Audio-Technica ATH-PRO5V Reviews

The jack is a gold-plated 3.5 mm stereo headphone jack that comes with a screw-on 6.35 mm adapter which is also gold-plated. The cord runs on only one side and is coiled and thick. It is heavy and I don’t recommend stretching the coil because the weight will literally drag you down. The outside area of the earpieces are made of tough plastic. It looks brittle and might be prone to cracking as compared to my Sennheiser HD202s, which will probably bend or dent first before cracking. The earpieces rotate 180 degrees - for DJ use. There’s a thin wire that’s exposed which runs from the earpieces to the headband. It extends as you adjust the earpieces. They might get caught on something but they look tough. The headband has ample padding, not like the ATH-M50 which is a bit overkill. By the way, PRO5V means it’s silver, PRO5 is black, and there’s also a camouflage version of these cans.

The ATH-PRO5V is considered circumaural. For me, it’s only semi. It’s also kind of tight (clasp) so I wouldn’t recommend it for long listening. The Audio-Technica ATH-M30 has the same size earpiece but has a deeper groove (so you fit more of your ear). The PRO5V has a tighter clasp than the ATH-M30. I find this ATH-PRO5V as uncomfortable as my HD202s. The ear padding is made of that thin shiny leather-like material that traps heat so you are prone to sweating. These are closed-back headphones and do an excellent job of isolating noise.

I would consider these cans excellent for monitoring and mixing. The instruments are well defined and you could almost block yourself from listening to a particular instrument only. I also noticed that guitars sound meaner more real. This led me to testing them with my guitar (hooked on a ToneWorks processor). These are by far the best headphones I’ve used for guitars. The mids of these cans are really out there - which is probably why it sounded great for guitar monitoring. However, it (mids) can also be “too much” for other applications. In particular, I don’t like how vocals sound in these headphones. They sound too sticky and not-lifelike. They sound too “brown” (maybe dark brown) but not tube-like. There’s also the fatigue factor, so it’s not good for long listening hours. I can see myself using these headphones for learning guitar parts or other instruments on recorded materials.

I do not regret not choosing the ATH-M30 (Php 3,000) over these because I figured it suits my (all-around) needs. It’s definitely an upgrade from my HD202 but I think I need another pair suited solely for listening.

These cans are probably most-suited for studio monitoring applications. Listening over long periods of time is fatiguing, particularly on the very exaggerated mids and strong head clasp. They are cheap though, well-built and are great to have (for contrast) if are into collecting headphones.