Harman's acquisition of some of the biggest names in hi-fi is now complete.

It has taken over Masimo's Sound United stable of brands, which encompasses Bowers & Wilkins, Denon, Marantz, Polk Audio, Definitive Technology, Classé, HEOS and Boston Acoustics.

Harman – which has been owned by Samsung Electronics since 2016 – already owns Arcam, AKG, JBL, Mark Levinson and Revel.

This gives Harman a broad spread of devices across all sorts of audio categories, including home audio, electronics, headphones and in-car audio.

The deal was announced in May.

“Harman’s vision is to create experiences that enrich people’s lives through exceptional audio experiences,” said Dave Rogers, president of Harman's Lifestyle Division. “Sound United’s impressive roster of brands is rooted in a deep passion for sound, innovation, and commitment to quality that aligns with Harman's own values.”

Customers shouldn’t notice any immediate changes, as Sound United will operate as a standalone Strategic Business Unit (SBU) within Harman’s Lifestyle Division. Which will mean that each brand’s “heritage, expertise and loyal customer base remain central to their identity.”

But with Harman’s extra resources, its new brands “will gain greater reach with enhanced capabilities, while continuing to realise their distinct goals and better succeed in the marketplace.”

US medical company Masimo acquired Bowers & Wilkins in 2020, and added the eight audio brands from Sound United only three years ago.

Hopefully Harman will provide some much needed stability and help the brands prosper.

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You’re always guaranteed to see some tasty high-end hi-fi being exhibited by Mark Levinson at the High End Munich show, and this year is no different.

Say hello to the company’s brand new 600 series of amplifiers. The range consists of three models: the No. 626 preamplifier, No. 632 two-channel power amplifier (both pictured above) and, for those who want power delivered to each of their speakers by a dedicated box, the No. 631 monoblock.

Each amplifier is built on Mark Levinson’s Pure Path circuit philosophy and showcases the brand’s trademark Tectonic industrial design, which blends a machined aluminium chassis, anodised in black, with silver controls. Glass panels on each amp and signature red accents and lighting complete the striking, trademark aesthetics.

The No. 626 dual-mono preamplifier is priced at £24,000 / €28,000 / $25,000 and features Mark Levinson’s fully balanced Pure Path architecture for the analogue section.

The digital number-crunching is powered by its Precision Link III DAC, which supports up to 32-bit/384kHz PCM and native DSD through six digital inputs – AES/EBU, two coaxial digital, two optical digital, and USB-C.

Analogue connectivity comes in the shape of two balanced (XLR) and three single-ended (RCA) stereo inputs, a Pure Phono MM/MC phono stage for your turntable and a Main Drive Class A headphone amplifier for connecting a premium pair of audiophile headphones.

Inside, the No. 626 has been designed with modular isolation in mind and includes special shielding of the power supply circuit and digital source circuit from the analogue and phono circuitry.

It also uses twin power supplies and comes fitted with vibration-damped feet to keep the amp isolated.

Both the No. 632 power amplifier £30,000 / €34,000 / $30,000 and No. 631 monoblock £38,000 / €44,000 / $40,000 (pictured above) feature Class A/AB amplification, Pure Path fully balanced signal paths, and meaty toroidal power supplies.

The No. 631 uses an eye-catching floorstanding chassis which stands just under 53cm (21 inches) tall. In keeping with the rest of the series, its chassis has also been machined from aluminium and is anodised in black, featuring a silver plinth as its base.

You’ll find a glass centre panel on the front with red lighting on either side, while the top panel of the amp has a glass Core element with red accent lighting.

The Mark Levinson No. 626, No. 632 and No. 631 amplifiers will go on sale in the fourth quarter of 2025.

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Really, I shouldn’t have been as surprised by the T+A Solitaire T’s performance as I was – many of my reviewing peers in the industry, near and far, had already waxed lyrical about them. What Hi-Fi? may often get in front of new products days or weeks after (or before!) they are launched, but sometimes internet or in-person industry noise draws you to something you haven’t yet experienced but now absolutely must. 

