Rocking from Glasgow, Scotland is RHA, a manufacturer I first got in touch with a few years ago, when they launched the T10 in-ear headphones. They elvolved their product line-up in time, with their latest flagship headphones being the RHA CL1 Ceramic. They were made to pair with the RHA Dacamp L1, a portable DAC and amplifier which features compatibility with mobile phones as well as PCs.
While I usually keep Out of the box articles for non-headphones products, this is goung to be an exception as the products featured here are meant to be used together and were engineered to complement each other.
There’s a big change in how the boxes are presented, as they previously were flap cardboard boxes with a transparent window that showcased the products, while they are now made of heavier cardboard and do not feature any transparent window.
RHA filled both boxes with a slew of accessories. The RHA CL1 Ceramic has two different cables, one made of OFC (Oxygen-Free Copper) and with a 3.5 mm jack termination, and the other made of SPC (Silver-Plated Copper) and terminated with a mini-XLR4 connector. The second one is meant to be used in conjunction with the Dacamp L1 and allows to use the headphones in balanced mode. The 3.5 mm connector also has a thread so one can screw the included 6.3 mm adapter to it. On top of that comes the usual number of eartips – 6 single-flanged pairs, 2 double-flanged pairs and 2 Comply foam pairs.
I really, really, really like the cables. They’re soft and just a bit springy, and they’re even softer and more malleable than the AK Audio 4-core 7N copper cable. They’re 1.5 m in length and that’s just perfect for most use cases.
The RHA Dacamp L1 box contains a USB to micro-USB cable, a micro-USB to micro-USB cable and two rubber bands to secure it to whatever player one is using on the go. There is also a somewhat impressive manual that’s as big as the Dacamp L1 itself.
Build quality appears to be stellar, just by the looks of it. My only complaint in this regard is the fact that the left CL1 earpiece seems to lose signal when turning my head – that’s something I’ll investigate in the coming days before I publish the full review. The Dacamp L1, on the other hand, appears to be built like a tank – and the fact that it’s metal and heavy somehow reinvigorates this idea.
Judging from the packaging alone, it’s easy to see that these are RHA’s flagship products as the company’s usual attention to detail is even grater. I’ll delve into deeper detail in the review, which I plan to publish in the first days of the next year. Stay tuned!
