Audio-Technica ATH-M40X

I had a pair of these headphones for a handful of years, and while I enjoyed their sound signature very much, as well as, surprisingly, the comfort of wearing them, even with the stock ear pads, the problem with these headphones remains: They break. Above each "cup" there is a little construction they hook onto so they can swivel in all kinds of directions. It's a plastic part that can be extended from the headband itself to suit your head size. It's essentially two plastic pieces joined together around the mechanisms inside. This is the weak point of the headphone. One of mine broke after a few years. I proceeded to glue it back together with epoxy, a process I repeated numerous times until eventually, the headphone cup itself came out of the construction where it's supposed to swivel and whatnot. Obviously I couldn't really glue that back together as it would make the flexibility of the cup position and rotation inoperable, and so I, to my dismay, had to scrap the whole thing. They lasted a good while, and I did use them a lot, but for the price, I'm disappointed they weren't more durable. I've had a pair of Superlux HD 668-B headphones for almost a decade that I've trounced through rain and snow with, and they're still going strong. They also cost a third of what these cost.

I've bought this headphone nearly 2 years ago and have been using it on a daily basis, mostly while going to school or just listening to music (film scores, rock, classical music and funk most of the time and sometimes also jazz) at home. I am satisfied with this product so far.

Sound: The sound is great, considering the price. The bass and treble are very present, while it sort of lacks middle frequencies, but it's not that bad. The lack of mid range is noticeable but not bothering and doesn't worsen the listening experience much. The cans perform well across all the genres I listen to.

Comfort: The comfort (for me) is okay, but I've heard from friends and many reviewers that the earpads are not the best (hence the 3 stars, otherwise, considering only my experience it would 4), so you'll may consider buying some comfier ones instead. The pad on the top may look too thin, but let me assure you, it is comfortable enough during long sessions.

Quality: Although the plastic feels rather cheap, the build quality isn't actually that bad. I have seen much worse materials and design elements on various headphones over the years. One minus point: after a while the 3D folding mechanism started creak and squeak. I can live with it but still, some of you may find this annoying.

Design: Altough I can't give stars for this, I really like the folding mechanism because it makes the headphone so much practical for on-the-go usage (on the way to school/work etc.). If you are planning to use this on public transport (like I did)
I'd advise buying a hard case. I'd also like to mention that the passive noice cancelling does a good job, it is pleasure using it outside or on public transport.

To summarize very briefly: It is a decent, good sounding headphone for everyday usage. It does absolutely worth the price if you are looking for a practical closed-back headphone.

I was looking for a good set of headphones and decided for the Audio-Technica ATH-M30 first. As i play at the studio and in some other places i decided to order other set.This time i tried the M40. Light, very good sound, cable is thick and long enough, great, great bass woofer. Are these M40 better than the M30? No. Are they worth the extra 28€ compared to the M30? No. I should have bought a second set of M30.Cant see or hear a 28€ of a difference for the better. Are they good? Very good. Better than the M30 model? No. They are siamese twins and this is the richer brother, not necessary a better one.Should had saved 28€ - Thank you, Thomann.

I've had these headphones for almost two years now and they've served me incredibly well over that period, having mixed my own band's music almost exclusively on them due to a poor acoustic environment in my home studio room. The sound is really clear and I've found it translates pretty well across different listening systems, even though I always seem to slightly misjudge the low-end (although this is a pretty common issue for headphone mixers and not necessarily exclusive to these headphones).

I've also used these headphones for monitoring while tracking vocals, keyboards, guitars and so on, which is where I've found the design of the product to be suboptimal for my needs. As a vocalist, my preference is to sing with one of the earphone cups on, while the other rests behind the 'exposed' ear, this is done mostly just so I can hear myself better in whatever space I am singing in. Recently, the headphone cup which normally rests behind my ear has come completely loose and now dangles, which I haven't figured out a solution for yet. I can only assume this is due to my typical monitoring practice gradually straining the design. The 'swivel-cup' design never really appealed to me in the first place but when this damage occurred, it really turned me off using this headphone model (or similar) in the future. I realize this is entirely circumstantial and may not apply to those who exclusively mix music, but if you're a vocalist who monitors their performance using a similar technique to me I would encourage you to look elsewhere!

I mainly use it for casual music listening and sometimes to monitor while recording vocals and/or guitars.

My first experience with a studio headphone was quite nice. The music I would listen when using the M40x is brighter than, for example, using headphones I would buy on the streets, and does not have that muddy sound.

While monitoring, you will not hear all the little noise in the surroundings, except when the surrounding noise is really loud.

The only thing that bothers me is that after wearing it for example like 3 hours straight, it presses hard on the outer ear (or maybe I'm wearing it wrong, idk). Other than that, I would definitely recommend it.