Our Story

Inspired by the depth of emotion he witnessed at vinyl listening sessions organised during his tenure at the Bridgestone Museum of Arts in Tokyo, Hideo Matsushita was determined to enable more people to experience the warmth of analogue listening. In a small Shinjuku apartment, he established Audio-Technica and began developing cartridges. His first two products, the AT-1 and AT-3, achieved success and enabled Hideo to expand his business. He opened a larger headquarters in Machida, where the company still operates today.

Building on our passion for listening we have grown to design critically acclaimed headphones, turntables and microphones, remaining a family business and retaining the belief that high-quality audio should be accessible to all. We still produce some of the world’s most popular cartridges and we will always retain our passion for analogue.

We believe that sound should be natural and we strive to reproduce true, accurate, representations of audio. We start every product with the pure vibration created when we capture sound, using this analogue transducer technology to create products that transcend everyday sensory experiences; heightening our sensibilities. Our quest to create pure, natural, audio is perpetual - it never stops, never ends.

Audio-Technica headphones, turntables and microphone systems are used across the globe in a wide variety of applications, from live concert tours and recording studios to theatres, educational facilities, and houses of worship. There are also millions of music enthusiasts, gamers and content creators who use our products every day.