ATH-M60X On-Ear Closed-Back Dynamic Professional Studio Monitor Headphones Black

These are in between analytical and mainstream bass heavy headphones you find in stores, it sounds amazing for the average human or casual enthusiast alike if you appreciate clarity with decent bass, though don't expect too much soundstage and really sharp highs. I'd still say it's easily above average for most closed backs. These headphones are great all rounders, they can be used for pretty much anything from gaming, media consumption, monitoring, and music especially, although they might not be the absolute best at any of them. If you get these, or any over ear headphones just make sure to experiment on the placement of where the pads rest because at first I literally placed them on top of my ears and it hurt a hell of lot but then I moved them slightly back, to where more than half of the pads surface touch my skull and it made a world difference in comfort. My only gripe about these is that their practically isn't really there for the amount you paid, they don't fold and even though the matte plastics feel nice they're questionable since they're plastics however, it's a neutral characteristic since it makes the headphones really light. I do recommend them for any starters looking for headphones around this price point but it would feel more appropriate if they were a bit cheaper like $180 or below.

First the Good (Sound): These have a nice soft u-shaped sound signature to my ear. Bass has just enough impact to not overpower the rest. Imaging is really where these shine for me; to the point of giving me asmr-like sensations on songs I've never had that before. Not the widest sound stage, but still good enough to get the imaging across really well. I imagine like an astronauts helmet worth of soundstage, but the imaging on that orb is just pin accurate. Mids are slightly diminshed compared to my m40xs and SHP9500s, but still nice and palpable. The "Bad" (Comfort): This isn't necessarily bad, considering it's going to depend on your ear and head shape, but these are pretty small cups, meaning if you have medium to large ears, these will be on ear headphones. I have small ears that just barely fit in these perfectly so don't have a comfort issue, thankfully. After long listening sessions (3-4 hours) I get a bit of fatigue from my glasses, but nothing to painful. I did get a hotspot of pressure on the very top of my head the first day I had these, but I adjusted my fit and started wearing these a bit tighter and now have no issues there. Basically, If you have small ears and don't wear glasses these will be completely comfortable. Otherwise you might want to try them on somehow before a purchase. The Ugly: They're not the most stylish, kind of a utilitarian look with the exposed wire and plain matte black. This is not a negative for me since I'm kind of a minimalist and they're less likely to catch someones attention and get stolen. They're a bit wide on the head, but I don't mind. Conclusion: I still gave these 5 stars, despite a few gripes with comfort and their lack of folding for one reason: the sound. These really are great sounding cans that can do it all. I have yet to find a genre in which these don't sound pleasing and am willing to sacrifice a couple creature comforts for that.

