Audio Technica ATH-M50XGM Professional Monitor Headphones

As a music producer, it’s a really good headphone for studio use. However, the pair I ordered had a strange analog rumble while listening critically and when I was programming bass. Had to return it. Hopefully the replacement pair won’t have any issues.

First of all, I’d class myself as a bit of an audiophile. I have headphones that cost >1000, so I’m coming at this review with a realistic approach.

For good DJing headphones you need the following:

1. Good durable build quality
2. Decent bass
3. Average sound quality

These headphones are well made and seem durable. They are hinged, so can be manipulated during mixes and pack away relatively small. They also come in a faux-leather bag for carrying. It comes with 2 cable types – straight and coiled. The coiled cable is what you need if you dj, so you’re not tripping over it.

The bass has reasonable attack and decay, meaning it’s sufficient for beat matching. It’s not the cleanest or fastest bass I’ve heard, but it doesn’t need to be.

The audio quality is fine for DJing. They have a V-shaped sound signature, which is perfect for electronic music. Soundstage is pretty non-existent, but it’s not needed.

In summary. If you’re looking for dj headphones, or for headphones where you’re not needing high fidelity quality, these are hard to beat. If you’re buying these expecting them to unlock the next level of sound quality, your better going for something like the Fidelio x2HR

I bought these to listen to cds in the living room, while my wife watches tv, also on headphones. Good quality sound, although not great. Not as good as my veteran open backed Audio Technica AT 911 phones, though, which have been appropriated by my wife (see above). May have to negotiate a swap! GK

Build: They are out together very well, but wouldn’t want to drop these, kind of like dropping a plastic water bottle.
Comfort: It’s good (7/10) for the first hour, until it’s not (unwearable). The pads give you ear pain but all you have do is take them of for 1 min max and you can wear these for another hour. And you have to repeat tis cycle sadly
Sound: I’m the casual listener. A bit of video editing, but 90% of the time a casual listener. I’m not an audiophile, just a casual listener. And yes, I did mention that I’m a casual listener 3 times because you are probably one too. If you’re not, you’re probably looking for some studio monitoring headphones. Yes. Just, Yes. You don’t even need good sounding headphones for monitoring, only something you can monitor with. These do not leak at 50% volume, a bit at over 50% though but still, Yes, buy these if your looking for monitoring headphones under 150. Casual listening, still yes. They sounded boring af the first week I had them. I was trying to listen to music with these but they were way to boring. After about maximum 2 week, they made me dance. I could finnaly hear BASS. The best way I can describe them is natural sounding with a good bass boost. Great. Not Amazing as the YouTube reviews but, Great. Yes for both Casual listening and Monitoring. I’m not music producer, but maybe this headphone is not for music producers. The Bass on this headphone is boosted not neutral. People say the Sony MDR-7506’s are better for mixing soooo, buy them, I don’t have them but if other people say it’s good for that thing, it’s good for that thing.

Great headphones that give true sound. I realise many want some unbalanced mean bass but that is not how the music was produced. It was made to be listened maybe danced to and not send people deaf. I have none a number of DJ’s and musicians including some rather famous ones. And on occasions heard their original mix, and these headphones are not hyped or over-rated they actually produce the music more how it was made and produced. Whether classical, rock, rap, house, trance, dance or whatever. If you want mega bass that sounds nothing like what the producers and musicians never meant their music to be look elsewhere, not these lack bass just not that unbalanced over bass sound. But if you want some headphones to listen with that reproduce the music or film as originally intended buy these.

Just an average user looking for above average sound. Definitely found it here, I do not often leave reviews but hoping this helps others. I am not an audiophile as such, have no real experience to talk off, but what I can say is swapping between my sub 20 headphones and these, I can tell the difference, everything sounds tight, clear, seperated where it should be, or where I did not know it should have been before. Very pleased, going to get some comfier pads for them, I’ve paid a bit of a premium, my ears deserve to be extra comfy, not that they are uncomfy, I would say comfort is on par with any sub 20 set.

The Pros –

AudioTechnica make quality products. Very good build. Reasonably comfortable to wear for extended periods. Selection of cables and both plug sizes included. Sound quality, varies depending on what you use them with. When paired with a high quality amp, or other such source, the sound is excellent.

The Cons –

When used with something less capable, there is a small problem with the bass. This can be adjusted, but to give you an idea of what I mean, I tried using these with my iPad Pro for mastering a song. Yes, the sound was still good, but somehow not as comfortable to my inner ear. I had better results using a cheap pair of JVC headphones. But to be fair, iPads are not what the Audio Technicas are optimised for. FWIW, there is a paid app, TB Morphit, made by ToneBoosters, which can dramatically improve the sound of these headphones. So if that is a major way in which you intend using them, then it may be worth investigating.

