Customer Reviews

Audio-Technica ATH-M50 Professional Studio Monitor Headphones

5 star:		(56)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I must admit that I am am one of those audiophiles who has been passionately reviewing headphones, cables, amps etc. to get me as close as possible to the music event recorded on the CD. I have three other headphones with exotic headphone cables - the cables alone cost more than the MSRP of ATH-M50 (just wanted to give a point of reference regarding their good value).

I definitely prefer Open vs closed headphone for the illusion that they are able to create.

But there are times when I want to isloate the external sounds or do not want to disturb others - that is where this closed headphone shines.

So what is so special about these phones and how do they compare with the more expensive audiophile phones.

- ATH-M50s are extremely balanced: the top, mids and the bottom is produced in an extremely balanced way.
- They are easy to listen to for a long period of time.
- They are comfortable.
- They are accurate and
- they are easy on the pocket.

Compared to other audiophile headphones (Senn 600/650 and AKG701)
- They are not as open sounding (these are closed headphones afterall)
- They are not as transparent, they are slightly grainy
- They are better than some more expensive audiophile phones

Also they come with 1/8" and 1/4" inch headphone jack/adaptor - so you can enjoy them straight out of the ipod or connect them to your audiophile headphone amp or your professional gear.

They are perfect for what it does!
Highly recommended - even to hard core audiophiles.

My low-end studio equipment reflects my limited recording budget, but I spend plenty of time researching and auditioning every purchase I make. I want good sound. Maybe half of my gear orders go back, but not these headphones. The ATH-M50s are easily the best closed cans I've ever used.

My trusty Senn 280s have served me well for several years, and I prefer them to the Sony 7506s and ATH-M40s that I've also auditioned in my studio. After reading a series of rave reviews (in Tape Op, Recording, etc.), I initially ordered the M50s just for comparison's sake.

I was fairly sure I'd send them back after a listen. I never did. Simply put, the M50s are the first closed cans that I feel I can trust for rough (only rough) mixing, and surprisingly, the first closed cans that make me want to listen just for enjoyment. They clearly live up the street from my old Senns, which I now use solely for tracking.

PROs
* detailed yet coherent sound that mirrors higher-end monitor speakers
* particularly impressive bass response (deep, tight) and soundstage (great imaging)
* very comfy fit, with special fake leather that seems durable and somewhat breathable

CONs
* rather short coiled cord, requiring an extension for some applications
* slightly looser fit than the Senn 280s (good or bad, depending on head size)

Speakers of any type are hard to recommend since tastes, physiology, and other equipment vary so much, but you may want to audition these if you need a pair for higher-end listening tasks. They work beautifully for me, and the price seems very reasonable for this level of quality. Couldn't be more satisfied.

I don't have much to add to the rave review for these headphone--very comfortable, solid build, great sound--but I did want to add one thing. Because of the low impedance of these headphones, they can crank out some wicked volume. I hooked these up to my iPod and they are the loudest of anything that I've hooked up to it, including a number of higher-end buds. I can't imagine anyone being disapointed by these headphone, and I suspect that most will be thrilled.

There's a good reason why 12 people have rated these headphones a 5/5. The one who didn't expected these to be noise cancelling... which of course they are not, nor are they advertised to be. They are, however, advertised to be extremely accurate sounding headphones, which they are. They sound absolutely great. The build quality is excellent, they are comfortable for their size, and most importantly they sound fantastic. Out of the box they didn't sound great, they in fact sounded very mediocre. I almost felt like I wasted money, but after a week or two of burning them in, the true clarity most definitely came out.

There are small programs out there that can run white noise / pink noise / frequency sweeps and I definitely recommend them to burn these headphones in. Pink noise is supposed to be pretty good for burn in, or so I've heard. Or you could just keep a wide variety of music playing. I highly suggest not rating these headphones until a week or two of burning in, and only then can you conclude on the quality of sound.

These headphones isolate sound very well. Let me clarify here, they certainly are not noise cancelling. You can hear outside noises to a certain extent, people talking, etc can be heard if they're nearby unless you have the volume at a decent level, then you really can't hear much anything. They keep sound in pretty damn good. I can listen to these in a quiet study lounge with a pleasantly loud voice without fear of distracting those around me. Sometimes I truly wonder if all this sound going into my ear is completely inaudible to those around me, and I take the headphones and realize that they really do prevent a good amount of sound leakage. You can't crank it up insanely loud and expect no leakage, you have to be somewhat realistic here, but they're the best I've seen at that.

I'm no audiophile, but I like to enjoy the luxury of detailed, realistic sound and these headphones deliver. The bass is not overwhelming or in excess, it's just right. These 'phones do not amplify the bass more than what should be there, nor they hide or muffle it. It's clear, concise, punchy, and certainly satisfactory.

