Audio-Technica - ATH-E40

Firstly, thanks to headphone zone for the quick shipping and pricing, it is listed cheapest in India period... Got it in just under 14 hours!!..

Coming to the headphone themselves, firstly, the fit, It's pretty difficult to get the best fit but after trying and fiddling with for couple of hours, got the perfect fit.. The eartips/buds provided doesn't seem to fit snuggly and easily slips out.. I fortunately have a huge collection of eartips from all of my previous earphones and found the ones from Sony to give a snug and perfect fit :).. Next, burning in the earphones is very much necessary, initially out if the box, the bass was extinct, highs sounded harsh, but after around 10 hours of burning in these headphones, i was simply amazed with the frequency response of these beauties.. Absolutely no EQ settings needed.(I have paired it with my good old Sony NWZ-A720 Walkman from 2008, Yes they still work perfectly and all files are of MP3 320Kbps. Planning to upgrade to NW-A35 high res player very soon and that should help attain a music nirvana to some extent with FLAC support.. :D)
You hear every note of the music in complete detail.. Bass is strong yet controlled, mids especially the vocals are simply superb, highs are very accurate and pleasant without hurting your ears.

These are also very well built and come with a detachable cable and a neat little box to store them. With a little bit of care these can last forever..

All in all a wonderful product from Audio technica and a refreshing change from all those bass heavy Sony's and Sennheissers.. Definitely a worthy purchase if you intend to enjoy your music as it was meant to sound...

Review after 5+ months of almost daily use.

Initially, these were out of my budget and to risk so much money without proper review was a big decision for me. But I saved on other expenses and after a lot of research, went for this anyway.

As others have mentioned, it took time for getting used to the fit as I have always used mainstream/cheap ones. But ones got the fit right, they stayed for hours.

Wait for these beasts to burn. Somewhere around 72 to 100 hours would be a good time before judging the sound.

The sound is flat af. If you are a bass head then you might not like these and if you have used bass heavy earphones/headphones then it might take some time to get used to these.

If you listen to music with full focus, you can hear the bass and other instruments crisp and sharp. The vocals are pretty clear too. Some adjustments with equaliser and you can see the beast unless its potential.

Best thing is the cables are detachable and can be replaced if in case damaged. The earphones remain intact and like one reviewer mentioned, with little care, they can last lifelong. Unlike others where most of the time the reason to throw away is the irreplaceable damaged cables.

the case if cool and I often show off a bit while taking them out or putting them back in. Haha little fun :)

The transparent cover gets scratched slowly but not sure how what will happen in long run, will they go completely opaque because of scratches or remain transparent.

Overall a great deal as long as I can switch cables and keep using the earphones without its quality degrading for at least 3/4 years. Until now, worth every paisa.

So phenomenally better than any other earphones i ever tried!!
decent soundstage , overwhelmingly clear sound, super sensitive,take up every detail, characteristic of bass- I never heard better kind of bass in any other earphones before!
make sure u get the right earbuds, try different earbuds even if they don't belong to ath e40 till u get the best fit and sound.
A few songs might sound harsh in the highs. but i could easily give up listening to those for this quality!

Great pair of IEM, sound is superb. At first the bass was a bit harsh, after a burn in it was settled. Great packaging, balanced sound. Clarity is excellent regarding it is an entry level IEM. Only issue I found out is to get it properly fit. It will take some time to properly fit in the ears, but once the fit is done...everything is just amazon. As always great packaging & delivery by Headphone Zone.

I was looking for shure se 215 ape iem which I found out in pre owned where the section said cod was available but my order for cod was not allowed at that time I came across this iem review expressed this also was equally good. So immediately I ordered with in 48 hours I received this iem. Really had awesome packing the shell was full of plastic one side transparent and removable cable made it in the hi end calibre. To find the matching convenient and comfort tip gave me a good R&d work once I got it with memory wire the fit was excellent and gave me a good noise isolation. It had a good cute hard case mobility added plus point. Regarding the cable it is removable but built up quality is not bad not hi end but too lengthy the company was saying it was audiophile conductor. Ofcourse it performed like that. Regarding sound being low imp it reached loud easily in my iPhone 6 too. I played flac songs through my fiio x5g2. I staunchly believe the iem should be given good time to get burn in. The bass was tight and punchy extreme low was rolled off. That is sub Bass that is not a serious problem the bass is more than Rha 750i the mid is little forward mid and Hf mingles at certain level so finness of the high frequency is lacking. After giving 10 hours of play back mid and Hf started in separate layers. Regarding soundstage since it is yet to get the break in point the sound stage is not that good. Totally a true value iem for the money I really enjoyed this iem. I like it to have it as one of my collection thank u hpz for giving me a discount and cod

Polished design, aesthetically pleasing, manageable cord (though it's length may seem longer than usual to some).
Sound clarity, bass & treble is stunning...i found combination of these three impressive in itself. There's no compromise in the listening experience.
Earphone case is handy and a far better alternative to regular zip-pouches.
So far my second purchase from Headphonezone, their service is perfect.....worth suggesting to your nearest audiophile.