Audio-Technica ATH-M50S

I opened the box when these arrived and spent the next four hours listening to these. I was quite impressed right out of the box. My normal phones are Shure SE 530 and 535 IEMs. I bought these mainly due to the buzz that these are great cans for a low price. I am very pleased with them! I have been running them in for the last couple of days. I hooked them up to a Squeezebox and let them play. I have read that them warm up nicely after 40 hours or so. I liked them just fine out of the box, if they improve I'll call that a bonus!

I am satisfied for investing on these cans. I appreciate the most the natural response and sound reproduction unlike with other cans, of this type, who seems to be to hypey with their base. These are able to capture other flaws of a mp3 file like (sibilants, plosives, crackles and hisses) which might have slipped through  the recording process. One of the things i appreciate on these cans, you could hear all the sounds even the smallest ones like egg-shakers and other small instruments. Also, i seem to get the feeling that i am just inside a studio watching and listening to singing artist. further, it has good clamping force which it wouldn't fell or slip off from your head when you bend over or do a little bit of head banging. good job Audio Technica. 

After scouring the Head-Fi forums, and noticing that HeadRoom.com included the ATH-M50S in their "ten best" list with the next best headphone at a much higher price point, I pulled the trigger on these for $110 new from an eBay seller that was a large professional music equipment dealer (an excellent source for good prices on headphones apparently, because they carry the full manufacturer's line - including microphones - I have a pair of new Sennheiser 650s coming from another pro music audio dealer that I got for $319), and have been overjoyed with the ATH-50S coupled to a tiny NuForce uDac-2 HP ($99 headphone-only DAC-amp) ever since.
 
I am new to Head-Fi and digital audio generally, so I can't compare the M50 to any other headphones, but based on my long-ago experience selling really high-end audio, they are like experiencing the sound of an excellent pair of full-range, expensive loudspeakers, except they take up a lot less space, are more portable, cost much less for a comparable degree of sound quality, and allow private listening.  I really needed a closed-back headphone because I listen in a lot of circumstances where I can't disturb those around me, and the ATH-M50S are excellent at containing sound "leakage" while not being as insulating from allowing you to hear outside sounds (like fire alarms, doorbells, etc.) as an IEM would be.  I listen to the the M50s in the public library at what seems like a really robust volume to me, and people sitting just a few feet away from me never glare or look askance at me.  They are easy to drive (I can actually play them quite acceptably from my tiny Rockboxed Sansa Clip+, and the disparity of size between the source and the cans and sound eminating from them is kind of amusing.  With the Nuforce uDAC-2 HP serving as a replacement for the internal sound card in three different notebook computers (a Sony i7 running Windows 7, an old HP dual-core and an Asus Atom netbook - both running Ubuntu Linux), they can be driven to deafening levels without a hint of distortion at any frequency, even what we used to call "bass doubling" coming from speaker woofer cones breaking up from the cones not moving linearly trying to push large volumes of air quickly.  Another advantage of headphones with a small enclosed acoustic cavity over trying to fill a room with high-quality sound.
 
The closed-back design does lead to a smaller soundstage, which is why I have the Sennheiser 650s coming, which I will use only at home where I can afford to "bleed" some sound to the area around me.  The only real complaint I can make about the M50s is comfort.  The build quality is excellent, and even though high quality plastic is used to keep them relatively lightweight, they are still a tad heavy, and the clamping force is strong, but tolerable.  Helps for a good acoustic seal, so I would be wary of trying to stretch out the headband too much.
 
Supply and demand tells you a lot about the quality of any product.  When I got my pair for $110 new on eBay, the Amazon price was about $129.  Now, they are going for almost the full retail of $199 on Amazon, and the number of five-star reviews of them grows daily as people take delivery.
 
Definitely a keeper.