The first On-Ear from the lauded ATH-M line? Yeah, I was curious immediately about these headphones. I don't generally go for portable headphones because my ears can accomodate IEMs, but... To get such glowing praise from THE ZeosPantera, well, let's say I held out for a while, but eventually my curiosity got the better of me. TL;DR - An on-ear monitoring headphone that's also decent for just listening. Interesting sound field effect. Not perfectly neutral, but detailed enough. Not super comfortable IMO, but good enough. *Disclaimer* - Purchased these for myself because I was interested. No one has asked or otherwise tried to influence this review. Hearing, as well as ear, and head shape is extremely subjective, so please take any sound and/or comfort impressions as statements of subjective opinion and NOT objective fact. Lastly, my ears are not a universal standard, I haven't heard everything ever, and I am human and make mistakes. Packaging & Accessories - It's pretty standard Audio Technica fare. The headphones are presented in a molded cardboard runner when you open the box. Cables are underneath. You get 3: a 4ft straight, a 10ft straight, and a 10ft coiled. They're also compatible with M40x/M50x cables, and the M60x cables are also compatible with the 40/50. You get a screw-on 1/4" adapter as well for either of the long cables. All cables terminated in 3.5mm SE. There is also a standard Audio Technica branded leatherette draw-string carry bag included. Build, Features, & Comfort - It's a mostly plastic build, sliders are metal though. There's some rubber on the end of the sliders to keep them captive, the rubber pads also serve to keep the in place when it's on your head. There are also some lines, and subtle bumps in the slider adjustment so you can keep them even. The top of the headband is padded, though not enough for me. There are cables coming from the headband into the cups, since they're loose, it raises longevity concerns if they get caught on something. There is also a dB limiting aparatus in the top of the left earcup. They don't fold, or lay flat, but they do have a slight pivot at the gimbles to fit more head variations. The pads are thick and use some type of slow(er) rebound foam. While I don't hate the pads, I wear glasses, and in general, on-ears can pinch the wings between your ears and skull, which just isn't comfortable over time. Subjectively, I can't wear them any longer than a few hours. While that's probably plenty of time for some in-the-field mastering/mixing, I wouldn't want them as my only headphones on a long car trip. Sound - It's good? It's not too sharp for me but is still detailed well, midrange is clear and doesn't seem forward or stepped back to me, and bass extends deeper than I expected. Like, there's some actual subbass, as long as you can get a decent seal. However, I don't think it's neutral like an HD 600 is, nor do they seem to follow a target curve, other than A-T's own. One thing I do have to admit, the M60x does have a unique sound-field effect. I think Zeos described it well; almost like you're in a gel-filled room. It's not "natural" to my ears, but it IS quite a pleasant effect, and it's definitely different. Personally, it's one of my favorite aspects about the sound. Conclusions - These don't replace anything I currently own, they fit into their own special niche of portable closed backs. I've gone back and forth between these and the Cooler Master MH-752, Sony MDR-1A, and ATH-M40x. None of those are on-ears, but they are all more comfortable, and just as easy to drive. Personally, I've driven them loud and well enough for me from a Shanling M0. That said, I wouldn't trade any of my over-ears for these, nor would I trade any of my in-ears for these. As someone who wears glasses, the comfort just isn't there. When I remove my glasses, I can get another hour or so (for a max of 3ish hours) of wearing them before I'm constantly repositioning them on my ears. The sound, as I said and hope came accross above, is decent. It's about what I'd expect for a closed back in the $150-$200 price range, given what I've heard before. They're definitely a step above most on-ears I've heard in terms of resolution and tonal balance, as well as comfort, but they're still not prize-winners in any category. They're not as neutral or resolving as HD 600, not as comfortable as most over-ears, and not as portable as, even the Cooler Master MH-752, and an interesting sound field can't save them. At the price, I think there's better out there. At ~$150, I think they're a decent deal, but at $200, I don't think they're worth it if you're not getting them for work. However, I'm not the target consumer of these. They're monitoring headphones for people that need durable, efficient, light, small cans that they can stuff into a gear-bag, drag into the field, and the monitor for brief periods. They're overall design isn't really conducive to pure music enjoyment, and while they never got too sharp for me, I'm sure some folks find the treble peaky. The fact is though, that you CAN use them for music enjoyment on the go for the same reasons that make them good for field-work. And again, they do have an interesting sound field... They're the perfect poster-child for "Decent" or "Good Enough." They're not amazing, but they're not anywhere near bad, either. *This is a modified version of my original review. Slight variations, removed some unnecessary wording, cleaned up syntax, saved some space, etc. Still like 'em well enough, but On-Ears aren't for everyone.

ATH M60X. I am enjoying these headphones virtually out of the box. The sound signature began to come into focus after an hour of playtime. I listen to a lot of Classic Tracks by the Beatles and others. As well as all kinds of blues and jazz. Electric and Acoustic. I use a couple of sources. High quality streaming from Apple, Spotify, Amazon, and XM Radio. As well as cd listening through my laptop using a Cobalt dac plugged into a Yamaha RPU 100 and a really nice Headroom Supreme headphone amp. Or just direct into an Ipad. I have a variety of good headphones. Grado, Senns, Sony, Beyers, Audio Tech’s Koss, so I have a good idea what’s available sound reproduction wise in the headphone area. The Ath M60x have a very good detail retrieval ability and just as good an ability to place the instruments in their proper place in the mix of songs. More importantly the ATH M60X allows me to really hear the musician playing their instruments note to note. I am hearing bass notes that Paul plays in Martha My Dear from the White Album as an example, that I never realized were played prior to hearing the song through the ATH M60x. Pretty amazing. I’m not over emphasizing this. It was a revelation from songs I have heard hundreds of times. Very similar to the Grado ability to retrieve details. More realistic. And I thought I knew everything about these songs. Ha. Wrong! I hear lower register notes in songs. Vocals on male singers sound realistic. Drumming was realistic in Carry That Weight by the Beatles. John Lennon singing Across The Universe was mesmerizing. Details abound on John’s tone and breathing. John explaining that his hands were so cold on the rooftop that it was effecting his ability to play chords! I don’t remember picking that up before listening with the ATH m60x. I wholeheartedly recommend the M60x.

