British headphone maker RHA impressed us last month when its T10 heavyweights landed on the review bench. Now the company has announced the T20 in-ear headphones featuring a brand new dynamic driver technology named DualCoil. As well as promising true-to-life audio reproduction, the new earphones conform to the Hi-Res Audio standard as defined by the Japan Audio Society.
RHA says that its proprietary DualCoil dynamic driver has been engineered to deliver levels of audio resolution, clarity and detail beyond what a conventional earphone driver is capable of. Within each metal-injection-molded steel housing are two independently-powered voice coils positioned around a micro ring magnet in concentric formation.
When the audio signal from a source player reaches the driver housing, it's split in two. The upper mids and treble frequencies are directed to a copper-clad aluminum outer coil, while a second, inner coil gets busy with the lower mids and bottom end. The coils work together to manipulate a specially engineered diaphragm that features a second (inner) apex.
"The innovation in RHA's new type of dynamic driver ensures the T20 is capable of reproducing audio with higher levels of resolution and detail than conventional drivers," says RHA. "The headphone features a refined, natural sound signature designed to represent the true sound of music by offering a greater degree of clarity and a neutral tonal balance."
Elsewhere, the T20s benefit from the same kind of cool steel housing and filter-changing sound signature customization options as the award-winning T10i models and the T10s we reviewed last month. Like the latter in-ear headphones, the T20s don't include inline playback control.
The T20s boast an overall frequency range of 16 Hz to 40 kHz, 16 ohm impedance and 90 dB sensitivity. There's a 1.35 m (4.4 ft) oxygen-free copper cable ending in a gold-plated 3.5 mm jack and patent-pending over ear hooks that can be manipulated for a secure, comfortable fit. RHA supplies 10 pairs of silicone tips and two sets of memory foam tips for improved passive isolation, and the earphones can be stowed away in a branded carry case between listening.
The new RHA T20 in-ear headphones carry a suggested retail price of US$259.95.
Product page: RHA T20