First Look Sunday – Rosson Audio RAD-O

Rosson RAD-0

Today, we take a look at the Rosson Audio RAD-O. It’s the first creation from the new brand but there’s much more to the story.

 

This is part of our Picture Sunday series, where we take a quick look at some products in the review cycle. You can find all previous Picture Sunday posts here.

About Rosson Audio Design

If the name Alex Rosson doesn’t ring a bell, then think (back to) Audeze. Alex was one of the Audeze founders and he had a big impact on the tuning of some of the finest Audeze LCD headphones. He then left Audeze to lead the creation team of Shinola’s audio division and within 2 years he had developed a multitude of products. Now Alex is back with his own brand of headphones under the Rosson Audio Design label, aka RAD.

On his website we can find the following:

Alex has spent his entire life in the sound business. As a musician and engineer, Alex grew up immersed in audio and film production at many of the most notable studios across Los Angeles. Alex worked for nearly a decade as one of Technicolor’s top mastering engineers before venturing into entrepreneurship and becoming the co-founder and CEO of Audeze.

With Rosson Audio Design, Alex distills the entirety of his career into a unique auditory experience, one pair of headphones at a time. 

RAD-O

RAD was launched with a single model in the product line-up, the RAD-O. Both in looks and sound you can find a lot of similarities and touching points with the Audeze LCD headphones.

Some call it “Audeze 2.0” but I’d rather call it a R.A.D. headphone as the differences and improvements are big enough to do so. But for sure there is a link between both headphones, it’s hard to not see it and Alex actually still is a major supporter over at Audeze as well.

The RAD-O, according to Rosson, is born from years of R&D and a lifetime of experience. “Every aspect of our headphones is prepared with an artisan’s attention to detail and a pure love for our craft. Countless hours of thought and care go into every speaker, housing and headband we make. Together, these components unite to form the best pair of planar magnetic headphones on the market. When you get your hands on the RAD-0, we’re confident that you will be able to see, feel and hear the Rosson difference.”

Since planar speakers can be very delicate, RAD uses a material with an extremely low mass and the strength to withstand high temperatures, movement and electrical load, and the durability to last a lifetime. The RAD goal is to achieve a balanced sound while keeping the headphones light and comfortable (see later). To achieve this, they fit a proprietary array of 11 N52 magnets into a medium-sized 66mm speaker. According to Rosson, “the result is a perfectly balanced listening experience with detailed transients and mids, a very tight and controlled low end, and the size and weight to comfortably wear the headphones for hours.”

We’ll get back to the “light and comfortable part” as it’s not all sunshine and rainbows.

Design

While the RAD-O has a familiar look, it at the same time is very unique. Like Audeze headphones, it has a special and sexy grill/cover with the logo in the middle. But even more jaw-dropping is the driver housing of these headphones.

For as long as we can remember, we’ve dreamed of offering unique, custom creations with an aesthetic worthy of our premium sound. We always loved materials such as micarta and stabilized wood, and we believe we have the vision and skill to incorporate these materials into our designs. Straying from the beaten path, we collect burl, maple, teak, rocks, gems, and any other beautiful item that we can fit into our casting mold. Through determination and finesse, we turn these raw materials into rings, and then we sand and polish them before drilling entry holes for the yokes and input port. 

The result? A seducing mix of wood, Resin and other materials, making each headphone different and most of all: unique.

Posted by Rosson Audio Design on Saturday, May 11, 2019

The fist Edition batch sold out quite quickly, but no worries as the second batch is on its way!

This preview continues on the next page, click here or below

This preview continues on the next page, click here or below

4.1/5 - (29 votes)
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Lieven is living in Europe and he's the leader of the gang. He's running Headfonia as a side project next to his full time day job in Digital Marketing & Consultancy. He's a big fan of tube amps and custom inear monitors and has published hundreds of product reviews over the years.

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