A friend from work loaned me these for the weekend. Pretty cool since I've wanted to check them out for quite some time.

Sound

I would say this particular ATH-M50 is sub-bass heavy and not very resolving (perhaps because of the sub-bass emphasis). There is a bit of upper bass emphasis as well. I didn't detect any obvious weirdness in the mids, but perhaps the sub-bass is masking some of that stuff.

The tremble is easy on the ears, and the presentation is not fatiguing at all. In fact, with the exception of the sub-bass emphasis, I feel this phone is neutralish. I can see why RD likes them. No ear shattering tremble mountains fo-sho.

To my ears these cans actually sort of sound similar to my toy HD202s (in stock form) but with a little more sub-bass, less lo-fi, and sort of smoother in the tremble (EDIT: smoother tremble is fairly obvious actually). The HD202 also feel, look, and are way cheaper (and that is an understatement). In the same price range there are the HD558 which I prefer, but those are open.

Comfort

These cans do exert pressure, but to me they are comfier than my HD202s. The cups are bigger and my ears manage to stay inside the cups (unlike the HD202s). Going by memory my DT990 seemed to punish my head more than these, but there was more ear room on those... Long listening sessions may or may not be problematic depending on head shape.

Presentation

This is a good quality headphone. The cups rotate and the headband is fairly sturdy and cushioned. The pads are also very nice. Cable is fairly long and seems like good quality. Definitively not cornflakes box freebie like.

Price

For $100 (used) to $160 one gets a good quality closed headphone. I do feel these have a similar sound signature as the HD202 which are quite a bit more affordable, just nowhere near the build quality.

EDIT: Actually the HD202 do seem to have an obvious wonky problem relative to the M50s ... probably the 8 to 10kHz null or the fact that the M50s cover my ears while the HD202 sit on my ears (i.e. the HD202 bypass more of my ears).

Overall

Very good performance, but these could do with a little less sub-bass.

Measurements

Frequency Response



ATH-M50 vs stock HD202 (yellow)



Other stuff attached below.

Thanks mang. I'm uneasy about touching them since I'm not the owner. I was able to lower the bass on my HD202 by partially covering a mini port inside the cup...

For $90 these are pretty good. What did you do to mod them?

EDIT: Actually, the HD202 sounds obviously more wonky with some songs relative to the M50s. The HD202s null from 8-10 kHz might be part of the issue (EQing seems to help alleviate the problem, but it's hard to get the null out). The fact that the M50s cover my ears while the HD202s sit on them might also account for some of the perceived differences...

The cans are similar sounding, but the M50 is definitively a fair step up.

How does one tell new version from old?  I have ATH-M50, and it's probably the old version I would guess as I was one of the early buyers.  I don't use them too frequently, the cups are small-ish and hurts my ears after a few hours.

To be honest, I prefer the M-Audio Q40 to them (with mad dog pads), even though it's rolled off at the top.

Are your M50s bassy as well?

I think the cups of the M50 are large for an ear-pad type headphone, but small for a full-size.

Yes, they are bassy, but it's hard for me to say how bassy (from the charts above).  It's punchy, more bass than all of my headphones including the D2000.  It has lower bass resonance as well.  In a way it reminds me of a better Ultrasone, with better mids and highs, although less bassy than Ultrasone.  I hate Ultrasone, btw.  It's also got a bit of an artificial flavor to the highs, which is what bugged me the most after some time.  I think the plots above point to 4K, which is about what I think (from listening).

Your chart looks like what I am hearing, I don't have measuring equipment.

Edit: I took off the pads, they look like yours.  Mine has "0825" on a sticker as opposed to yours.  I wonder if this is some sort of serial number.

Think I started w/ blue painters tape and covered 4 ports on each cup.  Two in the top and bottom U-rows each.  I forget the orientation I settled on and final material.  Try covering one hole left and right off the center on each row.  The material does make a slight difference as well.  Like using transpore, don't think I liked that for the M50.