That’s how these high-end wireless headphones came to be on my head more than six months after they’d hit shelves, the emphasis here being on ‘high-end’ – they cost £1200 / $1600 / AU$2399. And no, that price doesn’t include a spare pair for weekends or a lifetime entry to CanJam. You likely wouldn’t guess they cost akin to a budget separates system just through sight and feel – I no doubt would’ve come up pretty short, as did the handful of people I asked to throw a figure at me (though one did amusingly liken the white-finished Solitaire T’s oval, red-in-white earcups to the ears of cartoon rabbit Buster Baxter from the TV show Arthur). Against the half-the-price Apple AirPods Max in a pageant, they wouldn’t get much of a look in, in my mind.

So having heard and been impressed by the AirPods Max and similarly priced Bowers & Wilkins Px8 and Focal Bathys, plus the only other (but cheaper) around-a-grand wireless pair from Mark Levinson (the No.5909) which held the current Bluetooth headphones benchmark, here I was ready to be proven that, yes, these were worth their rather impolite asking price. I wasn’t convinced but, as you probably have anticipated, I would be very soon. In two tracks’ time.

My surprise wasn’t anything to do with the Solitaire T’s maker – the reputation of German electronics brand T+A quite rightly precedes it – but the unprecedented quality of their Bluetooth delivery and, furthermore, how close it was to the wired performance when running in HQ mode (which you can read about in our T+A Solitaire T review). Prior to wrapping my ears around their explicitly natural, dimensional and clear – ‘mature’, in a word – sound, I would’ve passed the company’s following statement off as marketing hyperbole: ‘Previous generations of wireless phones could not begin to match the quality of wired types, but the Solitaire T… offers virtually the same quality with a wireless connection.’

The ability to close that gap and replace the typically soft, smoothened ‘wireless sound’ with one laden with crispness and dynamic punch has undoubtedly come from the approach of T+A’s 15-strong engineering team: to construct headphones that first and foremost prioritise physical acoustic engineering, just like the brand’s wired offerings – unlike many wireless pairs which rely more on digital processing corrections to compensate for such physical compromises made in order to hit a price point.

The Solitaire T may have, in relative terms, a niche audience – after all, how many people can afford to spend four figures on headphones, full stop? And of that minority, how many will be doing so to acquire true (inherently wired) home or pro/studio headphones? It’s here I should note for those unfamiliar with the Solitaire T that they can be listened to in true passive wired mode, via balanced or unbalanced cabling – they will just struggle for all-day comfort and soundstage openness against the best dedicated wired (often open-back) bunch.

But they’re still a boon both for the head-fi and portable audio market – proof that a multi-scenario audiophile headphone is attainable. And they have me excited for (fingers crossed) next year’s wireless headphone innovation, where we could well witness a new generation of wi-fi-powered pairs with the potential to be smarter and superior sounding than the current Bluetooth crop, despite how impressive T+A has shown that can be.

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On 9th April 1988, 17-year-old Alan Shearer became the youngest footballer ever to score a hat-trick in the English top flight, knocking three past Arsenal during his first full start for Southampton. It was the beginning of a record goalscoring career and, first and foremost, a dream debut. Not every debut can be heralded as such an enormous success in the moment, but the beauty of hindsight certainly can cement them into the history books – as it has done with the products you’ll see below.

We previously picked out iconic hi-fi debuts in the loudspeaker, amplifier and turntable fields, and enjoyed the task so much that we challenged ourselves to curate a definitive 'Best Of' list across categories – the aforementioned three, plus CD players and DACs, to be more precise. And while we tried to curate a succinct list, after much deliberation we couldn’t get it down below 32 without compromising a good night’s sleep. (Trust us, we – especially the author of this piece – tried.)

For some of us, this exercise has been a nostalgic walk down memory lane, for others an excuse to learn more about our industry’s earliest successes and, in many cases, their lasting impact. So let’s dive in with decks first...

