Audio-tech ATH-M40fs

Excellent headphones....I listen to music, practice my guitar and play games. Their comfortable, soft and sound great!!

ATH-Mro fs

Excellent head phones...

ATH-M40fs vs Sony MDR-7506

I use both sets for equalising different makes of LP for transfer to CD.
For a 60-year-old with some high frequency loss, the Sony accentuates sibilance, surface noise, and tape hiss - it has a peak (and remanence?) around 4kHz and another around 10kHz - good for cleaning-up operations!
The Audio-Technica has sweeter but more extended highs, a rounder but not invasive bass, and a definite bump baroud 1kHz - good for voices and mid-range instruments but a wee bit tiring.
I noticed that if I separate the speaker (with that annoying hidden ridge) from my ear a little, the 1kHz hump is reduced : I shall try adding a ring of foam to the ear-pad.
As regards isolation, the m40 hugs my (fairly small) ears less well than the 7506, thanks to that ridge...
I am very pleased with both sets, but if I had to choose one , it would be the m40 : the discrete but extended highs can be reinforced with the equaliser for chasing fizzy distortion. Also, it folds flatter.( And it was much cheaper! )
On both sets, I have replaced the cumbersome left-only cable with a Y-shaped shorter one and a 1/8th inch jack. Sorry !

Better than the rest...

Ok, so I've owned the one pair of audio technica M40fs for almost (yes, get ready for this) 10 YEARS. I emailed my Sweetwater rep today to find out about replacing the ear pads. After 10 years of consistent abuse and use the outer cover on the ear pads and headband is disintegrating leaving little flakes all over me. But come on people!! 10 YEARS!!

Anyway, they sound like the day I bought them. I can't say many pieces of equipment I own have lasted that long, much less something electronic...

These headphones are just of outstanding quality and let me state for the record, they are durable. I've used them in my studio for as long as I've had them, and I haven't been the only user either. My sister has used them regularly for years and loves them as well. That 90 bucks I spent back in 2000 was well worth these last 10 years. I LOVE these headphones. Will own them till they are defunct. Will buy again when dead.

Think: pancake.

Wow. These phones are spectacular. I've had them for almost 2 years, so I'm not just gushing about them. I've mixed on them a lot, and everything I've done has translated well. I've even had some engineers ask me what kind of monitors I was using to mix! Also, get ready to fall in love with your favorite music all over again if you plan to use them for recreational playback!

My ONLY complaint is a small one - the 1/4" plug mentioned by others, which doesn't have a small 1/8" adaptor. However, the only time I use really 1/8" connections is with my laptop on the go.

Excellent Reference

These AT M40fs headphones are really the best you can get for the price range (and really a couple of price ranges up). They reveal everything about your mix as well as your noise floor and are comfortable to boot. I've had them for about a year and replaced a set of AKG's and Sony's. There is no doubt that these headphones are worth every penny.

As good as my Grados

These are fantastic zero reference cans. I've been a professional musician for 35 years and studio production is a big part of what I do. These compare favorably with my thousand dollar Grado cans...sad but true. Mix results I would compare to mixing with Auratone near-field monitors. If you struggle to get quality bottom end in your mixes these will help. Well made, field replaceable cord and pads, comfortable for reasonable durations..4-5 hours. Incredible price for this level of audio quality.

Fantastic

The product is great. The Sweetwater sales people, like David, are friendly and easy to work with.

Awesome headphones

These headphones sound awesome for anything under $100.00. They sound very good directly connected to my MP3 Player and awesome through my headphone amp. For the price, you will not find anything that sounds this good. I can't understand the negative reviews, either your source the headphones are connected to sucks or you are trying to compare these to headphones costing way more $$$. I have had Grado's, Sennheiser's, Sony's, and many more and for the price, these kick butt.

great monitoring headphones

For the money these are the best headphones for monitoring in the studio envoronment. Drummers seem to prefer m50's but everyone else comes back to the m40's.

STOKED!!

Bloody excellent value!!!Have had multiple headphones over the past 12 years of being a DJ,love the 11' lead,softness of ear pads,quality of the sound.STOKED!!

Problems others forgot

WARNING!!! I agree with just about everyone else that these are great for the price range. BUT!! They are NOT as flat as others have said. There is definitely a little bass to them. ALSO!! They are not the most sound proof, meaning if you are recording vocals or an something in front of a mic they will bleed a little. Otherwise they are great. I have had them for about a month and have used them up to 14 hours straight with no discomfort. And I haven't had any of the issues with the liner and padding falling apart, yet.

Great sounding, BUT NOT FLAT!

These are very nice headphones, but you can't mix on them like you can, say Yamaha RH5MAs. These cover up the lower midrange (most important range for monitoring) details with their pronounced sub-bass(you can only feel it on your skull, your ears don't hear it) and their huge upper-mid bump (that isn't shown on the spec, but you can hear it. If you are using these for monitoring and mixing, I highly suggest the Yamaha RH5MA...they have a much better impulse response and a flatter curve. That said, the ATH-m40fs are great for picking out high frequency problems before they become a problem. I use Beyerdynamic DT770 to get my bass zeroed in, the Yamaha RH5MA to check mix balance and for isolating extraneous noises, and the ATH-m40fs for clearing up any high-end crunch/tinniness. Can you tell I love closed back 'phones?

Best by a long shot

The ATH-M40fs are the best headphones I have. They sound great with nice flat low end responce. Before these I used a more expensive design but with smaller ear pads. I hated them. The M40's are much more comfortable to wear.

