Audio-Technica ATH-AD700X

The ATH-AD700X is a cheat code for hearing footsteps in shooters, but a letdown for everything else. Buy it for competitive gaming, skip it for music.

The 53mm drivers with CCAW voice coils are tuned for clarity, not fun. Treble and mids are crisp and detailed, which is exactly what you want when you're trying to pinpoint a reload animation three rooms away. Sound sits at the 88th percentile in our database, and that tracks. But the bass response is thin, like skim milk thin. Hip hop and EDM sound hollow and lifeless. The open-back design means zero isolation, so your roommate will hear your Discord call and your game audio. And the mic situation is a joke, there's no mic at all, despite the spec sheet listing '5 mics' which is either a typo or a cruel prank.

Against the Sony ULT WEAR WHULT900N/B, the AD700X wins on soundstage and imaging for gaming, but loses on bass, ANC, and convenience. The Sony has actual noise cancelling and a mic. The Sennheiser HDB 630 is a more balanced all-rounder with better build quality, but it can't touch the AD700X's positional audio. The Technics EAH-A800 is a different beast entirely, wireless with ANC and much better bass, but it's not even in the same conversation for competitive gaming. If you're buying for music or general use, get the Sony or Sennheiser. If you're buying to hear footsteps, the AD700X is the pick.

At EUR 179 to EUR 208 across European vendors, you're paying for a very specific tool. The best deal in our data is at the EUR 179 listing, and honestly, that's the only price where this makes sense. At EUR 208, you're creeping into territory where you could get a proper gaming headset with a mic and better bass. For pure competitive gaming audio, the AD700X is a bargain at the low end. For anything else, it's a questionable purchase.

The ATH-AD700X is a weird one. On paper it's an audiophile headphone with a 53mm driver and open-back design. In practice, it's the closest thing to a legal wallhack for competitive shooters. People don't buy these for music. They buy them because footsteps in Valorant sound like someone's stomping directly into your ear canal. The soundstage is massive, the imaging is surgical, and the bass is basically on vacation. If you want thumping low end, keep scrolling.

If you want bass, a microphone, or a headphone that won't potentially die in two weeks, this isn't it. Go get the Sony ULT WEAR or a proper gaming headset like the HyperX Cloud series instead. The AD700X is for competitive FPS players who already have a separate mic and don't care about music playback.

The ATH-AD700X is a specialist tool, not a daily driver. For competitive FPS players who want the best positional audio under EUR 200, this is the one. The soundstage is genuinely elite, and the comfort means you can wear them for 8-hour ranked grinds without fatigue. But the bass is weak, the cable is non-detachable, and there's no mic. If you need one headphone for everything, this isn't it. If you need a gaming advantage, it absolutely is.