An audio professional recommended these to me. I've been using them daily 3-5h for 3 weeks now. I was a little skeptical due to the low price, but I was immediately impressed by the sound quality when getting my hands on them. I know two audiophiles who have used the older model (ATH-M50) for 10+ years, so hopefully this new model should last "forever" also. You can replace the pads when they wear out.

My previous headphones were a pair of heavy 350€ steelseries from 2017. The sound quality degraded over time in those, but my friends have had no such issues with their Audio-Technicas. I hadn't even heard about this brand before, but having used a lot of Logitech (complete garbage) and Steelseries (ok) headphones over the years, Audio-Technica is clearly a better brand.

My head is quite big, and many headphones press too hard on it giving me headaches. These have a good balance between staying on my head and being comfortable to wear for many hours.

They block out a moderate amount of sound - if you want/need to be able to hear things happening around you, they are appropriate. You don't get complete silence, but it's probably about as good as it can get without having active noise canceling.

You get multiple detachable cables, so you can use a 1m one for your laptop, and a longer one for desktop/other usage. It's really convenient.

Stop reading reviews and buy these already! They are great!

I have two pairs of these now, one I got years ago that stays at home, and a second I got to keep at work. The frequency response seems very flat, with good bass reproduction. I tend to prefer a bit less treble for listening to music, so I equalize the higher frequencies down. I used to use these to listen to music on the bus or subway or walking in Boston, and the ATH-M50x provide excellent isolation from external noise, but they no active noise cancellation. Not really needed for them, I think. Compared to a pair of open, on-ear Grado headphones I used to have, the Audio-Technicas were far better for noisy environments, and more comfortable to wear for long periods. The ATH-M50x also were more durable, as the Grados broke after a few years, with one channel cutting out. For me theATH-M50x are comfortable because the pads fit around my ears, without pinching. The band is pretty stiff with a metal support running through it, which can be massaged to be wider for those of us that have big heads. Great for audio editing and mastering too. I did have to get third party replacement pads for my older pair as I could not find official Audio-Technica replacements.

These headphones are OK. They sound good. Highs are crisp. Lows can be also heard. But stereo imaging is not so great. It might be due to the fact that the headphone speakers are not matched. Mines, in the range of 50 Hz are louder in the left speaker. Highs are louder also in the left speaker. Around 8000 Hz there is a peak in the right speaker and a dip in the left speaker. This leads me not to be able to enjoy them as I expected. To cancel a bit of highs in the left speaker I added a thin layer of foam under the left earpad. This helped a lot so I recommend adding a foam pad to the delivery box so one can easily improve the listening experience when observing such phenomenon. Regarding the bass range I could not do any improvement so far. It is obvious that the two speakers do not provide the same frequency response. A simple test to prove this is to connect the left and right speakers as mono signal input, face the 2 earpads one another and apply a frequency sweep. In a perfect world one should hear nothing or just a little form outside as the 2 speakers would cancel out each other. This is the case from about 300Hz and above. But not at 50Hz. There is an amplitude boost as the left speaker is louder (or a response phase shift is detectable between the 2 speakers). So unfortunately, the bass range cannot be heard from the middle (not even using a mono signal) when listening.
Other than that, I consider these headphones really good if stereo imaging is not a priority. Sensitivity is great. They sound really loud and clear even with a phone or any small signal player. They have no active noise cancellation but I think that would an overkill. Noise isolation as being a closed type of headphone is decent.
I also consider them very comfortable. I didn’t face any ear fatigue even after 2 hours of wearing.
So, I give 4 stars. This could have been easily 5 if stereo imaging was better.

Compared to cheap headphones these are great headphones but there are older designs of premium headphones that are better than these and significantly cheaper. I've been using the HD 280 PRO for 15 years and these are a step down from them.

Pros:
- sound quality is noticeably better than entry level earphones
- less clamping force means you can wear them longer for people sensitive to that
- detachable cable gives you options that best fit your setup

Cons:
- more expensive than equivalent sound quality models
- padding is less substantial, so the contact points on the top of the head and around the ears are uncomfortable
- the rigid cable connection coming out of the left earphone will dig into your shoulder if you tilt your head to the side causing the earphone to unseat
- earphone pads rotate over time and need to be rotated back into place
- smallest size setting is still too big for many adults