High Quality Phones

I have been looking for a decent set of phones for monitoring during recording and mixing. These fill the bill! The sound quality is excellent, and you can clearly hear every part of your mix. For the price, excellent. I don't have a ton of experience with more expensive sets of headphones, but i have been training my ears for a few years now, and i like what i hear.

Excellent headphones.

Im addicted to these

Im sure there are better headphones out there, but not for the price. The ATH-M40fs have been my mixing reference phones for about 4 or 5 years now.
Im actually going to buy another pair. Ive gotten so used to them with their relatively flat frequency response. My only issue is that the plether material around the padding does deteriorate over time, leaving little black flecks chipping off.

Not THAT flat..but good for quick monitoring

these headphones are great for quick monitoring, and for referencd monitoring to hear small details when you can't in your monitors. However, I would not recomend these to anyone who is looking for headphones to mix with... there is definately a problem in the low end and they are a bit bassy. The mid range is a little muddy as well in my opinion. Overall good headphones though.

Decent phonnes, good price

For the price, these are hard to beat. Good for perfromers while recording.

Ear pads falling apart

Great headphones, but after using them and not abusing them for a year, the ear pads are falling apart. Very disappointed for such an investment. Cost me $150 Canadian.

Boxy sounding

I'm impressed with the solid construction of these phones. Seem built to last. But they are definitely heavy in the mid-range frequencies, resulting in what I would call a "boxy" sound. Not smooth through all frequencies as I would have expected from Audio-Technica, having used their microphones to great effect in the studio for many years.

Sound great, but--

For the money they sound great. However, my last pair after several years of use began to shred, into little pieces, the soft covering that goes over the foam pads. You can get replacement pads if you don't mind coughing up some extra cash.
I ordered the same headset because I wanted to match the pair I already had so I could hear what the singer/musician was hearing in their headset. I actually just tore off the covering over the foam in the old headset. They felt fine to wear with just the bare foam and still sound great.

Audio-Technica ATH-M40fs

Pros: Reasonably priced. Good for listening.

Cons: Not good for mixing. Coating on foam pads began coming off immediately upon the first use. Had to peel the rest of it off from sticking to my ears.

Overall: Bought them because of price(I got mine new for under $50). Will not buy this particular one again.

Will wear out

Four years and all four pairs's protective film is flaking off. Good sound, comfortable. The textile padding is covered in a thin film that from wear and tear (perhaps sweat) has deteriorated. Its now peeling off like paint on my clients heads. I've tried to remove most of it, but it doesn't want to come off with help. I won't buy any more of this design. Don't put them in a road case with other things, the top part can buckle permanently.

Very disappointing

I am afraid I was very disappointed with this headphones. Being the most expensive A-T headphones in store and for its price, I was hopping to get a sound quality near the SONY MDR-7506. But I did not.
CONS:
- Sound is dull.
- Bass has no impact.
- The 1/4 connector does not convert into a 1/8 as other models.

PROS:
- Incredible comfortable.
- Very long cable.
- Sturdy.
- Good insulation from outside sounds.

I would recommend anyone to expend $20usd more, and get something better like the MDR-7506. So far, the best I have used.

Why would one want enhanced bass response

I mean I could understand if you're a live DJ.....but trying to do legitimate mixes with an inaccurate frequency response (especially in the low end) seems counter-intuitive. I will say I love Audio-technicas flatter response headphones.

Not Bad, But not really worth it.

I've been using these headphones for about a year now, and they're ok. Overall sound is alright, kind of muddy. Bass is decent, but not outstanding. I haven't found them to be really comfortable though. My ears get tired of them very fast. They are decent headphones, but if I were you, I'd just drop the extra $30 bucks and get either Sony MDR-7506s or Sennheiser HD280 Pros. A lot better headphones for just a few bucks more.

$10 sound in a $80 headphone

I bought three of these to save money instead of sony 7506. Had to use them so I had to keep em. I had to EQ my headphone amp to make them sound usable.
They sound like tin cans. midrange mud peak. good isolation though.

Uncomfortable to wear

Obviously this review is based on my experience with these headphones, so take it for whatever it's worth. I purchased the ATH-M40fs' recently and was pleased for the most part with the audio quality. Used in a project studio situation, working with DJ gear and samplers/workstations. I soon discovered, however, that they began to physically hurt my ears after about 20 minutes of wearing them. Now I'm not talking about the kind of hurt you get from blasting music through them (I don't listen too loud through my cans)... I mean the way they fit onto my ears, they literally and physically are uncomfortable to wear. They have a circular ridge (either plastic or rubber) on the inside of each ear (under the mesh) that protrudes a bit too far. On my head, this meant that they smashed into the structure of my ear and caused undeniable discomfort. It was too bad because otherwise I would have kept them.

great

Disclaimer: I'm not an audiophile, and I completely lack experience with these things. I can barely tell CD apart from good mp3, but then again, I suppose if I tried, I'd get annoyed.

I picked these headphones up, and they're very solid and rugged design. Nothing flashy about them, and they don't need to be. They have a really nice reproduction of sound, and you can really juice up the volume with no problems. They have a generous length of cord (which I sometimes manage to trip over) and gold plugs, and swivel ears (I heard these are very popular with DJ's because they reproduce sound very exactly).

The only problem I have with them, is I don't like to have my ears baked inside them for long periods of time. I don't mind the pressure, because they're comfortable that way, they just get hot. There's also no sound from the outside that get's in the way.

Spec-tac-ular!

My wife bought these for me about 3 years ago, and they are amazing: incredibly clean sound, comfortable even for very long periods (20+ hours occasionally!), and total isolation (I can't hear ANYTHING else, and no one know how much damage I'm doing).

I could not possibly be happier with them! (or with Sweetwater, for that matter...)