Are these decent headphones?

Cromulent

Cromulent

Cromulent

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I recently bought some headphones but I'm a bit worried they might be rubbish. I got the Audio Technica ATH-M50X headphones. Can anyone let me know what they think about them?
 
I have had these for a year or so. I am no audipophile, I'd say they're certainly not professional level quality but I have found them to be pretty decent. They fold up pretty compact too which is what I needed as they get used as my "portable" set.

What I did find with them, particualrly when using them with a phone, that using a 3rd party equaliser made a huge difference to the dynamics of the sound. Just pugging them in and hitting play, they were quite flat.
 
Mcnumpty2323 said:
Main thing is
How do they sound to you?
Doesn't really matter what others think
Of them you're the one using them
After all:)
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I was going to say this. If you have already bought them and they sound good to you, why does it matter on others opinions. I have some HD650s and some DT770 250ohms that I use for different things. Both sound very different from each other but great in their own way to my ears. Others may knock either or both pairs, but hey they are mine.
 
Cromulent said:
I recently bought some headphones but I'm a bit worried they might be rubbish. I got the Audio Technica ATH-M50X headphones. Can anyone let me know what they think about them?
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Overpriced and average at best.

Different headphones suit different needs. It's why I own about 10 pairs. Your usage would be helpful in identifying the best for you.
 
I had these for a few years and thought they sounded decent to my ears but i am no audio expert, then i recently bought some Philips fidelio X2HR and much prefer how these sound.
 
BMox81 said:

Old Marques seems to think they're ok.
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He is clueless though. He also gets sent them for free. Jack of all trades master of none.

He doesn't really know what good headphones or sound is. I made that comment to him after he reviewed these the first time around.

Much better options available for the money or cheaper.
 
Cromulent said:
I'm all ears (sorry).

Honestly, I'd like to get into decent sound as I listen to a lot of music but I have no idea what to look for. Budget is about £100 (can go up if really needed).
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For what use though?

All rounders? Gaming - Single immersive or online competitive? Portable?

DO they need to be closed or can they be open?

I can't help you unless you tell me the exact use or various uses.
 
Psycho Sonny said:
For what use though?

All rounders? Gaming - Single immersive or online competitive? Portable?

DO they need to be closed or can they be open?

I can't help you unless you tell me the exact use or various uses.
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Sorry,

Music (mainly metal, pop and baroque). Closed would be good as I am in a noisy area. I wouldn't mind gaming with them on but only casually. I'd much rather they be good for music and poor for gaming than the other way around.

Edit: Portable would be cool but again not needed.
 
M50's are a nice value headphone. Never used them for gaming myself as i use open backs for that. I'd say for guitars there are probably better, but for electronic, awesome at £100. A good source helps a lot, but even without they are good for bass lovers. The bass is very quick, impactfull. I feel their weakness is in the vocals. The earcups are warm after long use, but they are very comfy, and as mentioned fold up nicely and feel decent quality and strong.

At the end if the day, £100 doesn't get you much. It gets you enough, but your source material (dac, and file quality) will always come into play.

You may find you prefer the sound of even Bose for example, it's all subjective. I still have my M50's as for the sake of a few quid when selling, i may as well keep them as they're enjoyable.
 
Cromulent said:
Sorry,

Music (mainly metal, pop and baroque). Closed would be good as I am in a noisy area. I wouldn't mind gaming with them on but only casually. I'd much rather they be good for music and poor for gaming than the other way around.

Edit: Portable would be cool but again not needed.
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Well all I can say is closed headphones sound like garbage compared to open they are so limited. So if you must go closed something like DT770's is a good start from beyerdynamic. They are £89 to £93.

Open then you have Phillips Fidelio X2's they are the perfect all rounders.

https://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/philips-fidelio-x2hr-headphones-9999-at-amazon-3399541

They are regularly £99 on amazon when on sale.

