Audio Technica ATH-SQ5

These are the ATH-SQ5 headphones from Audio Technica. They were introduced in the market on November 22nd, 2007 and are available in three colors; black, red, and white. They are a mid-price range portable headphone from AT with the ES7 being considered the high-end model for AT’s portable headphones. The stats. for the ATH-SQ5 ‘phones are as follows…

drive diameter: 42mm
impedance: 40 ohms
max. input: 800mW
sensitivity: 102.5dB/mW
freq. response: 10 to 25,000 Hz
weight: 170 grams
cable: 0.5 meter with supplied 1.0 meter extension
connector: 3.5mm gold-plated

Build

The headband for the SQ5’s is a solid piece of metal inside a plastic housing…

…with the cups being on plastic arms that can slide along the metal frame with approximately 1.5 inches of allowable adjustment per side. The top of the band has a pad…

…which helps keep the band stable on the top of the head and keeps the headphone set comfortable for long wear. As someone who is free of hair on the top of my head, this cushion is wonderful ’cause I’ve used headphones without cushions and after two hours my scalp is sore.

The earcups can be spun 90 degrees…

…and swiveled up to 45 degrees…

The ATH-SQ5’s have replaceable earpads…

…available from Audio Technica with the black pads, HP-SQ5-BK, for the black and red headphones and the gray pads, HP-SQ5-GY, for the white set both being priced at about 10.00 usd. The pads provide a comfortable fit and adequate isolation from external noise.

Sound

I like em…the bass is strong but not thick and the mids and highs come through clear without being pushed back or pushed too far forward on the soundstage. Would I recommend these to a friend? Yes.

These are available in Japan for 8,000? and come in three different colors; black, red, and white.

The ATH-SQ5 headphones are another great set of cans that are available in Japan but not elsewhere. To get yourself a set of these you will need to buy from an import store. I’ve looked around at three different e-tailers to find the lowest price that includes EMS shipping with internet tracking. All three colors are available at Audiocubes for 141.98 usd, Bluetin also has all three colors available for several dollars less–108.61 usd. If you would like to save even more money, the J-pop store has these in all three colors for only 94.99 usd. I used the US as the destination address for coming up with the shipping price.

Audio Technica