Let your ears hear every detail

Audio Technica’s ATHDSR7BT wireless overear headphones achieve impressive clarity underscored by powerful bass thanks to Pure Digital Drive.
The DSR7BT supports High-Resolution Audio when the Bluetooth wireless audio signal is transmitted to the headphones at 24bit/48Hz from a music player enabled for Qualcomm’s aptX HD codec.
I had no player with that codec to test the headphones, but I heard good-quality sound and high clarity in the devices I used. The headphones also support aptX, AAC and SBC codecs.

Audio Technica’s Pure Digital Drive system gets the credit, along with reengineered 45mm True Motion Drivers.
Pure Digital Drive allows the headphones to operate without the sound-degrading D/A converter found in conventional wireless headphones. Instead you have Trigence Semiconductor’s Dnote chipset, allowing for Bluetooth wireless transmission, processing the digital audio signal and transferring it to the drivers, where the digital pulses of the chipset move the voice coil and diaphragm forward and backward to create the sound waves.
True Motion Drivers feature specially designed diaphragms and lightweight bobbin-wound voice coils to deliver impressively nuanced, high-resolution sound. A pair of acoustic resistors controls the airflow in front of and behind the diaphragm to ensure a natural, balanced sound. 
The entire driver assembly is housed within a layered aluminium structure that minimises unwanted resonance and isolates the electric circuitry from the housing’s acoustic space, resulting in optimal phase and transient response. 
Pure Digital Drive means the headphones can use that aptX HD codec, achieving about five times as much detail in the music than a standard audio CD.

The headphones have a frequency response of five to 40,000Hz, sensitivity of 100dB and 35 ohms of impedance.
Long battery life is essential for Bluetooth headphones and the DSR7BT has approximately 15 hours of continuous use, or about 1,000 hours of standby. The battery takes about four hours to fully recharge.
The headphones are also comfortable to wear for hours, since the headband and earpads are soft and the headband is adjustable for a comfortable fit. They weigh only about 300 grams.
The DSR7BT is well designed in terms of ease of use, and the builtin microphone will double as a wireless headset for your smartphone.
The power switch is on the right side and volume controller on the left, alongside indicator lamps showing operating status and battery level.
The tap controller on the left allows you to play or pause music and videos and to handle phone calls.
A micro USB port is also on the left for recharging the battery and connecting to a computer, by which the headphones become a high-quality USB DAC sound system.

I connected to my notebook computer’s USB port and I used a foobar 2000 application to play FLAC 24bit/192kHz Hi-Res Audio files. The tunes sounded great, with loads of detail and a heavy bass.
I hooked them up to a Sony NWA25 Walkman player and HTC U11 smartphone. The Bluetooth connection was easily set using NFC technology. I simply tapped the “N” mark on the left side of the headband to the back of the Walkman and U11 and the connection was automatical.
Although neither of these other devices support an aptX HD codec, the music quality was superb, with clear separation audible among the individual instruments. The DSR7BT seems particularly well suited to rock and voice audiophile music.
The volume controls are also used to change tracks. Slide to “plus” and hold for about two seconds to play the next track, reverse that to play the previous track.
The tap controller has multiple uses too. When a call comes in to your connected phone, tap this once to answer or give it a “long tap” (about two seconds) to reject the call. Once done talking, doubletap to end the call. The same controller will adjust call volume.
While playing music, tap to pause or resume, doubletap to see the battery level, and tap and hold for about four seconds to activate a connected phone’s speech-recognition feature, such as Siri.
Audio Technica’s ATHDSR7BT has a suggested retail price of Bt11,900.

KEY SPECS

- Driver diameter: 45mm
- Frequency response: 5 to 40,000Hz
- Sensitivity: 100dB/mW
- Impedance: 35 ohms
- Battery: 3.7V rechargeable lithium polymer
- Battery life: 15 hours continuous use, 1,000 hours standby
- Charging time: 4 hours for full charge
- Weight: 300 grams without cable
- Accessories included: 2m USB charging cable, carrying pouch
- Microphone type: Condenser
- Polar pattern (microphone): omnidirectional
- Input jack: Micro USB Type B 
- Communication system: Bluetooth Version 4.2 
- Output: Bluetooth Specification Power Class 2 
- Maximum communication range: Line of sight approximately 10m
- Compatible Bluetooth profiles: A2DP, AVRCP, HFP, HSP 
- Support codec: aptX HD, aptX, AAC, SBC