Audio Technica ATH-RE70 On-Ear Headphones - Black

DocBlasto

Head-Fier
Pros: Nice looking, sturdy feeling cable.
Cons: Extremely bright, recessed mids, anemic bass.
To be fair, these headphones aren't "broken in". I work for a company who sells them, and we have a few new pairs in the photo studio, so I borrowed one from the stylist and wore it for a half hour while working then A/Bed it with my Koss Portapro.
 
I found it initially to clamp a bit hard, but the metal headband can be reshaped to reduce pressure on the ears. They seem well-assembled, everything held together with small stainless Phillips screws (including the earcups) presumably for easy disassembly and service.
 
Again, these haven't been played long enough to break in, but my initial impression is that the sound is very harsh and bright, with recessed mids and seriously rolled-off bass. This directly compared to my slightly modded Portapros which have big, deeper, lively bass, prominent mids and a somewhat rolled off (but smooth) treble.
 
Given that they're open and leak just as much sound as the Portapro, are heavier and cost $80 which is just as much as the Grado SR60i and almost 3 times the price of the genuinely retro Koss, I don't see any reason to actually buy them over other tested and well-respected sub-$100 open headphones.

dragonguy23

New Head-Fier
Pros: Durable steel frame, small earcups good for placing in your bag easily, portable, highs are smooth, bass is punchy.
Cons: mids are a bit lacking and are a little dark, are not comfortable to wear for some time, pads are hard as rocks
These are some headphones I bought sometime last year. When I tried them, they seemed good enough for my part when I wasn't very meticulous with my headphones. 
 
After some research, these headphones are a revival of the ATH-2, which are headphones from the 70s. The design is shared from the ATH-2, the steel headband above the leather one. 
 
For the sound, the mids are a but lacking and are dark, while the bass kicks and the bass itself somewhat slightly overpowers the mids. There is no problem with the highs though.
 
For isolation, there is hardly any isolation you can have. It was like having an open headphone. The small amount of isolation is good only for isolation soft sounds in the background.
 
For the comfort part, the headphones are not very comfortable for an amount of time, the clamping force is like that of a vice. If you try to stretch the earcups away from your ears, it will feel like a weak slap on your face, but it would still be enough to hit your ears and hurt a bit.
 
One surprise I had with these headphones is that I can use a 6.3mm plug on it which was an accessory of the Superlux HD669 headphones. It literally just fits in the small chamber of the 6.3mm and locks firmly, I even plugged the headphones onto a guitar amp to test it, but the wire of the phones were too short to ever reach a few yards away from the amplifier.
 
In conclusion, these headphones are not meant for professional use or for the audiophile on the go. It's for those people who like the design of the 70s or just for the ordinary consumer.
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