Roseselsa Distant Mountain Review (2) – Working With Fire And Steel
Two $64.99 Roseselsa Distant Mountain headphones were kindly provided by the manufacturer for my (and Loomis’) review – and we thank them for that. It can be purchased from Rose Technics and AliExpress.
The Roseselsa Distant Mountain is a superbly built, very resolving mid-sized on-ear headphone that brings back memories of the 1980s. Careful, can be spicy if not used properly.
PROS
- Superb resolution
- Beautiful, appealing design
- Outstanding build and haptic
- Great value
CONS
- Grainy upper midrange/lower treble
- Needs amplification to shine
- Needs thicker earpads (Yaxis)
- Cable is pretty basic
- Not foldable
In this Article
Introduction
The year was 1979. The Sugarhill Gang rapped America, Electropop emerged in the UK, and Sony issued the Walkman. It came with small, crappy on-ear headphones, characterized by their orange foam earpads. In 1984, Koss introduced the iconic Porta Pro, which is still produced today (yes, I have one).
What is labelled “Retro” today, may have never been away for us older guys. The Distant Mountain on-ear headphone is such a “Retro” product aiming to appeal to vintage audio lovers on the commute. It may work well, optically, with current “Retro” electronics such as the FiiO CP13 or We Are Rewind WE-001 personal cassette players and the FiiO DM13 BT or the Moondrop Discdream 2 Ultra portable CD players.
Roseselsa is a subbrand of Rose Technics Co. Ltd., a large tech enterprise out of Chengdu, Sichuan, China, that focuses on R&D, manufacturing, and sales of digital 3C (computer, communication, and consumer electronic) products. We have reviewed a few of their earphones and their excellent RT-5000 DAC-amp combo in the past.
Sichuan Province is known for their panda bears and very spicy food…and occasionally for their spicy in-ears.
I have a special personal relationship with Chengdu and its people as I used to work out of an office there off and on over many years (Softears and Moondrop are also headquartered in Chengdu).
Specifications Roseselsa Distant Mountain
| Type | Over Ear |
| Transducer Type | dynamic |
| Diaphragm Driver Diameter | 40 mm |
| Frequency Range | 20-20,000 Hz |
| Impedance: | 32 Ω ± 15% |
| Sensitivity | 115 dB ± 3 dB |
| THD | 2% @ 1000Hz |
| Cable(s) | ca 120 cm |
| Connectors | MMCX |
| Tested At | $64.99 USD |
| Product Page/Purchase Link | Rose Technics / AliExpress |
Physical Things and Usability
In the box are the headphone, a cable, 2 pairs of earpads, the manual, and a strange, well-endowed “waifu” as decoration (she does not have any purpose related to the headphone…don’t get any ideas…).
The Distant Mountain on-ear headphone is of exquisite build with a superb haptic. The best ingredients were used that beat the similar-priced Koss Porta Pro by miles. The CNC machined earcups and headband are made of stainless steel. The latter is covered by lambskin. The headband can be adjusted stepwise by a precise mechanism. Lots of silver, a bit of gold, some bling bling. No pleather, no plastic. Outstanding!
The result is a premium product reminiscent of pricey Bang and Olufsen designs.
In contrast to the Porta Pro type headphones, the Distant Mountain features a detachable cable, 120 cm long (a bit short for desktop use), with a textile jacket and an inline remote attached to it. The connectors are MMCX, you can therefore try out your old earphone cables (so long as they don’t have memory wire…which are easily removed with a pair of pointy scissors).
MMCX connections are notoriously finicky, and the user is advised not to exchange cables too frequently, albeit this one appears to be of good quality. I probably changed the cable 20 times during my testing – and the connectors still work.
The Distant Mountain features 40 mm dynamic drivers. The earcups are covered by foam pads like the 1980s headphones for portables…and they could be a bit thicker. The earpads can be easily pulled off.
Although the Distant Mountain is designed for the commute, it is not foldable. Caliper pressure is medium, but the lack of a swivel mechanism does not allow the earcups to align perfectly along the ears for some of us. There is a pressure point at the bottom of the ears (blue arrows in the figure below), and a lack of seal at the top (green arrows), at least for some headshapes. In such case, the Distant Mountain can sound harsh with an anemic bass.
This is not an issue for some users, but a big one for others. I mitigated the problem by adding thick Yaxi earpads designed for the Koss Porta Pro. I also played with cables and found a cheap 16-core pure copper Yinyoo cable to also remove some spice.
It should be mentioned that similar headphones such as the Koss Porta Pro/KSC75 and the Sennheiser PX-100 series do have a ball joint mechanism for flexible earcup alignment. Roseselsa should consider this for future updates.
The Distant Mountain, according to the specs, should be easily driven by a phone. In reality, they benefit greatly from amplification. They also work reasonably well just plugged into my late 2022 M2 Macbook Air.
Tonality and Technicalities
I tested with a desktop stack (Burson Funk/V7 Classic opamp and the EarMen Tradutto DAC), sourced by my iPhone SE (1st gen.)…and also with the portable EarMen TR-Amp connected to my phone. And, yes, the Distant Mountain do justice to a desktop setup, so good are they.
Once I got the fit under control, these headphones ran circles around their Koss and Sennheiser peers. The Distant Mountain deliver excellent clarity and detail resolution by any standard – and a natural timbre. Note definition is outstanding for its class.
They also have a great sub bass extension – lots of rumble down there. Their low end is way more substantial, precise and better carved out than of any mid-size on-ear headphone of this type I have auditioned.
Vocals are very well etched out, pointy, and energetic, almost sharp which lets them come across as lean. They take their energy from the upper mids/lower treble that can be grainy with a hint of harshness.
Lower treble is marginally back but very well resolving, cymbals appear a bit robotic (I removed much of this effect by adding the ifi Audio iPurifier 3 to the Tradutto DAC). Treble extension is average.
Soundstage is not overly wide or deep but it is quite tall. Instrument separation is excellent, layering is average.
In comparison the Koss Porta Pro/KSC75, Koss KHP30i, and Sennheiser PX-100II sound darker and a bit muffled, with a muddier bass, and less treble. And they lag in terms of resolution and note definition.
Concluding Remarks
The Distant Mountain are not only a lifestyle item but true audiophile headphones despite their modest price. Their sonic qualities are not a tad behind their superb build. On the other hand, I don’t think they fit sonically to your Walkman as they do need a bit more amplification (but they will work well with your FiiO and Moondrop CD players).
Remains to be seen, which “distant mountains” Roseselsa had in mind when naming this headphone. The obvious choice would be the Longmenshan (“Dragons’ Gate Mountains”), the eastern margin of the gigantic Tibetan Plateau (“the roof of the world”) and one of the steepest slopes on earth. You hit it some 50 km west of the company’s Chengdu headquarters. I did some professional Geology there. Good times!
Until next time…keep on listening!
Disclaimer
Our generic standard disclaimer.
