First Impression. Audio Technica ATH-R50x

I got the R50x this morning and listened to them for a few hours so far. Below are my first impressions.

For reference, I owned the ATH-R70x for a few years and just recently sold them. I also have a few other headphones like the AKG K-1000, Shure SRH-840, AKG K-701, Hifi Man HE400SE, and IEMs like the Thieaudio Hype 4 and Moondrop Crinacle Dusk. I will not do direct comparisons to specific models, just the first impressions.

The R50x build is fine. They are light and comfortable. The earpieces don't have much of a lateral adjustment (just whatever flex the thin metal headband allows) and just enough vertical to lay over the ears. The pads are nicer than the original R70x had. They are soft velour, whereas the R70x had soft woven fabric pads. I bought these R50x to use at work (open office type setup) and I think they will be OK for prolonged daily use.

The Sound. Definitely brighter than the R70x. Strong lower treble, but never actually crossing into sibilance where it would be obvious. I think I will attenuate around 8-10kHz by 2dB or so for my personal taste, when I get to messing with the EQ. The midrange is neutral and well balanced like on the R70x, maybe a touch too lean. I like to hear a little more low mids in my headphones and speakers. To my ear they went for more Harman than Diffuse Field , which is not wrong for recording studio market in general.

The low end is pronounced and clean but it's mostly mid-bass and upper-bass. They seem to roll off below 50Hz. There is this one song that I use to evaluate my speakers and headphones for bass. It has a clean bass note slide that reaches down to 30Hz or so. If my headphones can reproduce that slide cleanly and audibly they have proper low end. The R50x can't quite do it. That said, other songs that have strong and clean bass come through correctly. I'm thinking a 3dB boost at 40Hz would be beneficial. Audio Technica claims very high power rating of 1.6W on these, so there should be plenty of headroom for EQ without risking distortion.

Overall, for $159.00 these are great. Not quite the R70x but pretty close for half the money. The neutral character of the midrange that the R70x excelled at is there, while the treble is a bit more aggressive. Bass is also a little more pronounced than on the R70x but it's not as even.