Audio-Technica ATH-M50xBT

Fine sounds with full freedom

- Alex Cox

THERE ARE FUNCTIONAL headphones, and then there are experience headphones. Let’s not skirt around the subject for any longer than necessary: With the ATHM50xBT, Audio-Technica delivers exactly the kind of sound stage you’d expect a company like that to deliver, and it does it hard. This is a set of brash closed back cans that well and truly thumps through music, seemingly throwing impact straight down through your spine when you push the decibels up, literally throbbing along with the bass end. But where some bass-heavy cans allow that ketchupy low end to smother the highend fries, A-T knows there’s a balance to be found, and the company has dipped the M50 drivers in just the right amount of sauce. Highs fizz, and mids stand out if you go looking for them, even when the driving frequencies start to go low.