Audio-Technica ATH SJ11 (review)

I am a big fan of beautiful headphones. Although I have owned quite a number of different earphones ranging from the native Apple iPod earphones to Sony's to Sennheiser's. My first great pair of headphones was Sennheiser's, it lasted more than two years before it finally retire when the right cup was not playing a sound anymore, then the left cup followed.

I bought this baby a couple of hours ago in SM Fairview's Podworx. It was the replacement of a pair of Skullcandy in-ear earphones I bought last December, lasted less than 3 months. Not durable at all in it's price range.  It has a warranty, but unfortunately no model has been shipped for the past couple of weeks. So they gave me a discount on any brand of headphones or earphones I want.

I have a limited budget of P2,000; although I do intend to charge it using my credit card, I will not buy a pair beyond the budget I had in mind. So I scanned the rack for any pair that I want and set my eyes to the Audio-Technica section. The models on display are blacks, and whites with pink bands. The picky me wanted a white pair, pure white. So I scanned other models that I later found to be beyond the P2,000 mark. I went back to the AHT-SJ11 rack and browsed each pair that was on display looking for any pure white pairs. Gladly, at the very end of the stacks of headphones and behind all the hanging plastic cases, hangs a pristine white pair. The one and only pure white pair. I quickly stashed all the hanging headphones aside and grabbed the white set. These pair are so pristine and clean.

Aesthetics
The headphones are so white that I'm afraid I'll be having challenges keeping it that way. I don't have a car and I have a long commute to and from work. Pollution and dirty sweat might ruin its whiteness. The cups are padded with smooth and soft white synthetic leather. The headphones' body are made of matte finished plastic and the cups are topped with a glossy center on the outer part. The cord is of standard quality and texture as compared to most Sennheiser's models, it is pure white all the way to the plug.



Built
This pair is super light, it's so light it feels cheap. Actually it does feel cheap, but it does not look like one. When I first picked up the pair out from it's meticulously sealed plastic encasement (one sign a high end product), I asked myself, "what am I paying for this pair"?  I never owned a pair so light! My last headphones were such a heavy bulk to carry and wear. For P1,999 and just P1 below my budget limit, I sure wanted to know what I paid for.



Audio
Hear we go... This is where I realized what I paid for. This is the clearest pair of portable audio listening device I have ever owned! Ever! I was drowned in beautiful music streaming from my Samsung Corby Qwerty. While I was walking away from the Mac store and along the mall aisles, I listened to different genres of music I have and using different listening modes of my phone's audio player. From the rock setting, to dynamic, to surround, to everything else. It delivered exceptionally clear sound. The best setting that I now prefer is the "normal" setting.

When I say clear, I mean sound clarity. Unlike the previous pairs I owned, that has powerful bass sounds; this one has too, however, it does not overpower the other instruments specially the vocals.  The bass is there, but only when there is actually bass and it does not concentrate on delivering just that.

I listened to different music genres I have in my phone to check just how well this baby will deliver clarity of sounds. 

Post-Hardcore
When I played Underoath's  Reinventing Your Exit, I can hear all the instruments and can tell them apart; the drums, the cymbals, the lead guitar, the bass guitar, and the keyboards, and the rest of the electronic effects. I also have a new level of appreciation to the growls in this particular song. Even if the singer growls so loud, it does not overpower the other instruments in the song, I can even understand the growl. Even at extremely high volume, the sound is exceptionally clear.

Pop
Switching to pop... I played Utada Hikaru's Heart Station, goosebumps swelled up on my arms. The sound is just so clear! I can actually hear all instruments, a good bass, the smooth keyboards, and the rest of the instruments are all in harmony. I can hear them all! The vocals are clear too! It was such a very beautiful listening experience.

R&B
I don't have r&b tracks in my phone, closest is the Jpop group M-Flo with their track L.O.T. that sounds R&B-ish, but not quite. It has a lot of bass 'though. Listening to this track, the strong bass really showed in this track, it was strong; but not overwhelmingly strong that it drowns the other instruments.

Alternative
I played Fall Out Boy's Sugar We're Going Down. As expected, it delivered clear music. I can tell the difference between the lead guitar and the secondary guitar and all the other instruments. Playing Radiohead's High and Dry drove me nuts(in a good way).

I suddenly remembered I have a 5 year old iPod in my closet, so I quickly stood up, and charged it! Now I can listen to all the genres of music I have in my extensive and ever expanding music library. In my iPod are all the R&B tracks I have as well as the Jazz and Bossa Nova songs I collected through the years as well as the gay songs that most you already might have an idea of who the artists are. 

R&B part 2
Playing Usher's Confessions, I don't only hear the bass, I can actually feel it! The power of the headphone's bass delivery is greatly shown playing bass heavy R&B tracks such as the one mentioned... 4 Minutes by Avant,  and the bass laden tracks of Maxwell. The song Fortunate by Maxwell is heavy on bass, and I can almost feel bass speakers inside my head through this magnificent baby.  Mariah Carey's squeals sounds delightful; Erykah Badu's Bag Lady has  a lot of percussion instruments sounding clearly and distinct.

Jazz
Leif garret's When I think of You, the saxophone just sounded so sexy; then I quickly played Lee Ritenour's Dreamwalkin'... jazz never sounded so good.

Lounge/Chillout
Bach To The Future by BNM Corp sounded amazingly clear, high on bass and smooth keyboards and electronics. Breathe by Telepopmusik is wonderful.

Playing Coldplay songs(the song In My Place in particular) with this new pair was an ecstatic experience, my hairs stand on their ends! 


Comfort
As of this writing, the headphones have been on my ears for a solid 4 hours, and my ears are not sweating at all. The Sennheiser HD 201 (my previous headphone) made my ears sweat during several hours of use, mainly because it is that tight on the ears to prevent sound leakage and to cancel the noise from outside sources. The soft interior of the earcups are very comfortable for hours of music playing. The lightness of the headphones' body is a great plus when doing a music marathon. The headband is not too tight that it stresses the earlobes, but tight enough not to leak the sound as well as to solidly deliver the music directly into the listener's ears.



Portability
The headphones can be folded for portability and the cups fold out when resting on your collarbone, making it easy to move around and to turn your head left and right without any obstructions from the resting earcups.



Recommendation
This pair is just so easy to recommend. If you are looking for a not so expensive pair of headphones that delivers exceptional clarity, simple zen-like aesthetics (applicable only to the pure white models), ultra light body, comfortable cups, and portability... The Audio-Technica SJ11 is the model to get. Perfect for the audiophile on a budget.

You can also check-out myAKG K518LE (review) Here.