Audio-Technica ATH-A700

Short-Term Use (8.00)

Comfort is, of course, a very subjective category. As a general rule, you should try on a pair of headphones before you buy them. This isn’t always an option, unfortunately, which is why our reviews have a comfort section: to give you a basis for what you could reasonably expect from a pair of headphones. For this section, we wore the headphones for an hour.

After our hour with the ATH-A700s, we didn’t have any complaints. The padding was soft and the headphones had a looser fit than is typical. The headphones are covered in a very soft leather-print plastic. We didn’t feel like they provided a very good seal with our head, but it was soft nonetheless. Part of the reason why the ATH-A700s are so comfortable is because they have such a loose fit. This means they likely won’t stay on if you’re moving around a lot, or banging your head excessively.

Extended Use (8.00)

The ATH-A700s remained comfortable throughout our wear experience. They’re loose enough that our heads didn’t feel like squeezed grapes, but not so light and comfortable that we forgot we were wearing them. Overall, a very comfortable wear experience.

Cable Connectivity (11.07)

The ATH-A700s’ cord dangles from the left ear cup. It’s just shy of 9 feet, 8 inches, which is long. Unless you’re trying to connect to an amp that’s clear across the room, the ATH-A700s’ cord should be more than enough. Also, the cord has knit shielding, which should help it survive computer chair wheels and work boots.

The cord ends in a standard 1/8-inch plug, with a 1/4-inch adapter included in the box.

Customizability (2.00)

There aren’t many ways to customize your ATH-A700 wear experience. There aren’t any cup padding replacement options, the band doesn’t really extend or contract, and the ear cups don’t have a particularly impressive range of motion. Really, the only customization you’re offered is to help the headphones fit onto your head, and you’re not so much in control of that customization as it is done for you as a by product of putting them on. We’re not entirely sure if this form factor is the best for providing a customized wear experience, but it’s certainly a lot less hassle then manually re-adjusting an extendable head band.

Portability (0.16)

The ATH-A700 headphones are not portable. First of all, the things are gigantic and they don’t fold. If you have to shove these in your bag, they’re going to take up a lot of space. Secondly, if you’re planning on taking these for a walk with your iPod, you’d better have room in your pocket for a spool of cable. There’s no included form of cord management, so you’ll have to supply your own rubber band or something else to bind the cord. Really, if portability is an issue for you, there are far, far better options out there: even compared to other over-ear or on-ear headphones the ATH-A700s are a pain to lug around.

Maintenance (6.00)

There really aren’t any maintenance tools included in the box, but you can disassemble these headphones should the need arise (some people hate dust, like to re-solder their connections, or simply like taking stuff apart.

First of all, you need to take off the cup padding. We thought the cups were a pain to get on and off, so bear that in mind before you go ruining the padding on your $300 headphones.

Once the pads are off, you can get an eye-full of the driver’s facade.

If you wish to keep going, you’ll need your tiny Phillips screwdriver. Four screws later and you should see something that resembles the picture below. If you want to keep going, you can unscrew the back of the driver’s housing, but chances are this is the closest you’ll want to get with your canned air.

Other Features (5.00)

Battery

The ATH-A700 doesn’t require batteries to run. In this, the golden age of electronic bells and whistles that don’t necessarily have any great effect, not requiring batteries is fast becoming a novelty.