Ok so these are fantastically clear, really balanced sound. The sound shines when paired with an eq on your phone or music player. I however disagree with the rating I gave for noise cancellation (as they don’t have any) they do isolate sound very well (hence the 4 star I gave as I do know what the rating means) you won’t be able to hear much outside noise due to the padding in the earcups. And I have had better noise isolation in headphones before. But they DO NOT actively cancel noise. As in they do not have a microphone that listens for outside noise and actively cancel it out. I disagree with the use of the term noise cancelling here as it could be misleading to the uninformed. Please check that if you do buy these you are not wanting noise cancellation.

As a final note though, I would 100% sacrifice active noise cancellation for the sound quality of these headphones, they are still very very good, can be driven by the average phone, and will be very good for quite some time. I would recommend these to anyone who cares about sound!

I bought these headphones to use at home to listen to music on my iPad or Samsung Galaxy when I am doing something painful, like writing a report. I’m not a sound expert and I don’t spend a lot on gadgets and toys, but, to my inexperienced ears, the sound from these headphones is special: clear, crisp, warm, layered. You hear sounds you cannot see in the scenes of films. In fact, once when I had them on, I kept turning around looking for the source of a sound. It only occurred to me later that it was from what I was watching. I thought I was hallucinating. The noise-cancellation is brilliant; you do feel cut off from your surroundings and deeply immersed in whatever you are listening to. The build is solid, and it folds and stores away nicely. It is on the large side but is very comfortable to wear as it cups both ears without causing any pressure.

If I had to quibble a bit, I’d say I wish it did not transmit any sound at moderate to high volumes, because it can upset people next to you and, I think, slightly defeats the point of personal headphones. At lower volumes, this is not a problem and one should not need more than this if one wishes to stave off tinnitus and deafness in the long-term. Honestly, they are near perfect, and for the price, what a find! I love them.

I bought these headphones as I was sick of so many headphones being marketed as wireless these days (Even though you can use a wire with most wireless headphones I just think it’s money wasted on technology that isn’t going to be used).
I just wanted a good pair of headphones, all I care about is the music.
I first want to point out how comfortable these headphones are. Usually in my experience with a majority of the headphones I have owned, I could only wear them for up to an hour before they would begin to hurt my ears or feel uncomfortable around my head. These headphones however I can wear for hours with no problems, the padding around the ears and head are very soft.
The sound quality of these headphones is amazing. Very good range with good bass and very good treble. I listen to music very loud usually and I have never experienced any distortion and the sound is still very clear.
I also love that there is a jack on the headphones. You won’t believe the amount of headphones I have been through snagging them on just about anything, breaking the wire.
If there was any criticism at all, I’d say they’re only effective at noise cancelling when listening to loud/busy music. I found when I was listening to acoustic/soft music I would hear a lot of what was happening around me if I was on a bus for instance.
Overall I would recommend these headphones to anyone, they were the ones I had been searching for.

I should start by declaring I am a hardcore audiophile and have been buying high end equipment for many years now. I also have a bit of a thing for headphones I own at least 10 pairs all the way up to a pair of Stax SR-007 MK II’s inc tube amp.

Now the credentials are out of the way to the ATH-M50X’s. I bought these for my 11 year old son as monitors for his mic’d up drum kit for practice and recording. For this application they are first class both for listening during recording and playback. Prevailing wisdom will say monitoring headphones should be neutral. I don’t agree with this and actually the ATH-M50X’s aren’t entirely neutral they do have a more fluid musicality to them. As studio monitors you’d have to spend quite a bit more to better them.

So to using them for more conventional listening either at home or on the go. For this application they wouldn’t be first choice. They sound like monitors not audio phones, they can be a little forward in their presentation and struggle with different genres of music. If you listen to EDM, Dance, House, DnB they might work for you but not for other types of music.

They get five stars because I brought them for a specific job and they do that job brilliantly. Highly recommended for the studio!

These Audio Technica ATH-M50XGM headphones are not quite neutral or comfortable enough to be called genuine professional studio monitors, but they do offer a lot of value at the price. Included in the package is a decent hard case, for transport or storage, plus two detachable cables — a long coiled one with a ” jack adapter and a shorter one for mobile use. The single cable connection is to the left-hand side via a proprietary jack socket – so no upgrading or easy replacement of a worn-out cable. The phones fold nicely for fitting in their case and both cables can be accommodated too; mine are Gun Metal Grey which is said to be an Amazon exclusive colour, but the finish is all plastic and a bit cheap-looking to be fair. The noise isolation is good but at the price of being rather tight-fitting to the point of being uncomfortable after a couple of hours use. These headphones were a bit disappointing out of the box but the audio quality improved a lot after a good burn-in period — the longer the better they sounded. My general purpose headphones for the last year or so have been the Sony MDR-1A which I prefer to this Audio Technica model for both comfort and sound quality — but it is down to personal musical taste and the players you use to a large extent. I bought these Audio Technica headphones as a Christmas deal and for what I paid would rate them with five stars, but the current prices are all over the place, depending on the colour, so on balance for value and audio quality these Taiwanese-made ATH-M50XGM headphones get four stars from me.

