Audio-Technica ATH-CK7 Review

MSRP: $79.99 USD
Rating:
Pros: Huge sound, comfortable, awesome bass response
Cons: None
Similar products used for comparison: Sennheiser CX300, Etymotic Research ER-6i, Bose In-Ear Headphones

Ever since being spoiled by the high quality of audio put out by in-ear earphones such as the Etymotic Research ER-6is, I couldn’t go back to cheap earbuds. When my pair of ER-6is eventually died (even after I tried to salvage them), I had my eye on the Audio-Technica ATH-CK7s I came across on AudioCubes.

The ATH-CK7s are almost the same type of earphones as the ER-6is except they don’t go that deep into your ear canal. Due to this, you will be able to still hear outside sounds unlike the ER-6is who provided the best isolation I’ve ever experienced of an audio product besides noise-canceling headphones. I miss the absolute isolation from the ER-6is but I find the ATH-CK7s to be a lot more comfortable. This is a personal thing though as everybody has different ears, but I found I could listen to my music longer without getting that uncomfortable “itchy” feeling of having the earphones in too long.

So how do they sound?

I will have to say that the ATH-CK7s sound on par with the ER-6is, if not better. Initially I thought they sounded like crap because the sound seemed really muffled. However, after reading that it takes some time for these to warm up, I plugged them into my laptop while playing some music at a pretty high volume for an hour. When I came back and put them into my ears, the difference was like night and day, they sounded really good.

As with the ER-6is, these earphones sound great with the mid and high frequencies. In regards to the bass, the bass output by the ATH-CK7s definitely has the edge over the ER-6is. It makes the music sound much fuller and it’s something I really welcomed. I have a feeling that the bass sounds much better on the ATH-CK7s because the drivers do appear to be bigger.

Other physical features to note

The mini-jack on the ATH-CK7s bends 90º. This is something I welcomed – I think the straight jack design on the ER-6is is what lead to the fraying of the cord since I like to wrap my earphones around the iPod.

The earbuds themselves have an outer titanium casing which makes them feel heavy. I didn’t think too much of this, however this might be a purchasing factor for those who find in-ear earphones to easily fall out of their ears. Like the ER-6is, you can detach the rubber tips that go in your ears for cleaning and Audio-Technica has packaged the standard three sizes of rubber tips: small, medium and large.

One really nice feature of these earphones is the high elastic elastomer material used for the cord. They claim that it prevents tangling and it seems to work, I’ve found that I haven’t really had to untangle the cord unless the mini-jack or earbuds manage to do a couple of loops and make a loose knot.

According to the packaging, these earphones were apparently designed to also wrap around your ears if you feed the cord from your back rather than the traditional way of having the cord in front of you.

For regular use, I prefer to just wear these earphones the traditional way. However, when running, I found wearing it the way depicted in the diagram was great. Truthfully, wearing it that way could probably apply to most earphones, but I would have never thought of it.

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