Full Review
Introduction
The ATH-ESW9s are a sophisticated pair of headphones with a price meant for the upper class. They retail anywhere from $300 to $500, which is toward the high end of the bell curve. Fear not, our blue-blooded reader, the headphones aren’t simply an attractive piece of furniture: they have good overall audio quality as well.
Their most impressive quality is their low distortion. On our frequency response test, we found they tend to underemphasize the high-mids and highs, which might lead to vocals sounding a bit underemphasized, and instruments not having as much brilliance as they otherwise would. The headphones also had good tracking and a loud maximum volume. They didn’t isolate or control leakage well, which leads us to believe the ATH-ESW9s are best seen as light-weight, at-home headphones rather than something you should bring on your commute.
The only other issue we ran into with the ATH-ESW9s was we thought they were too tight. We recommend you try these on for a while before you decide to keep them, just to ensure you like the fit.
| This review is organized into 6 pages | ||
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Page 1
Tour & Design
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Page 2
Performance
Very, very low distortion, good tracking and max volume. Sub-par frequency response, poor isolation and leakage control. Read More... |
Page 3
In Use
More portable than the typical on-ear. We didn’t think they were particularly comfortable. Read More... |
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Page 4
Value & Comparisons
They aren’t bad headphones. They’re just very, very expensive headphones. Read More... |
Page 5
Conclusion
Read our final conclusion of the Audio-Technica ATH-ESW9. Read More... |
Part 6
Comments
Read what people are saying about the Audio-Technica ATH-ESW9. Add your comments... |
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