Audio-Technica ATH-SR30BT Sound Reality Wireless Headphones

Audio-Technica launched a number of new headphones last month covering a range of qualities that span from excellent affordable listening to studio quality sound in a now Bluetooth format. Today we get to talk about the excellent affordable listening with their new ATH-SR30BT Sound Reality wireless bluetooth headphones. Headphones dedicated to rich content quality while maintaining a price point of only $99.

We first gave these headphones a listen at CES 2019 in Las Vegas where we noticed a detail in their range despite the incredibly loud environment around us. Of course they aren’t active noise cancelling or anything, but the detail shone through nonetheless. This got us a little excited since we were going to spend a lot more time with these giving them a full test back at the office.

So, test we did and now we have our results and they wound up being just as good as we had imagined.

Design

The design of the headphones were kept simple and consistent with the Audio-Technica brand. A mostly dark grey theme with black padding on the muffs as well as the underside of the top portion of the band. They also have a lighter grey version to choose from as well. Their logo clearly visible on the outside face of each muff, and an average feel when it comes to durability.

They feature a hinge-style design allowing them to fold into and pack away for travel like a lot of their models, and the muffs swivel so they can lay flat against you while around the neck (or travel this way, if you choose to slide them into a pocket of a backpack or something. There is no back or case in the box, so you are on your own when it comes to needing anything to place them in while not in use.

All of your controls are on the left side and kept simple. They are a three-button design, with a play/pause button in the middle and volume up and down controls on each side. These of course are multi-function in design when it comes to track control and trigger the voice assistant of your phone, or answering/receiving calls. Just like any other three-button control layout on headphones.

You get a sliding on/off switch to turn them on with, an LED status light, and a micro USB connection for charging them with. There is no 3.55mm input, so you won’t be able to go wired if you ever run out of juice, but it does offer an incredible battery life of up to 70 hours, so this shouldn’t be a problem.

Outside of the micro USB to USB cable, they don’t come with anything beyond some documentation to get you through the warranty information and how to use the headphones. A real simple pair of headphones.

Function

Outside of the amazing battery life you get out of these, making them perfect for travel, you also get a fine layer of detail that shines through within the mid-high and high range. Sharp, crisp highs (although can sometimes be a bit exhausting with certain tracks or at higher volumes) that really bring out the detail in what you are listening to. The mid-range is a bit average with nothing to brag about, and the there is a nice balanced amount of bass that isn’t overwhelming, yet present enough to complete what your ears are looking for.

They aren’t audiophile by any means but for $99, they come with a solid level of clarity and enjoyment to walk around for hours on end, listening to your favorite tracks with. We also can’t emphasize enough, that the battery life is up to 70 hours before having to recharge them again. Almost feels like an Amazon Kindle device where you almost forget that you have to charge them.

Connectivity with your device is also pretty decent, as we were easily able to get more than 50 feet distance between us and the streaming device. Using them while taking phone calls was a bit average for a good pair of headphones, and both parties could hear each other pretty well. The crisp details of the highs helps a lot for communication as well.

They are a little tight around the ears, so you might want to give them the shoe box trick (placing them on a shoe box or similar sized box and allowing them to sit there for a day to help give them a bit of a stretch). Alternatively, you can also simply pull on them to bend the band outward a little, but this might be a little excessive and you won’t want to damage them. All of this also depends on the size of your head as well.

After long hours of use, once you have made sure they aren’t gripping onto the sides of your head thanks to giving them a little stretch, they do blend right in as they are pretty light weight. So weight will never be an issue when it comes to comfort.

Our Conclusion

They feature crisp highs that work for music as much as they do taking calls. Their fantastic battery life as a major win for those who travel a lot and long-range between them on their connected device is great for those you like to walk around the room or house carrying their device with them everywhere. They are also pretty light in weight as well, which also makes them good for long hours of use. For a $99 price tag, they offer a good buy with excellent results.

*Average price is based on the time this article was published

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Are you a manufacturer or distributor that would like us to test something out for review? Contact us and we can let you know where to send the product and we will try it out.

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