These are very good headphones which have similar sound with the beyerdyanmics DT770. However, when u first put them on, you'll be greeted with extremely hot and harsh treble, very weak bass and less than satisfactory midrange. These qualities change however, and i find them refining after 2 weeks of use. These have very good synergy with the Fiio E5 and E7 since they offset the recessed mids. one more thing to note is that the details that these put out are real details, not like the RE0s which i find having too much of a faker detail retriveal by highlighting the high trebles. Im not saying the RE0s have bad detail at all just that the treble sounded a bit wierd to me. In all essence, if you're not seeking high end Stax equipment, and like most mortals have only around 200 to burn on audio products, get these along with a fiio E7!

For the price, you probably won't get a much better over the ear headphone. Any headphone worth buying over $200 needs an amp. There are Sony brands around the same price that are good as well, but I've found these deliver an overall better sound. At a REASONABLE volume, these have a sweet airiness to them; almost as if you're mid row at an outside concert. They deliver decent bass (although not as much as I like), some good mids (which personally I think are the best part of these), and a clear treble. Now, its not CRYSTAL clear- it does get sloppy at times, but mostly when listening at high volumes. I think what they tried to do with these is balance out the high, mids, and low as best they could, making these cans a jack (or an apprentice ) of all trades, but a master of none, if you will.  
 
On the comfort end, these are very comfortable. Now, if anyone has ever tried the Bose Quietcomfort, these are a couple notches down on the comfort rating. None the less, I've worn them for hours comfortably. 
 
For 115 dollars I was very pleased with my purchase, and I believe now that they are even cheaper (at B&H photo online). 
 
One side note though, is that for me, these phones needed burn-in time. About 20 hours worth I would say. The treble was very overpowering when I first got them, but after leaving them on all night, they sounded much better. (or perhaps I got used to the sound signature, or whatever you believe 

For $100 these are a steal

I'll update this at a later date.

Preferred them to :
 
SR225 - little bass quantity, uncomfortable
SA5000 -  body missing, little bass quantity, resolution is too much,  great for electronia
T1 - M50 had a more fullbodied sound while having less resolution
 
Cans that were close:
HD650: veiled,great tone&mids, better resolution, less bass, needs top amplification, better comfort
DT990: great treble energy, better resolution, but bass & treble can get tiring/ too much quickly
 
recessed mids excepted - the m50 have a much better balanced sound with better imaging, body and prat. while the higher end cans were technically superior in some ways (resolution & speed), i had more fun with the m50 over time and thougt that extra cash would be better spent on the best D/A  one could afford.
 
SOURCE FIRST ! Nuforce, Centrance, PS AUDIO, LINN...
 
Clamping force will get comfortable if you store your cans on a box that is a few inches wider than your head. Some users report increased comfort with Shure 840 Pads. I have the coiled cable version as i use them on my mobile aswell.

After my Sennheiser HD 595s ended up being slightly damaged- resulting in some annoying background distortion-, I went a few years without a higher-end set of headphones. The ATH-M50S caught my eye initially, and I was going to purchase this or a set of Beyerdynamics that cost twice as much but were said to be really worth it. Needless to say I chose these, mainly due to the price, and I am certainly pleased with this purchase. In terms of sound quality, these are arguably better than my HD 595s, as the ATH-M50S rivals the HD 595 when it comes to mid/high frequency range, but the ATH-M50S also produces lots of bass. The soundstage produced by these headphones is excellent, as the sound frequencies across the board are finely balanced- the high frequency range is not quite as clear as with the HD 595s, but this is most likely due to these Audio-Technicas being closed-end headphones. They are comfortable to wear for prolonged periods of time- I've worn them for 4-5 hours without experiencing any discomfort-, and I have become impressed with the build quality and the materials used. My pair has withstood being carried around, and the fold-in design makes these large headphones easy to move around- in comparison with the HD 595. Unfortunately I do not have any other high-end headphones to compare these to, but the ATH-M50S is arguably the best set of headphones I have had the pleasure to own. I highly recommend these to anyone looking for relatively affordable high-end headphones- if you're looking for high-end Bose or Shure headphones, please check out these!

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

These are great headphones for some one who is looking for great, isolated sound for cheap.

