Design and features:The earphones have integrated microphones and volume, music player, and call connect/disconnect controls for paired Bluetooth devices. The ATH-CKR7TW comes with four pairs of ear pieces in various sizes, one pair of removable ear bowl supports, a USB charging cable, charging cradle/recharger battery/carrying case that the manufacturer claims can be used to recharge the earphone batteries up to 1.5 times between its own charges. The free Audio Technica Connect app for Apple and Android mobile devices shows battery level, and can be used to adjust various features such as turning off the voice announcements and changing the function of the controls, and can be used to help locate the earphones if they are misplaced.
Sound quality: We found the ATH-CKR7TW delivers sound quality that falls in the Good range - it reproduces music and voice reasonably well despite the obvious shortcomings in its sound. The overall sound can be summarized as generally anemic with slightly boomy bass. Bass (as in bass drums, bass guitars, stand-up bass, etc.) has good impact and goes fairly deep, but is slightly boomy. The midrange (voices, guitars, horns, etc.) is somewhat thin, grainy and a touch etched (more sharply outlined then it should be). The treble (cymbals, the upper range of violins, etc.) is fairly extended but is prominent, smeared (sounds that should have a delicate shimmer sound blurred) and the upper treble is somewhat sizzly (sounds that should have a delicate shimmer have a sound reminiscent of bacon frying). While the sound has a good sense of liveliness and is open (sound-wise it seems like you don't have anything plugging up your ears), this model only does a so-so job of recovering the room ambience of a recording (the sense of the acoustic space in which the audio program that's being listened to was recorded).
Comfort: Our testers found that this model was clunkier than the typical earphone. As typical of in-ear models they produce a sense of pressure in the ear canal opening might be uncomfortable for some. Most users will find that this model stays in place without the earbowl supports for casual use, but that they feel like they are just held in place by the section that is inserted into the ear canal and feel unstable because the bodies of the earphones stick too far out of the ears. When used with the earbowl supports they are very stable even during vigorous head movement, but still feel unstable because they feel like they are sticking out too far; users with smaller earbowls may also find that the earphone body/earbowl support combination feels too big in the earbowl.
