Home > Consumer Reviews > Audio-Technica ATH-M30 Professional Headphones

After purchasing an iPod mini, I thought I could use much better headphones to test the quality of the aiff files provided by iTunes. I must emphasize that I am not an expert as the other reviewers. When choosing this pair, I read reviews and looked for high quality under 50 bucks. These headphones put my big stereo speakers to shame. I can hear the background singers and instruments I haven't heard before. They sound completely awesome! (no, really, they do). There is a little bit of leak, not much. and they are extremely comfortable and lightweight on the head. I'll be testing them out extensively this weekend while traveling on airplanes. Update on airplane use: they are not noise canceling headphones, but they did block the noise of a few verbally obnoxious passengers, and while volume was cranked up, no one knew how much the tunes were cranked up. My friends that have tried them out call them *amazing*, like a symphony hall.
Around the house, they block out flushing toilets, dishwashers, and those annoying sounds from the kids' room. The cord is super long, so I can keep my iPod in it's dock on the kitchen counter and walk around and cook dinner and clean. And the connector has a strain relief so I know that the cord won't break off from running around.
I also needed headphones to go with my laptop while watching DVDs and listening to music and other computer things. Unlike my other cd headphones, these are in stereo and pick up amazing sounds. Also, they block out the computer sounds of the dvd spinning.
I suppose they weren't made for household use, but they sound so good, that they will keep me happy for a long time, baby.

My late headphones set the standard by which I judge all others. With a pair of titanium drivers, they had the best frequency response of any set of headphones I have ever used. There were two problems: they were open, and the cord was extremely thin and prone to breaking.

Enter the ATH-M30. With a thick cord entering on only one side and nearly impervious to wear and tear, closed ears eliminating much external noise, thick and soft padding that makes long duration listening comfortable, a padded head band, (everywhere that directly touches the head is padded... some serious points there) and constructed of hard plastic and metal that bends and doesn't break. And of course sound quality and frequency response... the specs say 20Hz - 20 KHz, and while I haven't tested the high end, the low end is beautiful and strong. If you watch a movie with these and a plane flies overhead, you are not alone if you take the headphones off to make sure one didn't really fly overhead. Great signal-to-noise ratio and frequency response that makes the inadequacies of MP3s immediately apparent. If there were a similar pair of headphones that had titanium drivers, there would be a slight quality increase, but it's great as it is.

Sound quality 4.5 (5 being with titanium drivers)
Signal-to-noise 5
Construction 5
Comfort 4.5
Range/Frequency response 4.5
Durability 5

Finding a pair of decent-sounding closed headphones at less than 50USD is far to be easy. The typical sound of those is boomy, with strange reverberation effects and a poor sound. The ATH-M30 provide a warm sound, with a solid bass (sometimes a bit undefined), a smooth midrange and a correct trebble. The feeling is perhaps not the "outstanding clarity" advertised but rather a relaxing sound, with a good balance between details and fun. Compared to the sennheiser HD212, the trebble is a bit lacking but, at least, the bass doesn't kill the midrange.

These headphones are well-built and will probably last. I only regret the absence of a collapsable capacity.

I've been on a quest for a variety of headphones for tracking use in my little den of a self-proclaimed studio, now that my Panasonic HT450 cans are mostly ageing.

The ATH-M30 is the lower-cost Audio-Technica pro headphone. I ended up buying PRO-6, and wanted to review those, but they don't seem to be available around here. I tried the ATH-M30 on at the shop and recall being quite impressed, especially for the price!

Surprisingly, even these budget headsets deliver a tight mid-rangey punch that can help cut through a loud tracking room environment - no, they're not as hi-fi, but I think they help to hear clearer in certain situations. Plus the ear cups don't swivel all around or fold up like the 40 Series or the Panasonics, so the cans are easier to put on.

The cable does have a 1/8" end with a screw-on adapter, which I would chop off and replace with a 1/4" plug instead. These phones retail for less than $100, which makes it easy to pick up a couple for a small studio.

Brilliant stuff. Worth a go if you are looking for something decent that doesn't cost a bomb.

These Audio Technica babies really let the sound in! Outstanding in every respect, IMO!

Listening to movies and CDs through these 'phones is a pleasure. Surround sound effects come through nicely when listening to 5.1-Channel or 2-Channel Surround material, with many subtle surround effects seeping through that you possibly had never heard when listening through your regular speaker system.

The sound reproduction on this product seems very "natural" and undistorted. And not "tinny"-sounding, like can be the case with many different headphone brands.

Extraordinarily comfy, to boot! The ear cups don't pinch, or dig into your head. The padded headband adjusts to fit the biggest (or smallest) of craniums. And they don't make your ears sweat like a nervous politician on Election Day (oh, sorry ... I should have said "perspire"). :)

You can wear these things all day and suffer no ill effects on your head/ears. (Well, unless, of course, you lay too heavy on the volume control.)

It *is*, in fact, difficult to keep the volume in the "low"/"restrained" range while using these sonically-pleasing babies. Because they sound so good!

The ATH-M30 is an exceptional product; and a terrific bargain to be sure.

Hard to imagine even $100-plus 'phones giving better performance than these.