I'm no audiophile, but the sound feels just right. The bass is crisp and smooth, never over-powering, the vocals are clear and pitch perfect, even on the highest volume. They are in the same league audio-quality wise as my former Sennheisers CX870, I honestly can't tell the difference between the two. As far as the MA450i are concerned though, they come with a remote and a mic which really grew on me. I didn't think they will be useful, but now they are my favourite feature. The remote in particular, which works perfectly on both iOS and OS X! When I cycle to work, sometimes I want to skip a track. It was quiet the mission before, now it's just click-click. When I'm using them with the computer, even though the volume control is on the keyboard, it feels a lot more natural to adjust it from the remote. I know, it sounds odd, but that's how well the whole package works.
The best part is the customer support. The braided fabric came loose from the jack side after a few months of use, it was annoying me to no end! I've e-mailed RHA which kindly asked to have them back for technical review and received a new pair a few days later. Despite this bump, considering how RHA handled the whole situation, I honestly can't fault anything, ownership is top notch. At this price, I doubt that you will find a more capable in-ear earphone from a better manufacturer. There's no point in wasting any more time researching alternatives, this is the pair that you've been looking for!