On Friday, August 27th, Audio-Technica announced their latest in-ear monitor, the ATH-CK70PRO.  Designed to reproduce an accurate, monitor-like sound, the new CK70PRO utilizes a newly-designed, top-firing balanced armature, as well as an acoustic horn sound tube previously introduced in the CK90PRO.  The CK70PRO accessories include a pouch, three pairs of silicone tips, and a pair of medium Comply foams.  The CK70PRO will be released in Japan on September 24th for a retail price of ¥18900 (approximately $223 US), though the actual street price should be quite a bit lower as the CK90PRO, which retails for ¥26250, can be found for as low as ¥14000.
 

The CK70PRO can be worn either straight-down or over-the-ear.
 

The top-firing driver and Acoustic Horn
 
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株式会社オーディオテクニカ｜一般製品｜ATH-CK70PRO

Interesting design with the horn, I own a pair of SM3 and I know many users are using a Sensorcom dual flange tip that is tapered like that as it is supposed to help with treble and midrange.

hmm, those seem to be a rather aesthetic departure from the ck10 and ck100...

Hey, that's my birthday! I'll have to take a trip to Japan to celebrate

Interesting. CK90pro has been on my short list of IEMs to try, and this might be a cheaper alternative.

Thanks for posting. They look more comfortable than the CK90Pro. Perhaps we have some competition for the PFEs here as far as top-firing armatures go.

Ooh I'm definately intrigued. I like my CK90Pros a lot, and while I'm guessing the 70Pros won't be any better being single armature and cheaper (though you never know) they should have an interesting soundstage with the top firing armature, if IEMs like the SuperFi 5 are any indication...

Well this certainly got my interest up. Guess I'll be looking at reviews when these are sold.

They look pretty similar to the CK90PRO not surprisingly. The housing is a bit smaller on the ck70pro however. I'm hoping their actual price here goes down a bit and low to mid $100 level sounds fine since the CK90PRO is around $190 from accessoryjack. I'm also hoping their build quality is better than the ck90pro since next to it's CK10 and CK100 counterpart it looks pretty pathetic.

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rawrster said:

They look pretty similar to the CK90PRO not surprisingly. The housing is a bit smaller on the ck70pro however. I'm hoping their actual price here goes down a bit and low to mid $100 level sounds fine since the CK90PRO is around $190 from accessoryjack. I'm also hoping their build quality is better than the ck90pro since next to it's CK10 and CK100 counterpart it looks pretty pathetic.

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I don't quite understand why everyone complains about the build quality of the CK90Pro to be honest. While I've never seen a CK10 in person, and I'm sure its pretty fantastic, the CK90Pro doesn't look like its put together with sticky take and toothpicks either. When you actually have them in your hand, the plastic is seamless and pretty attractive - hard little black gems. The strain reliefs aren't bad either. There's no real way you could break these sort of putting them on a concrete floor and stamping on them a few times. I have a great amount of confidence in the build of these, and even the CK70Pros - audio technica usually puts out good stuff imo. 

Well of course not having seen the ck10 or ck100 helps The cable is pretty bad in comparison. It's more microphonic, has too much memory and lacks a chin slider.

Has anyone else gotten these?
 
First post, I just picked this up at from a local store (Stereo, for S'poreans out there) for ~220USD, ie pretty much full retail. Afterwards I went home and discovered Head-Fi and felt stupid for getting these when I could have picked up the CK90Pro instead at the same price - or lower, even... 
 
That being said, disappointment at the price I paid aside, these do sound very good. Wouldn't dare to do a review, don't have enough experience with IEMs for that, but I upgraded from the CK7 and am very pleased with the sound on these. Much more bass extension than the CK7s, good separation, sounds very balanced overall. Reading what's been said about the CK90Pros, a lot seems to apply to the CK70Pro as well - slightly dark, very neutral, hard-hitting bass for a BA earphone. 
 
They seem to have the same cables and plug as the CK90Pro (from pictures of the latter) but there is a chin slider - not a very good one, because it's slightly too loose for the thin cables, but with a bit of pinching it does its job over time. The fit is all right, I'm not quite used to the long stem on these and you definitely won't be able to lie on your side with them in your ears but otherwise they're easy to forget about. I also like the little raised dot on the left earpiece, means you can wear these without having to look at them and figure out which side goes in which ear - a nice touch.
 
Auditioned the Radius DDMs, CKM90s and q-Jays before settling on these. In comparison the CKM90s sounded very hollow (similar to how another member described the mids as 'nasal'?) and the q-Jays sounded more analytical but less pleasant. Found it hard to separate the DDMs from them sound-wise but decided to go with these because of the Radius phones' strange cables, shape and poor isolation - to be fair, the Radius might have sounded better had I been able to get a proper fit, but I don't think I was...
 
These are going on kakaku.com for ~140USD, IIRC, so decent mid-price option for people who want the sound signature of a typical Audio-Technica BA but demand decent bass as well. 
 
If anyone gets these please give your impressions on them too, I want to know if I've been a complete fool or just a bit of one! 

VERY strange observation. The sound signature of these earphones changes depending on how far down the stem the earpiece is pushed. When I push the earpieces all the way down to the base of the stem, they sound awful... there's a 'sweet spot' beyond which they are fine. Is this supposed to be normal?

Took a shot on these, impressions in the next week or so.

Build is nice aside from the cable being thinner above the split. Stock tips seem to be of pretty good quality. I find the earphones on the whole plenty comfortable. Sound is very neutral. Bass is awesome, similar to CK10 but with more body and is really smooth and punchy. It's my favorite aspect of the phones and some of the best bass I've heard from an IEM, period. These have a very even midrange, vocals don't jump out a whole lot but are well separated from lower treble instrumentation. Staging, separation, coherency, and timbre leave little to complain about either. My only real complaint is that there is some occasional sibilance that is track dependent. After noticing this, I did a sine sweep which indicated an impressively flat response through my listening with the exception of a small but fairly broad treble bump. My guess is somewhere just under 10khz. If the bump were more narrow it probably wouldn't be as noticeable. I say bump and not spike because it really isn't that bad, it just stands out since the rest of the response is so flat. Not much of an issue with well recorded music that decays quickly. Well, that's all folks. These might see the sale section but not sure yet. One more note, they take a bit more oomph to drive than expected and cut down on hiss greatly, which could do well for more powerful source matching.