Here's Why The Audio Technica ATH-M50X is a Terrible Headphone

[Max_Settings]

1 minute ago, killcomic said:

Another person trying to sound clever by rubbishing something that a lot of people like.

Each yo theit own.

Do you know how ignorant that sounds? Just because something is popular automatically means it's good?

[killcomic]

25 minutes ago, Max_Settings said:

Do you know how ignorant that sounds? Just because something is popular automatically means it's good?

But it is good to the people that like it.

What you're trying to do is show people that you are superior to them because you don't like what they like.

You even framed the thread title as objective truth that the M50X is rubbish because you said so.

It's like you just saw Zeos' review and wanted to jump on board.

I'm no fan of the M50X, but I don’t present my opinion as objective truth.

If someone enjoys their M50X, more power to them. No one has the right to tell them that they should not be enjoying it.

[Max_Settings]

2 minutes ago, killcomic said:

But it is good to the people that like it.

What you're trying to do is show people that you are superior to them because you don't like what they like.

You even framed the thread title as objective truth that the M50X is rubbish because you daid so.

It's like you just saw Zeos' review and wanted to jump on board.

Im no fan of the M50, but I don’t present my opinion as objective truth.

If someone enjoys their M50X, more power to them. No one has the right to tell them that they should not be enjoying it.

I never said my opinion was 100% fact, these are my impressions. I wrote this as more of a hope to prevent new people from buying it. I had to give reasons for why they shouldn't buy them when so many people have them. I also hoped that maybe people who have them might try something out just to gain some context. I never said they had to sell them or anything.

[killcomic]

1 minute ago, Max_Settings said:

I never said my opinion was 100% fact, these are my impressions. I wrote this as more of a hope to prevent new people from buying it. I had to give reasons for why they shouldn't buy them when so many people have them. I also hoped that maybe people who have them might try something out just to gain some context. I never said they had to sell them or anything.

The title of your thread is "Here's Why The Audio Technica ATH-M50X is a Terrible Headphone"

That’s authoritative language.

Perhaps "Here's Why I Belueve The Audio Technica ATH-M50X is a Terrible Headphone" would be better.

Two more words makes a world of difference.

[Dackzy]

6 hours ago, killcomic said:

Another person trying to sound clever by rubbishing something that a lot of people like.

Each yo theit own.

A lot of the people that like them are coming from gaming headsets, they have zero or basically zero experience with headphones and therefore we often see that basically any headphone will impress them. 

 

The hard truth is that you can get better headphones and they will beat M50x when it comes to the technicallies, while still having a very similar sound signature. It would be outright idiotic to not recommend those headphones instead of recommending M50x. Why get a headphone with a narrow AF sound, little detail and one that can't handle when the music becomes "busy", when you can for the same or less money get a headphone with more detail, wider soundstage and it can handle it when music gets "busy". The K553 and M50 actually have a fairly similar sound and they cost about the same, but K553 beats them in every single way except for portability. K553 are more detailed, wider sounding, the mids are good, the bass doesn't bleed, the treble doesn't kill your ears and most importantly they don't just give up and deliver a blurry mess when music gets "busy" (a lot of instruments and a very fast beat)

 

You can basically go to any audio forum or discord you want to and ask some of the people that have tried a fair share of gear. Then response is going to be the same as the OP here, if not harsher.

 

DMS discord you will get that they are trash. Headphone discord you will get that they are trash. Aornic discord you will get that they are trash. SBAF you will get that they are very bad. Head-fi you will either get that they are very bad or someone will try and say that you can get better headphones for your money. 

 

You should put bad value products down. You should always aim for getting the best for your money.

 

 

Just to be clear. The popularity of a product has rarely anything to do with the value or anything like that, but rather the people that hype it. First gen beats were absolutely garbage, but big name celebrities used them, so they became popular. The same happened to M50x, just on a much smaller scale.

[killcomic]

18 minutes ago, Dackzy said:

A lot of the people that like them are coming from gaming headsets, they have zero or basically zero experience with headphones and therefore we often see that basically any headphone will impress them. 