I got these headphones brand spanking new in the box in perfect condition on eBay by a certified audio-technica dealer. They are at a buy it now price of $105, but it gives you the option to make an offer. Needless to say I payed much less than the prices I found on the web, and perhaps you would consider the route I took.

I just received these in an order, and they're fantastic! Reasonably compact (they fold into an included, small sack), they provide excellent sound isolation and a great range of bass, mid, and hi tones. I'm not exaggerating when I say that my next door neighbor was just using a jackhammer (to remove a section of driveway and install sprinkler piping), and I first tested these headphones with that much noise in the background. They are great!

Having troubles from the very beginning with the iPod included earbuds I started looking for something better and tried several cheap alternatives that were on general much more comfortable but not great in sound quality. I resisted for years to the idea of spending much in headphones because there are many at just a few dollars and surely a more than $100 headphones could not be 10 times better.

In the end, with a growing collection of cheap headphones, I decided to go wild and buy the ATH-M50 and the difference in sound quality is awesome. It is really worth the money spent. On the other hand a good pair of headphones with a decent build standard should last for many years, much longer than the iPod itself. So it makes economical sense to invest in the ATH-M50.

It really is kind of absurd to invest in lots of CDs, carefully transfer the songs to your iPod in lossless format and then have your music ruined by cheap headphones.

The comfort is very good as the earcups are definitely on the big side and because of that is not really suitable to take it outdoors.

In order to fully appreciate the sound quality I recommend to any serious, really serious, listener, any CD produced by Chesky, specially the Ultimate Demonstration Disc. You won't believe your ears! It is a must-have. The first musical track on this disc, "Spanish Harlem" is so ethereal and delicate that you feel that the singer is singing to you few inches away.

After some burning-in of about 20 hours the sound quality in all the spectrum is superb. I was afraid that the bass would be somehow weak or, maybe worse, muddy, but it comes very clear and tight. An extra bonus is that due to its closed design it actually blocks a lot of outside noise.

With these headphones at last I can really hear the music complete with full detail on highs, mids and bass.

Update September 23rd.
After another roughly 100 hours of playing time the sound is even better. According to other reviewers these headphones really require a lot of burning time (about 200 hours) and I fully agree now. The main improvement comes in the bass, that gets clearer and more defined. There is also more spaciousness in the sound.

On the other hand, fully complying to my previous comment about the headphones lasting longer than the iPod I got my iPod touch stolen while at a hotel in Chicago last week. I guess that the headphones are so big that the robber didn't notice that they were headphones in its pouch. So I am using my old 4th gen iPod now. I am planning to couple the headphones with an Fiio E5 amplifier. I will post the results.

Finally I received a Fiio E5 amplifier and the result is quite good. Yo don't get a lot of amplification so instead of using the volume control at about 3/4 now I use it at 1/2. The main improvement in not just louder volume but clearer and more detailed music. Somehow the spaciousness is more ample and there is definitely more details on the music. With the amplifier, these headphones are even better!

Yes of course these are not noise-cancelling headphones, just like they are advertised NOT to be. But they DO greatly reduce outside noise without all of that humming and buzzing from the noise-cancelling circuitry too.

I'm not a audio pro just an audio "joe" that really does appreciate nice sound. From pc games, ipods, mp3's to Blu-Ray and CD/DVD/HD audio. I spent a couple weeks web researching the current offerings out there. In the end touring the area to hear them all. I had no preconceived notions about saving dough and was ready to happily spend $350.00 on the "right units". I tried some much more expensive units and some less expensive as well. The help I received from the local stores was immense, using some very high quality equipment to sample them all. They even used there own noggin's just so I could hear the leakage while they were listening.

I've come to this solution. Price aside these units ROCK... period. I was quite impressed by these for my preference. They were compared to some units costing 2.25 times as much. They looked better, felt better and stayed better than most of what was out there.

This kind of quality is reserved for the "higher brow" sets. At this price it is an extremely high value. TRUE to life sound on a palete waiting for your choice of spatula and brush if any. Classical never sounded so separate....... Jazz is rich and colorful.....Hip Hop presssure is amazing.

This is without an amp. No clipping for sure. These are able to be driven up to 1.6 Watts and will certainly be LOUD at that level. Now to fing the "right" amp for me.

