Audio-Technica ATH-M50xBT2 Bluetooth Closed-back Studio Monitoring Headphones Reviews

This does not come with the 1/4th in adapter. I assumed that it did but it's no big deal, I had to buy an adapter to use these on my amp since I thought this one had one.

Comfortable feel especially with the numerous axis to turn and adjust fit. Great sound quality and low weight. Stylish but practical design - nice product!

I finally found the best ever wireless headphones. The sound quality is impeccable and clear. No static but very powerful. This is my third pair of Audio-Technica headphones but the best of the three. I will definitely recommend this to family and friends. Audio-Technica has a great product line. ATH-M50xBT2 headphones are made with quality materials and very durable. The cords that come with the headphones are incredibly robust. Thanks to Sweetwater for selling great products.

The sound quality coming through these is excellent. I am hearing things in music that I couldn't hear before. The battery life is the best I have ever had in any pair of bluetooth earbuds/headphones. I wear these 5 days a week, 5-6 hours a day and I only have to recharge them every other week and that doesn't take long either. I am sure these aren't the best pair of headphones out there, but they are the best I have ever personally owned. Would recommend them.

Love these headphones. Sound quality is excellent; Bluetooth connectivity works consistently well but offers full set of cables also; extremely long battery life; fits comfortably.

Same great performance for monitoring as you'd expect from ATH-M50s. Then the added Bluetooth is nice. Traveling I can wear these on the bus for 5-6 hours a day all weekend and the battery still has juice! It's really impressive. Comfort is good. I wish they were a little louder but probably better that they aren't.

They sound very good. Not overly bassey with excellent clear highs, mids and bass. Connects easily with Bluetooth. Really loving these so far. They also come with 1/8" mini stereo cable if one chooses to connect the traditional way. So good without it that I would only choose to use the cable when connecting to device without Bluetooth

A very good sounding not too expensive headphones. The outside noise insulation is very good. A little heavy but not too bad. For the money this is the best sounding headphones you can buy.

Excellent headphones with good sound quality, noise cancelling, and reasonably comfortable.

Can be a little soft / low gain / low volume and gets somewhat sweaty and uncomfortable over time, but that is expected with this style of headphone.

5/5 quality:price ratio.

I love the flexibility of these headphones. The battery life is insane. If the battery does happen to run out, you can use the cable as a back up option. It's like having a hybrid car for your ears!
The audio quality is very good (in my opinion). The only thing lacking is a little bit more bass would be okay. But other than that I think they're great!

I mainly use the plug to work with my M-Audio 192/6 interface. One thing I would like to mention before I get into the good stuff is I want to give a little kick in the butt to the team at Audio Technica. The cords shipped with this unit were unusable. In my case, I needed to plug them into my 1/4" fitting into my audio interface and there is no way to do this with the supplied cord because it shifts with a 90 degree 3.5" mm jack and I couldn't fit a ¼" adaptor over it. On top of that, the cord is short and was cheap and uncoiled. I guess someone thought they would save money. Well, I almost sent them back but thanks to an online retailer, I was able to get a replacement upgrade coiled cord that works perfectly. Warning, the standard cord for the non-Bluetooth version of the ATH M50 may not work because of a difference in design at the plug-in area on the phones. On the Bluetooth version, The cord has to be able to recess in a little and some cords just are too wide there to fit into the recess. A tip is to order a cord that fits a Sony WH 1000, PS4, or PS5. Make sure you get the one with the 1/4" adaptor and you're good to go.

So why did I mention all this when this is a Bluetooth headset? This is because I feel this headset works perfectly well in the home studio as the standard headset while plugged in. Particularly if you have a desktop setup home studio you will appreciate the flexibility of this set of phones. Plug it in to get the very best performance. So why would one order the Bluetooth version if you're going to use the cord? Well, with Bluetooth, you have the flexibility to use the headset for personal use without the cord which is a big deal if you want a good quality headset that you can work for professional work as well as personal use.

So despite the headphones having a 38-ohm impedance (fairly low and efficient), I've found they just needed to be pushed a little more using the gain on my AIR 192/6. The AIR is powerful and with these phones, there is still a lot of headroom available.

I do want to mention that in Bluetooth mode, running off the battery, l often found myself having to turn the volume up all the way, often wanting to go. In that sense, I was slightly disappointed with the power output in BT mode. However, if you want the very best HiFi performance just plug them in and crank it up!
By the way, I think these headphones pair very nicely with the AIR 192/6 interface also sold here at Streetwater. They truly sound phenomenal when paired together. I'm not sure how much power the interface provides, but as I said, there is plenty of bandwidth so I am very happy with the whole setup. I did purchase some aftermarket pads shown in the picture they have cooling gell built into the design that I prefer in my hot climate (Las Vegas).

