Audio-Technica ATH-DSR9BT Wireless Over-Ear Headphones

Excellent Audiophile Bluetooth headphones when used with AptX HD capable player. In my case, the WM1Z with firmware 2.0, a brief comparison to DX200 which only offers SBC on this Bluetooth headphones , and the quality/performances of the sound suffered obviously.This review and my needs are all Wireless Audio performances, and nothing about making phone calls as I don’t need thoseAptX HD is real, and how it is so good with this Headphones is probably the efficiency of the direct Digital Drive technology which is better than traditional DAC and Amp on such little circuitry for Bluetooth headphones. Not to mention the 15 hours continous playback.Noises isolation: yes, you get some outside noises attenuated out as the 9BT is closed back Headphones but not Noise Canceling, and for me, this is perfect. I can’t deal with NC as those constant sub-harmonic keep bombarding my earsSound signature: References, balanced, transparent, could be a bit sibilant with 1Z aptX HD at loud volume, but I love it at lower volume, good details retrieving, high fidelity, great layering and separation.Soundstage: Depth is more than senses of widths, cues of left and right separations, instruments layering are vividBass: excellent speed, textures, nicely balanced extensions, Plenty of deep sub bass that don’t bleed or overwhelming the rest of the low spectrum or muddy or veil up the mid spectrum. Mid bass is tight, explosive, snappy and punchy. In EDM, the rippling sub bass and rumbles are clean, pronounced and enjoyable. Ofcourse, due to the closed back design, the sub bass is much more pronounced than opened back designs but trade off for the closed atmosphere and smaller soundstage. However, the sub bass perform very nicely, and I enjoy it tremendously. Bass is very clean, speedy, dive deep.Vocal: very clean, transparent, a lot of air, only lacking a little of the sweetness/fluidity of the inner details fidelity, but nicely expressing the vocal reverberate and vibratosMid: very good fidelity through and through with excellent layering and separations. There are a lot of details to enjoy, especially where multiple of the same type of instruments being played and rhythm together, it can be expressed with full of details and spaces in Ballads and Instruments genres.High: Airy, a bit Sharp with details and with some records that has the famous digital glares, it may be a bit glaring. However, the problem is only happening with Wm1Z and AptX HD. It is still very enjoyable at lower volume listening level, which I recommend to preserve your own hearing with closed back Headphones. People tends to crank up closed back Headphones ways louder than they should.Anyways, back to the high spectrum, very airy and of great extensions with a bit leaning toward brighter signature. It is awesome for people who love references sound signature.I have been in the hobby for years, and having Utopia, SA 5000, Sr009 and T2....etc...etc....experienced with many other Audiophile Headphones, Bluetooth headphones have always pulled my interests, but regardless of how good they got rated, I could never ever enjoy any of them...including the newer Sony 1000X. Until now, most of the Bluetooth I had tried in the pass had major faults, Flat Dead on the soundstage (boring), not enough treble retrieval details, veiled up presentations from the layering....all in all, horrible. Once again, AptX HD and Direct Digital Drive with it efficiency have pulled my interests, and let me say this “welcome to my world ATH DSR9BT, as the first Audiophile worthy Wireless Headphones”This technology is fairly new, and I am not sure of what devices that are capable of AptX HD to recommend to you, Wm1Z and 2.0 Firmware is awesome with this, so I can recommend WM1A and 2.0 Firmware. Until now I am unsure of any other Smartphones or DAP which are touted to be capable of AptX HD, but would their Music play back App be up to notch ? I can not say so. But from what I have witnessed from AAC and SBC , AptX, on this 9BT across IPad, IPhone , HTC10, DX200. Only Wm1Z stands out with it AptX HD connectivity, so I totally recommend 1Z/A to go with this Headphones. If you are into this hobby, I suspect you alread have it. You only need to give this Bluetooth headphones a try, and be surprised as much as I am

Classical music lover here and the complex sounds of classical music are not easy to produce. Bought these because reviews wrote that he sound quality was high in spite of difficult controls and noisy switches. Pleasant surprise; evidently Audio-Technica listened to your complaints because no switches rattled, I found the controls very easy to use (off/on on right, big switch, volume control on left, big switch), and I could stand beside my noisy Jura while it was grinding and sputtering in the process of making wonderful expresso and not hear a thing.The AT headphones paired at once and the sound, at first, was awful. Of course, they need to be broken in; and they sure do. (A pet grieve of mine: why can't high end dealers break in their equipment themselves instead of expecting us to do it for them; we sure pay them enough). Anyway, after about fifty hours of Mahler, repeated over and over, and the AV headphones began to sound something like a concert hall. They will never equal the rich fullness of my Audice 3s, (but then they don't cost a couple of thousand either) but they make classical music not painful to listen to, unlike my two previous purchases. Bass fiddles and timpani are still rough approximations, but violins, piano, woods and brass, solo voice (but not choruses) all sound fairly realistic. They make riding that stationary exercise bike actually pleasant (I'm 93, do thirty minutes twice a day). I simply haven't found any better wireless headphones than the DDSR9BTs. Guy Marc

I have several headphones and these really don't compare to any other I have. That's good and bad. These are excellent cans that have a crystal clear sound to them. Not boomy and not bright. Very nuetral. But nothing like say AKG K701s nuetral. I will say if you are looking for ATH MSR 7 or 9's sound in a BT format these cans will disappoint you they don't sound like the 7's or 9's. They do sound great though. I've noticed that there is no noise floor with these cans. A pause in the music when you would hear that hiss of nothingness... its gone! Which allows you to hear the nuances of the music a lot easier and clearer without having expensive DACs and power amps to drive HQ headphones. They are easy to pair and quick to connect to your device.The bad. The controls aren't easy to use and take a lot of getting used to. I've used them now exclusively for over a month and still accidentally pause the music when going to reach the volume control. And the volume control is clunky at best and the control just doesn't feel expensive like you would expect from a 500 dollar set of cans. Also they have no NC feature which is fine but don't use them in a noisy environment because you will soon find that they won't be loud enough to drown out the din around you. Also the lack of a 3.5mm jack is a pain but they are meant to be wireless cans so i can't knock them for that Because of those two issues, No NC and the controls. I can't give them 5 starsOverall I'm pleased with sound the look fit and finish of the cans. If you are looking for the best sounding BT cans out their you'll be hard pressed to find a better set than this. AT just needs to improve the controls on it and it will be a must have 5 star set of cans.