Pros

• Superb audio quality
• Unique cherry wood design
• Very comfortable and light
• Comes with carry case

Cons

• A lot of sound leakage
• Odd cable length
• Fragile parts

Audio-Technica is perhaps not what you’d immediately consider as a household name here in the western side of the world. Compared to the big players like Sony, Toshiba and Panasonic, you’d think they were a smaller and more niche manufacturer. That’s where you’d be wrong. In the big world of Japanese electronics, Audio-Technica are the market leaders for headphones and are ahead of familiar names such as Sony and JVC. Many of their products are aimed at the professional market with audiophile quality headphones and premium DJ equipment but in recent years Audio-Technica have entered the consumer audio market.

One of their top end models is the Audio Technica ATH-EW9 clip on headphones which features a unique cherry wood design and boasts supreme audio quality.

Here’s what we thought of the ATH-EW9.

Style

The most noticeable style point on the ATH-EW9 is of course the use of cherrywood on the outside of the earphones. It’s smooth polish just speaks quality. It certainly feels very solid and the circular shape of the headphones gives it a real classy look. Top that off with the elegantly styled font on the outset and it’s easy to see what kind of consumer Audio-Technica are aiming at with this product.

However, this is a clip on pair of headphones and the mechanism used to attach the headphone over the top of your ear, although pretty simple to use, looks like a complex web of oddly shaped rubber wires and fragile parts. Yes it’s an interesting contrast to the simple cherrywood front but it does come across as being rather messy as well as a little complicated. Still, the charming red hue of the cherrywood is a nice contrast, made more so by the fact that it’s a natural earthy wood, something that’s unique to this kind of product.

Sound Quality

Looks can only get you so far in the consumer audio market. So does the ATH-EW9 impress on the performance front?

The answer is an unequivocal yes. The audio quality was superb for a pair of clip on headphones. We’ve found that clip on headphones usually suffer from a lack of audio quality mostly because you don’t get that tight fit that you get with over the ear headphones or the clarity in the in ear headphones. Oh how pleasantly surprised we were to find just how good the sound quality is on the ATH-EW9.

The bass is very strong without being too overbearing and although it does break up a little at the higher volume levels, we were very impressed with it’s ability to thump out bass heavy music for a pair of clip on’s. Using 28mm neodymium magnets, there was an amazing amount of richness to the sound with a strong body to the audio which was surprising as we expected a more tinnier sound to come out from  the ATH-EW9′s. There’s a surprising amount of sound clarity too and even at the higher volume levels, there’s very little distortion and overall the headphones sounded great across all musical categories.

But we did have one major complaint which was the sound leakage. Perhaps it is due to the lack of a seal on the headphones but even at a moderate volume level, the sound could still be heard by the person next to us on a busy London train. Turn it up further and you may as well be sharing your music with the rest of the passengers on their commute.

Therefore we have to sum up that the ATH-EW9′s sound great if only for the sound leakage.

Features

What you get along with the headphones is a soft carry case to take your headphones around with you. With two compartments used to hold the two cherrywood cans, it’s pretty effective albeit a little fiddly to put away.

The cans were also particularly light and at 33g, weigh next to nothing. They’re also extremely comfortable with a nice rubber clip to hold to the top of your ear and very well padded and thicker than expected foam padding. Putting them on did take a while to get used to at first but soon it became easy and wearing them for a prolonged period of time was simple without even the need to adjust them. Just put them on and you can pretty much even forget that they’re even there.

The headphones come with two cables, both of which baffle me a little. The first is the primary non detachable wire which is a ridiculously short 50cm long, too short a cable unless you intend on carrying your phone or mp3 player in your top pocket and have no intention of having it any lower. Audio-Technica then provides a 1.0m extension cable on top of the non detachable 50cm long cable which to me is a little overkill as you end up with a bit too much wire dangling around. Cables of course aren’t the most important aspect of the headphones but it is a bit of an irritation. Also the cables themselves are very thin, as are the connections between the cans and the cables so we have a few worries over how long it’ll last. Just a word of warning to be careful when tugging at the cables.

Conclusion

We really like the ATH-EW9′s. It’s one of the best sounding clip on headphones we’ve tried here on TUS and couple that with it’s lightness and it’s very comfortable design and it’s a winner in our minds. The only things stopping it from getting that perfect score is both the sound leakage and the delicate nature of the headphones. Other than that, we would definitely recommend the ATH-EW9 if you’re looking for a pair of comfortable and great sounding clip on headphones for just under $200.

The Audio-Technica ATH-EW9 clip on headphones are available for $199 from Audio-Technica.

TUS Rating

Style:	4 of 5
Performance:	4 of 5
Features	4 of 5

Overall: 4 of 5  

DISCLOSURE: This product was provided to TUS by Audio-Technica. See Contact TUS page for full details on our review policy.