Audio-Technica ATH-M50S

The ATH-M50 is one of those rare products where the quality/price ratio really hits the sweet spot, and in fact is like a small miracle in the world of pro audio. When you get Grammy Award-winning audio engineers and producers like George Massenburg, Frank Filipetti, Al Schmitt...etc singing its praises publicly, you know it's got to be something special.

The M50 pulls off the difficult balance of being neutral, accurate, and detailed while not causing listening fatigue, and that is one of the most important things to get right when it comes to any audio device. If the device hurts your ears with shrill or piercing treble, then no matter how "detailed and revealing" you think it is, you won't be able to withstand the sonic torture anyway. Designed as professional studio monitors, the M50 can be used all day long without any listening fatigue, and it's tonal balance is accurate enough that many respected audio engineers would not hesitate to mix on them. Being sealed headphones, they also are a favorite among musicians and singers when recording, as they do not bleed into the microphone like open headphones (which means you also won't bother the people sitting near you, unlike open headphones where others will hear a tinny version of what you're hearing).

One of the most outstanding characteristics of the M50 is its sub-bass extension (50Hz and below), which is both deep and substantial. For those that don't know what full-sized loudspeakers with proper sub-bass extension sounds like, they might think the M50 is "bass heavy," but that would be incorrect. The extension and amount of bass rendered by the M50 is similar to what full-sized loudspeakers should sound like when the sub-bass is at a proper level. In fact, I would say headphones that have less sub-bass extension/level than the M50 should be categorized as "bass shy." The M50's bass is also punchy and visceral in a way that approximates full-sized loudspeakers, which is a very difficult thing to pull off for headphones.

The mids and the treble are smooth, and the treble never gets gratings like many other headphones. If I must nitpick, I might say that the treble has a tiny hint of metallic timbre when compared to open-back headphones. But it's a very vague impression and in no way gets in the way of the music, and it's only noticeable when doing extensive A/B comparisons. What I really love about the M50's upper mids and treble is that some songs can sound very shrill and fatiguing--especially on sharp snare hits or vocal sibilance--on other headphones that "fake" detail by raising a few to several dB's in those frequency ranges, but on the M50, those tracks sound perfect balanced and natural, never harsh and irritating.

The soundstage of the M50 is smaller than the average open-cans, because of its sealed design. This is perhaps the only thing sonically I wish it could be improved upon, but this does not mean the soundstage of the M50 is claustrophobic or in any way detrimental to the listening experience--it's simply not as open and lush as headphones like the Sennheiser HD6XX/5XX series (and other high quality open-cans).

Physically, the M50 is pretty comfortable to wear, but pleather tends to get a bit sweaty, and is a necessary evil for sealed-headphones. The rotating earcups are a bit annoying when taking the M50 on and off, since sometimes you have to rotate the earcups back into the correct orientation. For traveling, the M50 folds down to about half of its normal size, and that makes it very easy to travel with, not to mention more durable because it's harder to accidentally bend them or twist them out of shape. The overall look of the M50 has a pleasant, no-none-sense professional appeal--they really do look like they were designed to feel right at home in professional studios.

On a side note, the Sennheiser HD280 Pro is often recommended to musicians who need sealed-cans, and I highly suggest anyone considering a pair of nice sealed cans check out the M50, as they walk all over the HD280 in every single way possible, while still remaining very reasonably priced.

This is a review by a person, with little headphone experience.  The best headphones I have had before these would have to be the v-moda bass freq. I've had the skullcandy crushers, and some other of $20 or less phones.  This is probably a review for those who are on this forum and are noobs, since their ears are probably not as developed and won't appreciate the gifts of a $500 pair of headphones(good ones). At first I considered the Monster Studios as they were probably the only pair of headphones that i had heard of due to advertising and huge stores, and since they had such a high price tag i thought they had to be amazing.  I did try them on and they sounded good at first, but after thinking about the listening experience, the bass was muddy, and the sound was muddy as well. It just felt condensed.  Anyways, thanks to this site i saved 200 bucks, and got these babes.

Main things I noticed:

-These actually isolate very well, i was quite surprised with how well they do.

