Audio-Technica Taps Shota Sometani for ATH-TWX9MK3 Campaign
Audio-Technica will release the ATH-TWX9MK3, its new flagship fully wireless earphone, on Friday, November 20, 2026 at open price, and on Thursday, November 5 the company began running a promotional video starring actor Shota Sometani.
1 source 5d ago
Reporting from 1 source: ASCII.jp.
Why it matters
Audio-Technica is selling the flagship on concentration and creative flow rather than on specs alone, and it cites its own September 2026 survey of 335 creative workers, about 90 percent of whom say they use music at work on purpose.
Key Facts
- Audio-Technica will release the ATH-TWX9MK3 wireless earphones on Friday, November 20, 2026 at open price.
- The promotional video starring Shota Sometani, titled "Earphones, Make Me Resonate.", began running on Thursday, November 5, 2026 in 15-second and 30-second versions.
- The ATH-TWX9MK3 supports the LHDC-V5 codec at up to 192kHz/24bit and offers up to 45 hours of playback with the charging case and noise cancelling off.
- Audio-Technica will exhibit the ATH-TWX9MK3 for audition at Autumn Headphone Festival 2026 on Saturday, November 7, 2026 at Station Conference Tokyo.
- Outdoor advertisements featuring Shota Sometani will be posted in Tokyo, Nagoya, Osaka and Fukuoka starting Thursday, November 5, 2026.
The clip, titled "Earphones, Make Me Resonate." in a 15-second and a 30-second cut, casts Sometani as an actor working on a part who shifts from ordinary life into a creative state once the music starts. Audio-Technica frames the pairing around shared craft: Sometani's attention to detail and his own directing work sit alongside the company's sound-tuning approach. Outdoor ads with Sometani will appear in sequence in Tokyo, Nagoya, Osaka and Fukuoka, with posting periods and materials varying by location. The earphone itself adds Fit Adaptive noise cancelling, the Pure Motion Driver Gen2, LHDC-V5 codec support up to 192kHz/24bit, and playback of up to 45 hours with the charging case and noise cancelling off. It will be shown first at Autumn Headphone Festival 2026 on Saturday, November 7.
The promotional clip uses an original orchestral score produced by Hitomi Harada of Lunch Record Inc., with saxophone by Kei Matsumaru and drums by Kazuya Oi. Audio-Technica says the music was made so viewers could hear its "faithful reproduction of the original sound" philosophy directly.
The new model adds more than the driver and codec. "Fit Adaptive" uses MEMS microphones with an improved S/N ratio to detect how the earphones sit in each ear and adjust the filter in real time, a step the company measures against the ATH-TWX9MK2.
- Playback time: up to 11 hours on the earphones alone with noise cancelling on, 15 hours with it off, and 33 or 45 hours with the charging case; noise cancelling on runs about 1.8 times longer than the MK2.
- Neuro Music: a new soundscape function in the dedicated Connect app, with content provided by VIE, built around alpha and gamma brainwave rhythms.
- Colors: black (BK) and beige (BG).
- Launch campaign: from 10:00 on Thursday, November 5 to 23:59 on Friday, November 27, buyers who reserve or order at the official online store get an original mini pouch with a carabiner, one per unit, while supplies last.
- Festival booth: room 503, No. 11, on the 5th floor of Station Conference Tokyo, with audition units at the free event running 11:00 to 18:00.
Sometani was born September 3, 1992 in Tokyo and debuted in the 2001 film "STACY" at age 9. He won Best New Actor at the 68th Venice International Film Festival for "Himizu" in September 2011. He appears in the 2026 second-half NHK serial TV novel "Blossom" and co-stars in the film "Kokkyo," due in 2027.
Written with AI by Yomimono from the 1 cited source below, including Japanese-language reporting where cited. See our editorial policy.
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