The ATH-M50X's are among the best reviewed headphones by true experts. They and their predecessors (the ATH-M50's) are legendary in terms of fame, prestige, versatility, and popularity. There are musicians and audiophiles who swear by them over far costlier models. Some pros insist that the MX50's are at least 90% as good as anything else at any price, so the extra expenditure is probably not worth it. And they are Amazon's "#1 Best Seller" in headphones and also amongst their highest rated by consumers. I was a stereo/appliance salesman in my teens and early 20's. That experience taught me that price is often NOT an indication of sound quality. Remember the $12 Grado phono cartridge that had better definition than the $200 Audio Technica and Sonus models. And what about these ATH-M50X's, which actually sound better in some ways than my friend's $6,000 electrostatic setup; they have a deeper, more real-world bass and greater comfort. Of course, as you might expect for FIFTY TIMES THE PRICE, the electrostatics are a bit cleaner, a tad less distressed in the treble, slightly smoother in the mids, and marginally tighter in the bass. But the clarity and detail is remarkably close. Do not be fooled by the ATH-M50X's low price, as any professional musician who hears them will tell you that they are the real deal. I use them with an ancient 250W/ch Sansui power amp and separate preamp, which gives them Earth-shattering dynamic headroom and realism. I also own the Sennheiser HD800's (recently bought), Sony MDR Z7's, Grado PS1000's, Grado 325e's (I like these more than the PS1000's!), and several other models including the "lowly" Grado SR80's (which are true audiophile phones, contrary to haters' opinions.) But the ATH-M50's are my ultimate headphones of choice because of their unexpected transparency, definition, detail, frequency response, comfort, wear-abilty, outside noise blocking, and outright fun factor. They are just so practical and addictive that I cannot stop wearing them. They even fold so compactly. I must admit that in terms of prestige and accuracy, the Sennheiser HD800's rule the roost and I love showing them off, but behind closed doors I prefer the M50X's. The latter are also a great choice for my portable devices and even my lowly iMac 27" headphone jack (you would not believe how powerful they sound, thanks in part to their low impedance.) Keep in mind that these phones are only as good as the source material, so do not expect great sound from lousy amps, MP3's, recordings, etc. I can only laugh at the negative reviews from self-proclaimed experts who use pseudoscience or their biased opinions to evaluate these headphones. Do you actually want to enjoy music or measure everything by meaningless, nebulous, abstract numbers that fail to take into account many factors, such as each individual's hearing?
