Audio-Technica is no stranger to wired over-ear headphones, but the Japanese company is expanding into unknown territory with its first-ever pair of open-backed wireless headphones: the ATH-AL5NC.
The beating heart of the ATH-AL5NC is a set of 53mm dynamic drivers that, says Audio-Technica, create a "detailed soundstage" made more natural and open by virtue of the headphones' open-backed design.
Being a pair of open-backs, the ATH-AL5NC don't offer full-fat active noise cancelling, instead offering a 'noise reduction' toggle to help reduce background noise and ambient sounds.
Audio-Technica is going big on battery life for the ATH-AL5NC, promising a hefty 75 hours of playback with noise reduction switched off and around 50 hours with it turned on.
If you run out of juice, a 15-minute quick charge promises to deliver up to eight hours of playtime, and if charging isn’t an option, users can switch to a wired connection via the included 3.5mm-ended cable.
The new over-ears also feature a 'Sound Leakage Reduction' mode, aiming, as you might have guessed, to reduce the amount of sound leakage coming out of the open-backed cans.
To toggle that mode and personalise your overall listening experience, you can control the new headphones via the A-T Connect app. You also get a low-latency mode for reducing audio lag during gaming and video calls.
Bluetooth Multipoint lets you connect to two devices at once, with standard Bluetooth AAC and SBC codecs alongside LDAC for streaming 24-bit/96kHz audio from compatible sources.
The Audio-Technica AT-AL5NC are available now in a single black finish, priced at £219 / $279 / AU$499. That could be a canny pricing ploy, as there aren't many great mid-range headphones available at that kind of money.
If anything, the AT-AL5NC are going up against the slightly more premium Grado GW100x (£249 / $275 / AU$440), which also blend Bluetooth powers with an open-backed design.
Could Audio-Technica be about to grab hold of an understocked corner of the wireless headphones market? We're intrigued to find out.
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