Back in February of this year, Audio Technica released a followup to their wildly popular Audio Technica ATH-M50 headphones, now labelled the ATH-M50x. About a month ago I caved and decided to get a pair expressly for the purpose of figuring out what has changed. With that, let's get started.
Both the M50 and M50x are closed back over ear headphones, that much has not changed. In fact, overall, the sound and design are really quite similar. So what has changed? First, the M50x has a removable cable, which is awesome. In the box, it comes with three different length cables and the addition of having a removable cable is really quite great. Second, the pads on the M50x are initially more comfortable and less stiff than the original M50's ear pads. After extended wearing though, they both feel about the same. The carrying case that comes with the headphones is the same as before. That pretty much sums up the external differences. Let's move onto the sound.
Sound wise, both the M50 and M50x are very, very similar, as you would expect of the new version of a pair of headphones. The most noticeable change however, is the treatment of the bass between the two headphones. The M50x have a noticeable bass bump over the M50. In general, it's still within good levels and doesn't affect most music too much. When it comes to quality of bass, both are quite good. The M50x's bass hits a bit harder and has more volume, but at the same time it takes up more space and in particular cases that can be a detriment, most noticeably in already bassy music. However, if you like your bass, the M50x is probably more of your cup of tea. For me personally, having the bass take up more space ends up being more fatiguing and as such, for that reason I'd give it to the M50. That said, there is more detail in the bass range, especially down in the low bass where the volume can make a big difference in highlighting the detail.
Moving onto the mids, I tend to favor the M50 over the M50x. Part of this does have to do with the M50x having more bass. In situations where the bass bleeds into the mids, the mids sound more recessed and less interesting. In general, this doesn't happen all that often, but when it does there just seems to be something lacking. More pressing for me, is the apparent loss in fine detail that the M50x has in particular sections of the mids. As a cellist, I always listen to cello passages (usually one of the Bach Cello Suites, more specifically 5, or Elgar's Cello Concerto in E minor) to determine how detailed and precise headphones are. My thoughts on that are that I know, quite intimately, what a cello sounds like and headphones that reproduce that sound more clearly have more realistic detail. The M50x loses a bit of depth in certain areas when listening to these types of passages. The particular differences I found were that the M50x favors the lower end of the cello to a fault. While the lower end is very rich and full, it's also out of place and the middle to higher ranges of the cello sound anemic in comparison.
Going to the highs, they're very similar. I personally hear a bit more shine on the top end of the M50 over the M50x which could easily also be due to the change in bass. There's not really too much to be said here.
Moving onto a very minor issue with the M50x is what is known as poor driver matching. At least with my pair of M50x, there is a particular frequency range that favors the right side somewhat. In practice, this can make some things sound off center, but for the most part it's so slight that it's easy to ignore. However, it is an issue that can be noticed at times, most notably with some female singers.
As a note, I noticed more of the bass related issues when I first got my pair of M50x. After a lot of burning in, the bass is more relaxed and more similar to the M50, though still with a slight bass bump.
Overall, the M50x does a pretty great job at taking over for the M50. The removable cables are great and are a fantastic addition to already portable headphones. The sound related issues are either minor or will likely be sorted out in the future. The only question left is, are the M50x worth $170 vs the M50 which currently goes for as low as $130 and has previously been as low as $105? To that, I'd say no. The M50 is the better deal at the current moment, but when or if the time comes that the M50x is the only option, it is most definitely a worthy one. Until next time.
--CsMiREK
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