Audio-Technica ATH-M50xBT
HEADPHONES REVIEW

The Audio-Technica ATH-M50xBT isn’t very different from their wired equivalent ATH-M50x. They have the same bland studio look with an all-black design that some may like. They also still have silver accents on the ear cups around the company logo, and overall, they look good, but won’t stand out. Unfortunately, they do not come in any color variant to fit your preferred style like the wired ATH-M50x.

The Audio-Technica ATH-M50xBT are built very similarly to the regular wired M50x and are as comfortable. They are larger than the ATH-M40x, which makes them a bit more comfortable and suitable for larger ears, but are on the shallow side. The headphones are fairly lightweight and don’t apply too much pressure on the head and don’t feel too tight. The padding on the ear cups is comfortable but might feel bit stiff right out of the box.

Unlike the M50x, the Bluetooth variant has controls on the ear cups for on the fly functionalities. You get a volume control, play/call management button and you can also access your device voice assistant like Siri or Google Assistant with a long touch over the logo on the left ear cup. However, it is finicky and doesn’t seem to work consistently. Also, there’s no button to go into pairing mode. The headphones will automatically connect to the last known device, and if you want to connect to another device, you’ll have to disconnect manually on the first device, and then the headphones will search for available devices. There is no way to disconnect Bluetooth directly on the headphones, and this might be a deal breaker for some if you have multiple devices. The control scheme is fairly easy to use, and the provided feedback from the physical buttons is good. You also get audio feedback for track skipping, min/max volume and also play/pause music.

Like most over-ears, the ATH-M50xBT trap heat under the ear cups. These headphones are not designed to be sports headphones, and you should expect more sweat if you’re using them during your workouts. This shouldn’t be too much of a problem for casual listening, but breaks are recommended to let the ears cool off.

The Audio-Technica M50xBT aren’t very portable over-ear headphones, but they do fold into a more compact format and can be easily stored in a bag. They also have swiveling cups to lay flat, which makes them more comfortable to wear around your neck when not using them. They also come with a soft pouch to protect them during traveling.

The Audio-Technica ATH-M50xBT come with a very similar pouch to the wired variant. It should protect the headphones against scratches and very light water exposure but won’t help much if you drop the headphones.

The ATH-M50xBT are practically the normal M50x, but without a cable. They are made of dense plastic that gives them a durable and well-built feel. The headband is also reinforced with a metal frame and doesn’t feel flimsy. Like most of the Audio-Technica lineup, the joints seem to be the weak spots of the headphones and could be the first thing susceptible of breaking.

The Audio-Technica ATH-M50xBT headphones were not designed for sports and aren’t stable on the head. During sports and high-intensity activities, they will slip off your ears. This shouldn’t be a problem for casual listening, and since they have a wireless design, you don’t have to worry about a cable getting stuck on something and snagging the headphones off your head.

The Audio-Technica ATH-M50xBT come with a USB to micro USB charging cable and also a 1/8” TRRS cable for when you want to use the headphones wired, even if the battery is dead. This cable has an in-line remote and microphone. They also don't have a twist-and-lock mechanism like the wired M50x, so you can use them with any 1/8" TRS/TRRS cable.

The bass response is great. LFE (low-frequency extension) is at 10Hz, which is excellent. Also, the whole bass response is well-balanced and even but slightly overemphasized by about 2.5dB. This gives these headphones a bit of extra thump and rumble which some may like, especially fans of bass-heavy genres. However, they tend to sound a bit boomy due to the high-bass overemphasis.

The mid-range performance is good. The overall response is fairly flat, but with an audible dip in the low-mid and mid-mid ranges. This will make vocals and lead instruments sound thin and pushed to the back of the mix.

The treble performance is very good. The response is rather uneven, but well-balanced across the whole range. However, the dip around 6KHz will make vocals, leads, and cymbals lack a bit of detail and brightness. On the other hand, the peak at 10KHz could make the S and Ts sound a bit sharp on already bright tracks.

The frequency response consistency is average. In the bass range, the biggest deviation measured was 10dB at 20Hz, which was measured on the human subject wearing glasses. In higher frequencies, they seem to vary by less than 5dB, below 10KHz, between re-seats, which is good. When comparing these results to the wired ATH-M50x, consider that our human test subject with glasses wasn’t present during the frequency response consistency testing on the wired variant, and we expect both models to perform similarly.