These are without question the finest sound quality headphones I’ve ever heard.

I am an amateur musician who composes, performs, records using Apple’s Logic Pro X and am a long term fan/user of Bose headphones. Until recently i had been using my Bose Soundlink Bluetooth phones with Logic. However wireless phones are incompatible with the recording process due to the latency issue, so I was using them ‘wired’ with Bose’s incredibly short emergency cable. So I decided to look for dedicated studio quality headphones. Don’t get me wrong, the Soundink phones are superb and highly recommended for general listening. But as I searched for producer quality phones one make/model stood out – Audio Technica M50X.

From the moment I first put the M50X on and listened to one of my projects I was astonished by the sound quality. There is a c clear, crisp distinctive between all of the instruments, which all sound ‘pure’ (ie as they actually sound). The frequency coverage is also impressive, from deepest sub-bass to the highest piercing synth. The clarity and separation between instruments is unparalled. This aspect may be disconcerting for casual users used to paying way over the odds for drum’n’bass enhanced headphones a la Beats. But for anyone creating and mixing it is of paramount importance. Gone is the muddiness of standard phones (especially beats) and also to a lesser extent Hose. I cannot stress enough just how good these headphones are. If you’re looking to listen to music as it is supposed to sound, with beautiful clarity and full tabbed frequency, then the M50X are for you! And all did less than half the price of style-over-substance Beats…

I was looking to replace a set of Senheiser headphones I’d had for quite some years. The headphones had really seen better days as they are my “day to day” set that get used on anything from a laptop, mobile phone or even my Hi-fi or Sony Hi-Res Audio Player. I own a series of Beyer Dynamic headphones that are souley for studio use. Their impedance are quite high and in order for me to get the best from them I would have to get an additional headphone amp to carry about with me. For me that kind of defeats the object of what I need for my “everyday cans”.
As I am sure you have all noticed, it can be a bit of a mine field on here, well anywhere in fact when buying things and I include headphones. I am not into “blutooth” stuff, for me they affect the original source too much. I can’t bare the whole “Beats” range or Bose. They really do sound like toilet ( putting it bluntly and politely). Once you have taken these types out of the equasion, you either have cheap unknown brands or you have to step up into the real “Audiophile” area which can come at a huge premium and sometimes even then, you don’t get the full benefit as they require an external amp to power the high impedance.
I had a shortlist of brands from Grado, Senheiser and Klipische to Sony, B&W, Beyer Dynamic and of course, Audio Technica.
I used a mixture of youtube reviews, customer reviews here and my own brand experience and audio knowledge. I was very close to getting a set of Grados, but I really want closed back designs as I may want to use them in either a broadcast situation or also in publice. There is nothing worse than being “THAT Person” with heaven knows what bleeding out of their earphones, intruding on other people’s space when not only can you not make out what it is, but even if you could, you don’t wanna hear it “second hand”. So with that all in mind, I went for these ATH-M50x headphones.
I listen to a vast array of genres and styles, plus of course whatever a multimedia feed on a mobile device or laptop web browser my throw my way and I am intending to challenge them.
There are differing views on whether to “burn in” headphones or not. Now for me it depends. If they are a cheap brand or a “fashion brand” like beats or bose, I really would worry, but knowing Audio-Technica products as I do, their products really do benefit from a “run in” time. I am using a “self made” pink noise track. an hour long on loop (repeat) at 96khz, 24 bit. If you are wondering, which “colour” noise to use, for test and run in purposes always use pink noise. White noise has a slightly boosted top and mid, while the Brownian noise (not to be confused with the brown note haha) has a boosted lower end. The idea is to have an equal balanced frequancy range (which is what pink noise is) and let that play for…well however long you feel. THe usual time is about 8hrs upwards. Of course you can play music through them for that period constantly, but again, I want to burn in all parts equally so I use pink noise.
So, anyway, back on topic, I have been burning these in for 8hrs and I am now listening to them while writing this “review”.
You really have to go a long way to beat the quality in both build and sonic performance of these headphones in their price range. These really do resemble a flat response headphone. What you hear is your playback device and audio file quality. Comparing the same track (bit rate and depth) with these headphones on my Lenovo Laptop verses my Sony NWZ-A10 High Res Audio player has never been so different. Via my laptop’s internal soundcard the sound was “ok” nothing to write home about and they sound like I would expect from a 60 set of headphones. Putting them on a decent source such as the Sony….wow! Whole new dimension! Theres plenty of punch, warmth and depth, together with detail galore. Every frequency has “space”. At no point do these headphones sound restricted or limited. Mid range is clear and smooth and the highs are very pleasent indeed. They are not “biting” and “shrill” at all. This kind of sound means that long periods of listening won’t be fatiguing at all. I then took it them to try a 96khz at 24bit audio file. There is so much “space” in the audio. vocals are very clean and central, acoustic bass drums are heavenly. Lots of punch and depth, yet leave room so you can hear the resonant skin too. There is great channel speration. I find it very easy to “place” things in a mix with these on. Using a reference such as Doug Macleod’s Exactly Like This album. It is a very natural sounding, open, listening experience.
The build of these hedphones has been carefully thought through. The head band is very flexible and will fit pretty mch any head shape with comfort and ease. The actual Earphones themselves will rotate a full 180 degrees each. Again, making them fit ears and heads of all shapes and sizes. The “height” of the earphones adjusts very smoothly and they have a premium feel in general.
In the box they provide 3 different styles of cable. A short one for mobile devices, a longer version for studio or hifi situations and then a “curly” version of the studio/hi-fi cable. As if that wasn’t enought they give you a soft carry case (although I will buy a hard case for mine as I have a habit of throwing stuff in a bag when in a hurry).
All in all I am over the moon with these headphones. The Senheisers are like muddy plastic boxes in comparisson. These ATH-M50x don’t “exagerate” anything to the point of being distracting and “untrue” to the original source, however they will only be as good as the source you use.
If you listen to “chart” stuff, you will hear the compression and saturation that happens as they try to push stuff to the limit all the time. If you then try something recorded with some actual “air” and dynamics in it, you will hear just what I am talking about.
If you like well balanced, honest sound, suitable for long periods then this is for you. If you have these in a short list. Wait no longer, just put them in your basket and thank me later.

