Audio-Technica ATH-CKR70iS Review

Officially unveiled during CES 2017, hails the newest addition to Audio Technica’s line of high-resolution in-ear solutions. Get all the details on the CKR70iS in our Audio-Technica ATH-CKR70iS Review.

Audio-Technica ATH-CKR70iS Review

Audio-Technica ATH-CKR70iS Review – Packaging

Inside the box is a plastic mold that holds a leatherette pouch, a manual, and 3 sets of spare tips. The tips come in sizes xs through large which is excellent for small-eared peeps such as myself. The xs fits perfectly and feels comfortable in my ear.

Audio-Technica ATH-CKR70iS Review – Features

The earbuds include a universal in-line remote (answer/end calls & pause/play music) and mic which is nice and rare on a pair of high resolution earbuds. Perhaps, this is becoming somewhat of a standard with Audio Technica’s more affordable in-ear hi-res audio solutions. An in-line remote/mic is also built into the ATH-LS70iS earphones.

Audio-Technica ATH-CKR70iS Review – Specs

These high-resolution earbuds reach a frequency response range of 5 Hz to 40 kHz on an impedance of 50 ohms.

Audio-Technica ATH-CKR70iS Review – Build & Design

The housings are a tad on the large side, but they don’t stick out of your ears as much as you’d think. Each housing is ergonomically-shaped to sit comfortably in your ears. Surprisingly, these housings stay put very well. In-ears barely stay in my ears without sport hooks or over-ear wraps so I appreciate a good, comfy build. This in-ear headphone can do so without all the extra fandangles. Also, though the buds seem large, there is an up-side to the large housings – large drivers. Each ATH-CKR70iS is fit with a single 11.8 mm hi-res audio driver.

On the flip side, the overall design is pretty lightweight thanks to the aluminum housings that also reduce unwanted resonance and as such yield “crisp mid-and-high range reproduction.” This is where we segue into sound.

Audio-Technica ATH-CKR70iS Review – Sound

There are genres in which the ATH-CKR70iS sound really good and others that sound okay. The ATH-CKR70iS is nice if you’re planning to listen to music that’s heavier in the highs as  these buds ensure that your synths glimmer and your female vocals are crisp and sail over the rest of your audio. The buds hit the higher register in a nice fashion, but I’ll admit that the highs could be a tad more full. Overall, I’d like a sound that is a bit more full with a thicker low end. The bass is only kinda-sorta there. Pop sounds pretty good since most pop songs have subtle bass lines, synthesizers, and instruments that live in the mid and upper mid-range. Powerhouse vocalists like Sia retain much of their brilliance even when the audio sounds a bit thin. But as I’ve mentioned earlier, there’s a bit of oomph missing and that’s because the overall sound isn’t as full as it could be and subsequently lacks bass resonance. Trap music suffers because there goes the bass line and the fullness of male vocals. As a result, the driving treble claps were too harsh for me to survive the entire track “Get Right Witcha” by Migos. Rock music fares a bit better with screeching guitars and higher-frequency key progressions piercing through the mid range. Gravely male vocals also perform well as long as they don’t fall too far down into the low-end. The buds live a little better in classical genres. The low-end in strings and horns are reproduced with a resonance that sounds much thicker and rich than the bass of 808’s in pop and hip-hop. With dance music your synthesizers and female vocals sound pretty nice, but those bass drops aren’t as powerful as I’d prefer.

If interested, the ATH-CKR70iS is $99. It retails for the best price at Audio 46’s Audio-Technica Shop  when you use discount code “majorhifi” during checkout. It is also available on Amazon at a competitive price.