Audio-Technica ATH-M20x Professional Studio Monitor Headphones, Black (AUD ATHM20X)

Looking for a budget friendly pair of headphones and don't care of wireless technology and ant to remain friends with your wallet? Well then your search has finished.I collect headphones since listening to music all day seems to be a requirement for my lungs to breath, o I can say I have try a lot of headphones through the years, and this headphones get it just right in a lot of ways.There is not such a thing as the "perfect pair of headphones", you should always keep this in mind if you are planing on going crazy with the headphones shopping or if you are just in the hunt for a new pair. Being this said, if your main interest is finding a well sounding-budget-friendly-headphones, this is juts for you.This are monitor headphones, so they are kinda meant or target for an audience working in music studios, which means that sound is very well balanced, bass is not overwhelming at all and I must say is not too strong either, but the overall sound of this headphones is just as clear as it can be! You will not find another pair of headphones this well balance and build for the price.Build quality on this things is pretty amazing too. My hands have never felt a so solid $40 pair of headphones before, my eyes have not seen this beautiful build on any other headphones in this price range, it's just beautiful.Being that said, they are not very stylish but don't have an ugly design either. They are mostly made of hard plastic (very durable feel plastic, like, very very durable feel; Like Fisher's price little baby's car type of feel) with the exception of the adjusters which are made of metal. The fit is very comfortable and they provide just a great sound isolation. They don't get hot or hurt your ears after long listening sessions (I use them 9hrs a day on an average,never had a problem with them) and sound isolation provides almost a sound cancellation quality as the one provided by my Sennheiser PXC 550s.Things to keep in mind:Sound quality is pretty flat, if you are into a more vibrant and bassy sound experience, I suggest checking the M40X instead or the M50X,Cord is not detachable, and this is pretty much the only I don't like from this headphones. Being able to detach the cable adds more convenience to the product, since this makes your headphones a little more durable, since they are easier to take care of and also make it easier to travel. In the headphones defense, the cord is super high quality, probably the best quality I've seen in a wired headphone before.However, since this headphones are meant for in studio listening, the cord is also super long, so if you are planing on using this headphones outside your PC set up or outside your house, you should really take this in consideration.VERDICT:If you want some very high quality budget friendly headphones, this is just the pair you need. This headphones are very well made, sound quality is clear and well balanced (lacking some bass :( ) and they are very suitable for long periods of use.If you want a more vibrant and bass heavy sound, but remain in budget, check the M40X instead or the M50X.And if you still want to remain on this price range, but need more bass for the price, check Skullcandy headphones, they have a lot of budget friendly and stylish headphones and most of them have a rich and powerful bass, though keep in mind their build quality is not the best and sound signature is not as balance as Audio Technica or Sennheiser.

I had a cheap set of headphones and recently got into voiceover/audiobook narration, but then the headphones broke. I'd already been thinking I needed better ones, but this forced my hand. I already had an AudioTechnica microphone and loved it, so I thought, why not get AT headphones? I hesitated a bit when I saw how much less they cost compared to some higher-priced famn dancy ones, but my experience with the mic persuaded me to click "buy now".Boy, am I glad I did. These are some nice ones. They fit great on my head. Very comfortable. They seal very nicely around my ears -- combine that with the great sound quality, and I'm very happy with them. They'll definitely be very useful for my work.If you don't have a ton of money to shell out for headphones, but still want quality, go with these bad boys.

