Audio-Technica ATH-M30 Professional Studio Monitor Closed-back Dynamic Stereo Headphones

Up front, plain and simple, the Audio-Technica ATH-M30 headphones are a steal for what Amazon is charging. As of this writing, they're a hair over $40.00, and they're worth every penny. Despite all the gushing I'm about to do here, I'm giving these a 4-star review based on the idea that these are a real bargain for the price but you can, for four times the price, buy cans that put these to shame. That's the short version of this review, but if you more details, read on.For your edification, I'm a 30-year-old male. I've spent a lot of my life listening to different music, from classical to rap to jazz, but I've listened the most to 1970's and 1980's-style guitar-heavy rock (think Van Halen, Joe Satriani, Rush). I also thoroughly enjoy Radiohead and Ben Folds, and I've been going through a dubstep phase of late.Frankly, I have limited experience in high-quality headphones, but I can tell you what I've stacked these M30's up against in the last few days and how I think they compare:1) Versus cheap Sansa earbuds that came with a low-end MP3 player: There is no comparison. Not in the same class, not on the same planet, not in the same universe. The earbuds are an utter joke compared the M30's, and it is these very M30's that caused me to throw away my earbuds last night. I refuse to go back to them after listening to the M30's.2) Versus  Panasonic RPHJE120K In-Ear Headphone, Black : You might be saying, "but you need ear buds for their form factor in some situations." Not after trying these in-ear headphones, you don't. For around 7 dollars, these are pretty solid. With some EQ to bring up the bass frequencies, these are really nice for the price. I don't think I would ever go back to regular earbuds after hearing these, but, still they sound very "flat" in the mid- and high-frequency ranges and lack brightness, but for what they are I am really impressed with them. Perfect for the treadmill or mowing the lawn (please wear over-hear projection on top of these if you mow in them).3) Versus  Panasonic RP-HTX7-W1 Stereo Headphones -White : It starts to get interesting here. I just bought these Panasonic's a couple weeks ago. I was trying to find my first pair of acceptably good headphones because I'd never owned headphones much better than what came with a Sony Discman. I've loved music my whole life, and somehow my cheapness had gotten the best of me; I finally realized it was worth spending more than $10 on a pair of headphones that would sound fuller, reproduce music more accurately, and hopefully last more than a couple months.I did a lot of research and found the RP-HTX7 had a LOT of VERY positive reviews, so I chose them over the Sennheiser HD202's, which are very highly regarded for the price at just a few dollars less than these Panasonics.I was concerned that the fashionable look of the RP-HTX7 was at the expense of sound quality, and, sure enough, this was one of the few times Amazon Reviews have failed me. Compared to your standard cheap ear buds, these Panasonics are a good upgrade. With a LOT of added bass from an equalizer, these are actually pretty good. They do have good clarity in the high-mids, but the highest highs are a little on the tinny side. Unfortunately, I don't intend to run EQ on everything I listen to through my headphones, and with no equalizer these Panasonics just have no warmth at all and are very low on the bass side.The ATH-M30 has a monstrous leg up over the RP-HTX7 in sound quality for an upgrade of less than $10. The M30's have strong bass that hits pretty hard for the price, and with EQ the bass can be made ridiculously strong. There is just a tiny bit of added clarity that the Panasonic's have in the mid-highs over the M30's but it's not enough to detract in this price range.In terms of comfort, the RP-HTX7 is below average to poor. The ear cover padding is dense and unforgiving and the rubber creates a nearly airtight seal with the side of my head. Within minutes, my ears are hot and sweaty. The M30's immediately feel like a better build, and the padding and fabric are less firm and cooler than the RP-HTX7's.If you care about the look, consider buying the RP-HTX7. They used to sell for $60-$80 and now they go for around $30; that should tell you something.But if you truly care about sound quality, you won't buy the Panasonic RP-HTX7. You'll buy something else in the price range that actually sounds good. For about $10 extra, these M30's fit that bill perfectly, but I would try to get my hands on some Sennheiser HD202's first (and hopefully some others, too) for your comparison before you commit to a particular set. Personally, I'll be returning my RP-HTX7's in favor of the M30's.4) Versus  Beats Studio Over-Ear Headphone (Black) : To me, this is where it's interesting: $40 Audio-Technica's versus $300 Dre Beats Studio's. A coworker of mine has the Studio's and I've been fortunate enough to try these back and forth against the M30's.I won't lie to you. The Dre Beats Studio's are better. The Studio's have a cleanness and clarity that the M30's cannot achieve. They're significantly more comfortable, too. They also cost 7 times as much, and the truth is I'd rather have 2 pairs of M30's and $200 in my pocket than 1 pair of Dre Beats Studio's. That said, there are probably better $300 headphones than Dre Beats (e.g., Bose QuietComfort 15's) that would make this a tougher decision, but my point is for around $40 the ATH-M30's do remarkably well.Overall, the Audio-Technica ATH-M30 is a really reasonable buy for the price. They are the best sounding headphones I now own but also the most expensive. From my research, the next big jump up in quality is the ATH-M50 but at more than triple the price of the M30's I think it's a significant decision.Cons?- My head is probably a little above average in width, and the M30's do push against the side of my head with noticeable force; it does create some pressure on the side of my head, and while it's not enough to be painful, I do hope they will loosen up with time. I also can listen to these for an hour or two and my ears don't sweat like with the Panasonic RP-HTX7.- Not every song sounds terribly clean through these. There is some mud in the mids and mid-highs, especially if you have gobs of bass coming through at the same time. This is one of the things you improve on when you start spending $100+ on a set of cans, and while that day may come for me, I'm not there yet.- Cord is not removable. They say you get what you pay for, and it's true, but this is a big one. These headphones come with an 11-foot non-interchangeable cord. For my own use, this isn't a huge deal because I just roll up the cord and contain it with a twist tie while I sit at a desk, but for some people I can imagine this would be a significant frustration.For better or for worse, the Audio-Technica ATH-M30's are the first set of headphones I've owned where I could easily pick out a good quality MP3 rip from a bad one. I'm afraid I'm going to have to re-rip all my 160k MP3's at 256k or go to FLAC. With these headphones, you can pick out all those backing vocals you couldn't hear before, all those accompanying instruments and fine touches you didn't even know were there before. But I can hear the imperfections from bad editing jobs now, too, so choose your poison, I guess.They say ignorance is bliss, and I can't un-know how good these are for the price, but the fact is that I will never go back to bad headphones again. Good sound quality is something you can appreciate throughout your entire life, and these headphones are more than worth the price of admission.