One last thing, I would like to clarify that they still play well in Bluetooth mode, and for the most part I think many people may not notice the difference between the two modes. Both modes do have great performance overall.
Final comment: How do these sound? Well, that is subjective, but I think have a very flat response with good accurate bass, the mid and highs are very nice with a lot of rich midrange detail. So in conclusion, I would say this headset works for both studio monitoring and personal use and enjoyment. You may end up relistening to your favorite music selections as these real introduce a lot of detail that you may not have heard before. Can I suggest Santana Abraxis, Chicago IX?

I've had a pair of the wired ATH-M50x headphones for years and absolutely love them. These headphones have all the quality of the wired headphones I've used for years with the convenience of being wireless.

I use these for work and I would say my only criticism of them is that they aren't great in noisy environments - they don't block out sound around you very well, though they aren't strictly noise cancelling headphones or anything. Just a note if that's something you're requiring out of your new bluetooth headphones.

These are "Closed-back Studio Monitoring" implying that they can be used for silent practice, and these headphones are featured all over the internet as guitar amp headphones. However, there is a problem with connecting a longer standard 3.5 TRS jack cable to these headphones.

A cable connection is necessary to use these headphones with a practice amp because of Bluetooth latency, yet the cables bundled with the headphones are only 1.2 meters long, inherently too short not to interfere with a player's guitar, when plugged in. Think about these dimensions, 1.2 meters (4 feet). How are these supposed to wrap around someone holding a guitar and not be in the way? When I ordered these headphones, I never thought that a cable connection would be an issue. Even with ATH's short cable bundled with the headphone, I assumed that I could just purchase longer more durable male-to-male cables with TRS (TRS Jacks Tip, ring, sleeve) jacks, which I did , wasting money to no purpose. Imagine my surprise when I discovered that the headphone will only send a signal with the proprietary cables bundled with the headphones? Worse, when I tried to ask Audio-Technica online to sort this out, they automatically forwarded me to a pay-for-service technical adviser. This is more than baffling, it is extremely troubling. This limitation with a proprietary cable and lack of technical support is not spoken of in the advertising on Sweetwater.

Standard male-to-male 3.5 TRS jack cables will simply not connect. After a lengthy internet search I finally found the reason, which incidentally was buried in the Audio-Technica's support website. Really, this was buried, and I wonder why they could not just be upfront about this and why Sweetwater is not aware of the product's limitations. The 3.5 TRS jack cable supplied with these headphone turns out to be proprietary, as explained in the following Audio-Technica support article:



"1/12/24, 4:15 PM Choosing a longer cable for the ATH-M50xBT2

The ATH-M50xBT2 is the second generation of the critically acclaimed M-Series wireless over-ear headphones. On occasion it may be desirable to use them with a cable and the one provided simply isn't long enough. Don't worry, there is a solution but there are a few things worth knowing first.

Even though the ATH-M50xBT2 is from the same family as the popular ATH-M50x, the longer cables designed for the ATH-M50x are not directly compatible. A different design was required to achieve the same high quality as the ATH-M50x because the Bluetooth medium has a very different response to a wired cable.

The material of 'baffle' that holds the driver in place had to be changed to compensate for the difference caused by the Bluetooth chip. This adjusted the resonance and allowed the Bluetooth transmission to be as close as possible to the original ATH-M50x. However, the wired response will naturally be different.

Due to this, it is not possible to use any of the three available ATH-M50x cables with the ATH-M50xBT2, as they will not provide the same audio performance. Careful consideration was given to which cables to provide when the headphones were designed. It was concluded that the large majority of ATH-M50xBT2 users would primarily use the Bluetooth function, and only occasionally use the cable provided. At this point a longer Audio-Technica cable isn't available.

The best way to use the ATH-M50xBT2 with a longer cable, and experience sound as close to the original wired version as possible, would be to use a high-quality neutral-sounding extension cable with the cable provided.

If you have any issues or have any follow-up questions, we invite you to contact us so that we can offer you further advice."




Once again the headphones simply do not work with standard male-to-male 3.5 TRS jack cables, since the headphone input is not designed to process a signal from the conventional jacks. I wasted time and money to establish this. The requirement for an auxiliary female-to-male TRS cable to extend the proprietary cable is not spelled out, except in this very obscure technical support article. Audio-Technica does not offer longer male-to-male TRS cables for sale. Very frustrating.

Of course, the "…Bluetooth function" is not suitable for serious guitar work and a cable connection is a necessity to avoid latency. An extension cable is necessary, yet this info is not well disseminated. Sweetwater should make themselves cognizant of these limitations. It is very frustrating for Sweetwater customers to have to troubleshoot these critical issues, post purchase. I'll note that Sweetwater does carry these auxiliary female-to-male 3.5 TRS jack cables, and I may have purchase these from Sweetwater, if I had been advised correctly. Typically, Sweetwater is more on top of these issues.

Having presented this criticism, I will add that the headphones do provide a fairly accurate presentation, with a neutral frequency response, which is useful for practice.