I am very impressed with these. For reference I own: Sennheiser HD650, Beyerdynamic DT770pro, Audio-Technica M50x, Sony WH1000XM2, Koss Porta Pro, Phillips Fidelio X2, Audio-Technica ATH-WS99BT and more... Buy these if: 1. You wear glasses. The "seal" needed for an over-ear vs these on-ear is no longer a factor. 2. You play or enjoy "Electric Bass", Cello -NOT- to be confused for basshead/dubstep (see Con) 3. You are a Prog-Rocker. 4. You are a Rush fan. I actually enjoy these over my 650x here, especially for Geddy. Neil "punches" to the top of the mix too. 5. You want another set of reference cans for Mixing audio (Garageband, Logic, DAW of choice). [once you understand these, they can be valuable for mixing] 6. Want grab and go cans for the bus, coffee shop, etc... The strange thing is, if I was doing a blind test of these I would almost say Planar and sonically they reminded me most of a Fostex T50! (a good thing). I play bass guitar, so my ears listen for 'articulate' bass, not bass 'boom' like Beats... Also, I tune into drummers as a result. For me these are now at the top of my list because I 'lock' in with the bass and drums. These headphones are "punchy", fast. Jazz was no issue either. "Take 5" sounded great. Finally, the sound stage, to me was better than my X2 open backs. Impressive sound stage. Cons: -Guitars ~can~ sound thin, depending on the recording. -Although they do great with Prog-Rock, they struggled with Heavy Metal (guitar driven). I probably would not reach for these for a Metallica session. -Did NOT impress me with DeadMaus style electronica or Dubstep stuff. Final thoughts, as an M50X owner, they are NOT simply on-ear M50x's despite using the same driver. These are more like the best of the M40X & M50X combined. These should allow for longer, more relaxed, listening than the M50x.

I wanted these to be amazing. I wanted these to warrant spending $200. I really really did. Sadly, that didn't happen (for me). To start I think it's worth it to say that my daily driver is the ATH-M40X (I think that might be true for a good number of you OR you are deciding between the 40X or 60X) and so I went into these headphones with that kind of ear. Let's start with the overall listening experience. I think this is what these headphones do really well and is ARGUABLY the most important part of headphones. I really did thoroughly enjoy listening to music with these. A nice warm sound that I would agree as feeling natural. Now to be clear, that does not mean neutral. They are natural. To describe the listening experience in three words, I'd say warm, natural, and airy. The sound stage is pretty good, especially for closed back, but by no means is it WIDE. I'd say a bit wider than the 40Xs. Where these really shine is in the imaging and it's kind of hard to describe. The sounds filled my head in a way I hadn't really experienced. It was really easy to feel like I wasn't wearing headphones (in part because of comfort but more on that later). The sounds effortlessly exist in my head and it feels like a space. I love how these sound for music. Videos, shows, and movies not as much. Whether it's the nature of how these mediums are mixed or mastered or compression I don't know but what was nice natural warmth for music becomes muddy for videos/dialogue. Where I have to deduct a star here is in its label. I would not classify these as studio monitors, for reasons listed above but in short, due to the mid to low-mid warmth. The fact is these change how songs sound, but in a way that is really enjoyable to listen to but would drive me mad if I needed to actual monitor a mix. How about build and comfort. I like the look of these headphones quite a bit but the design is questionable and is responsible for one of the star losses. I don't think it's acceptable for "portable" $200 cans to not be fold-able or even able to swivel to lay flat. While these are small and light, they aren't small enough to fit into any bag for going on the move. So it really loses the portable aspect to me. However, where these are really good is in the comfort department. Super light and those pads though. Easily the most comfortable on ear headphones you could hope to get. They almost don't even feel like on ear. ------ tl;dr ------- These are (PROBABLY) the best on ears you can fin, to the point where these are almost a classification all their own. However, while the things these do well they do REALLY well, they are not worth the price tag for a few reasons. Pros - Warm and natural sound that make listening to music a joy. - Imaging is insanely good, placing you in a SPACE - Very comfortable thanks to it being so light and the pads acting like ear pillows. Cons - Are not as portable as they are seen to be. Limited by no type of folding. - Listening to videos sounds off. - Are not monitors as proposed. If these were even $150 I'd have less of a hard time justifying the purchase but $200 is just a bit of a stretch to me, especially with its design quirks. If these are ever in the $120-150 range I'd heavily reconsider getting these again.

I am just beginning to dabble in hi-fi, but have a history in music and know what I am listening for. I also almost never bother to write Amazon reviews, but these are above and beyond. I bought these first, planning to buy an amp or an amp/dac afterwords since I couldn't decide. I also bought these figuring they'll be great on an amp at my desk, but still be driven to reasonable levels with my iPhone XS on the go. They can be driven to uncomfortable levels by the phone (albeit not the hands-down best audiophile quality, but very enjoyable). MacBook Pro sounds even better, but I will still buy some upgraded equipment for them. I am more used to around ear type headphones, but these are very comfortable despite being on ear. No problems after several hours of use, but if around ear is 10/10, these would be 9/10. As many reviewers state, the way the sound is presented is incredible for a closed back headphone by the way. Close your eyes, grab a high quality track, and just become lost in wherever it takes you (should mention I purchased these for pleasure, not professional monitoring or anything).

These sound worse than the previous model I've owned for six years that has blown speakers. And they're less comfortable.