ATH-R70xa

The ATH-R70xa is Audio-Technica’s flagship pair of professional open-back reference headphones. This enhanced version of the ATH-R70x delivers the natural and balanced sound of its predecessor but with refined accuracy and detail, providing a heightened listening experience with precise imaging and depth.

The ATH-R70xa is Audio-Technica’s flagship pair of professional open-back reference headphones. This enhanced version of the ATH-R70x delivers the natural and balanced sound of its predecessor but with refined accuracy and detail, providing a heightened listening experience with precise imaging and depth.

Fully open-back sound relies solely on the performance of the driver, with each diaphragm movement directly translating into sound – without reliance on acoustic cavities or resonance for frequency enhancement. While the ATH-R70x utilized damping and acoustic design for added low-frequency emphasis, the ATH-R70xa delivers pure sound directly from the transducer, offering an authentic open-back experience and minimizing distortion. This ensures accurate, natural sound with realistic sound staging. 

Made for critical listening, the ATH-R70xa headphones allow engineers to make the right decision at every step of the production process. With an extended frequency range, every detail of a mix is transparently reproduced. The unrestricted airflow and absence of internal resonance allows for an extremely quick transient response, ensuring the clarity and separation needed to handle complex contemporary mixes.

These featherlight (199 g without the cable), fully open-back headphones feature streamlined construction and a new headband design, allowing the headphones to virtually disappear during use – perfect for long working sessions.

The ATH-R70xa is handcrafted in our Machida facility. Each unit is meticulously assembled from components built in-house, then rigorously tested before leaving the factory. 

Whether mixing, mastering, or creating, the ATH-R70xa is the perfect production tool, delivering accurate and dependable reference across stereo, surround, and immersive formats.

Pure Open-Back Design

Fully open-back sound relies solely on the performance of the driver, with each diaphragm movement directly translating into sound. The ATH-R70xa open-back design allows unrestricted airflow that prevents any distortion or artificial enhancement to the sound. The headphones deliver pure sound directly from the transducer for an authentic open-back experience.

Fully open-back sound relies solely on the performance of the driver, with each diaphragm movement directly translating into sound. The ATH-R70xa open-back design allows unrestricted airflow that prevents any distortion or artificial enhancement to the sound. The headphones deliver pure sound directly from the transducer for an authentic open-back experience.

Handcrafted in Japan

Each unit is meticulously assembled from components built in-house, then rigorously tested before leaving the factory.

Each unit is meticulously assembled from components built in-house, then rigorously tested before leaving the factory.

Featherlight Design

Weighing just 199 grams (without the cable), these fully open-back headphones virtually disappear from your head, allowing you to remain comfortable and fully engaged in your work, even during the longest studio sessions.

Weighing just 199 grams (without the cable), these fully open-back headphones virtually disappear from your head, allowing you to remain comfortable and fully engaged in your work, even during the longest studio sessions.

Chuck Ainlay

" I was immediately impressed with the uncolored presentation of the ATH-R70xa headphones. I found them very revealing with a lot of depth spatially. A very wide frequency response that was void of distortion. I was hearing information that I’d never heard before on music I’m very familiar with."

Chuck Ainlay
Producer/Engineer
Nashville, Tennessee
4-time Grammy Award Winner
2-time CMA Winner
10-time ACM Winner

David Huff

"Absolutely transparent – top end and bottom end! I was never into open-ear headphones. These changed my mind."

David Huff
Producer/Engineer/Musician
Defiance, Missouri

Frank Filipetti

"Superb. The ATH-R70xa has now become my favorite headphone for mixing. The quality of the imaging is amazing. And the frequency response is nearly perfect. Amazing low end for an open earphone. The high end is silky and smooth but always there. And the midrange – wonderful. I own some of the world's most expensive high-end headphones and these belong with the best. I can't praise them enough. These headphones defy physics!"

Frank Filipetti
Producer/Engineer
Waterford, Connecticut
7-time Grammy Award Winner

Fab Dupont

"Lightest professional phones I have handled. And the L/R signal-independent, dual-sided cable is great. These phones have, in my opinion, the most accurate low end of any AT phones I have heard. Really impressive for such a light pair of headphones."

Fab Dupont
Producer/Engineer
New York, New York

Angela Piva

"I was somewhat in awe that they had a very realistic and transparent sound staging – I was able to hear detail in material I knew well that I had not heard on my main headphones."

Angela Piva
Producer/Engineer/Professor
Brooklyn College CUNY, New York

Steve Genewick

"I was immediately impressed with the sonics of the headphones. Very natural and pleasing sound. Sounded exactly like my mix."

Steve Genewick
Engineer/Mixer
Los Angeles, California

Elliot Scheiner

"I generally use closed-backs. These ATH-R70xa open-back headphones were remarkable. I listened to something I had done and knew very well. The sonic characteristics were clearer than I could imagine. Impressive."

Elliot Scheiner
Producer/Engineer
8-time Grammy Award Winner
2-time Emmy Award Winner

BJ Ramone

"Sonically, I am very impressed by the frequency response, tonality, and overall imaging. And after listening to quite a few genres I came to appreciate and enjoy the transparency of the lower range. The stereo image almost became more of an immersive experience, which really took me by surprise. It made songs that I’ve listened to my whole life come alive again in a whole new way."

BJ Ramone
Producer/Engineer
Tampa, Florida

Doug Mountain

"I was pleasantly surprised by the sonic characteristics of the ATH-R70xa headphones. They reproduced a very flat, well-balanced sound. I was so confident in their sonic accuracy that I immediately started to edit and mix a feature film score with them. The bass response was so amazing I had to remove the headphones a few times just to confirm that my subspeaker was off in the room. Many times, headphones mask problems in the low end. With the ATH-R70xa's reproduction I was able to hear the low end very accurately."

Doug Mountain
ReRecording Mixer/Supervising Sound Editor
Hollywood, California

Eric Seay

"The sonic transparency from the open-back design is noticeable immediately. There is bass presence without being overhyped. It's a cleaner way of hearing bass without the muddiness of many studio rooms. And the headphones are so lightweight they feel like they’re not even there."

Eric Seay
Co-Founder & CXO at Audio UX
New York, New York

Open-Back vs. Closed-Back

Ideal for mixing, mastering, and creating in a studio or other private space, open-back headphones provide a natural, spacious sound akin to that produced by a speaker monitor system.

Open-Back vs. Closed-Back

Closed-back headphones, on the other hand, isolate audio from outside noise, making them great for musicians recording in a studio or anyone listening in public or noisy environments.