ATH-M30x
headphones
$79
Used market: $60*
Specifications
2 of 7 values have a recorded sourceExpert Audio Engineering Commentary
Tonal Profile
Electrically the same headphone as the M20x — 47 Ohms, 96 dB/mW — with a wider stated bandwidth and nearly twice the power handling. For the amplifier question the two are interchangeable; the twenty dollars buy pads, a screw-on adapter and a pouch, not sensitivity.
What the datasheet actually says
Quoted verbatim from the manufacturer’s own page, with the date we checked it. We state what is printed, not what anyone intended by it.
«Sensitivity 96 dB»
Audio-Technica's US page for the ATH-M20x and ATH-M30x prints the sensitivity without a unit, while the same company's pages for the ATH-M60x («102 dB/mW»), ATH-AD500X («100dB/mW») and ATH-AD700X («100 dB/mW») name it, and Audio-Technica's own Japanese site prints «96dB/mW» for these very models. So the number is per milliwatt. Read as dB/V instead, a 47 Ohm headphone would appear 13 dB more sensitive than it is, and the M-series would look like it needs almost no amplifier at all.
checked 8/5/2026«Sensitivity 96 dB … Impedance 47 ohms»
The ATH-M20x and ATH-M30x carry identical impedance and identical sensitivity across Audio-Technica's own pages; only maximum input power (700 mW against 1,300 mW) and stated bandwidth differ. Power handling is a durability rating, not a loudness one, so for every amplifier-matching question the two models are the same load. Anyone paying the difference for «more headroom» is buying a number that does not enter the calculation.
checked 8/5/2026* Estimated with the depreciation fallback (~76% retained value). · checked on 8/5/2026