Review: Audio Technica ATH-M50

Hey guys and let's welcome 2013 with a review of these amazing headphones! I have been discussing how I would review them but I finally decided it would be based off what most of you guys like. So I am starting with their intentional purpose as studio monitoring headphones, then going into classical music and finally some more modern music. Along with that, I will pick some music that has .mp3/ .mp4 and some that is .wav (compressed and uncompressed audio). Then I will go through different types of music (rock, hip hop, dubstep, country, etc.) and give you a general overview of how they sound among the genres. Just from what I've heard from playing around with them since I got them for Christmas these are amazing headphones!

First let's go over the basics of what you get from the box. You get the box it comes in with all the product info, a one year limited warranty, the headphones and a leather bag/carry case. The headphones are black with a 1.2 meter (3.9 ft) coiled cable that extends to 3 meters (9.8 ft). The headphones collapse to fit in the bag they come with and store fairly easy. The headphones are very well padded, padding across the top and around the ear cups. The only thought about the ear cups though is they are just a little too small for my ears (which I'm pretty sure it's because my ears are too big anyways) and the padding seemed to have gone a little flat since I first wore them. However, this isn't affecting the performance of them so it's nothing to scare you away from buying them... Just be aware it might happen to you. Other than that, the build quality of the headphones is extraordinary! Even though they are plastic based, they don't feel cheap at all. And not only is the cable coiled, but it has a screwable 1/4 jack that comes with the headphones. It caught me off guard when I first opened them, but then I realized it screwed off to a standard 1/8. They thought of just about everything with these head phones. One other really cool feature about the headphones is the cups swivel 180 degrees to the left and right. It makes mixing using one ear a lot easier for people who need that feature.

My only real "complaint" with the build of these things is they should have used a replaceable cable (such as the system used in almost every "rap brand" headphone now). It would make replacement of the cable a lot easier, should there ever be an issue with it. I have read of it happening to someone online, so it's possible but I doubt it will happen.

Now on to Basic Performance of the headphones. From what I've listened to, they are very balanced and very clear. People who love a lot of bass might not enjoy them as much as someone who prefers balanced music. I find the quality of their clarity to be the most definable when listen to the Saint Sean’s Cello Concerto 1 recording from “The 99 Most Essential Cello Masterpieces”. I actually have heard more from that song in these headphones than I had ever imagined to. Not only could I hear the soloist playing clearly but I could hear him breathing, the bowing and at a few times could tell you the fingering that he uses. A lot of that comes from a lot of focusing on details that minor but a lot of this is possible to notice. However for using as mixing headphones, that is what kind of quality one would want. The composer or mixer needs to be able to able to hear the smallest of details when mixing something together so that person can get it fixed for the final mix.

I know some of you guys don’t mix as much as I like to or don’t listen to cello music so here’s the more specific rundown of their performances with different genres.

Classical: Listening to Beethoven’s "5^th Symphony" from The 99 Most Essential Beethoven Masterpieces, you can hear the clarity. It’s not hard to get lost in the music with these headphones. I've heard so much more than I ever thought was possible with them. While listening to Mozart’s "41^st Symphony" from the recording I have on my laptop, the clarity is unmatched. In the 3^rd movement, I actually heard the tapping of the clarinet’s keys which is something I never noticed with any of my headphones before.

Soundtracks: Listening to the Halo 4 soundtrack, I can’t believe how much different this sounds. Starting with Awakening, the beginning caught me a little off guard. I've heard this CD a few times since I posted about it, but I forgot how it just fades in and it gave me chills. Also, I noticed on "117" a big difference when it came to the techno beating in the background. It has a lot more presence in the headphones I did with the review. Listening to the  Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone soundtrack, you can relive the excitement of the theater. The intro to "Hedwig’s Theme" has always baffled me on how it was recorded but when I heard tapping I figured out that it’s Glockenspiel. That sounds weird that I never knew that, but I never really researched the song in great detail.

Rock: Listening to Mothership, I have to say I don’t know of a way to express listening to one of my favorite bands of all time. There isn’t any other way to express it. I actually got lost in their music like never before, and it’s amazing! It ranged from being memorized in the excitement of “Immigrant Song” to feeling the pain in “Dazed and Confused” and finished my well-rounded dose of Zeppelin with their classic hits likes “Kashmir” and “Stairway to Heaven”.  Same case applies for my listening of Disturbed. When I was listening to "Down with the Sickness", the beating of drums got my heart racing and then the intro came in to my surprise. Same thing happened with "Ten Thousand Fists". It caught me off guard and sounds so crisp.

Jazz: I will go ahead and admit that jazz isn't my best genre to review so if I explain something oddly, I’m sorry. Taking a listen through Time Out reveals a new way to hear music. Listening to the album nearly nonstop when I first got it, and now I’m doing the same. It enhances the experience a lot. The most notable thing is I never noticed the crescendo during the drum solo or the bass “buzzing” in Take Five. 

.WAV Files: Using the recording quality from my Q2HD of me playing my cello in various locations, I can say that these headphones work really well. I am about to release a video of me unboxing the accessory pack to the Q2HD and when I listened back to it through the headphones it sounded great. If you would like to be the judge then I'll post a link for you to judge.

Final Verdict: After all it said, these headphones are made to not only sound good mixing but to simply enjoy music by experiencing it a new way. They might be a little pricey compared to what most people want to pay for headphones (I’ve found them online for around $160 but I’m betting they can be found somewhere else for less) however the quality and performance are remarkable. If you are after balanced music, then you can’t go wrong with these headphones. My only real complaints are the pads tending to go flat on me and the need for a replaceable cable. I give the Audio Technica ATH-M50 monitoring headphones a 4.5/5.