11 January 2009

Audio Technica ATH-M50

So finally got this "poison" today, as much anticipated for this while.

Dealed with Akabane at Ampang Park station's platform. Chatted abit bout these headgear stuffs. Oh boy, he's the pro in audiophile stuffs. He told me bout modding the headphones, amplifier stuffs, etc. He even consider to build an audio setup which is similar to the legendary Sennheiser Orpheus.

Sennheiser Orpheus

At this moment my budget wouldn't allow me to get anymore audio stuffs for now, except a few CDs if I came across it. Amplifier is out of my list, for now.

So let's have a look at this ATH-M50...

The box, nothing fancy bout it, but do not underestimate the stuff that it holds.
Audio Technica ATH-M50 box

General description.
Audio Technica ATH-M50 box

Specifications for the geeks.
Audio Technica ATH-M50 box

Unboxing the headgear.
Audio Technica ATH-M50

Audio Technica ATH-M50

Audio Technica logos.
Audio Technica ATH-M50 Audio Technica ATH-M50

Comparison with ATH-M30. Both looks similar as they're from the same "family". However, performance-wise there's a gap between both models.
Audio Technica ATH-M50 VS ATH-M30

Audio Technica ATH-M50 VS ATH-M30

Unlike M30, the M50 can be folded up for portability, which is one of the reason why I wanna get it.
Audio Technica ATH-M50 VS ATH-M30

The leather pouch that carries the M50. Plain, but it served it's purpose.
Audio Technica ATH-M50 pouch

End of the pictures. Now let's test this thing's performance.

I've read positive reviews of this headphone so I had high expectations on it. Safe to be said, this stuff is as good as they reviewed.

M50 feels more comfortable than M30 the first time when I put it up. M30 seems like squeezing my head, while M50 doesn't really have such issue. It sits nicely on top of my head.

I plugged in both M30 & M50 onto my laptop and play the usual songs I listen to. Immediately I can hear the difference between both units.

M50 sounds louder than M30 at the same volume setting. Must be something to do with the driver's unit. According to Akabane, the impedance & sensitivity plays a role in this, but I'm not quite sure which figure affect this the most.

Another notable improvement is the bass. I'm not a basshead, but I do appreciate the clear bass produced by M50. I tried to sample it with one of the songs' intro, which is quite bassy. M30's bass sounds much softer, while M50's bass is much "exciting", more punchy.
It's hard to describe the sensation, only when you try it you'll know how it's feel like. :D

Using the ATH-M50, holding the M30.

M50 still got a bright potential to improve it's scores. It's just barely few hours of burning-in process, and it sounds better than the M30 already. I wonder how it'll sounds after 100 hours of burning-in? Monstrous? Hahah....

But of course, looking at the cost, the performance of M50 justifies it's pricetag. This would be the 2nd most expensive purchase I ever made so far by my own money (most expensive would be the Nokia 5310 XpressMusic).

From this review you can see that M30 is inferior towards M50, but that doesn't mean M30 is not a bad headphone.
Before I get hold of the M50, M30 is the best headphone I had at the moment. It definitely beats all the ordinary Philips headphones I used so far. The previous Philips SHP2000 can't really compete with Audio Techinca headphone!

So what's next for me? A wooden headphone? :P

Next level "poison", ATH-W5000. Cost: MYR 5,000.


Or perhaps ATH-ESW10?


CLY said she might get me an iPod Nano, but I didn't put much hope on it. ^_^"
If she kept the promise, then I'll be very, very happy guy. :D

8 comments:

  1. wah liao..congrats on the purchase of your ATH-M50..akabane is really a good seller not to mention,a really 'god' audiophile in KL..maybe sumday i got my chance to buy the ATH-M50,or maybe the ATH-W1000.but for now,i'm still using the inferior ATH-M30..wraps up..Audio Technica rocks man!!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. haha no doubt Akabane is a nice guy to deal with!

    now I'm eyeing on ESW10, or maybe the future model. Since I'll be moving around more often so I would prefer a portable one.

    Well ultimately, I would like to try AD900 or W1000, or any other of those exotic ATH cans. heheh....

    M30 is not inferior, if compared to similar league headphones. the purpose of M30 is actually for monitoring purpose so it sounded straight & forward.

    Anyway, M30 and M50 does have a large gap though.

    ReplyDelete
  3. which one has more bass ? the M50's or the sennheiser HD-212 PRO ?

    ReplyDelete
  4. I found a deal for the W1000!
    http://www.warehouse123.com/store/product_information.php?pid=1328&ptext=Audio-Technica-ATH-W1000-Dynamic-Headphone-Reddish-Brown

    Can't believe the price of these headphones are about 300 bucks only.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Dude, thanks for all of these pics, and descriptions! They really help to "visualize" and "perceive" the ATH-M50s at every angle. It really helps a lot to see what you're buying ;) Happy listening!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Check Fostex T50RP at head-fi.org ;)

    ReplyDelete
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    ReplyDelete