First of all, I have to say that I'm not really an audiophile but audio technica has changed my perception of music. My first set of "decent" headphones were the hd212 pro's by sennheiser and they lasted me about 2 1/2 years before they broke. They were okay sounding, but the bass kind of drowned everything out. After they broke I decided to invest my money on something more expensive. I did some research and ended up buying the audio technica ath ad700, an open set of headphones. Man, were they amazing! They totally opened my ears to detail in music and made my appreciation for music double. Although I think I have developed minor tinitis because of it =(. While they were great, the open air construction made them become an annoyance for people who were close by me. So I decided to look into buying a set of noise isolating headphones. I wanted a pair that would give punchier bass than the ad700 but still gave great detail, wouldn't be fatiguing to listen to and I was also looking for some portability. My brother has a pair of sennheiser hd280 pros so I was familiar with that sound but I didn't particularly like them because the bass was lacking. I did some research and I stumbled upon some good reviews for the ath m50. I decided to go to the guitar center to see if I could try a pair out. The pair I tried was straight out of the box so I wasn't very impressed with the sound but I thought that I would give them a chance to burn in before I would make any judgements. When I took them home, I compared them with my ad700. In comparison, the bass on the ath m50s was more punchy however the sound stage on the m50s was smaller and the ad700s sound more open and not as "in your face" as the m50s sound. I can say though that both pairs produce sounds that I like to call smooth as silk. They are very pleasant on your ears and I'm able to listen to either pair for hours, though the ad700s are much more comfortable due to the wing support system. Overall, I can say that if you have the cash, buy both the ad700s and the m50s you will not regret either purchase but I have been using the m50s more recently.

I'd also like to add that I was able to do a side by side comparison of my m50s with the beats by dr dre headphones. I decided to go to best buy one day and I brought my m50s. I went up to the beats station and was able to plug in my m50s to the same source as the beats. I can say that the beats produced a louder sound out of the same source but I thought the bass was a little over exaggerated and the focus on the bass, in my opinion, made the music lose some character. I believe that the beats would not be suited for long listening periods. I thought that the m50s produced enough bass to hold its own against the beats while maintaining detail and they also maintained a pleasant listening experience. If you are considering the beats, I'll tell you that they aren't worth their price at $300 USD, plus I think it is kind of dumb that they need batteries. At $109, the m50s are definitely worth it and I would easily pick them over the beats by dr dre.

Read my review of the ath ad700s!

Well after receiving these headphones I was very pleased to find that they are very portable and easy to travel with (I feel the straight cord is better than the coiled cord as well) and I can't express how much I love these cans. They are very comfortable and I was able to wear them from New York to France (a 7 hour flight) and not have any problems with being comfortable. The sound quality is amazing and being 19 I have a large genre selection to browse from and everything sounds crisp and clear. Metal, Comedy, Rock, Rap, Folk, Audio Books, Blues, Alternative, Ska, everything even very slight sounds you may have missed with other headphones will now be revealed and you will be able to appreciate your music for what it really is. These headphones are also not heavy on the head which i guess goes with the comfort factor. They work with iPods and Computers so the power needed to run these cans is not a factor. I can say with out a doubt these are the best headphones I've listened to and Bose, Sony, Sennheiser, and AKG cannot stack up to these cans for the price. I also did weeks worth of research before I bought these, because I am 19 I wanted to make sure I wasn't wasting my money. I made sure to read all the reviews and question store employees about there opinions and these headphones came up everywhere I went. Everyone that I have let listen to these headphones has said that these were their favorite and I feel very pleased on my purchase. I would buy these for anyone who loves music and you can't go wrong with these as a gift. Audio-Technica has made some really outstanding headphones and you won't regret buying these.

There's really not much more to say that everyone else already hasn't on these. I bought them to replace some Denon DN-HP1000 DJ headphones, which were replacements for the Sony MD700 DJ headphones. I was considering the Sennheiser HP25's but went with these because of the price and the almost universally excellent reviews here and on other audiophile forums.

I also own the Ultimate Ears Super.fi 5EB's, so I'm no stranger to solid bass from a pair of headphones. All I can say is that the bass isn't as in your face as the EB's, but it's just as substantial and much cleaner, along with MUCH better highs and mids. Music just sparkles on these and I'm only about 15 hours in. Can't wait to see what they sound like after 50 hours of burn-in.

Fit and finish is impeccable. They seem sturdy as hell. They're pretty large so I wouldn't buy these as your main pair of portable headphones for streetwalking and whatnot, but for at home or stationary use pretty much anywhere, I'm not sure how you could beat these for the price. I'm hearing things in my music that I have never heard, and these are tunes that I have listened many times from many sources. Really top notch pair of cans.

In case anyone is wondering, I listen primarily to electronic music (techno, tech-house, electro house, dubstep), with a decent amount of hip-hop and reggae thrown in. All bass-driven music so I'm biased in that respect, but it's an accomplishment to have bass like this and still present the rest of the music so well.

I'm listening to them unamped from my MacbookPro and they sound fantastic, so anyone wondering if you need to plunk down extra cash for a fancy amp, don't worry about that either.

I haven't had a chance to listen to the HD25's or the new Shure SRH-840, which seem to be targeting the same demographic. But if you need something that will be on par with those for $80 less, look no further in my opinion. They are worth the hype.