Like the title says my first real pair of headphones, i couldnt be any happier with them i love hearing all my music on these headphones and i hear music from many genres from classical to hip hop and rap. Love the bass since it doesnt drown all the other sounds like other headphones do, there really comfortable i wore them while being in nyc and the whole 4 hour trip back and i didnt have any complaints but that depends on how big your ears are i consider mine not to big so i didnt have much trouble with the size. Bought them at B&H superstore in NYC no regrets have great prices and great service even got to try them before buying. Over all I cant say anything bad about the headphones
there great and do what they are said to do.

(Disclaimer: This review was written while considering the very low price-point of the M50, and what you can get for that amount of money. It does not mean the M50 can go up against the high-end headphones that cost several hundred to thousands of dollars. My main headphones are high-end headphones, and the M50 is only used while I'm doing tracking or traveling. I wouldn't use it as my everyday headphone since I have superior headphones for that, such as the Audez'e LCD-2.)
 
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. (Though let's be honest--those guys probably wouldn't mix on the M50, although they'd do tracking on them.)

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 do tracking with them (though mixing on them is probably asking a bit much). 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. The quantity of bass is slightly more than neutral, so it's a good headphone for those who likes a bit more bass than neutral. Its raised bass is a broad and gentle curve and sounds quite natural and pleasing, and is not annoyingly bloated or distorted. 

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 is slight hard and has a metallic timbre when compared to open-back headphones. But it doesn't get in the way of the music too much and it's only noticeable if you do A/B comparisons with headphones that have very smooth/neutral treble response and know intimately how specific instruments are supposed to sound (such as the cymbals on a drum kit). What I really love about the M50's upper mids and treble is that it follows the rule of "First, do no harm." With other headphones that "fake" detail by raising a few to several dB's in the lower treble/high-mids region, some songs can sound very shrill and fatiguing--especially on sharp snare hits or vocal sibilance--but on the M50, those tracks sound quite 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.

the m50 was released a few years ago by audio technica as the flagship of their "m" studio monitor line. 
and, like all audio technicas, it is colored in one way or another.
this particular headphone definitely has more bass than a strictly neutral set of cans should.  but, the bass is quite impressive for a phone of this caliber and price range.  using the "heartbeat" test track from the "Open Your Ears" headphone test album, the m50 produces more low frequency rumble than any headhpones i own or have heard.  (bear in mind i have not heard denons or ultrasones).
 
the general sound is warm.  the headphones are colored forward in the mids such that the bass does not step on them too much.  this creates a fairly engaging sound signature.  the highs are recessed just a tad, fortunately, because they are just a tad grainy as well.
 
the imaging and soundstage are pretty respectable for closed cans.  but, the soundstage doesn't really "take off" until they are amped and turned up pretty loud.
 
when listening to these extensively, you get used to the presentation, and the one drawback that reamins is the mid-bass is just a tad unresolving.  i wouldn't go so far as to call the mid-bass "sloppy", but it doesn't have the attack and decay of higher end headphones.
 
overall, the m50 performs very well for a headphone that you can buy for around $100. 
it's biggest drawbacks really don't come so much in the form of sound quality as they do in the region of comfort.  As the clamping force is a bit much, and prevents me from wearing them longer than a couple hours at a time.
 
Also, as a result of them being closed cans with a tight seal, your ears will require quite a bit of adjustment when putting these on.  after a few minutes, the pressure will equalize, but at first it feels like your ears need to pop.
 
as for audio quality.  i struggled between giving these 3.5 stars and 4 stars.  but, i have to be honest here.  if 3.5 stars is "very good" and 4 stars is "excellent", then 3.5 stars it must be.  they sound very good to my ears.
 
edit:  after a couple months constant use, it seems to my ears that the midrange took a backseat after burn-in.  i'm not certain whether burn-in is real or placebo, but either way, the mids on the m50 afer a few hundred hours use are now somewhat recessed, possibly even slightly veiled.  not too objectionable, but noticeable.