 

The hard truth is that you can get better headphones and they will beat M50x when it comes to the technicallies, while still having a very similar sound signature. It would be outright idiotic to not recommend those headphones instead of recommending M50x. Why get a headphone with a narrow AF sound, little detail and one that can't handle when the music becomes "busy", when you can for the same or less money get a headphone with more detail, wider soundstage and it can handle it when music gets "busy". The K553 and M50 actually have a fairly similar sound and they cost about the same, but K553 beats them in every single way except for portability. K553 are more detailed, wider sounding, the mids are good, the bass doesn't bleed, the treble doesn't kill your ears and most importantly they don't just give up and deliver a blurry mess when music gets "busy" (a lot of instruments and a very fast beat)

 

You can basically go to any audio forum or discord you want to and ask some of the people that have tried a fair share of gear. Then response is going to be the same as the OP here, if not harsher.

 

DMS discord you will get that they are trash. Headphone discord you will get that they are trash. Aornic discord you will get that they are trash. SBAF you will get that they are very bad. Head-fi you will either get that they are very bad or someone will try and say that you can get better headphones for your money. 

 

You should put bad value products down. You should always aim for getting the best for your money.

 

 

Just to be clear. The popularity of a product has rarely anything to do with the value or anything like that, but rather the people that hype it. First gen beats were absolutely garbage, but big name celebrities used them, so they became popular. The same happened to M50x, just on a much smaller scale.

Problem is that your definition of "better" may not be someone else's definition.

In my opinion Beats are eubbish, but who am I to tell anyone what should ans should not please them?

I like my headphones neutral with detailed treble, natural mids and well controlled bass. But I certainly cannot tell people that what they want in their headphones is wrong because their expectations don't match mine.

You want to tell people to shop around and try new things as they might find better value elsewhere, not beat them down by telling them what they like is rubbish. This is exactly why audiophiles have a reputation as elitist douchebags.

[Dackzy]

34 minutes ago, killcomic said:

Problem is that your definition of "better" may not be someone else's definition.

In my opinion Beats are eubbish, but who am I to tell anyone what should ans should not please them?

I like my headphones neutral with detailed treble, natural mids and well controlled bass. But I certainly cannot tell people that what they want in their headphones is wrong because their expectations don't match mine.

You want to tell people to shop around and try new things as they might find better value elsewhere, not beat them down by telling them what they like is rubbish. This is exactly why audiophiles have a reputation as elitist douchebags.

there is a thing as objectively better.... When you compare two headphones with the same signature, one is muddy sounding with a low amount of detail, while the other one is detailed and clear, this is basically M50x vs K553. There is actually quite a few objective things in audio, like detail, timbre, peaks, soundstage size compared to other headphones, imaging, micro detail.

 

What you are talking about is sound signature, which is subjective. Though if you compare headphones with the same signature, then you will come to a point where you can maybe say that one of them is objectively better. This ofc depends on the headphones in question, since one might have better trimbre, but the other one has more and better micro detail.

 

You shouldn't beat people down, but you should beat down bad products. There are just different ways of doing it and people shouldn't take offense when someone says something bad about a product they own.

 

The thing is this is a review, with some comparisons. A review needs to be honest and clear, if you start making it in some suggestive tone, then you start to get misunderstandings and then what the reviewer wants to say about the headphone might get lost and turned into something else. 

 

When just talking about gear between poeple (like telling each other what gear you have and such), then you shouldn't go in saying "well that's some crappy gear". When giving recomendations, then I personally go "These are a better value, because x, but I recommend that you try them" or I list a bunch of different headphones that are a good value for their price and talk a bit about the different sound signatures.

 

Nobody here is telling what people want in a headphone is wrong, where the hell did you get that idea? All I have been saying so far is that there are better headphones (more detailed, cleaner sound, etc.), with a very similar signature for the same or less money. Even the OP does this by comparing them to other headphones.

[Guest Generallee]

9 minutes ago, Dackzy said:

Nobody here is telling what people want in a headphone is wrong, where the hell did you get that idea? All I have been saying so far is that there are better headphones (more detailed, cleaner sound, etc.), with a very similar signature for the same or less money. Even the OP does this by comparing them to other headphones.

