Audio-Technica goes pro with its latest audiophile-standard, open-back headphones

Audio-Technica has announced a new set of flagship headphones, the ATH-R70xa.

Based on the popular ATH-R70x, the new version is designed for professional users and promises even more accurate sound as well as exceptional comfort.

The ATH-R70xa over-ears have a fully open back design for a natural, accurate sound: without acoustic cavities or unwanted resonance you get to hear the drivers directly. This enables you to hear the sound more precisely. That's important if you're mastering or mixing music for others to hear.

Frequency response ranges from a very low 5Hz to an airy 40,000Hz, and the weight is just 199g.

The new headphones are available now exclusively from Thomann, and the price is £299 / €349 (about $369 / AU$588).

Selling through the music equipment retailer Thomann makes it clear that these headphones aren't really aimed at casual listeners.

Headphones and speakers for music listeners are typically tuned to make music sound better rather than to make it as accurate as possible. For music makers and producers, that tuning isn't desirable, you want to hear what's missing and what's too loud or too harsh.

Audio-Technica's more affordable option for music makers

In addition to the ATH-R70xa there's a second, more affordable model. The ATH-R50x headphones are once again an open-back design, and feature re-engineered drivers that are modelled on the ones in the original ATH-R70x. Like their bigger siblings they're light too, coming in at 207g.

Where the R70xa are designed not to colour the audio, the R50x have an extended bass response for extra low-end thump that should make them fun for music creators. That does mean if you’re mixing or mastering, you'll definitely want to test your tracks on other audio kit to ensure you've got the bass levels right, though.

The ATH-R50x are also exclusive to Thomann, and the price is £139 / €169 (about $171 / AU$273).