With so much variety available on the market nowadays for headphones it can sometimes be hard to find a nice pair for a decent price. When looking for a product that fits your specific needs it's always good to do your research before making a final decision. I wanted some headphones to use for my home recording studio to help me monitor tracks and I also wanted something to use for regular music listening. I don't consider myself an audiophile but I would like to think I know the difference between what sounds good and what doesn't. Even though I enjoy high quality products I'm not too harsh about certain things, if the price is good and the product quality is decent then I'm more than happy to make the purchase. I usually like to shop for my stuff on Amazon.com when you search for headphones on their search engine you will see a variety of options and choices. Depending on your budget you can find listed headphones ranging from $12.00 to a ridiculous amount of $2,000.00. I see a lot of people buying the Dre beats and those other high end headphones but I honestly would never spend that type of money on a pair of headphones. Not only that but sometimes people are only paying for the name brand and not so much for an overall good product. There are a lot of different alternatives for someone looking to buy a decent pair of headphones. I researched for a pair of headphones keeping in mind what I specifically needed them for. I also decided that I wasn't going to spend a lot of money for a pair of headphones that were going to serve me for basic purposes. For about $40.00 I got my self the Audio-Technica ATH-M30 Professional Headphones. These line of Audio Technica headphones come in different model numbers and depending on how much you are looking to spend you can keep going up in models until you find something that suits you. At first I wanted to buy the lower end model which was the ATH-M20 which cost about $10.00 less but I didn't want to be "cheap" so I chose to go with the higher model the ATH-M30. After receiving these headphones I kept wondering if it was worth paying the ten extra bucks for the higher model and I can honestly say I still have mixed feelings about it. When it comes to comfort these headphones are very light despite its "professional" look and they also come with nice padding providing your ears with soft cushions. I can use these for long periods of time with out feeling like my ears are being pinched or like they are having pressure being put on them. I have a pretty big head and these headphones do not give my ears any sort of real discomfort a side from the normal warm feeling you get from using headphones. These headphones are adjustable so you can always move them up and down to fit the size of your head. Compared to some of my previous headphones I can say that the Audio Technica ATH-M30 are more well built and seem very sturdy I think they could survive a few accidental mishaps. With the cable being 11 ft. long these are ideal for somebody looking to have space to move around while using them. I personally don't have a need for the long cable but it's nice to have the option to have more distance if needed. I also got these headphones because of its nice black and sleek look, I wanted something that would match my existing setup. Those are the physical aspects that I really enjoyed about these headphones but now let's get to the most important subject at hand. You might be asking yourself what is the sound quality on these headphones, well to be quite honest the sound that these headphones produce is satisfactory. When turned up they will sound very nice and crisp, I have ringing in my ears resulting from hearing loss so I usually use them at low volume but they still sound good. Some reviews will state that these headphones sound amazingly good and I didn't find that to be exactly true. They sound good but not better than any other decent pair of headphones that you can find online. For those of you who enjoy the extra big booming bass sound from a pair of cans I would not recommend these for you. If you like a more warm and subtle sounding bass than the ATH-M30's will fit your preference. The high and lows on the Audio Technica ATH-M30 sound very clear and accurate like I stated before I'm not an audio expert but I personally feel that they sound good. I listen to all types of music so I have tested these headphones out with pretty much every genre of music and they all sound good. I mostly listen to rock and rap so there isn't much diversity in the songs when I have my music player on shuffle but once in a while a techno or drum & bass song will sneak in there and it will remind me of how nice these pair of headphones sound. Some people have stated in some reviews that they started hearing instruments and sounds that they had never heard before in some songs after using these headphones but I can personally say that I haven't so I find that to be not true. These headphones are labeled as "professional" headphones and I find that title to be a bit misleading. I would say these headphones are a step up for someone who has never owned a proper set of headphones but I wouldn't classify these as professional. The Audio Technica ATH-M30 headphones do exactly what I wanted them to do which were to help me monitor my tracks when recording and to provide acceptable quality when listening to music. If I had to describe these headphones in one word it would be "decent" because they do deliver as headphones but just fall a bit short due to not providing superior sound quality. I will admit that I expected more out of these headphones especially since they were labeled as "professional" headphones. If I would have paid more than the original marked price then maybe I would have felt a bit cheated out but overall I'm very satisfied with this product. I would recommend shopping around first and researching before buying because you might get them cheaper some where else. Even though $40.00 might not sound like much to some it might be a lot to others so that's why I advice to shop around because you might find a different pair of headphones that measure up to these for a lower price. I walk away from this purchase feeling a bit discontent but not discouraged the Audio Technica ATH-M30 headphones look good, sound decent and are sold a fair price.