Here's my theory, I think that Audio Technica are basically geniuses for pulling this off, they made headphones that "make sense" to the general public. The average consumer barely knows anything about soundstage, frequency response, ohms, sound signature .. Hell you'd be lucky if he can tell apart different types of headphone jacks. They just had to build the hype up which is kids play as they only had to send some pairs to famous youtubers and let the influencing begin. Since the headphones themselves don't look like dogshit, are pretty fashionable and solid and the naming scheme actually makes some kind of sense, the average Joe who kinda knows that Beats suck but is too scared to dive into cancerous audiophile forums sees them as some sort of "safe" choice.

 

I owned a pair of M40x's for three years, I bought them because I did not know any better and for the price they were the only "decent" thing available for me in Morocco, sold them a couple days ago for 80% of the sticker price which is amazing tbh. Probably gonna end up with some Custom One Pro's or DT770's next week.

[killcomic]

36 minutes ago, Dackzy said:

there is a thing as objectively better.... When you compare two headphones with the same signature, one is muddy sounding with a low amount of detail, while the other one is detailed and clear, this is basically M50x vs K553. There is actually quite a few objective things in audio, like detail, timbre, peaks, soundstage size compared to other headphones, imaging, micro detail.

 

What you are talking about is sound signature, which is subjective. Though if you compare headphones with the same signature, then you will come to a point where you can maybe say that one of them is objectively better. This ofc depends on the headphones in question, since one might have better trimbre, but the other one has more and better micro detail.

 

You shouldn't beat people down, but you should beat down bad products. There are just different ways of doing it and people shouldn't take offense when someone says something bad about a product they own.

 

The thing is this is a review, with some comparisons. A review needs to be honest and clear, if you start making it in some suggestive tone, then you start to get misunderstandings and then what the reviewer wants to say about the headphone might get lost and turned into something else. 

 

When just talking about gear between poeple (like telling each other what gear you have and such), then you shouldn't go in saying "well that's some crappy gear". When giving recomendations, then I personally go "These are a better value, because x, but I recommend that you try them" or I list a bunch of different headphones that are a good value for their price and talk a bit about the different sound signatures.

 

Nobody here is telling what people want in a headphone is wrong, where the hell did you get that idea? All I have been saying so far is that there are better headphones (more detailed, cleaner sound, etc.), with a very similar signature for the same or less money. Even the OP does this by comparing them to other headphones.

Un, I'm not commenting on your posts. I'm commenting on the authoritative tone of the original post.

But really, the only thing you can be objective is the build quality and if it functions as intended. You can comment objectively about the clarity of a headphone but clarity does not make a headphone objectively better.

 

 

 

[minervx]

I enjoy my M50X's.  Of course, they're not the best headphones in their price range.  I like my Sennheiser 598's far better for most use cases.  However, to say they're trash is really exaggerated.

[kokakolia]

8 hours ago, Dackzy said:

A lot of the people that like them are coming from gaming headsets, they have zero or basically zero experience with headphones and therefore we often see that basically any headphone will impress them. 

 

The hard truth is that you can get better headphones and they will beat M50x when it comes to the technicallies, while still having a very similar sound signature. It would be outright idiotic to not recommend those headphones instead of recommending M50x. Why get a headphone with a narrow AF sound, little detail and one that can't handle when the music becomes "busy", when you can for the same or less money get a headphone with more detail, wider soundstage and it can handle it when music gets "busy". The K553 and M50 actually have a fairly similar sound and they cost about the same, but K553 beats them in every single way except for portability. K553 are more detailed, wider sounding, the mids are good, the bass doesn't bleed, the treble doesn't kill your ears and most importantly they don't just give up and deliver a blurry mess when music gets "busy" (a lot of instruments and a very fast beat)

 

You can basically go to any audio forum or discord you want to and ask some of the people that have tried a fair share of gear. Then response is going to be the same as the OP here, if not harsher.

 

DMS discord you will get that they are trash. Headphone discord you will get that they are trash. Aornic discord you will get that they are trash. SBAF you will get that they are very bad. Head-fi you will either get that they are very bad or someone will try and say that you can get better headphones for your money. 

 

You should put bad value products down. You should always aim for getting the best for your money.

 

 

Just to be clear. The popularity of a product has rarely anything to do with the value or anything like that, but rather the people that hype it. First gen beats were absolutely garbage, but big name celebrities used them, so they became popular. The same happened to M50x, just on a much smaller scale.