UPDATE, BUILD QUALITY:Well, I'll be damned, its been exactly a year since I wrote this. It was pure luck that I checked my reviews today.Anyway, build quality.The M20xs I bought a year ago are still going strong, and I use them constantly when I am not on my computer. The cable is fine, the gold plating has worn off of the plug (that's normal after a lot of use), and the plastic doesn't appear to be worn. If I cleaned this thing very well, it would look brand new. However, not everything is in perfect condition, and that would be the padding.I started to notice after a while that the earcups were starting to feel harder and harder. As a sanity check, I took a look at my dad's m50xs to see if they were still soft, and they were (he doesn't use them that much anymore). I looked into it, and apparently, the fake rubber-leather stuff Audio Technica uses in their earcups slowly deteriorates over time by getting harder and eventually cracking due to the stress of cushioning. This is a result of constant contact with body oils (this is why my dad's pair is still soft). Thankfully, these are replaceable, but they are $25 for a pair, which is quite a bit. I got these headphones for $30 dollars while they were on sale, for perspective. There is also the chance that they use some cheaper earcups in the m20xs, which wouldn't surprise me. In which case, the replacement earcups for the m50xs could be considered an upgrade.What is more worrisome is the headband. Unlike the m50xs, which have a higher quality rubber on the headband, the headband on the m20xs is made out of the same material the earcups are. You can't replace it. Although its unlikely that the headband will get severely damaged from cracking since it doesn't exactly cushion, I can still see some dents in mine that don't go away.Other than that, these are still my favorite general purpose headphones, and I still recommend them. I'm on the edge of replacing the earcups though. If it does break at some point, I might aim for the m40xs due to the shorter cable options, better build quality/materials, and better sound. I'll give it two more years and see what happens to them.REVIEW:So, I have never been wealthy enough to own a good pair of headphones. Hearing about the constant praise of Audio-Technica, I decided to pick of their budget pair of monitors, the ATH-M20x. My father has a pair of their M40x or 50x, but I am pretty much not allowed to touch them. That's why I can't say which ones they are.As perspective and for comparison, the main headphones I used before these were the Sol-Republic v8 tracks, and I use a Logitech G230 gaming headset currently for my desktop.The song I tested between these headphones was Ocean Man by Ween, because of the formidable range in pitch. I also remembered the song the day I did this, so it was a bit nostalgic for me to listen to it again.SOUND QUALITY:Now, the first thing that struck me with these headphones was that the bass was much less compared to the other headphones. Now, this isn't a bad thing, because it let me focus on the other tracks in the song, such as the guitar and percussion, which became much brighter. This made the song sound much clearer than my other headphones, which lacked a little in mids and highs. My Sols overall had much more bass, but the rest of the frequencies seemed filtered out because of it. It's mostly the same story with my g230s, but the highs are much better than the sols. Realizing this, I finally figured out why I couldn't hear footsteps very well in the game Counter Strike Global Offensive, which encourages me to buy another pair of the M20x for my desktop, as well as a mic. The only real issue I have with the M20x at this point is that I cannot hear bass drums very well if they aren't mixed loud enough, which is disappointing, as percussion is one of the most important factors in music to me. Overall, these have generally amazing performance in the audio range, despite the bass seeming only a tad bit weaker than it should be. If they boosted up a tiny bit, I would be satisfied. Not worth to take a star off however, especially for the price.Another thing to note is that these headphones are higher in impedance than normal, so I have to near max out my volume on my phone to get somewhere acceptable to me. This isn't a problem, but I'm afraid I may get some distortion in some songs. This is also sad, as I use a separate Creative Zen audio player for my high quality CD rips, which don't go as loud as my phone, making it essentially useless. They also don't really like to plug into my phone with the case on, so I have to jam it in the jack and hope it doesn't spring out. This is along with the other problem with my audio jack, which is that they always think I'm using an inline mic unless I unplug and re-plug and hope they see them as regular headphones. If it doesn't, then bumping the cord can cause google to start voice detecting, which is very annoying, as well as randomly pausing and playing a song. To reinforce it, this is a problem with my PHONE, not the plug. This is more of a me problem, however, they still have issues being plugged into a phone with a case. Making the end coned and the adapter it comes with internally coned would solve this problem.BUILD QUALITY:Now, one of main reasons why I bought a g230 was because they are very well built, and could take multiple falls off of my desk. Same goes for the Sols, which are pretty much designed like a tank due to the super strong headband and hard but not brittle plastic. The M20x however, seems like it would need a bit more care with the headband, since it is not topped with plastic. I usually just throw my Sols into my backpack everyday, because it can handle it. These will need a bit of extra attention to not tear up the foam on the headband. I tried buying a hard case from Caseling, but the description lied to me and said that these headphones would fit. They didn't, and now I have to return it as soon as possible to get my 13 bucks back. They do fit my dad's well though because they fold, and is a pretty good case. Otherwise, the ABS plastic is nice on the drivers making them strong, and the headband has spring steel metal in it. There are no visible defects anywhere, not even unmixed plastics or rough spots on the foam. This is fairly impressive for a product made in Taiwan. Another thing I would have liked would be to color the logo inset on the sides of the drivers, it would make it easier to see. I assume this is to differentiate different models.Now, the cord I have a bit of an issue with. The cord itself is very nice; it's well insulated and flexible. The jack is nice too, it appears gold plated and has a nice bend protector. The issue I have is that it's way to freaking long, at a staggering 3 meters. This may be a good thing for some people, but I am going to be walking around