Audio-Technica ATH-AD700X

Sources split, unevenly. The large camp, from What Hi-Fi? to most owners and forum reviewers, hears a huge, airy, out-of-head stage that few headphones at the price match, and the reason it became a gaming staple. The smaller camp includes both measurement labs that comment and an owner who A/B'd it against the AKG K612 Pro: wider than most headphones, they say, but not exceptional, with the K612 bigger still. Nobody calls it narrow; the argument is whether it is special.

Sources split, unevenly. Most owners and reviewers who game on it describe precise, competitive placement: footsteps, gunshots and grenades located at a glance, often called a 'wall hack'. Amazon's owners rate it gaming-friendly 98 to 5. A minority, two of whom moved to the HD 58X or K702, heard a big space where sounds blur together or sit in the wrong place.

Near-universal agreement on the fact: the bass is light and the deep bass rolls off, so there is no rumble and little slam. The verdict ranges from 'low in level but clean, and fine for an open-back you don't buy for bass' to 'simply too thin' — several owners returned it on bass-heavy music. The two views overlap rather than form camps, and many owners close the gap with EQ, which the low-distortion driver takes well.

“Bass is low in level but not poor in quality.”

Solderdude, DIY-Audio-Heaven

“We would have liked more weight to the low end and a tauter bass for a punchier sound, though.”

What Hi-Fi?

Mostly heard as the AD700X's strength: clear, forward vocals and instruments, praised for acoustic, vocal and classical music. RTINGS, too, finds the mids slightly emphasised against the pulled-back bass and treble. A smaller group hears the same measured upper-midrange dip as a hole that makes voices muffled or relaxed and lacking bite.

“In den Mitten und im Präsenzbereich glänzt der Audio-Technica-Kopfhörer dagegen und überzeugt mit ehrlicher und nuancierter Klangwiedergabe bei jeglichem Audiomaterial.”

Jan Bruhnke, kopfhoerer.de (the midrange and presence region shine, with honest, nuanced reproduction)

“It’s a pretty badly tuned headphone. Rolls off in the bass and a huge gap in the upper mids.”

JasonABerger (r/HeadphoneAdvice)

Sources split. One camp hears an inoffensive, airy top that is not sibilant, and sometimes the best part of the headphone. The larger camp, including RTINGS and What Hi-Fi?, hears it as hard, sharp or piercing on sibilants and some recordings, enough that one owner returned it over highs that 'gave me a moment of discomfort'. Both describe the same measured shape: a narrow peak near 9–10 kHz over an otherwise subdued treble.

Sources split, unevenly. The measurement rigs, Crinacle, and most critical owners hear an uneven, coloured, mid-centred balance that takes getting used to — 'off' at first, 'badly tuned', or 'not neutral'. Two editorial reviewers hear it as balanced or even very neutral. The graphs side with the first camp; the second describes how the clear midrange can read once you have adjusted to it.

Sources split. The larger camp — What Hi-Fi?, kopfhoerer.de and most owners — hears plenty of detail and clarity, enough to surprise listeners coming from gaming headsets. The other camp, which includes DIY-Audio-Heaven, RTINGS and Crinacle, hears an impression of detail made by the treble peak, over mediocre resolution: sharp edges on instruments, with things blending together underneath.

A modest point either way. What Hi-Fi? credits it with decent dynamics and attack, and DIY-Audio-Heaven hears the mids as neither lively nor lifeless; owners who play bass-driven music hear no punch at all, with kick drums that sound tapped rather than hit. The light bass, not the driver, sets the ceiling.

“The ATH-AD700Xs have decent dynamics and attack too”

What Hi-Fi?

“You will not find any bass punch, sub bass or dynamics with these headphones”

1maxwedge426 (r/headphones)

Sources split, and the split tracks head shape. Many owners call it among the most comfortable headphones they have worn: very light, with almost no clamp and wings that rest rather than press. Others find that the wing support holds nothing, so the cups slide down until they hang on the ears, and that the cups, which swivel but do not tilt, leave gaps or pressure points on narrow or wide heads. Shallow, small pads add hot spots for some. A rubber band between the wings is the common owner fix.

Sources split. Reviewers who handled it new found it well made for the price, with sturdy-feeling plastic and metal grilles, and one owner daily-drove a pair for most of a decade. The larger body of evidence — RTINGS, critical owners and Amazon's durability tally — finds it cheap-feeling and fragile over years: one owner lost two units to a dead channel at two and a half and three years, and above all the fixed 3 m cable, which can't be replaced when it fails and is the commonest complaint.

Open-back by design: it blocks almost nothing and leaks freely in both directions. Nobody counts that against it as a fault, but it confines the AD700X to a quiet room.

“It is an open headphone so outside noises are not attenuated much.”

Solderdude, DIY-Audio-Heaven

“The open-back nature of these headphones means that people will be able to hear what you're listening to if you're listening to it loud enough”

Sam Smart, Pocket-lint

Sources split. Owners and the reviewers who recommend it still see a bargain for what it does: competitive positional audio, an airy stage and a featherweight fit, driven straight from a phone or motherboard. Amazon's value topic runs 147 to 33 positive. The larger, more measurement-minded camp argues that better-balanced open-backs now do more for similar money — the HD 560S, HD 599, HD 58X, SHP9500, K612 Pro and Audio-Technica's own R70x come up repeatedly. With the AD700X discontinued in Japan, the remaining US stock sits near $140.