We ask a lot of our headphones – great sound quality, wireless connectivity and, for the real audiophiles, Hi-Res audio. Audio Technica’s new ATH-SR5BT can deliver all of that.
The headphones have a compact look and feel with on-ear soft memory foam design rather than an earcup that fit comfortably for hours of listening.
The leather headband is also padded so they don’t feel like they are weighing you down.
With Bluetooth onboard you can stream your music wirelessly from your mobile device and say goodbye to the cables for tangle-free convenience.
The ATH-SR5BT headphones will remember pairings with up to eight devices and there’s also the convenience of NFC (near field communication) where you can simply touch an NFC-compatible device near the left earpiece to make the connection.
Onboard are 45mm drivers that provide impressive audio quality in the top and mid-levels.
On the bass side, the headphones were a little thinner than we would have liked but that’s not to say the current level won’t please most listeners.
There’s also a hard limit on the volume level which suited us OK but some might be wishing for more.
All of the controls are right at your fingertips at the base of each earpiece.
The main controls look after almost everything from adjusting volume, pausing your music and navigating forwards and back.
This control takes a little getting used to because if you adjust the volume too hard or too quickly you’ll either move to the next song or back to the start of the current track.
To pause and play you press that same control.
On the other earpiece was the on/off and Bluetooth pairing switch.
The internal battery can be recharged via the microSD port and the supplied 1m cable and will run for up to 38 hours.
The other cable that comes with the Audio Technica ATH-SR5BT is a 1.2m audio cable with mic/controls which can be used if the battery runs out and you still want to listen to your music like a regular pair of headphones.
You’ll also need the cable when you want to listen to Hi-Res audio. Bluetooth can’t stream music of that quality wirelessly.
We’re talking 24-bit files (CD quality is 16-bit) and above that, like switching from standard definition to high definition video, reveals so much more detail.
Regular music files like MP3 are compressed to make the files smaller and easier to share. That compression removes a lot of that deeper detail.
Audiophiles with a keen ear will easily hear the difference as we did when we listened to the Hi-Res Audio version of Jean Michel Jarre’s Electronica Volume 2.
The Audio Technica headphones are capable of revealing that added detail and nuance which is nice to know – even if you’ve mainly been listening to compressed audio formats.
But now, with the ATH-SR5BT, there’s room to explore a new world of audio quality.
VERDICT
The Audio Technica ATH-SR5BT ticks the boxes for the customer in terms of audio quality, design and features.
And with the added convenience of wireless Bluetooth connectivity and Hi-Res Audio capability when you need it, the product is an even great value proposition.
AUDIO TECHNICA ATH-SR5BT
Price: $369
