RAD-0 Headphones

The Speaker

Development of the RAD-0 headphone begins with the heart of the brand's product: the speaker (commonly known as the “transducer” or “driver” to our fellow audiophiles). Since planar speakers can be very delicate, The Rosson Audio design team uses a material with an extremely low mass, the strength to withstand high temperatures, movement, and electrical load, and the durability to last a lifetime.

After sourcing the speaker material, Rosson's engineers begin designing a circuit and magnetic structure for the diaphragm. When it comes to speakers, many people assume bigger is better. Rosson Audio's goal, however, is to achieve a balanced sound while keeping the headphones light and comfortable. To achieve this, the engineers fit a proprietary array of 11 N52 magnets into a medium-sized 66mm speaker. 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.

The RAD-0 is a low-impedance headphone and therefore not difficult to drive. However, with all planar dynamic headphones we recommend the more power you can provide to them, the easier it’ll be for them to reach peak performance. You can drive the RAD-0 efficiently with just about any device, but having an amplifier behind the music will bring your listening experience to the next level. Rossen utilizes a 3-pole 3.5mm connection for cables. The termination type is different from the rest of the market, so Focal cables or upgraded Audeze and Focal Dragon cables will not work with the Rosson design. If you are interested in getting an upgrade Dragon Cables then you will have to select new ones using the unique pinout for Rosson.

The Housing

The designers at Rosson Audio have always loved materials such as micarta and stabilized wood, and they believe they have the vision and skill to incorporate these materials into the company's designs. Straying from the beaten path, Rosson's designers collect burl, maple, teak, rocks, gems, and any other beautiful item the team can fit into a casting mold. Through determination and finesse, Rosson's team of engineers turn these raw materials into rings, and then it sands and polishes them before drilling entry holes for the yokes and input port.

The weight of the RAD-0 is consistent with some of the more middle-weighted Audeze LCD line (LCD-X), rather than some of the heavier headphones. Alex likes his headphones heavy, and the reason for that are the large magnet structures in the planar magnetic drivers. That’s what provides for the meaty, full, and big bottom-weight to the sound.

Assembly & Testing

While one half of the engineering team works on the housings, the other half assembles the speakers in small batches and lets the speakers “pre-burn” at 100dB for two weeks to help enrich the sound. The speakers then go through rigorous testing and validation to ensure that each pair is ready for its new home. Rosson's testing tolerance is 0.3dB variance, and only those speakers that make it past the cut get installed into their newly made housings.

The Headband

After installing a speaker into the housings, Rosson's engineers turn their attention to the headband. Weight is always an issue with planar magnetic speakers, so they focus on offsetting the weight with balanced curvature, clamping force and proper placement of perfectly dense padding. The result is the most comfortable planar headphone with the smoothest size adjustment design ever created.