The Audio-Technica M50xBT have good imaging. Their weighted group delay is 0.36, which is very good. The graph also shows that the group delay is almost entirely below the audibility threshold. This ensures a tight bass and a transparent treble reproduction. Additionally, the L/R drivers of our test unit were well-matched in amplitude, frequency, and phase response, which is important for the accurate placement and localization of objects (voices, instruments, video games effects) in the stereo image.

The soundstage of the wireless M50xBT is sub-par. The PRTF graph shows decent accuracy and a good amount of pinna activation. However, there is not a notch present around 10KHz, meaning that the soundstage will be perceived to be located inside the listener’s head instead of in-front.

The harmonic distortion performance is decent. The overall amount of harmonic distortion produced is not too high, especially in the mid-range. Also, there is not a big rise in THD under heavier loads, especially in the bass range, which is good. However, the peak around 6KHz could make the treble of these headphones harsh and impure.

The isolation performance is sub-par. These headphones don't have active noise cancelation and do not provide any isolation in the bass range. This means they will let in all the rumbling of engines. In the mid-range, important for blocking out speech, they isolate by about 9dB, which is average. In the treble range, occupied by sharp sounds like S and Ts, they achieved 30dB of isolation, which is good.

The leakage performance is average. The significant portion of their leakage is spread across the mid and treble ranges, between 400Hz and 6KHz, which is broad. However, the overall level of the leakage is not very loud. With the music at 100dB SPL, the leakage averages at 43dB SPL and peaks at around 54dB SPL at 1 foot away, which is about the noise floor of most offices.

The recording quality of the integrated microphone is above-average. The bump around 50-100hz indicates this mic might be prone to lower frequency noise and pops. The HFE (high-frequency extension) of 3.5KHz means that speech will be noticeably muffled and lacking detail. However, the limited high-frequency extension is a limitation of the Bluetooth protocol and is a problem with all Bluetooth microphones.

The integrated mic is mediocre at noise-handling. In our SpNR test, the ATH-M50xBT achieved a speech-to-noise ratio of 11.5dB, indicating they are best suited for quiet environments and will struggle to separate speech from ambient noise in moderate and loud situations.

The battery life of the ATH-M50xBT is excellent with about 38 hours of continuous playback. They should easily last you a few days even if you are an avid listener. However, they take about 5 hours to charge fully, which is above-average and might be too long for some. They also don’t have any power saving features to extend battery life. On the upside, you can still use them with the Bluetooth connection while they are charging with the USB cable. Even if the battery dies, you can also use the included 1/8” TRRS audio cable to use the headphones passively.

The companion app for the Audio-Technica M50xBT is lackluster. The app lets you know the last known location of the headphones, the battery life and the option to choose the codec connection. You do not get any customization options to enhance your listening experience, which is disappointing. Also, we had trouble with the Android version of the app, which would take several seconds, even minutes, to connect. It kept searching for a device and restarting the app seemed to solve the issue sometimes.

The Audio-Technica ATH-M50xBT headphones support Bluetooth version 5.0, so you could get better results in wireless range than what we measured on our test bench which currently only supports Bluetooth 4.2. Unfortunately, they do not support NFC and can’t connect to multiple devices simultaneously. Also, there’s no button to go into pairing mode. The headphones will automatically connect to the last known device, and if you want to connect to another device, you’ll have to disconnect manually on the first device, and then the headphones will search for available devices. There is no way to disconnect Bluetooth directly on the headphones, and this might be a deal breaker for some if you have multiple devices.

You can use the provided 1/8” TRRS cable to use the ATH-M50xBT passively, which will also get rid of latency issues. You can also use the headphones wired when the battery is dead which is very convenient. The in-line remote works with consoles and PC and the headphones have audio and microphone support.

The Audio-Technica ATH-M50xBT do not have a base/dock. If you want a versatile headset with a base that you can also use wired, check out the SteelSeries Arctis 7.

The Audio-Technica ATH-M50xBT have excellent wireless range, especially when obstructed. We measured one of the longest distances we’ve had so far when the source was obstructed, which means you should be able to leave your desk or your phone at one place and move around with the headphones without hearing audio cuts. They also have a great line of sight range with 174 feet. You shouldn’t have any issues, especially if you keep your audio source on you during workouts.

Like most Bluetooth headphones, the ATH-M50xBT have fairly high latency, which means they may not be suitable for watching videos and gaming. They support aptX, which helps lower latency a bit but not by very much. That said, some devices and video content apps offer some sort of latency compensation, so you may not be affected by audio latency depending on the device and streaming app you use. You can also use the headphones passively with the included 1/8” TRRS cable to completely eliminate latency.