For those who like to put a spring in their step and turn a routine walk to the office into a pleasurable experience, the chances are you’re listening to music. Furthermore, you’re probably interested in a certain style of headphone.
Whether it be the classic iPod and in-ear combo or to the phone and over ear pairing there are a multitude of headphones out there for everyone to chose from. Here we will look over a few categories of headphones that would make great stocking fillers or a wonderfully big surprise.
In-Ears: Best Headphone under £100
SOUND MAGIC E10S
The Soundmagic’s are a wonderful piece of tech. Nicely designed, not too overly vibrant in their colour scheme and tuck nicely away in a coat pocket when not needed. They sound great too. With a huge level of precision and a surprisingly large amount of bass provided they’d be a great addition for any music aficionado on the go. I’ve chosen the “S” range as they come with a Mic that is compatible with both Apple and Android phones. This gives them wonderful usability and also flexibility for all types of phone users. The sound can be further improved with this range by using comply tips to enhance that bass response and give an element of noise isolation. An all round wonderful performer and that’s why it’s won so many awards.
In-Ears: Best Headphone Over £100
KLIPSCH X11i
Quite simply a wonderful pair of in-ear headphones. Great levels of detail will allow you to delve into your mind and pluck even the faintest of harmonics from a soundtrack whilst a huge bass response keeps things moving along nicely. When I first tried these I was shocked at how well they handled a mix of Electronic music and hard classic rock. There was a little lack of bottom end when running the heaviest of dubstep tracks on my phone but the likelihood of listening to that style 100% of the time is highly unlikely. Variety is the spice of life and these in-ear gems are certainly hot to handle. A great set with a lot of potential.
Over Ears: Best Headphone Under £100
SENNHEISER HD25SP MKII
I had to think about this one for quite a while as I recently purchased a very basic set of AKG 518’s and think that they were a fantastic buy. However, as this price category includes some of the slightly higher range of over ears it’s Sennheiser who once again come through for me. These are some seriously good headphones. They are used by studio engineers for good reason. They have depth, they have great separation between the range of frequencies and will shake the bass of any gearhead quite easily. I’ve run these several times for on-the-go tests, home use for other blogs and even a radio show and they certainly aren’t found wanting. They breathe well, have a good build quality and are pretty comfortable. To people looking specifically for home listening I would suggest considering the K550 from AKG but their size might put off people who want to use them on the go as well. So it has to go to the HD25’s which are just a little slice above the rest.
Over Ears: Best Headphones Over £100
BEYER DYNAMIC T90
This was such a difficult category for me to pick an absolute winner. I would have liked to give it to the Sennheiser Momentum Black/Ivory range but they would be for on the go listening, power and detail. But I’m going in a different direction as the T90’s are quite simply going to make you listen to your music in a whole different way.
These headphones will be the ultimate home listening tool for the audiophile in you and demand a really good system. If you have a mobile phone then these are not the sets for you. However, if you have an AV system, a good power output on a traditional Hifi Separate amp then you will be star struck by how beautiful the sound is from these lusciously designed headphones. A true gem in the rough, Beyer Dynamic make their headphones with a high impedance so that they can recreate a truly open sound and with such precision that not one beat or imperfection on a recording will be missed. These are also perfect for any budding studio artists thanks to their level of detail so drummers take heed, those stray high hat vibrations will not go unmissed!
They have an impressive directional capability too, so if you plug these through a 5.1 amp be prepared to look over your shoulder while watching a horror movie; for the gamers out their be prepared to hear your enemies everywhere. I took these home and played Call Of Duty Ghosts on my Xbox One through a Cambridge Audio AV amp (351r). I was the MVP; I never died and heard every tiny detail in the surrounding environment. Exceedingly impressive cans.
Best Wireless Headphones
Sennheiser RS220
There is a limited market for wireless headphones however they do offer portability in your own home that is simply unobtainable with traditional headphones. That cable always seems to get in the way. Whether you want to make a cup of tea, do the dishes or even boogie on down in the living room it will snag on something and either make you look silly or pop out of the device it’s plugged into.
The RS range from Sennheiser is a sure fire way to make guarantee your headphones never cause this calamity again whilst giving an impressive frequency range and depth to sound. It uses a transmitter that plugs into a regular headphone jack and transmits that signal over Radio waves to the headphones. These are battery operated which you charge from the transmitter that doubles as a docking station. The reason I chose the 220’s is thanks to their fantastic range (the distance you can go from the transmitter), the ability to pair more than one set of these headphones to each transmitter and that they sound great. There are lesser models but they’re not quite as fantastic in terms of build quality and sound replication, but they still do a great job. Wireless headphones are also a god-send for people who don’t want to listen to the other half watching the TV so if you’re sick and tired of the man of the house watching Match of the Day at full volume when you just want a good nights sleep, perhaps these are the perfect solution.
We have plenty of other headphones so take a look at those here!
