caveats. It’s smooth and congruous, fairly deep and doesn’t boom out beyond its borders.
There’s not a great deal going on in-between, however. The mid-range doesn’t command much presence, leaving vocals without the texture and stature you’d get in a more mid-centric set. Sonic performance isn’t bad, with the tasteful bass a significant win at this entry level over-ears point, but it’s somewhat patchy and can’t therefore beat the best rival on-ears and over-ears sets. And with a name as little-known as RHA, the CA-200 really need to.
It’s a pity because the Reid and Heath Acoustics story is a pleasant and usual one – a small British company offering accessible, affordable products. We found the CA-200 much easier to live with than the previous SA-500, whose more rigid design made them much less comfortable to wear, but once again we can’t give the RHA’s latest our stamp of approval. If you find them on sale for significantly less than their asking price, perhaps £20 or £25, they represent a good buy. But the slightly flimsy feel, sonic issues and failure to significantly undercut some key rivals on price stop the CA-200 from being able to drag us away from the likes of the Sennheiser HD 202 and Audio-Technica ATH-T200.
Verdict
Full size headphones for under £40? They sound attractive, but unfortunately British-based Reid and Heath Acoustics hasn’t quite hit the jackpot with the CA-200. These headphones feel a little flimsy, and while the sound offers decent bass and detail, treble colouration and an unimpressive mid-range stop them from challenging the best from the big headphone names.
Trusted Score
Score in detail
-
Value 6
-
Design Features 6
-
Sound Quality 7