Audio-Technica ATH-M20X Professional Studio Monitor Headphones

If you’ve ever been in a studio, chances are you’ve used an Audio Technica set of headphones to monitor. There’s no frills or gimmicks to it, it’s a great set of headphones at a really good price. If you record they’re perfect for plugging into your amp as a monitor. The sound is very balanced and clear. If you’re wanting booming bass, these aren’t what you’re looking for. They are your standard analog connection, it comes out of the box with a 1/4″ adapter so you can plug into amps and other stuff, but without the adapter it is your typical 3.5mm headphone jack. The headset itself has no controls whatsoever on it, they’re designed for studio work so they’re entirely at the mercy of your output for volume control and all that. They are over-ear ear cups, and they don’t bleed too much sound. They have a 15 degree swivel to better fit your ears, they’re very comfortable to wear for extended periods of time, and the adjustment is easy enough and stays where you set it.

Très satisfait des performances de ce casque. Je recommande

p/p high quality

So I got these yesterday, and I know I am not going to keep them for long (more on that later) so I want to get this review in ASAP. First off, while I know what I like & I can recognize quality, I am definitely NOT an audiophile, so I’m not going to try & tell you in TECHNICAL terms why these headphones are so great, but I can give a layman’s perspective. Also, I am going to do a lot of comparing to the Samson SR850’s I just bought AND my standby Koss PortaPros (which I compared the Samson’s to in my review of them) Anyway, lets get started.

First of all the looks of these. My 13 year old daughter unboxed them while I was at work & immediately exclaimed “These are NICE !” With that, she put them on, plugged in her iPod Touch & didn’t take them off until I got home several hours later. This from a kid who’s favorite headphones are a purple pair of Knockoff Beats I bought at a flea market. They are MUCH better looking than the Samsons. The earcups are smaller & lower profile, and the headband is covered in a stylish black leatherette. There is a LARGE AudioTechnica logo across the top of them, but who’s going to be looking at the top of your head ?

As far as comfort goes, they are very comfortable, They are much lighter than the Samson’s, and as I said smaller. The ear pads are suitably soft & covered in the same leather like material as the headband. And while I doubt you could lie on your side comfortably with them on, they would be MORE comfortable than the Samson’s in that position.

As for build quality, they are REALLY light, which worries me a bit, but they seem very solid. The main structure is definitely metal and the wires are thick & well covered. The plugs also look a step up from your average headphone connector. While I am sure my kids would manage to break them eventually, I think they would last longer than your average headphone. And with me, they will be just fine.

Finally, lets talk sound. They sound AWESOME ! Really awesome. Much better than headphones at this price should sound. When I listened to the Samson’s the first time I knew they sounded better than my Koss’ … but not by a lot. These are OBVIOUSLY better. The bass response is better, and everything else is CRYSTAL CLEAR ! Just stunning. That being said, they are not as loud as the Samson’s which kinda surprised me since they are smaller & closed back. But because of the better bass & improvements across the full range of sound, I would definitely put these ahead of the Samson’s AND the Koss’ & I am sure ANYONE who heard them all side by side by side would agree.

Now there are a few negatives. Like I said they are smaller & Lighter than the Samson’s. And I was looking for something LARGER … so in that respect, they are going away from what I was looking for. And I still am surprised the Samsons are slightly louder. With the bigger size they should need more power to drive them properly. But since the M20’s have less sound leak than the SR850’s, this is really a non-issue.

And while they are very comfortable, after wearing them for a short time its clear that my ears are sweating in the M20’s where they were not in the SR850’s. Again, it may be because the latter are semi-open, but I think its because of the cloth covering on the SR850’s pads AND because they are bigger.

Overall, even with the negatives, I would recommend these over the Samson SR850’s w/o question. But, if that extra $15.00 means a lot to you, the Samson’s are still an EXCELLENT Choice. And they will probably be my choice, since once my son HEARS these. he will be wanting to trade me the Samson’s for them.

UPDATE: I have had these for just about 36 hours & I just had a perfect stranger come up to me & ask me if I liked them.l He obviously knew a lot more about headphones than I do & has much better equipment (a $170 pair of BeyerDynamics) but he was impressed with these especially at the price.

UPDATE to the UPDATE: I recently bought a Fiio E6 Headphone Amp & when my son comes home from College, I will try these out with the Amp. Considering how much they improved my Samson SR850’s (I would put that combination AHEAD of these now) I am sure they will sound even more awesome. However, I will NOT be buying that Amp for my son. If he wants one, he can buy it himself.

IN RESPONSE TO …. the two questions …. First off the Amp improves the M20’s as much as it improves the Samson SR850’s. The sound is cleaner, and I prefer using the degraded setting on the amp with increased volume on my source on these as well.

Second, as I said without the amp, these sound nearly as good as the Samson’s WITH the amp. So I feel I have done enough for my son in that respect. If he wants to UP the quality with the amp, that’s his choice. Just because I am not paying for it, doesn’t represent my feeling for him one way or another. Of maybe it does. Either way I feel secure in my role as a parent & the opinion of one crank won’t affect that.

I’m not a mega audiophile but wants some wired headphones so I could listen to my more challenging records without torturing my wife. These headphones are super comfortable and sound great attached to my Rega amp via the quarter inch adapter. I can listen at a low volume and really get the depth of the records super well. The cable is really long — I had to loop it and use a cable tie to keep it from going all over the place — which is really nice and would be great if you were using these with a floor standing desktop PC or something.

There’s no noise or crackle with these and the audio quality is nicely pure. I am sure there are better headphones but for listeing to rock vinyl these were exactly what I was looking for, and deliver great results for a good price.

They are not too heavy on my head, the ear pads feel good. I suspect there are not replacable but totally comfortable to wear for a couple hours.