- These have great bass, quantitively less than the Studios but not by much.  Quality wise they are way better.

- The pleather and the design of this heapdhone was crazy good.  They were comfortable for me, and they look really good which was a big factor. Ears do swear a little, but you only notice once you take them off.

- The spinning ear cups don't bother me much.  They are kind of cool cause you can spin it off and you don't have to take off the heapdhones if somebody is talking to you

- The only two cons of this headphone is that the cable is rather long and that the headphones create pressure on your head but that goes away after a while.  The thing with the cable is that you can wrap it up and its fine. 

Conclusion:

Most people that don't do too much research or just look at price will probably go with the beats studios or bose.  I was quite convinced about those two before i came here.  I was going to buy the studios, because of how i thought they looked good and the noise cancelling feature was good because i could listen to my music and feel alone as if nobody was there.  These are just as good looking, and they are definitely better quality.  These cans are better than than any pair of bose over ears, and the studios with the bose and studios set up at stores in their best conditions.  I play this out of my ipod, and its way better. I listen to hip hop and rap and these are great for those genre's of music.  The bass is perfect and the cans produce crisp and basically beautiful sound.  Buy these if you want a cheap pair of headphones, that perform like expensive headphones that provide good bass, without compromising sound quality and having good isolation.  As you can tell i don't know audiophile terms, but these are amazing.  Everything you could want for 99 bucks

Well hey, let me keep this short and sweet, after owning these i certainly don't have the passion to write a lovely long complimentary review because these are not worth the effort.

They are way overhyped - simply put...no refinement, sort of like a V8 Nascar taking on a Formula 1, get my drift, these are the V8, not the worst, but certainly not the best. They are a tad boxy sounding, and not as detailed as some other better ones, they will stand up and fight, but they will lose, simple as that.

The midrange tone, plus the bass is prominent, to the detriment of the top end and they are not conducive to an open airy sound-stage; actually they sort of have a similar sound to the sennheiser 449's, midrangy sounding, but these are better than the 449's with more punchy bass attitude and a bit more detail, but overall, the hype surrounding these is not justified, believe me!

After using the ATH-M50s (also known as the M50's) for about two months, I have only one way to describe them. The M50s are the Swiss Army Knife of headphones. They are extremely portable, and will do absolutely everything that you need them to do.

DESIGN AND BUILD:

The design of the M50s screams “expensive!” People are often shocked to find out that they don’t cost more than $200. Everything from the chrome rings on the ear cups to the large white Audio Technica logo on the top of the headband is gorgeous. It was designed to fold in every way you could want it to, and that makes them very easy to fit in the smallest of laptop bags. Unfortunately, this does mean the cups rotate, and they’re slightly difficult to put on. The beautiful design of the M50 is not reflected in the build quality, however. The design is all plastic, and the plastic is fairly cheap feeling. The pleather on the band and cups feel like they could tear easily, if I wanted to pull on them. If your laptop bag or backpack is over 15 pounds (34 Kilograms), you may want to wear them around your neck.

SOUND:

The first characteristic I noticed in the M50s were the incredible highs. Vocals, crash cymbals, hi-hats, and guitar screams were all remarkably clear. The highs coming from the M50s were never painful, and rarely out-of-control.

The bass and lows in the M50s were very strong, and had a lot of oomph. In jazz and classical, the lows were very calm, much like a cello. If you love hard rock or dubstep, the bass will never disappoint. It will hide behind the highs most of the time, but the bass will come out in to the light and shake your eardrums when it needs to.

The mids are the only disappointing part of the M50s’ sound. While you’ll still hear the guitarist’s fingers sliding down the strings and every beautiful chord from the orchestra, the midrange will always be hiding behind the lows and the highs.

The M50s have a very fun listening experience that audio enthusiasts and audio novices can respect and appreciate. They can be driven directly out of an iPod, but a small amp will bring out the full power of those huge drivers. I use mine on a PA2V2 (thanks to my friend over at Audio Excursions), and it powers them perfectly.

FINAL THOUGHTS:

The M50s are a beautiful pair of headphones that are durable, but not indestructible. The highs and lows are incredible, but the mids are a little lacking. For $150, these headphones are a must-buy.