I bought these to replace a 10 year old set of Denon headphones that were in a similar price bracket when I bought them. Certainly not high end but a lot better than the cheaper ones out there.

I use headphones primarily for playing playstation and also listening to music or videos on my phone. I wanted something fairly neutral as too much bass can distract you when gaming because the gun shots/explosions end up distracting you.

Sound wise these are fine, I am definitely no expert but they sound very neutral to me. Music can sound a bit dull to my ear, but they’re perfect for gaming.

My biggest issue is the comfort. They’re OK, but the padding on the head band is pretty thin and I can feel the band pressing on my head. Also the ear pads are just a tad too small (I don’t think I have a particularly large head/ears for a male) so I often feel like I have to adjust them. That said, I had my old phones for a long time so maybe it”s just the change.

Quality wise they seem perfectly good for a mainly plastic construction. Hard to tell how long they’ll last but I won’t be surprised if some of the padding material starts to disintegrate in a few months.

I’m torn between 3 and 4 stars, but I’ve only had them a week so I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt, plus apart from the comfort issues they work well for my undemanding needs.

Actually bought 2 pairs of these for my sons in white. Great sounding headphones!. Liked them so much bought a pair for meself. Wanted a pair that were not too clinical and flat, last thing i wanted was to come home after a hard day and start an analytical listening session. Went through a lot of pairs before these ranging from Senny RS165 blutooth, Senny HD650’s, a pair of Sony MDR1 and another Sony blutooth , Audio Technica MSR 7 which were good but occasionaly peaked the higher frequencies too much for me at my age 40+. All these fell short apart from the Sennheiser HD650’s. Now the reasons why i kept these and sold the HD650’s.

Let me start by saying for me the M50x are an excellent set of cans that hold the frequencies with integrity. Tops never peaked and sounded harsh, mids were separated and slightly pronounced and never sounded muffled once, and the lows are tight and controlled but ever so slightly pronounced for a more warm sounding experience exactly what i was wanting. A run of Yanni Rainmaker and Estas Tonne The Song of the Golden Dragon shone on these with a good soundstage but not greatly expansive, one was able to distinguish the instruments and the vocal from the senorita in the Rainmaker was nothing short of sublime and epic journey to the heavens and back. A few further tracks of Coldplay, George Benson, Randy Crawford, Qawalli Folk Music. Clannad Irish Folk, and finally some classic hip hop from the likes of Cool Herk, Afrika Bambata, Melle Mel, Grandmaster Flash etc and modern hip hop likes of Mobb Deep, CNN, Fat Joe, Big Pun etc let me say these cans brought a smile to the face which hurt! A set of cans that did an excellent job at lots of different genres. Very rarely do you come across a pair that can handle the above genres with authority, never once sounding uncontrolled or overwhelmed.

I tried the headphones with my Nexus 6P through a quality HP amp and 32 bit DAC that i used with my Senny HD650’s that were power hungry. the M50x sound was further enhanced and now the smile had turned to a grin with a few audible affirming compliments, totally sublime and these were testing the waters of my HD650’s which were more than twice the price of these.

However let me state for the record these M50x are stupendously good for the person who wants to disappear into the audio and doesn’t want a totally flat response as monitors can provide, however after much consideration on the point of diminishing returns and the power hungry ‘open back’ HD650’s i went with the M50x as they were also easier to drive and did not need a lengthy set up when you wanted a quick portable listen, but these are ‘NOT’ as good as the reference standard HD650’s which are definitely a couple of notches above the M50x’s.

