Tour
The Audio-Technica ATH-ESW9s are predominantly black and brown, with a reddish-brown, wooden exterior to the outside of their cups.
  
The left, center, and right views of the ATH-ESW9s.
The insides are a black leather material covering a small amount of padding.The bottom of the ear cups have small cord guards that are minimally rigid.
The padding is slightly triangular, with more padding
toward the outside edge and less towards the inside.
The ear cups are attaced to the metal band with half moons of plastic that allow for tilting and swiveling. The band is extendabl, and features padding on both its top and underside.
The center of the band is metal, which should help the
headphones survive being accidentally stepped on.
At the other end, the cord ends in a standard 1/8-inch plug, with a stout cord guard.
This cord guard should suffice unless you're connecting
to a media player in your pocket.
In the Box
You will find two lonely items in the ATH-ESW9s' box: the headphones themselves, and a lamb skin pouch.
Durability (7.50)
We didnt' see any specific durability issues on the ATH-ESW9s. They had passable cord guards, the cups met well at the band, and the band itself seemed durable. Overall, the headphones were solidly above average.
Aesthetics (8.50)
The ATH-ESW9s are classy headphones. These are the headphones you should listen to when you throw on your red smoking jacket and want to listen to some Vivaldi while you peruse the paintings in your study. Interestingly enough, the ATH-ESW9s are ergonomically designed for high brows (this is a joke, we have no idea if brow position was considered during the manufacturing process).
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