Recording - December 2013 - 24

AIAIAI TMA-1, TMA-1 Studio,
and TMA-1 Studio Young Guru Edition
$200 / $250 / $270; www.aiaiai.dk

Our readers will look at the title of this review and their first question will
be, "Who or what is AIAIAI?" This Danish firm has never been featured in
our pages before, and it's about time they were.
The company's line of headphones ranges from the very inexpensive Pipe inears and Capital phones up to the headphones under review here, the TMA-1
Series. (The second question is, "What is TMA-1?" It actually refers to the
famous Monolith in the film 2001, which is reportedly pure black and impervious to harm, a description the AIAIAI folks felt applied well to these products.)
There are several different voicings, finishes, and choices of accessorization in the TMA-1 line, but these are all variations on two basic models: the
TMA-1, a supraaural (on the ear) design primarily intended for DJs, and the
TMA-1 Studio, a circumaural (sealing around the ear) design aimed not only
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RECORDING December 2013

at DJs but also at studio use. The prices given
above are for the headphones without a built-in
mic; you can add $20 for a headphone that has a
built-in speech mic. (The Young Guru Edition is only
available with a mic.)
So what do you get when you open the box? For
most of these headphones, you get not only the phones
themselves but two sets of interchangeable earpads, a
1.5 meter straight/coiled cable with right-angle miniplug and threaded 1/4" gold-plated adapter, and a
mesh-lined carrying pouch. A long straight cable is
available as an optional accessory, as are replacement
earpads if needed. If you order a headphone with a
mic, it will also come with a 1.2 meter straight cable
with a built-in 3-button inline remote that's compatible
with recent-vintage Apple devices for volume
up/down, play, pause, track forward/back, and mic
on/off. All of these cables twist-lock in place on the
earcup to prevent accidental unplugging.
The headphone designs share some commonalities: they're made of a very sturdy nylon material
that can be bent, twisted, and knocked around
without harm, both in the earband and in the
sealed cups covering the 40mm titanium drivers. All
are rated for 20 Hz to 20 kHz frequency response,
with 32 ohm impedance.
The AIAIAI pitch is that these headphones are
designed to straddle the divide between a "lifestyle"
headphone (i.e. something that looks good and makes
a statement about you when you're seen wearing one
in a club or studio) and a serious audio tool for professionals. Have they succeeded? They're definitely
cool-looking, and stand out starkly against the plethora of blingy and logo-infested "DJ cans" being sold in
every mall fashion store. But how do they perform?
The TMA-1 is a supraaural design with an effectively-unpadded headband that comes with two
types of earpads: a very soft and comfortable foam
covered in "semi-leather" (we have no idea what that
means) or a somewhat stiffer foam covered in a synthetic material. Ostensibly the synthetic pads provide
better sonic isolation, but in my listening sessions I
noticed little or no difference between the two. I consider the TMA-1 earpads to be a style/comfort
choice rather than a sonic one; my preference was
for the softer semi-leather pads, but I'd be perfectly
happy switching to the synthetic ones if and when the
others were destroyed due to long wear.
If you enjoy a supraaural design, the TMA-1 has a
lot to recommend it; it's light, comfortable, very sturdy and confidence-inducing. As a DJ headphone, it's
designed to run very loud and deliver a lot of bass,
but it's actually very well-behaved at lower volumes.
The listening experience is one I would describe as
"fun"; the bass and low mids are solid and the highs
are extended without being sparkly. It's not meant to
be a studio-reference phone, but if you're looking for
a classy and sturdy knockabout on-the-ear design
that's a pleasure to listen to, I'd be hard pressed to
think of a better one. If you are looking for a studioready headphone, however....
The TMA-1 Studio is a circumaural design with a
polyurethane-padded headband and a much greater
difference between its two types of earpads. One set
is made of soft foam covered in "eco-friendly protein

http://www.aiaiai.dk

Recording - December 2013

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