The Tech Behind Audio-Technica's ATH-M50xSTS Streaming Headset

80.lv: Tell us about the history of Audio-Technica with gaming. What are the connections?

Gary Boss, Marketing Director at Audio-Technica: Really, we must go in the Wayback Machine. For over 60 years, Audio-Technica, at its heart, is an audio brand. We make a variety of products for almost all aspects of audio playback and capture. Whether it’s music listening products like headphones and turntables, live sound products like wireless microphones or studio products like headphones.

Our first exposure to the gaming industry would probably be our studio products. Many well-known game developers regularly use our microphones to capture in-game sounds, dialog and music. We also found out that many gamers were using our studio headphones, most commonly our ATH-M50x model, to listen to gaming audio. Since we had expertise in both headphones and microphones, it didn’t take long for us to say “let’s put them together and create a high-quality gaming headset”.

80.lv: What are the new technologies that are at the heart of the new ATH-M50xSTS?

Gary Boss: Our newest product is not technically a gaming headset, but rather the world’s first headset made for live streaming called the ATH-M50xSTS StreamSet™. The product itself is built on two well-known individual products from Audio-Technica.

The base is the ATH-M50x studio headphones, and we borrowed our engineering technology from our most popular line of studio condenser microphones called the 20 Series. The comfort of the headphones and the excellent intelligible studio quality microphone is what makes this ideal for streaming. Other features which address the needs of streamers include the inclusion of two different sets of earpads, one to maximize comfort and one to maximize isolation and sound quality, a boom arm that silently mutes the mic when you flip it up and versions with digital USB or analog XLR connectivity. While this product is squarely positioned for the content creator/streaming market, the USB version would make a heck of a gaming headset.

80.lv: What is your take on the current state of the industry of audio peripherals currently? What is the way the industry is going? What are the standards that you feel are important?

Gary Boss: When it comes to audio peripherals for gaming, I hope that we are helping to set some standards and customer expectations for higher quality audio. As I mentioned, we are in a unique position coming from our origins as an audio manufacturer, so we always put audio first. Other peripheral companies that also make audio devices focus more on aesthetics like RGB lighting or futuristic design instead.

Regarding official technical standards like connectors and things, I feel that the XLR connector standard for analog audio will continue for some time. Regarding digital audio connections, the USB-C connector appears to have some lasting power given its capabilities and adoption in not only audio transfer but everyday electronics.

Gary Boss, Marketing Director at Audio-Technica

Interview conducted by Kirill Tokarev