If you have a decent amp and DAC then AKG K702's are very good too they are £99 currently and once had an RRP of £600 and they were £300 on amazon when I bought mine so £99 isn't a price to be sniffed at. These are pretty much end game headphones for competitive gaming and sound separation. Very good for your genres of music. The fidelio X2's are easier to drive and more fun and have more bass but the K702's can be port modded for extra bass which involves removing a sticker from inside them.

beyerdynamic DT 990 PRO - currently £89 too.

all of these headphones are significantly better than M50's and around £100

I would say the Fidelios are the best all rounders however they when comparing audio fidelity cannot match the others apart from say DT770's since they are fully closed.

DT990's i think are semi closed so could be a good shout. the comfort on them is on another level.


if you want to do your own research go look at these forums.

https://www.head-fi.org/forums/

they are the best for headphones
 
The_Arbiter said:
M50's are a nice value headphone. Never used them for gaming myself as i use open backs for that. I'd say for guitars there are probably better, but for electronic, awesome at £100. A good source helps a lot, but even without they are good for bass lovers. The bass is very quick, impactfull. I feel their weakness is in the vocals. The earcups are warm after long use, but they are very comfy, and as mentioned fold up nicely and feel decent quality and strong.

At the end if the day, £100 doesn't get you much. It gets you enough, but your source material (dac, and file quality) will always come into play.

You may find you prefer the sound of even Bose for example, it's all subjective. I still have my M50's as for the sake of a few quid when selling, i may as well keep them as they're enjoyable.
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£100 can get you the best headphones ever made for gaming. £100 is enough for K702's which are end game for a lot of music genres too. see my post above. saying £100 doesn't get you much is completely false. in terms of headphones. the max you should be spending is £100-£300 IMO. with there being no major difference in quality after. I mean I'm willing to put my £100 headphones up against anything costing up to £2K. Headphones if you buy right you would be surprised.

I own HD700's which are £600 headphones for example. I still prefer the AKG's
 
I prefer 990 premiums over k702s for gaming and many music genres, i'd agree k702 has bigger soundstage.

OP would prefer closed back for music, and said casual gaming. The k702's aren't the perfect fit here imo. DT770 yeah a good suggestion for sure i'd agree. But the M50's are a nice headphone, otherwise i'd not still own mine.

Saying the k702 can compete with HD700 i'm not sure, HD800, no chance, those are great cans. >£1000 headphones are stella, whether people find them worth the money is another question, but the ones i've tried have blown any sub £200 phones out of the water.

But that's audio for you. Some like Sennheiser darkness, others like Beyer brightness.
 
The_Arbiter said:
I prefer 990 premiums over k702s for gaming and many music genres, i'd agree k702 has bigger soundstage.

OP would prefer closed back for music, and said casual gaming. The k702's aren't the perfect fit here imo. DT770 yeah a good suggestion for sure i'd agree. But the M50's are a nice headphone, otherwise i'd not still own mine.

Saying the k702 can compete with HD700 i'm not sure, HD800, no chance, those are great cans. >£1000 headphones are stella, whether people find them worth the money is another question, but the ones i've tried have blown any sub £200 phones out of the water.

But that's audio for you. Some like Sennheiser darkness, others like Beyer brightness.
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In terms of gaming then yeah they beat anything out there and for only £100.

Im considering selling my hd600's however ri need to a/b against the hd700 and see what suits my needs better.

For his budget he can get very good cans. To say £100 only buys rubbish is wrong. He can get top end quality with that budget.

I've owned hifiman also in the past again every high end headphone I tried didn't warrant the price.

My top 3 picks are

AKG K702
Fidelio x2
Dt770

All of them I would class as high end apart from x2 they are more all rounders Jack of all trades master of none.
 
Headphone are some thing. Driving them is the second.

it depends on the headphone as each headphone will have different resistance over frequency. Most are grouped as high and low resistance. Also headphones like the AKG have different models - some high and some lower - my simple 240mkII are 55ohm but others are far higher. Just make sure the device is happy driving harder loads (high ohm) as most portable devices prefer driving low ohm headphones.
 
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