Review: Audio-Technica ATH-CK7 In-Ear Headphones
The standard pair of headphones that most company’s bundle with their players are at best average and if your looking to make the most of your podcasts and music then the best mp3 player and highest bit rates wont count for much if the device your using to actually reproduce the sound are not up to the job.
Here we have a look at a pair of headphones from Audio-Technica, a little heard of yet major company in the world of audio reproduction, the ATH-CK7 with titanium housing and 11 mm driver with Neodymium magnet.
For those that don’t know what use a titanium housing and Neodymium driver is to you then basically it means the whole thing is stiff and as such means more of the energy used to create the sound is retained and doesn’t dissipate through the housing meaning in theory better sound, as for the Neodymium bit that’s just a very light and expensive material that allows the part that produces the sound to move faster allowing faster changes in frequency’s i.e. from bass to treble. This becomes even more important if you only have one speaker producing all the sound as is the case with in-ear ‘phones’.
What makes the ATH-CK7 standout from the crowd are that they come with 11mm drivers (or speakers for us laymen types) and still manage to pump out a frequency range of 12 - 24,000Hz. Until now all in-ear headphones come with a 9mm driver, which is all well and good until you realise that the bigger the speaker the better the bass, treble is easy to reproduce in such a small speaker, but when it comes to bass and lower mids size is everything and the whole extra 2mm that your getting makes all the difference.
The ATH-CK7 are not cheap, you can pick up a pair from Audiocubes or Semsons & Co for around $120 but after running these very attractive transducers in for about 12hrs you’ll have no doubt that this is money well spent. Spin some high quality podsafe music above 128kbps and immediately you get a sense of involvement normally reserved for hifi speakers. The bass is there but it is a tuneful bass not some in your face boom that pretends to be bass. Mids and treble are dealt with equally well without a hint of sibilance, meaning it doesn’t scream at you. Move on up to a wav file and if you’re an audiophile looking to satisfy your audio fix then the Audio-Technica’s wo’t disappoint.
To top it all off the ATH-CK7 are very comfortable to wear and come with three different sized sleeves to cater for all ear canals. If you are looking to upgrade your ‘buds then these are definitely worth checking out.
PodFly rating: Highly recommended.
Product Specifications:
• Type: Dynamic type
• Driver: 11mm neodymium magnet
• Output overpressure value: 104dB/mW
• Playback frequency zone: 12 - 24,000Hz
• Largest input: 250mW (IEC)
• Impedance: 16 ohm
• Plug: 3.5 gold plated stereo mini-plug
• Cord/code length: 1.2m
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