Tyll from Innerfidelity says that the M50 or M50x are good. So I suppose that there is some subjectivity involved. 

 

It kinda reminds me of how people on the web used to talk smack about the Philips M1 and Marshall Mode for sounding boring but I absolutely love these headphones. 

 

Also, if you want the absolute best value you'll have to be thrifty. The best deals out there are typically for darker sounding headphones that don't sell well, are discontinued and heavily discounted. The Marshall Mode, Philips M1 and KEF M100 are great examples. 

 

Recommendation leads to hype and hype leads to higher demand and higher demand leads to inflated prices. I suppose that this happened to the M50x. If they cost less people (including the audiophile snobs) would absolutely worship them. I am hinting towards KZ and Superlux headphones that are too cheap to be criticized and "sound better than headphones that cost more". 

[Max_Settings]

5 hours ago, minervx said:

I enjoy my M50X's.  Of course, they're not the best headphones in their price range.  I like my Sennheiser 598's far better for most use cases.  However, to say they're trash is really exaggerated.

I disagree. But hey that's how it's going to be. I do think that the M50Xs are trash.

[Max_Settings]

7 hours ago, Generallee said:

Here's my theory, I think that Audio Technica are basically geniuses for pulling this off, they made headphones that "make sense" to the general public. The average consumer barely knows anything about soundstage, frequency response, ohms, sound signature .. Hell you'd be lucky if he can tell apart different types of headphone jacks. They just had to build the hype up which is kids play as they only had to send some pairs to famous youtubers and let the influencing begin. Since the headphones themselves don't look like dogshit, are pretty fashionable and solid and the naming scheme actually makes some kind of sense, the average Joe who kinda knows that Beats suck but is too scared to dive into cancerous audiophile forums sees them as some sort of "safe" choice.

 

I owned a pair of M40x's for three years, I bought them because I did not know any better and for the price they were the only "decent" thing available for me in Morocco, sold them a couple days ago for 80% of the sticker price which is amazing tbh. Probably gonna end up with some Custom One Pro's or DT770's next week.

Yes I agree with this. I mentioned this in the review that Audio Technia pulled a genius marketing strategy, but that doesn't make the M50Xs good. Also I mentioned in the review that the M40Xs are quite good with the HM5 pads. This wan't an attack on Audio Technia, I recommended 2 of their headphones at the end, just the M50Xs.

[lupi900x]

18 hours ago, killcomic said:

But it is good to the people that like it.

What you're trying to do is show people that you are superior to them because you don't like what they like.

You even framed the thread title as objective truth that the M50X is rubbish because you said so.

It's like you just saw Zeos' review and wanted to jump on board.

I'm no fan of the M50X, but I don’t present my opinion as objective truth.

If someone enjoys their M50X, more power to them. No one has the right to tell them that they should not be enjoying it.

How is this a hate thread?, The M50X is a very poor price/performance when the HD598cs or DT770 are at £120+. Can you & others in this cut out the insecure projecting over how OP gave the M50X a poor rating. 

 

 

 

[seduce_me]

Here's the thing, the M50x is a poor value at its price point, no argument in that. However, this "M50x is bad" notion has been beaten to death a la beats. If people are happy with it, more power to them. There was no need for such a tone in your original post.

[Max_Settings]

28 minutes ago, seduce_me said:

Here's the thing, the M50x is a poor value at its price point, no argument in that. However, this "M50x is bad" notion has been beaten to death a la beats. If people are happy with it, more power to them. There was no need for such a tone in your original post.

I addressed this in my post. I truly think they are terrible headphones. I honestly think the Venture Electronics Monk Plus and Koss KSC75 are better sounding than the M50X, they are $5 and $15 respectively. So unless they were $3 headphones they are a terrible headphones. And like me and other members said their treble is too extreme to be usuable, they die when busy songs come on, and have no sound stage and imaging. 

[kokakolia]

8 hours ago, Max_Settings said:

I addressed this in my post. I truly think they are terrible headphones. I honestly think the Venture Electronics Monk Plus and Koss KSC75 are better sounding than the M50X, they are $5 and $15 respectively. So unless they were $3 headphones they are a terrible headphones. And like me and other members said their treble is too extreme to be usuable, they die when busy songs come on, and have no sound stage and imaging. 