For fairness I will compare this headphones only with other cheap headphones I owned:Very average in everything.The sound is very metallic and basses are super week.They are quite comfortable at first but as soon are the foam looses its properties (the ability to go back to its original volume), it took a year for me, the inner part (the speakers) gets in touch with your ears and it becomes uncomfortable.I would go with a different product for the same money.

I was looking for a reasonably priced set of quality multipurpose headphones and I couldn't have been happier when I got these out the box.I've been holding off writing review for a few months because I wanted to give them a good testing period to see what they were like to live with, and I can report that I'm still as happy with them now as I was when they arrived.I've used them as monitor headphones within my video editing set up in a studio environment and out on location during video production. But I'm also using them as my casual headphones for listing to my music and online videos.The set has a decent cable length long enough to allow me movement when working, but also short enough not to become too much of a hindrance when using them casually. The cable feels quality too, nice and thick and terminated in a pleasingly heavy metal jack plug, gold plated of course.I'm no audiophile, but I know there a many reviews online describing the precise details of the head phones sound quality, all I can say is that the detail and depth of the sound produced by these far surpasses anything else I own. I would also like to highlight the isolating qualities of these headphones, ok they're not as effective as Beyer headsets that I've used, but for the price and portability, these certainly hold their corner.I have read other people's concerns about the protruding wires above the ear cups that connect across the head band, however unless you're planning to drag them through something similar to a thorn bush, I fail to see how they could be damaged in regular use, mine have been shoved and crammed into many bags and have suffered no ill effects.In conclusion, quality, comfortable, reliable and affordable.

I doubt the quality at first but they are amazing :)Really gets you immersed into your music thanks to the fact that they built for monitoring professional music :)Best for iPod Classics, PCs and Macs I say.Only downside is the length of the wire, yet that can be forgive :)Though I do hope that in the future Audio-Technica make an update version of these headphones with less wire length, I still say get these now as they are so much better than for example - SkullCandy headphones (Break too easily; resulting in you spending more than £100 on the brand like me to discover the headphones are not good for everyday music listeners).If you get warranty with these headphones as well, you likely save money (Yet, not needed to be honest as to this day they still working well with little to none wear and tear)GET THE Audio-Technica ATH-M30 Closed Back Dynamic Stereo Monitor Headphones NOW :D

I bought it from right here about 4 years ago and it is unbelievable how durable it is.. despite the fact that i dont even handle it with care.. it still is working perfectly fine and I have bought other headfones after this and they have broken much faster than this. of course its not invisible which would be ridiculous haha i had the tiny wire snapped which directly connects to the speakers ... but well being a bit of tech guy i soildered it myself and it works fine again man!and yeah i also had the handles that hold the cans but i used a SUGRU product to fix it and now its even more better than before... well excellent product man! AUDIO TECHNICA YOU GUYS ARE FREAKING RIDICULOUSLY GOOD MAN KEEP IT UP

Just received the "Audio-Technica ATH-M30 Closed Back Dynamic Stereo Monitor Headphones" (that's a mouthful!) and am delighted. My granddaughter got some "it" headphones that cost three times as much as these, but I can see no difference. The sound quality, especially for listening to music, is outstanding. Very clear, very vivid. I mostly bought these over-the-ear ones so I could listen to radio, computer, etc. and block out my husband's TV sports shows. It works. When I'm listening, all background noise virtually disappears.