That’s good if you have long hair or you’re trying to use these with a VR headset or something, but bad if you care about the visual profile of your headphones. Andertons Music Company acts as a credit broker and not a lender and only offers credit products from Secure Trust Bank PLC trading as V12 Retail Finance.

The earpads deteriorating over time is another pretty serious issue but happens gradually, giving you time to plan on re-investing in new pads when the need arises. Cue up Mint Royale’s Singin’ in the Rain and enjoy of the rush of the VCF slowly open from 0:38 on or Tripshot/Miku’s Nebula at about 0:45. I beg to differ on the flatness of the M40x, they have no deal-braking colorations (for my taste) but are a far cry from neutrality (check here for measurements and possible modifications), I attribute the limited soundstage to the angled drivers, they move the stage slightly to the front sacrificing the depth and width that an enveloping soundstage provides. The Audio-Technica ATH-M40x is a large headset with ovalesque headphones, each of which houses a 40mm dynamic driver.

The headband padding is ample enough I suppose and feels decent when you’re wearing them, but the same issues apply with regard to the material subtly cracking over many hours of use.

I don’t sweat very easily and I still found them to produce small droplets/beads on the pad – easily wiped away with your finger or a towel but EAR-itating nonetheless. The sound is clear, with maybe some emphasis on the middle side of the sound range ,voice and acoustic guitar sounds very defined and clean. You’ll notice it starts to sound Sibilant, essy, and metallic after a while, and there’s an air of artificiality that I can’t quite reconcile here. They don’t dig too hard into the top of your head, but you’ll still notice them after a while and will be itching to make some sort of adjustment, whether minor or otherwise. Sure, there are plenty of headsets with a more accurate frequency response, but you need to spend a lot more for them.High-quality materials combined with modern design, the ATH-M40x headphones from Audio Technica deliver an enhanced, yet comfortable, audio experience. If you’re looking for something akin to the ATH-M40x in Bluetooth form, check out the Audio-Technica ATH-M50xBT2. Both headsets house 40mm dynamic drivers, but the ATH-M30x is both lighter and smaller than its big brother. To get isolation similar to the chart above, you need to properly fit the ear pads around your ears to block out background noise.

Overall, the 40x is somewhat of a wonky sound signature that only rears its ugly head over time and lots of hours of listening. The M40X is remarkably good for its specific stated purpose, and remarkably average for anything outside that narrow window. They feel that out-of-the-box clamp, scream OH NO MY EARS, and then throw the default padding out the nearest window. If you don’t mind spending a little more, and plan to use your headphones for more than just studio time, the M50X can be worth the extra cost.The M-Series ATH-M40x professional monitor headphones are tuned flat for incredibly accurate audio monitoring across an extended frequency range. All models have 40mm diameter drivers, neodymium magnets and copper-clad aluminium wire voice-coils for lowest mass, resulting in extended frequency response and the capability to produce high sound levels, Drivers, oxygen-free copper litz cables, and ear-pads may be replaced by the user. However, due to the thin profile of the cups and the small bass vent near the fork attachments, these will leak a little bit if you really crank them.