with these. I have to coil up the wire (thank god for that insulation) and put a cable management strip on it to shorten it. Now, there is a good 4 inch diameter coil in my pocket that is 1/2 an inch thick, and is VERY annoying. If they could have at least shortened it to maybe 1 meter, I would not be writing this. This is worth a star for me, so off it goes. Despite this, the cable has to be one of the best impeding headphone cables I have encountered, keeping out eddy currents very well, which would cause distortion with the huge coil I have to lug around. A good way to test if a cable is well insulated or not is to try and use the cable as a stylus on a touch screen. If the screen reacts in any way while playing music, the cable has failed the test. No matter how I tried, looping it, squishing it against the screen, it would not be detected. That is a good sign for a good cable, as no electrical fields are going through that thing. As a solution to the coil, I may do some research on the internals of the cord, and shorten it myself. If you are also hateful of this issue, the better ATH models have interchangeable cables that can be much shorter. To me, it isn't worth it to pay 30 to 40 extra dollars for that feature.COMFORT:So, my g230s are a very comfortable pair of headphones for me to wear, as they are over ears. My Sols on the other hand are on ear, which was a huge issue to me when I bought them. It's not that they were uncomfortable, but it was because of an odd problem I have with my right ear. My ear canals are extremely small, so I can't use earbuds, which is really my main reason of buying full on headphones. In this case, the Sols would squeeze my right ear shut! There would be no music to my right ear unless I physically held the driver, and stretched my ear a bit. Now, the M20x are also over ear, so that's great for me. It's actually the main reason why I bought these, I wanted a nice pair of over ears that would not impede my hearing. Not only this, I would say they fit even better than my g230s due to the many degrees of freedom, so I am extremely happy here. My issue was solved due to these headphones. The actual foam the headphones use is nice, definitely on the drivers. The headband foam on top is durable and a bit stiff, but not noticeable. The bottom foam seems the same as the drivers, so no problem there. All of the foam seems to be wrapped in a thin fake leather material, and it feels nice. My g230s are just wrapped in perforated fabric, which makes it a tad itchy.MY OWN JUDGEMENT:Now, because I like nice things, I want it obvious what I'm using is nice and worth it. I like to make a statement, so I buy things that fall under these categories:1. Looks cool2. Does it's job well3. Lasts a long timeSo, for it looking cool, I would say "eh." As I previously stated, the logo isn't painted in, so they just look like headphones from afar. My Sols on the other hand, look 100% sweet, with it's circular drivers, solid looking headband, minimalist logo, and shiny plating (that wore off around the edges of the drivers, sadly). These don't have that aesthetic I'm looking for, but they do look like monitors, which kind of makes up for it. To me, they just look intermediate, not pro.For doing the job well, that is a definite yes. The cool factor to me can immediately be vetoed in the case that something works like a well oiled machine. This is that case. They just sound good, and anyone who would borrow these would tell. My sols aren't that good sounding, and my g230 is okay, so these are technically the best headphones I own at the moment. A case where this wouldn't be true would be Beats by Dre. Yes, the headphones look very nice, iconic even. Despite this, they pretty much are just a step up from those 5 dollar Koss headphones you buy at drug stores when you have nothing else to use (those headphones are very good for the price though, so I like them for that).I don't know for certain yet if these will last a long time. This is another factor that directly goes with doing the job well, as having these factors multiply each other makes for a godly product. My Sols and g230s definitely fall under this category, as they have both lasted me 2 years. The Sols are almost done for, however, as the right driver's plastic cone buzzes on certain frequencies. The g230s look literally brand new and haven't degraded audio wise, so they have served me well, and will keep doing so. Beats by Dre also do not fall under this factor, as they must be treated like kings, or either they will shatter the moment you look at them (an anecdote from a friend). Because it misses the two most important factors, Beats headphones are useless to me, especially with the price they ask for. I will have to live with the M20xs for a while to see how well they do with this factor, and I am predicting another strong yes. And even if they only last me a couple months, they are still only $30, an amazing price for what these headphones are. One thing I realized that may break them is extending the drivers over and over again. The metal tracks that are attached to them go in and out of the headband, and you can feel them moving inside through the foam. You can even pinch it and make it really hard to move it (annoying sometimes), which means they aren't encased in anything. This leads me to predict that at some point, they will poke through the band. Because of this, I will not shorten them every time I stow them away. Someone posted a picture that looked like this happened to them, so I will watch out.OVERALL:These are an amazing pair of headphones that meet many of my quality standards, as I am a bit of a snob. They sound great, but bass drums can be too quiet or hard to distinguish. They are made very well, despite the freaking long cable and too thick of an end for the jack. They are very comfortable, and solved the issues I had with other headphones I owned. They succeed my personal checklist, but I will need to test for durability. So, as a final statement: if you are on a budget and want nice over ears for sitting down and listening to music, pick up a pair of ATH-M20X headphones. If you have more money, shoot for the M40x or m50x if you want to walk around or need better quality. I am pretty satisfied despite my current situation, so I hope you can enjoy these headphones more than me.

Great sound for everyday, casual use. Since I’m not producing or mixing professional recordings - these do just fine. Very comfortable and sturdy. At this price, they seem to punch above their weight class. I’ve purchased other Amazon suggested headphones, from well-known brands, at a premium price and these have outlasted those by a mile.If you’re just listening to some music while you do work on your laptop or watching some videos and want some privacy - these will do just fine. Give them a try.