ATH-M50X : M50x a good upgrade to the solid M50 headphones

I've been using a pair of the regular Audio Technica ATH-M50 headphones for a few years now and have been very happy with their sonic response. They sound great and are not fatiguing to listen to for hours at a time which is crucial for musicians who need to practice or record using headphones. However I wear glasses and found that over time it would get quite uncomfortable to have the headphones pressing my glasses against my head for long periods.

Thankfully the new M50x headphones have vastly improved ear pads. They are much softer and I now am able to wear my glasses and these headphones for long periods of time in comfort. The overall construction of the M50x also appears to be slightly improved, and the new detachable cable is a great idea. Sonically they appear to sound the same or very similar - my other pair has had countless hours of use so I guess these will slightly change over time however they sounded pretty great right out of the box. The only slight negative is that they have used an end connector sleeve that isn't a standard size so that it can lock in to the headphones, meaning that you couldn't easily make a replacement cable without using the proper connector sleeve. The headphones are ideal for using when tracking vocals or acoustic guitars as they are closed back and do not leak a lot of sound.

If you own regular M50s and are happy with the comfort I would probably not worry about buying the M50x headphones unless you need to buy a second pair. However if you were considering purchasing a pair of M50s I'd definitely recommend going straight for the M50x instead. Very nice closed back headphones indeed!