The reason the HD650’s were better for me were 1) The comfort level of the velour pads. 2)The open back design also let your ears breath. The tops mids and bottoms never lost integrity once ‘no matter how hard they were pushed’ 3) You could hear the breath intake of vocalists and individual strike of the music instruments on the HD650’s especially when listening to Estes Tonne the legendary guitarist. That’s not to say these expressions were not noticeable on the M50x but their was a great soundstage on the HD650 which the M50x could not compete with, bear in mind the HD650s cost over twice the price of the M50x.

Now youll be wondering why did i sell the HD650’s, the choice was one of diminishing returns of how much one has to pay for the little improvement in sound in the world of hi-fi audio and the fact that i have kids that constantly disturb me and the HD650’s being OB design became unsuitable. I may have possible kept them had it not have also been the set up procedure of the DAC and headphone amp being anchored to the listening room.

This was one of the more difficult decisions i have ever made on a set of cans so ill finish by saying where the Audio Technica’s were like Satin the Sennheiser HD650’s were like silk. The choice is yours!

Before I start, I would like to point out that I have never placed a review of any product on this site, though there have been many purchases that I am still proud to own. But having had these Audio-Technica ATH-M50X Studio Monitor Professional Headphones for a day already, and I have listened to everything I own of Prince, Michael Jackson and George Michael, I can confidently say that these are the best headphones I have ever owned or even listened to, and probably the best bang for the buck that I have ever spent my money on. I have had several so called monitor or professional cans before, but this is the very first that has immersed me so deeply into my music. They sound perfect from the very lows to the highs, if they are maybe a little harsh on the very highest notes (Though I understand that after time this will mellow as the headphones settle in, just like new loudspeakers are tight until they are run in).
The fit is very comfortable on the head and ears, I find myself listening for hours without feeling any pressure issues. Playing music through my Yamaha RX A3050 receiver in “pure direct” audio mode brought forward even more detail in all my music tracks. And although I was somewhat worried about this purchase through Amazon UK, and how they would handle their journey to Perth, Western Australia, and then the worry that they may not be as good as I hoped once hooked onto my own system – but I need not have been concerned at all. I must say thanks to Amazon for bringing this wonderful new sound to me and at the great price of under $180 Australian delivered (You will pay well over $250 AU here). Arrived within a week of purchase too 🙂

Update 2018/07/01: After 25.5 months of daily use, the left speaker appears to have suddenly died. After disassembly, the soldering seems to be intact, but I tried re-soldering a couple of things to make sure, and the speaker seems to be all that’s left to blame. I still love these, and although I use them a lot, I had hoped they would last longer. I’m now moving onto my second pair, and if or when they die, I will again update this review.

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After going through a load of gaming headsets, I wanted to try some high-quality headphones out. Initially, my main purpose for these headphones was to be gaming. Before I got these, I didn’t listen to much music; but man, that changed when I started using them.

I’ve used a lot of gaming headsets for gaming because of the virtual surround sound that they often have, to provide a sense of spatial tracking — so that you can hear where your enemies are. I’ve tried headsets from Corsair, Turtle Beach, Logitech, Sony and others, and in all truth these Audio-Technica headphones are better for gaming, and I don’t think virtual surround sound is necessary (though my PCs audio driver can do it anyway). In fact, I think using high-quality headphones like these helps you to pinpoint sounds even better. Not only that, but everything sounds better too — so that’s a solid win for gaming.

I mentioned I bought these primarily for gaming, but since I got these headphones, I’ve been listening to so much music. Ever since I got these 4 months ago, I’ve been using them for hours and hours every day, listening to so much music, because it just sounds so damn good! If you’re coming from a gaming headset, even the higher-end ones, you will be in for a pleasant surprise with these awesome headphones from Audio-Technica. They’ve made me a music lover!

We’ve established that the audio coming out of these is pretty damn good, but headphones are more important than just audio. If you’re wearing these for hours on end every day like me, it’s important that they’re comfortable. I can’t tell you how many headphones I’ve had that hurt my ears by putting pressure on them after a few hours, or hurt the top of my head with extended use — it’s been quite an issue for me with some models. Fortunately, these headphones are pretty light weight and there’s some soft padding on the headband, so I’ve not had any top-of-the-head pain. The cups also go over your ears, instead of sitting right on them and applying pressure, and the cups are soft. Another win there — I’ve not had any pain on the ears either.

