It's been a little while since our last review but we are back and we had the opportunity to review and play around with the AIAIAI TMA-2 Modular Headphone for some time now. AIAIAI is a company based in Copenhagen that started in 2006, through the years they have worked at making/building high quality products for your everyday use. Being modern and minimalist at the same time, AIAIAI totally contribute at contributing to Denmark's Worldwide Reputation and by keeping its heritage of Scandinavian design.
First Impressions
After receiving my package, the unboxing was a pure joy. The folks from AIAIAI really took care at designing and producing such a lovely packaging with a minimal and likeable approach that just increase your loving for the brand/product itself. The fact that the TMA-2 is a modular headphone, everything single parts comes into small plastic packages that reminds you of Space somehow, which is pretty creative from their end.
The first setup is a bit tricky but with the help of the instructions, I felt it was pretty simple and intuitive. Once everything is ready and all the parts comes in together beautifully, the material of the headband didn't felt cheap at all. They used a new polyamide material that enhances durability and flexibility and the headband sits comfortably on your head and it wasn't tight at all even when wearing them for a long period of time.
Fun Fact: The packaging design was the runner up from the Packaging Award Core77 Design Awards 2016
The Sound
Well, this is what this is just all about, is the sound even good? The reflection of the quality of TMA-2 totally reflects on its purity of the sound. This is the best headphone I've ever had, totally honest. I tried many different kind of music from soundtracks to heavy metal and the TMA-2 just keep giving me the best of its sound to the point where you can feel the vibration on your eyes. The music was pretty loud by the way, I was just testing its full capacities. The sound is that great so you don't really have to go loud to fully experience it, to be honest I always have my volume control to less than a half of the full bar. Asides from the headphone itself, you can totally get your hands on the TMA-2 for the sound alone.
This is the best headphone I've ever had
Pros
From the packaging, "undestructible" headband and incredible sound experience, I would say one of the things that I truly love about the TMA-2 is the almost non-presence of the brand on the product. AIAIAI doesn't spam you by having their logos everywhere, they wanted to keep a minimalist approach and also by giving the sound quality you deserve. That's what is all about and the fact you can customize the way you want your headphone to be like is also another great factor from AIAIAI. You can start TMA-2 from the headband, speaker units, earpads and cable. The price tag is also a plus with AIAIAI, for little more/less than 200$ (USD) depending on your configuration, you can buy which is a very affordable price compare to what's on the market.
Cons
There isn't much to say from that end but I did encounter a little detail with my earpads which was the model E05 that was made of soft microfiber. I thought it was a bit catching the dust easily for my taste but I probably get the E06 (made of light weight PU leather) model to resolve the situation. That's about it.Final Words
You can't really go wrong with the TMA-2, it's a superior improvement from the previous model. And if you're like me, somebody that use his headphone at work/office through your daily playlists to simply enjoy your day at its best. The TMA-2 will compliments your routine greatly. Now wherever I go, I always have my TMA-2 handy in my backpack because it will become and be part of your everyday use.
More information: https://aiaiai.dk.