Old school headphones seem to be enjoying something of a revival, with all sorts of hip names putting out heavily branded (and often comically oversized) headphones.
If in-ear ‘phones aren’t your thing. there’s a huge range of headphones available around the hundred quid mark, and we’ve selected what we believe to be the two very best ones you can buy.
Compared to the avalanche of audio products for the iOS platform, there’s been some pretty slim pickings for Android users, but now high-end earphone dons Klipsch have entered the market with a rather lovely looking in-ear set.
Looking to differentiate their product in the fast-growing fashion headphone market is the Stockholm-based design concept shop Urbanista, whose new Copenhagen foldable headphones come in a kerrrrazy square shape.
If you like to listen to music when you slumber off at night, the new Bedphones pillow-optimised earphones could help increase your fun in the sack no end.
Designed for use with Apple iPhones and iPods, Audio-Technica’s mid-priced ATH-CK400i in-ear headphones come with a tiny controller letting users adjust volume, answer calls, select music, and record audio.
Apparently “designed exclusively for DJ style mobility,” Audio Technica’s ATH-SJ5 headphones certainly look the part in a stylish black and silver finish that belies their budget £40 price tag.
Marshall, the undisputed dons of the rock music amplification world have announced that they’ll be expanding their range into the headphones.
For audiophiles with pockets deeper than a Rhondda coal mine, a pair of Denon AH-NC800 noise cancelling headphones could be the latest must-have purchase.
If you’re less than chuffed with the distinctly average sound of the bundled iPhone headphones, or you’re fed up being a mugger-attracting, walking advert for Apple products with those ‘iconic’ white headphones, then a headphone upgrade is always a good call.
If you’re looking to upgrade the deeply average earphones that came bundled with your iPod, iPhone or MP3 player, Sennheiser’s natty CX550 MkII noise-isolating earphones could represent a tempting investment.
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Fabulously daft- yet somehow compellingly clever – are these bizarre eye-controlled earphones which have been shown off at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.
We cant say we’ve ever felt aggrieved by the lack of eye controlled earphones out in the market, but Japanese communication giant NTT Docomo reckon they could be reaching into an untapped market of potential eye twitchers.
Created by a family business in Brooklyn, USA, Grado’s philosophy is to simply create the best sounding headphones they can, with sound quality being placed far ahead of streetwise looks and funky features.
That’s the kind of philosophy we like when it comes to audio products, and the Grado SR60i’s are certainly gloriously untroubled by the vagaries of fashion, looking look like something WW2 pilots might have strapped on to their heads before going off for a dogfight.
Nixon have added some new colours to their range of Nomadic headphones, with the colour schemes suggesting that the designer might have imbibed high quality hallucinogenics before heading for the drawing board.
The white and black combo isn’t too bad (although white ear pads and and a white band are sure to get dirty pretty sharpish), but things take a turn for the worse with the lurid lime green number and then there’s the visual onslaught of the red and gold bling pair.
For DJs on a budget tighter than a crab’s-bottom, and home users looking for a cheap and cheerful set of headphones (or ‘cans’ as us aficionados like to call them), the Numark HF-125 Dual-Cup DJ Headphones are a very affordable option.
Finished in a modern, two tone silver and black finish, the HF-125s feature a padded headband with 7-position height adjustment each side with the ear cups having soft cushioned surrounds.
We thought the notion of ‘motion activated’ headphones was a classic piece of pointless technology for pointless technology’s sake, but we’re beginning to warm to the idea.
The idea is pretty simple: with your earbuds in you can listen to music as normal, but if you pull one side out, the music automatically pauses without the need to fiddle about with buttons or go scrambling into your bag looking for your phone.
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