Audio-Technica ATH-CK7 Canal Headphones

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Max Slowik
Kurtis
Audio-Technica
Aug. 14, 2008

Specifications

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Sound Quality

On first use I thought they were broken. No, worse than broken, some kind of sick devilry had warped them for sadistic purpose. If there was an audio inquisition, they'd be cleansed with fire.

To be clear: using them was literally painful. Every whisper, every high-hat, any voice above a tenor was a knife, cutting away at the nerves. Yes, I had them turned up too high. They have very low impedance and very high sensitivity, but that was the audio equivalent of larcenous arson. Even at lower, reasonable volumes, once-sultry voices were shrill and everything just sounded perverse.

Thank God I had my trusty equalizer: my equalizer. Here's how things worked out before tweaking:

20Hz: maybe?
30-40Hz: weak
50-2,500Hz: weak
3,000-13,000Hz: strong
13,000-17,000Hz: really too strong
18,000Hz: way too strong
20,000Hz: good

I adjusted the bands like this:

20Hz: +7dB
30-40Hz: +7dB
50-2,500Hz: +6dB
3,000-13,000Hz: -2dB
13,000-17,000Hz: -4dB
18,000Hz: -4dB
20,000Hz: -4dB

Those are HUGE differences in volume: decibels are logarithmic and a +/- 3dB change doubles or halves the sound pressure level.

It took quite a while for me to get the sound to come out right, but once I did, I found myself very satisfied by these headphones--even though the shanked eardrum teaches best. As they say. But every manufacturer claims that their drivers are precise. They all have the best possible fidelity. These are pretty good, actually.

Now they're not perfect, I mean, isn't that obvious, but after I re-calibrated my player for these, I found that they are exceptionally precise. All that shrillness was over-driven highs, now just a little bright, in a clear, un-punchy kind of way. The lows are thorough and even, not overly round, and you can actually hear a 30Hz tone. The mid-range isn't muddy, but it's not super-smooth--possibly a limitation of my equalizer.

Another thing worth mentioning is that I got the best, most complete and even range out of these by putting the small ear pieces on and shimmying them as far into my ears as was really possible. Screw safety, right?

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Page 1: Introduction, First Impressions & Specifications
Page 2: Sound Quality
Page 3: Conclusion

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2 User Comments

1 - Posted by theqat on August 15, 2008 - 3:17 pm

The real problem with these is the included eartips, which are universally terrible. If you feel like it, get some Ultimate Ears dual flange eartips from (f.ex.) http://www.ultimateears.com/_ultimateears/store/ac... I use them and can attest that they solve almost every problem with the ATH-CK7s--you get a better seal leading to better detail, better noise canceling, better bass, less shrill treble, and better balance between bass, mids, and treble.

If you were to say "there's no reason you should have to buy 3rd-party eartips to make your IEMs sound acceptably good," I'd absolutely agree with you. The only reason I know how great the UE tips are is that I happened to buy the ATH-CK7s based on some reviews that turned out to be incorrect and then found some other forum posts stating that the UE tips provided major improvement.

2 - Posted by Kurtis on August 17, 2008 - 2:16 pm

theqat: Thanks for the feedback and the extra info. :)

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