Review: Audio-Technica ATH-R30x open-back headphones
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24.06.2025

Review: Audio-Technica ATH-R30x open-back headphones

Audio-Technica ATH-R30x
Words by Paul Blomfield

Audio-Technica ATH-R30x | Technical Audio Group | RRP $219

Open-backed reference headphones make me feel like I’m eavesdropping on the mix. I feel a bit like a fly on the wall—I’ve snuck into the studio and I’m witnessing the raw tracks in the act of becoming a real, tangible song. I can hear nuance with such clarity, allowing me to tweak parts of the mix with such precision, that listeners of the final published song will wonder how on earth everything sounds so cohesive and glued together. There are only two ways to get that feeling of being locked into the mix while still open to the ambience of the room around you. You’re either listening through a set of sick studio monitors, or you’re rocking a pair of open-backed reference headphones. The Audio-Technica ATH-R30x Professional Open-Back Headphones bring a refreshing honesty to that aesthetic. There’s no hype or posturing about them. If you’re chasing detail, transparency and mix-ready performance on a leaner budget, or if you just want to hear your mix without ego, this is the set to reach for.

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Audio-Technica has been a mainstay in studios, broadcast booths and bedroom setups since the late 1960s. They’ve earned their stripes by consistently delivering gear that sounds good, works hard and punches above its price point. Founded in Japan in 1962, the company started by designing phonograph cartridges. Over the decades, it launched products in the professional audio industry, etching its name across the faces of turntables, microphones, and headphones that found their way into studios, radio stations and stages across the globe. For many of us (including me), their M-series closed-back headphones—especially the M50x—were the first real taste of pro-grade monitoring. But not every job calls for vacuum-level isolation. That’s where the open-back R-series comes in. Their work with open-back designs is of a prestigious pedigree. The AT open-backed models are aimed less at casual listeners and more at critical monitoring, mixing and mastering. In these contexts, sonic honesty trumps everything else.

ATH-R30x

The ATH-R30x come in a minimalist white box with clean black typography. On the front is a high-quality side-profile image of the left earcup. Inside, the headphones are nestled in a wad of thick tissue paper and embedded in a notched cardboard platform. The only other thing in the box is the user manual, and all of the packaging appears to be recyclable, echoing the utilitarian philosophy of studio gear that’s built to work with no fluff or frills.

Crucially, the ATH-R30x are extremely lightweight: exactly 200 grams on the dot, according to my kitchen scales. After a long session, my current set of pro isolation reference headphones make my ears feel like they’re being slowly shrink-wrapped, so sitting in the mix with the lightweight open-backed ATH-R30x made me feel more equipped, less hindered and able to work for longer periods. Kind of like going for a run and swapping your trackpants out for a pair of rugby shorts. Making music can feel like a sport, right?

At the jack end of the neatly wound stereo cable is a gold-plated ⅛” stereo jack with a screw-on gold-plated ¼” adapter. The other end of the cable splits off at a Y-branch 45cm below the headphones, each end joining neatly to the base of each earcup. The black steel grille over the open-back drivers gives off a modern industrial aesthetic. Twin headbands—a flexible plastic brace up top and a fabric-padded strap underneath—make for a snug and gentle fit. The velvet earpads are comfy enough to wear for hours, and the cups are large enough without feeling oversized. Even the L/R markings are clean and functional: a single white letter on a black background framed by brushed metal sliders. The sliders, incidentally, are notchless, meaning you don’t have to fumble around trying to find the ‘click’, but still tight enough that they won’t shift out of position unless you tell them to. The ATH-R30x design borrows from the DNA of its older siblings; the R50x and R70x. To my eye, it’s a design that evokes the hollow, feather-light bone-structure of some industrial bird: a delicate black frame that seems to almost disappear into imperceptibility when you put it on your head.

The muscle of the ATH-R30x headphones comes from a pair of 40mm dynamic drivers, tuned to deliver a frequency response from 15 Hz to 25,000 Hz, more than enough range to capture sub-bass and high-end sparkle. In practice that range feels less about extension and more about focus. The R30x don’t hype the low-end or carve out the highs for flattery. They’re reference headphones, so they give you the whole picture, warts and all, which is exactly what you want in the context of a raw mix. With an impedance of 36 ohms, you can plug these straight into your laptop or interface without needing a dedicated headphone amp, and the 92 dB sensitivity means they appreciate a bit of headroom to stretch out. Rated to handle up to 1,000 mW of input power, they stay clean and composed even when driven hard, which speaks to their durability and reliability in real-world settings. These headphones will tell you the truth before the mastering fairy-dust goes on. 

If the ATH-R70x are the studio legend and the R50x are the ambitious all-rounder, the R30x is the quiet overachiever who shows up early, stays late, and doesn’t expect any extra credit or praise. They’re light, honest, comfortable and resilient—especially considering the price bracket. Audio-Technica has once again delivered a product that is premium without being precious, and surgical without being sterile. The ATH-R30x might just be the most transparent thing you can wear on your head.

For local Audio-Technica enquiries, keep reading at Audio-Technica Australia.