That's my problem! Don't tell people that the KSC75 are better than the M50x. Stop circulating false information. It's complete bologna! This headphone has some super grainy treble, worse than the M50x. But it doesn't matter how bad the KSC75 sound because they're dirt cheap so people will overhype the max out of them saying stuff like they're better than an M50x. Just no. Be honest here. 

 

I am so triggered. 

[msvelev]

On 2/20/2018 at 2:57 PM, Generallee said:

True, but don't forget the whole planet doesn't have the same products for the same price and availability as the US. People tend to forget that thing when they start saying things like "well product X is better for the same price just buy that online", if I could find product X at normal prices in my country without customs scalping my left butt-cheek, I would not have a pair of 80$ M40x's on my head right now. Price is extremely important, and for M40x's/M50X's, I think they are alright for the price they ask, especially if you have no other alternative at that price point. Bruh I would absolutely love to have a pair of HD598's if it didn't cost 500$ here, that's if you can find em mind you.

Can you order from the US to your country? I live in Bulgaria and got HD 6XX/AKG 7XX/DarkVoice from the US. Just had to pay VAT, $8 equivalent of import tax and shipping.

[Guest Generallee]

20 hours ago, msvelev said:

Can you order from the US to your country? I live in Bulgaria and got HD 6XX/AKG 7XX/DarkVoice from the US. Just had to pay VAT, $8 equivalent of import tax and shipping.

Just bought some DT770 Pro's, found them at an amazing price and didn't think twice. I absolutely love them

[Guest]

19 minutes ago, Generallee said:

Just bought some DT770 Pro's, found them at an amazing price and didn't think twice. I absolutely love them

I keep checking back on this thread... why, oh why, do I do that?

 

[DCH-]

On 20/02/2018 at 8:31 AM, Max_Settings said:

Edit: I just want to clarify for some people who didn't get this. I own these headphones. I am not merely writing a review based off of ignorant opinion of going off a hate train. I bought these headphones and I'm giving my honest impressions. I am willing to admit I messed up and they aren't very good.

 

For those of you who have decided to get into the realm of audiophile headphones you have probably heard of the Audio Technica ATH-M50X. When you say, "I want to get into audiophile headphones and I have a budget of $150 or less." you will most likely get tons of people saying "GET THE M50XS THEY ARE SO GOOOOOOOD" No they are not. I am baffled as to why anyone would recommend these headphones. First let me say why these are popular.

 

 

Hi there,

Very compelling perspective. I myself am very ignorant when it comes to anything to do with audio, and am simply looking for the best quality headphones for my reasonably small budget. I was very much considering to purchase some M50x's but after reading this and other articles with similar positions, I'm not so sure. However, I was curious to know what you think about the Audio Technica MSR7 considering I've heard that its "what the M50x's should of been." Also what do you think about the DT770's?

Thanks

[nagas3000]

On 3/1/2018 at 6:29 PM, Max_Settings said:

I addressed this in my post. I truly think they are terrible headphones. I honestly think the Venture Electronics Monk Plus and Koss KSC75 are better sounding than the M50X, they are $5 and $15 respectively. So unless they were $3 headphones they are a terrible headphones. And like me and other members said their treble is too extreme to be usuable, they die when busy songs come on, and have no sound stage and imaging. 

I was going to buy a pair of m50x with bluetooth adapter before I saw this post. I think you saved my money xd. What wireless headphones would u recommend for the price of a m50x? Would be lovely if they were over ear.

[Max_Settings]

2 hours ago, nagas3000 said:

I was going to buy a pair of m50x with bluetooth adapter before I saw this post. I think you saved my money xd. What wireless headphones would u recommend for the price of a m50x? Would be lovely if they were over ear.

ATH-WS1100iS with a Mpow Bluetooth adapter.

[nagas3000]

12 minutes ago, Max_Settings said:

ATH-WS1100iS with a Mpow Bluetooth adapter.

Looks promising. One last question, what about msr7 with the same adapter or ar5bt? I don't think the bluetooth adapter will last as long as standalone bluetooth headset

[Guest savagepain]

well i dont really care cause im getting a pair for free so i cant complain at all