ATH-M50x
headphones
$169
Used market: $130*
Specifications
3 of 9 values have a recorded sourceExpert Audio Engineering Commentary
Tonal Profile
38 Ω and 99 dB/mW means it will get loud from anything, which is why it ended up on so many desks. The thing to watch is the opposite of a power problem: from a noisy output stage this is sensitive enough to make the hiss audible.
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 99 dB»
The English page prints the figure with no unit. Audio-Technica's own Japanese sheet for the same product writes «出力音圧レベル 99dB/mW» — per milliwatt. Read instead as dB/V, the required voltage for a 110 dB peak jumps from 0.692 V to 3.548 V, and the verdict flips: a UA Volt 2 falls 2.4 dB short, a Vocaster 6.7 dB short, and only a desktop DAC passes. The widespread advice that the M50x «needs an amp» traces back to that missing unit, not to the headphones.
checked 8/5/2026Setups using this gear
* Estimated with the depreciation fallback (~77% retained value). · checked on 8/5/2026