With how much I was enjoying these headphones, I decided to take them out and about with me. I found them really nice to have when I was revising for my summer exams, and took them into my university’s study areas. This is a good point to mention that these headphones have pretty good noise isolation, which is very helpful. However, on the topic of taking these headphones out and about, they fold in on themselves very conveniently, and the ear cups swivel 45 degrees in each direction (see images). You can then put them in a bag, but if you want to protect them then you may be interested in getting a hard case. Personally, I went for this one: for Audio-Technica ATH-M50X M40X M50 M40 M30 M20 Studio Monitor Professional Headphones Hard Storage Carry Storage Case Bag by co2CREA . It’s a nice hard case that fits the headphones perfectly, and has an additional compartment to put your audio cable in. I’m not a fan of the really “bold” branding on the carry handle, and speaking of branding, I don’t particularly like how bold the Audio-Technica branding is on the headband of the headphones. It’s a minor point though — but here’s an option if you’re interested in a hard case. Back to the review!

These headphones use the 3.5mm audio port, however they come with a proprietary Audio-Technica cable. One of the advertised advantages of this is that you can twist the cable on the end that plugs into the headphones, like you would turn a key; and it will lock the cable in — this way, you won’t accidentally yank it out. However, I think this is missing the point of removable cables. If something yanks on your cable enough to pull it out, then I think it’s better to let it be pulled out; otherwise, your headphones could be yanked off your head and damaged. For this reason, I don’t twist the cable to lock it in, and just let it sit normally. Let the cable get yanked out, and keep your nice headphones safe.

In the box, you get three of Audio-Technica’s proprietary audio cables. Two of them are straight, measuring 125cm and 312cm. The third is partially coiled, and measures about 2m, going to about 3m when stretched. Two 3.5mm to 6.35mm adapters are included in the box; one of them screws on, and another just plugs in. The screw-on adapter will thread onto both of the longer cables, but not the shorter one. See my images to get a look at how this works. Finally, there’s a 3.5mm splitter for planes, and a leather pouch to keep it all in.

I’m not an expert on audio. These are the first headphones I’ve had that I would say are professional quality, and it’s just another step in my audio journey. Having heard the sound that these produce, I can’t imagine what comes out of Audio-Technica’s higher end headphones; but some day, I hope to find out. For now, I’m extremely happy with these. The experience I’ve had with these headphones has been enlightening, and it’s truly brought me many hours of joy; I’ve experienced sounds from music that I never knew existed. If you’re interested in music in any capacity, even a little, then I highly recommend these headphones to you. They will open up a whole new world of sounds, and you will enjoy your music better than ever.

The ATH-M50X is not just a product. This might sound silly when we’re just talking about headphones, but I really would describe this product as a magical experience; and if you have any appreciation for audio, then you owe it to yourself to dive in!

I bought these for use in an office where I wanted to listen to music without disturbing anyone and finally stopped getting on with in-ear ‘phones.

In my opinion, they are quite astoundingly good with most types of music. I find the sound suits my ears with the relatively flat response, and although I do get a bit hot wearing them for hours, they are never too hot (unless the weather is too hot already) and they are always comfortable. I can see why other reviewers might find them a bit small – they are only just over-ear and not particularly roomy, but that’s OK as long as you are expecting it. Because they’re fairly low impedance, they should work well with pretty much any smartphone or music player you might have – I’ve never found them too quiet on any device I’ve tried them on (including several friends who wanted to try on their various random devices), but of course they sound great on a headphone amp or home hifi.

For those who want me to be a bit more specific: they’re flatter and less sibilant than my Beyerdynamic DT990 Pros with less sound stage but clearer mid-range (to my ears, at least), and they make up nicely for the muted bass in my (well-fitting) Shure SE315s and are clearer at the same time.

For those who just want good headphones: I took these with me to visit my sister, who was skeptical about the value of a decent pair of headphones. I handed them over and she said “Yeah, well I already have a pair of ear buds that I think are quite goo…oh.” and sank into an Elbow-induced trance for the best part of ten minutes. She bought a pair from Amazon the same day.

The best headphones around in this price bracket. Let me start this review by saying i am not an Audiophile and i will try to reduce technical language to make this review understandable to everyone. The ATH-M50X is the newer version of the famous ATH-50s which developed a good reputation but the problem was they were a little unfriendly for users wanting “Everyday plug and play” headphones. The M50x keeps the great sound and has tweaked it a small amount to add more bass. It also comes with 3 detachable cables, allowing the user to choose between studio style cables and shorter phone style cables made for portability. This makes it more user friendly than the previous models fixed long cable. The headset is light and comfortable in my opinion but usage will vary and others have disagreed online. The sound quality is the main reason you will buy these of course and i have to say it’s the best i have heard for this price point. The clarity is amazing and you can clearly separate instruments and pick up on small details you would never notice with cheap headphones. For my personal taste the bass is lacking a little but this can of course be fixed with equalizers or a bass booster app. Don’t get me wrong the bass is not poor and its better than the old 50s its just not overpowering like some people may want. This is of course done by design, by having high bass you often get a less clear muddy sound so a more neutral bass helps with the pin point clarity the headphones have. Build quality is a mixed bag with decent metal parts next to fairly sturdy but plastic parts. The cups make a loud clicking noise when flipping them which is audible every time you put on or remove the headphones. I have reached out to Audio Technica for comment on the issue and build quality and will update my review if they respond, but from my online research this appears to be a common problem. Overall I would recommend the ATH-M50X for its superb sound reconstruction and clarity, anyone used to cheaper headphones will be amazed at the difference. If the price is a little high for you could wait as every few months there is a sale usually about 25 off maybe a little more. If you do buy these remember all headphones have a “Burn In” time where over the course of about 50 hours play time the sound quality will improve marginally (Check Audio Technica website for more information). I hope you can now make an informed decision on whether to buy these headphones and if you found this review helpful please mark it so 🙂

