There is a surfeit of audio headphones these days, but many do not deliver premium audio, even at a premium price. Breaking the barriers is a mid-segment audio headphone by a Japanese company called Audio Technica. They
sent over the Audio Technica ATH-M20xBT to be accessed. We played around with them for over 2 weeks and this is our Audio Technica ATH-M20xBT review you should not miss, if you are planning to buy wireless headphones around the Rs 10,000 or USD $150 price point.
Audio Technica ATH-M20xBT review: Design
These come in a large cardboard box, which also has a USB charging cable, manuals and a 3.5mm auxiliary cable (to connect with an aux port), apart from the Audio Technica ATH-M20xBT headphones. When we saw the box, we thought these would be really heavy to wear, but once we got them on, they are not heavy at all, these are featherweight headphones with heavyweight sound.
Available in just one (Black) colour, we quickly took to assess its looks. These do look like most of the Audio Technica headphones in the category with its own differences. You get a fairly well-padded headband and ear cups. These are very comfortable to wear and not once did we feel a sense of flimsiness from them. Audio Technica branding can be found in the headband as well as its logos on the ear cups.
Each ear cup has a large 40mm
audio driver within, more on them in the performance part. The left ear cup is where all the “key” action is. You get a power button, which is also the play/pause/voice call switch. With that, users get the volume control +/- keys, USB Type-C charging port as well as the 3.5mm audio port. A LED indicator and single microphone can also be found here.
The Audio Technica ATH-M20xBT come with a robust metal slider to adjust the headphones onto any type of head. Overall, we loved the look, size and fit of the Audio Technica ATH-M20xBT, we would have loved them even more if a carry case was also provided in the box.
Audio Technica ATH-M20xBT review: Performance
Coming to how the Audio Technica ATH-M20xBT perform. We had a mixed bag of emotions. Let us start by first the setting up process. The setup of these audio headphones is very easy. You just have to turn them on and they will fast pair with any Bluetooth device. We had a great time listening to our favourite tunes with them. We played everything from rock to classical and it gave us very less chance to bicker.
The sound is quite nice when it comes to mids and lows, highs, as well as the bass, could have been better. But our phone’s built-in audio equaliser did a mighty fine job in boosting both segments. Also, you can pair the Audio Technica ATH-M20xBT with 2 devices at once, yes it supports multi-point pairing. Just pair it with the first device, and turn off the first device’s BT. Pair it with the second device and then turn on the first device’s BT. Simple process. So, now you can enjoy listening to music on your
laptop and receive calls from your smartphone, without switching devices.
There is passive noise cancellation available on the Audio Technica ATH-M20xBT. Active noise cancellation (ANC) is not there. These do a good job of keeping the outside noise out, which is the case with most over-the-ear headphones in the category. If they would have added ANC to the mix, it would have been a boon.
Also Read: Samsung’s original Galaxy Buds get three key new features update
We played music via Amazon music, watched a movie on Netflix and played Asphalt 9: Legends and BGMI games using Audio Technica ATH-M20xBT. The experience was quite nice on the first two, but even better when gaming. The company does recommend them for gaming use as the latency is low. The shot-to-sound latency is actually very low and these did help us get that much-needed extra kill when gaming thanks to its fast sound.
A place where the Audio Technica ATH-M20xBT excels is battery life. The company claims users will get 60 hours of playback time and we got just about that. We used them for over 2 weeks and they ran out of battery after 12 days, which is not bad at all. Over that, they support rapid charge. A 10-minute charge gives its users 3 hours of battery life. It gets fully charged in about 1.75 hours. The LED indicator on the headphones will tell you if it needs a charge when it turns red. A voice also tells you each time you turn them on indicating medium, full or low battery.
Verdict
Overall, as said, the Audio Technica ATH-M20xBT did leave us with mixed bag of emotions. We did take them out for a run and slight rain fell on them, nothing happened to them, but we would not recommend splashing water on them as there is no IP rating on it. Nevertheless, when running these stayed firmly in place and we quite liked it. Also, the sound kept growing on us. Things like ANC and a carry case are missing, which could have been perfect for the price.
At Rs 13,500 Audio Technica ATH-M20xBT do have a great number of positives that outweigh the cons. If you want good sound or are looking for low latency wireless gaming headphones for professional gaming, you can pick them without thinking twice.
Audio Technica ATH-M20xBT Pros
Good audio and multi-point pairing
Comfortable and light to wear
Sturdy
Audio Technica ATH-M20xBT Cons
No Carrying Case
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