Overview

ATH-CKS550XiS Solid Bass® In-Ear Headphones

The ATH-CKS550XiS in-ear headphones feature 9.8 mm Solid Bass HD Drivers specially designed to fit within the headphones’ compact housings, giving you a comfortable listening experience that doesn’t sacrifice sound quality. The accurate sound reproduction is furthered aided by large-diameter sound tubes that extend frequency response for excellent wide-range audio with invigorating bass. The headphones are even capable of reproducing Hi-Res Audio sources. The 1.2 m (3. 9') flat cable includes an in-line mic and controls, allowing you to answer calls, adjust volume and handle playback of music and videos on smartphones and other devices. The ATH-CKS550XiS headphones come with four sizes (XS, S, M, L) of interchangeable eartips for a custom fit with excellent isolation, and a convenient carrying pouch. Available in black (ATH-CKS550XiSBK), champagne-gold (ATH-CKS550XiSCG) and red (ATH-CKS550XiSRD). About High-Resolution Audio In Brief: The Move to Hi-Res Audio While many listeners may believe that high-resolution audio came along with the introduction of the Compact Disc in 1982, constraints on the disc’s storage space always prevented CD audio (standardized at 44.1 kHz/16-bit) from fully and completely reproducing the original recorded sound. The advent and subsequent popularity of MP3s only made this problem more pronounced – the necessary compression of these files causes audio information to be lost, thus greatly reducing the audio quality. But with lossless audio file formats, faster Internet speeds, and storage space increasingly easy to come by (and in ever-smaller packages), the push is on to create audio equipment capable of capturing and reproducing true Hi-Res Audio, generally considered to be 96 kHz/24-bit or better. The Hi-Res Audio logo certifies that a product meets the Hi-Res Audio standards. Per these standards, headphones must have transducer frequency performance to at least 40 kHz. As a producer of these types of audiophile headphones since 1972, Audio-Technica is well-positioned to provide audio solutions that meet the demands of Hi-Res Audio media formats, allowing for the full reproduction of their extended sonic characteristics.