I was looking for a set of decent quality headphones, at a reasonable price. At first it seemed impossible – I tried several different brands at lots of different price points in various stores. I was hugely unimpressed with Beats – overpriced and average sounding. Bose, same. Even Sennheiser weren’t up to the mark. The most expensive headphones I tested were a pair of Sennheisers retailing for 300ish. Started Googling and it quickly became apparent that AKG and Audio Technica were the most raved about companies. First I tried some AKG Y50 headphones. They were good, acceptable sound quality. A little muddy, quite good bass, but overall not balanced. I tried to put up with them but ultimately had to return them. Next I tried these M50x’s and WOW! These are exactly what I was looking for. Very nicely balanced sound, excellent bass extension (they can play very low bass notes, but it’s never overpowering), very good clarity and separation. For the price, these are extremely impressive indeed. I’ve had them for a few months now and they’ve only gotten better with time. Build quality is fantastic, I like that they fold up and have a leather pouch for storage. The cables are nice and thick and flexible, the headphones are very comfortable on the head, even for long periods. I don’t have a bad word to say about them!

I got these for 90.00 and after a week of using them A LOT, decided to post a review. I was looking for good headphones for recording amateur guitar tracks on my mac, watching films, playing guitar through an amp or my mac and listening to music on my ipod on the go. These headhpones are perfect for every one of those things.

They are very comfortable, although the tight grip makes want to take them off for a few seconds every hour or so. The tight grip however makes them very unlikely to fall off, and the cushioning is very soft, so they are still very comfortable. They look very cool and the cables are very useful. I use the coiled cable at home and the short one with my ipod on the go.

The sound. I have tried Sennheiser HD558, HD280, Sony MDR ZX100, Marshall Major and the Scarlet Monitor Headphones. The M50x blow all of them out of the water in terms of sound quality. They are not completely flat, so I wouldn’t classify these as studio monitor headsphones, but flat enough for what I am recording. They noticably enhance bass. Don’t worry if your not in to bass, neither am I, they do it very subtly and I actually think the very slight bass boost improves listening experience. And, man, do they sound great plugged in to a guitar amp or with Rocksmith. I would highly suggest these over similarly priced Marshall or Vox headphones for playing guitar.

Another thing to note is while they are closed back, they don’t isolate sound. I can hear pretty much everything happening around me, which is how I like it. This does however mean that you can’t listen to loud music in public, but I have found that they isolate just enough for you not to need to listen to music very loud to have an enjoyable experience.

Anyway, at this price point, I don’t think you’ll find anything better, unless you really need the completely flat sound.

I bought these headphones after I’d decided that it was time to pass the Dr Dre Pro Beats to my teenage son and buy an ‘adult’ set of cups. I did a bit of research including looking at the Amazon reviews, and seeing that they mostly rated as 5 Stars (with the odd bizarre low star ratings that seemed not to be even about the performance of the product) decided to make the purchase. I should say that I also purchased the Audio-Technica ATH-MSR7 headphones at the same time (the two together were still cheaper than the Beat Pro’s…!), so felt I had nothing to lose, and let’s face it, I could send the more inferior headphones back as a Prime Customer.

I’m a skeptical type so I didn’t expect to be blown away by either set of cups (anyone who has owned the Beats Pro will know that the bass and treble of those babies can have you scrabbling for the volume buttons to turned the darned things down before your ears start bleeding your eardrums burst).

But, truly? I was very, very impressed by the ATH-MSR7’s, especially in conjunction with my Smartphone (Sony Xperia Z2 with built in Sony Walkman). Lovely balance and detail with the bass tight and in the background, where it should be, and the percussion and acoustic instrument upfront where they should be.

The ATH-M50X’s? Man, oh man! I honestly didn’t think I’d ever listen to a set of headphones where I could hear every intake of breath of a saxophones, trumpet, flute; the drumsticks brushing the snare drums as they slid over to the hi-hat and cymbals. I’m hearing the truly genius singers and virtuoso musicians in all their painfully beautiful detail, for the first time since I stopped having the time to listen to my vinyl record album collection through my Lind Sondek turntable and amps. And that’s the point – the ATHM50X’s sound like the very best vinyl recordings played digitally. Absolutely fantastic headphones – best sound I’ve ever heard and not been at the gig.

