Hi!
Welcome to Lachlan Likes A Thing. A show where I take a thing and see whether or not I like it.
Now the thing we're looking at in this video is the Audio Technica
ATH-M50X studio monitoring headphones.
Now before I begin this review I should say first of all that
Audio Technica Australia actually gave me this review unit to keep
and this is a pair of the special edition versions of the M50X
so this is a limited run in the blue and copper colour
but it also comes in black and white.
And this headphone comes in at a recommended retail price of $249
Australian dollars. Now the M50X
is basically a revision of
the very popular M50. The
M50 which I have here, was basically my first
full sized headphone purchase and back when I got it
this was one of the only games in town when it came to a
high quality good value headphone. A lot of people
would recommend this headphone for all kinds of scenarios because
as a headphone it's very durable, its well thought out in terms of design
and it has a sound that is incredibly
competent especially for the street prices that you could get this headphone for.
However in that kind of time
and I've owned the M50 for quite some time my thoughts on it
have kind of stabilised and I think that the M50
while it's a really good headphone that was originally designed for studio
monitoring
I don't feel it's appropriate to use as a portable headphone
and the main reason for that is because the cable
on the M50 is not suited for portable use. So basically
with the m50 you could get it in two versions. You could get one version which I have here
will a 3 metre straight cable or another version
with a 1.5 metre coiled cable. And when you have that big cable hanging out of your
pocket
and you have this big kind of plug on the end of it
it just didn't sit well with the majority of kind of
portable players in your pants and that kinda thing.
That didn't stop people from recommending it all the time just
because it was a really good headphone. But I do, I did
kind of hold off on recommending the M50 to most people because it's not the
kind of thing that they can bring outside.
The M50 X very much takes a if it ain't broke don't fix it kind of
approach. So we have the same are kinda
basic design with the M50. We have the same kinda chunky
durable, tried and tested design. The only
key differences with the M50X are number one
apparently the way the earpads are made is slightly different now which might have
a slight
effect on the sound which I'll get to in a moment and also
most importantly the M50X now comes with
a detachable cable. Hallelujah! Because now the M50X
comes in the box with three cables. It come with a 3 metre straight cable.
It comes with a 1.5 metre coiled cable and now it
comes with a 1.2 metre portable style
straight cable and this cable is so much more suitable
to have sticking out your pocket and just for day-to-day use
if you want to use this as a portable headphone. The
M50X in terms of comfort and physical design
is a quite substantially large headphone so as you can see
on the head it is quite large and chunky
but I think the market has moved to the point where people are very
willingly happy to wear large headphones on the head I guess
and I personally find the M50X quite a comfortable headphone.
The clamping force is... I don't know if it's been a change in production but it
seems slightly less than
my previous M50. In terms of the ear pads
they are somewhat dense but they have a kind and nice
pliability to them. In terms of actual
comfort they are definitely really nice headphones to be wearing
around town. Overall the M50 X is now
a really good portable package because it folds up
nice and small. It's durable and it's been tried and tested so we know that
there's no major flaws in the design.
So I'm absolutely happy to recommend this headphone
on the basis of being a versatile
kind of portable or home use kind of headphone. Now in terms a sound
again the M50X does not sound substantially different from the M50.
If at all. Audio Technica never made any be claims about M50X
really sounding any different. Tyll
over at Innerfidelity has posted results that have
indicated that the M50X does seem to exhibit some,
some differences, sorry, some differences in terms of overall sound
according to the measurements. But that could easily be put down to
production variation I guess
or just the fact that this headphone has been in production for so long
that Audio Technica has really refined
the quality control and and the ability to make these headphones sound
consistent.
So with the M50X we have the same kind of basic signature. We have
a sound that is, for a studio monitor it's surprisingly
not incredibly neutral. It still is
a, a very very competent sounding headphone
but in terms of actual sound signature I would say it is
slightly more aggressive than you would expect from a studio monitor
so in terms of the bass it sounds slightly
boosted in terms of the midbass and the kind of sub bass kind of regions.
So it does have a certain aggressive and almost at times
wooly quality to the bass. For a lot of people
they might not find this totally neutra, though I do think it works well
with a lot of kind of more modern genres of
music. In terms of the treble while I wouldn't describe this headphone
as kind of substantially V-shaped, it does have a specific peak in the treble
which means that
female vocals really do stand out but there's a specific kind of
shimmery kind of almost metallic sounding
's' emphasis on the treble which gives
everything sort of a shiny or shimmery kind of
feel to it and for some people who are sensitive to that region of sound
you might also find the M50X just a bit too aggressive
for your tastes. When I was comparing the M50X with the NAD VISO HP50
I did remark that the
NAD VISO HP 50 which is another kind of around around ear portable headphone
was more kind of a well balanced, more mellow sounding headphone. The M50X
is definitely more a headphone that's going to be more in your face. It's gonna
be kind of more pronounced in the way it articulates the beats and the treble
and that kinda thing.
So for the price I think that the
M50 X is one of these headphones that I would
very very happily recommend to most people
as the headphone that if you want to get one headphone that was going to do it all
this is the one that I would go. And the reason why I say this is because you
can use it at home,
you can use it on the go now, it's durable, it sounds good,
it may not sound completely neutral or completely flat
or perfect for every kind of user and
your individual preferences may vary. For me this has become my
favorite portable headphone alongside my Sennheiser Amperiors
To draw a kind of comparison between those two headphones
I still do like the way that the Amperior is absolutely
in terms of weight, is lighter weight and more secure
on the head as a result. But for a kinda
long easy listening kind of headphone in terms of comfort
I do really like the around ear fit on the M50X
and I had to say the limited edition blue and copper I think looks
absolutely fantastic. Now Audio Technica also
gave me a pair of M20X's and I'm
gonna be very curious to see how these actually stack up to the M50X, I haven't
heard them yet. But I have to say I think
just simply by doing so something so simple as having a
detachable cable
which you know I'm surprised that they didn't do this earlier but
just through that simple change I think Audio Technica
has made a headphone that is going to be very very popular going forward.
Anyway thanks for watching this video. You can talk to me on Facebook at
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Thanks to all my regular subscribers and happy listening!