Audio-Technica: what they publish

In this database27 headphones
Figures from their own material26 of 27
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This page does not review anything Audio-Technica makes. It counts one thing: how much of what this database says about their products came out of their own documents, and how much had to be worked out or left blank.

Where each sensitivity figure came from

ModelImpedanceSensitivitySource of the figure
ATH-A2000Z44 Ω101.0 dB/mWPublished per mW
ATH-A900Z44 Ω100.0 dB/mWPublished per mW
ATH-A990Z44 Ω100.0 dB/mWPublished per mW
ATH-AD1000X40 Ω102.0 dB/mWPublished per mW
ATH-AD700X38 Ω100.0 dB/mWPublished per mW
ATH-AD900X38 Ω100.0 dB/mWPublished per mW
ATH-ADX300050 Ω98.0 dB/mWPublished per mW
ATH-ADX5000420 Ω100.0 dB/mWPublished per mW
ATH-AWKG48 Ω102.0 dB/mWPublished per mW
ATH-CKS110012 Ω110.0 dB/mWPublished per mW
ATH-E4012 Ω107.0 dB/mWPublished per mW
ATH-E5044 Ω107.0 dB/mWPublished per mW
ATH-E7039 Ω109.0 dB/mWPublished per mW
ATH-GDL345 Ω98.0 dB/mWPublished per mW
ATH-GL345 Ω98.0 dB/mWPublished per mW
ATH-M20x47 Ω96.0 dBUnit not stated
ATH-M30X47 Ω96.0 dB/mWPublished per mW
ATH-M40X35 Ω98.0 dB/mWPublished per mW
ATH-M50X38 Ω99.0 dB/mWPublished per mW
ATH-M50xBT2 (wired)38 Ω99.0 dB/mWPublished per mW
ATH-M60x38 Ω102.0 dB/mWPublished per mW
ATH-M70X35 Ω97.0 dB/mWPublished per mW
ATH-R50x50 Ω93.3 dB/mWPublished per mW
ATH-R70X470 Ω98.0 dB/mWPublished per mW
ATH-R70xa470 Ω97.0 dB/mWPublished per mW
ATH-W1000Z43 Ω101.0 dB/mWPublished per mW
ATH-WP90038 Ω100.0 dB/mWPublished per mW

Impedance is almost always printed. Sensitivity is the one that goes wrong, because a decibel figure means two very different things depending on whether it is per milliwatt or per volt — about five decibels apart at 300 Ω and eighteen at 16 Ω. The conversion is here.

  • Published per mW — 26: the maker prints a decibel figure per milliwatt, which is what the database stores
  • Unit not stated — 1: the maker prints a decibel figure with no reference unit, so it is shown as printed and flagged rather than quietly converted

What they print, and what it is worth

ModelAs printedToleranceStandard
ATH-A2000Z5 – 45,000 Hznot printednot printed
ATH-A900Z5~40,000Hznot printednot printed
ATH-A990Z5 – 42,000 Hznot printednot printed
ATH-AD1000X5 – 40,000 Hznot printednot printed
ATH-AD700X5 – 30,000 Hznot printednot printed
ATH-AD900X5 – 35,000 Hznot printednot printed
ATH-ADX30005 to 45,000 Hznot printednot printed
ATH-ADX50005 – 50,000 Hznot printednot printed
ATH-AWKG5 to 45,000 Hznot printednot printed
ATH-CKS11005~40,000Hznot printednot printed
ATH-E4020 – 20,000 Hznot printednot printed
ATH-E5020 – 18,000 Hznot printednot printed
ATH-E7020 – 19,000 Hznot printednot printed
ATH-GDL310 to 35,000 Hznot printednot printed
ATH-GL310 to 35,000 Hznot printednot printed
ATH-M20x15 - 20,000 Hznot printednot printed
ATH-M30X15 - 22,000 Hznot printednot printed
ATH-M40X15 - 24,000 Hznot printednot printed
ATH-M50X15 - 28,000 Hznot printednot printed
ATH-M50xBT2 (wired)15 - 28,000 Hznot printednot printed
ATH-M60x15 - 28,000 Hznot printednot printed
ATH-M70X5 - 40,000 Hznot printednot printed
ATH-R50x5 to 40,000 Hznot printednot printed
ATH-R70X5 - 40,000 Hznot printednot printed
ATH-R70xa5 to 40,000 Hznot printednot printed
ATH-W1000Z5 – 42,000 Hznot printednot printed
ATH-WP9005 – 50,000 Hznot printednot printed

Audio-Technica prints a frequency range for all 27 models here whose sheets have been read.

Not one of those ranges comes with a tolerance in decibels. Without a ±dB figure a range says nothing about how loud the headphone is at either end of it, which puts Audio-Technica with the majority: of the 490 models across this database whose maker prints a range, 58 print the tolerance.

The rows are not even called the same thing twice: 2 different headings across 27 models (“Frequency Response”, “再生周波数帯域”).

No measurement is published here — only what was printed. The whole count, maker by maker, is in the frequency response audit.

What reaches 100 dB on all 27

The hardest of the 27 to drive is the Audio-Technica ATH-R70xa: 2.0 mW and 0.97 V for a 100 dB SPL peak. Their impedances run from 12 to 470 Ω, which matters because the voltage a headphone wants rises with impedance while the power falls.

275 of the 280 sources here reach 100 dB on all 27, and the cheapest of them is the Apple USB-C dongle (US) at $9. “Reaches” means the maker’s own published power figure is enough at that load; it is not a judgement of how it sounds.

On hiss the count is smaller, because most of the industry does not publish a noise figure at all: of the 83 sources here that do, 61 stay under the threshold of hearing on all 4 of their in-ears. The one to watch is the Audio-Technica ATH-CKS1100 at 129 dB/V — the more sensitive the in-ear, the more of the amplifier’s own noise you hear.

Their lowest impedance is the Audio-Technica ATH-E40 at 12 Ω, so a source wants an output impedance at or below 1.5 Ω to satisfy the one-eighth rule on everything they make. 129 of the 169 sources that publish an output impedance manage that.

These counts use figures the source makers published themselves. A product that publishes nothing is not counted as a pass anywhere above, which is why the three numbers differ so much. The collection matcher runs the same arithmetic over whatever you actually own.

What the paperwork adds up to

Almost everything this site says about Audio-Technica came from them. That is not the normal case and it is worth saying out loud.

The rule used here is the same for every maker and is described on the manufacturer index. Every figure behind it can be opened on the product page it came from, with the document it came from linked.

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