Just to end on that note: the ATH-M50X’s are so balanced right the way up the musical scale and down again – you feel the bass in your chest, and in your feet, but in a good way, no a great way. Every percussion instrument, the echoes, the thrum of the bass string, the air passing through the wind instruments.

I have a very eclectic taste in music – so tested the headphones right across the musical spectrum: Steely Dan, Abram Wilson (Jazz fusion) Pharaoh Sanders (jazz), Philip Glass (cultured pop – well, I think so!), Tabaca Y Ron (salsa band), Various hip hop, jazz funk bands like Slave, War, and legends, such as Donald Byrd, Johnny Hammond, Pressure (Ronnie Laws protege band) Beethoven, Mozart, Bach. All passed with flying colours.

These are truly great headphones. But be warned, as a previous reviewer has already admonished – these headphones will expose inferior recordings, and be a joy on the the best recordings. Many happy years await those discerning enough to purchase them.

(White Version)
Okay, so… Here goes.

I bought these headphones with the recommendation from about a trillion people constantly blathering me with suggestions for it in forums, in person and via all the other communication methods available including morse code. As I’m really not an audiophile, I don’t really know what “amazing sound” sounds like — but* (and this is a big but…No pun intended) I find that audio is a very subjective experience and there are even people who like to hear the crackles in lower grade (maybe older) music.

I personally find that hearing everything in a song (yes – including all the little pops and crackles that come along even with flac sometimes) is actually a very enjoyable experience and it adds depth to the song (only if the crackles are made by the studio equipment and the way that the song is recorded rather than being made by crappy compression) because it paints a picture in your head of how the song was recorded and in what scenario etc.. If you think I’m lying, go listen to “Eminem – Sing for the moment” in .flac and you’ll be impressed at how much difference it makes from when you listen to it in .mp3.
These headphones honestly highlighted the difference between the two because they’re studio monitors. You probably (unless you’re really used to a song) wouldn’t be able to distinguish between the two sounds with just any generic headphone.

Note: I didn’t include anything about the bass but it is actually really good whilst still keeping enough of the other range of frequencies to be classed as studio monitors – kudos Audio-Technica!

Conclusion + TLDR

I bought these headphones as an experiment because I am a student worker who doesn’t need to spend his money on anything else (apart from PCs of course aha).
They are extremely good even though I expected them to be like any other pair of headphones. They are still a big investment for a small sound difference as the average listener probably won’t notice the difference in sound (apart from the bass – because of a nice tight seal also).

All-in-all a very good purchase if you love music and need to listen to it every day.

Now I’m not going to go into the detail of the headphone quality, or any of that. Mainly, because I believe that I could not do the headphones justice with my efforts. There are qualified people you can research for that bit. I’m going to focus on what I believe is truly the point in reviewing it from the customer’s side, which is the difference between the M50x’s (these) and the M50’s (the older model).

The main difference between the 2 is the ability to change the cable used, dependent on the headphone usage. The m50’s do not have detachable or changeable cables, they only have one, which I believe is either coiled cable or a 3m cable. Whilst they are monitor/stereo headphones, this is still a hindrance to a large sum of people. Because of the amazing value and brilliance of the M50’s (Well done to Audio Technica), these headphones have caught the eye of not only studio-working musicians, or editors/producers, but also of any of the public who enjoy great, natural and realistic sounding headphones at an affordable price (which for a mid-range market, attracts a lot of people). This however meant that using them anywhere else apart from indoors in their own set up was an ongoing war against the lump of coil or 3 metres of cable that came with it, hence either inconveniencing casual wearers for the majority of the time, or restricting them to indoor usage.

When I got the M50’s, I ended up using them everyday e.g. going to school, music studies, band practicing. After a few months, I found myself consciously thinking about how bulky the coil cable is. However, the coil cable has got it’s uses. And for a musician, those uses were and are very real. The annoying confliction.

The M50x’s come with 3 interchangeable cables. a coiled cable, a 3m cable, and a 1.2m cable.

What the M50x’s have done, has basically alleviated me of every possible problem I could think of with these headphones, and you can imagine that when I head of these from a friend, I bought them nearly instantly. I am truly grateful to Audio Technica for fixing a seemingly negligible irk of mine, but has nevertheless been a minor complaint.

This is not the only thing they have changed, though. There are very subtle but existing design changes from the original M50’s that have also, in my opinion, improved the headphones. The feel of the leather on the earcups, the size of the earcups vs the size of the ear space has decreased, meaning the earcups are more compact without the downside of having a smaller amount of ear space, the M50x’s are also slightly lighter and more flexible.

Apart from the differences, the quality of the headphones are incomparable to those anywhere near it’s price, 10/10 would recommend either the M50’s or the M50x’s (because I know that now the M50’s are cheaper).