6 debut turntables

Thorens TD 124 (1956)

Founded 140 years ago by Hermann Thorens in Sainte-Croix Vaud, Switzerland, Thorens produced its first full turntable effort following years of design and engineering in the fields of gramophones, Edison-style phonograpsh, radio receivers and music cabinets (some of which featured built-in record players called ‘discophones’). 

The TD124 was an instant runaway success and helped lead the German brand to become one of the most revered manufacturers of record players in the '50s and '60s, earning itself legendary status on the way. So legendary that this year, now-revived Thorens chose to commemorate its 140th birthday by releasing a special anniversary edition of the most recent version of the deck, the TD 124 DD.

Acoustic Research AR XA (1961)

The AR XA was designed by one of our greats, Acoustic Research founder Edgar Villchur, who, after inventing the acoustic suspension loudspeaker, the AR-1, in 1954, went about making as big of a splash in the record player market. The goal: to minimise the relative motion between the platter and tonearm and isolate them from external vibrations and acoustic feedback. Rather than those components and the motor being attached to the turntable’s top plate, as was customary at the time, the AR XA mounted the tonearm and platter to a sub-chassis beneath it, suspended at three points by springs at equal load points. Villchur liked to demonstrate its effectiveness by hitting the AR XA’s wooden base with a mallet while the record played on uninterrupted.

The deck also used a low-speed, low-powered motor. These solutions were, Acoustic Research admitted, based on ideas by telecoms manufacturer Stromberg-Carlson and others, but Acoustic Research presented it in a package that was immensely good value – so much so that the initial price of $58 had to be raised over subsequent years.

Technics SP10 (1970)

The direct-drive design was invented in 1969 by none other than the Technics brand – specifically, Shuichi Obata, an engineer at Matsushita (now Panasonic, who owns Technics), based in Osaka, and made its debut in the classic Technics SP-10 turntable. Unlike the idler wheel and belt designs that were around at the time, the platter sat on top of a drive motor that spun at 33 1/3 or 45 RPM – no belts, no wheels, just a hefty production cost. Oh, and a phenomenal sound. The SP-10 was an award-winning deck used by broadcasters around the world, including the BBC.

Anyone familiar with the Technics brand knows that the legendary SP-10 of course spurred generations of the design’s evolution, refining it to reduce vibrations and improve rotational stability and signal-to-noise ratio, the current culmination of which is the recently announced SL-1200GR2.

Rega Planet (1973)

When Rega owner Roy Gandy was working at Ford Motor Company, training to be an engineer, he was also making and selling speakers in his spare time. Customers would ask him for turntable recommendations to pair them with, but he wasn’t convinced by the quality of those available at the time and so decided to design his own – the Planet. 

Gandy once told us that the Planet, with its three-spoke, steel and aluminium platter and Acos Lustre tonearm, ”sold because it looked different, rather than on sound quality”. He worked hard to reduce motor noise, and then, realising that the platter’s three metal discs didn't support the record well enough, ended up switching to a glass platter, which Rega still uses today.

Linn LP12 (1973)

This initially unassuming belt-driven turntable may have had an initially slow rise to fame, but by the ‘80s it had become the dominant premium record player in the UK market, and today it’s considered the country’s most popular high-end deck of all time, not to mention one of the most capable ever made in any country. Its current form, while recognisable, has had as many changes over the original as Only Fools and Horses’ Trigger’s beloved road-sweeping broom with 17 new heads and 14 new handles – changes that have kept it at the forefront of turntable performance.

Pro-Ject 1 (1991)

The original Pro-Ject 1 laid the foundations for what has been a virtually unblemished record of success for not only the ongoing line but the Austrian company’s record player output on the whole. It was essentially a modified version of the Tesla NC-500, which was originally made as an affordable turntable for distribution across Central and Eastern Europe, and its success gave then-audio-shop-owner Heinz Lichtenegger the green light to buy the Tesla factory that was closing down, hire 50 staff and begin producing turntables under the Pro-Ject name. Fast forward to today and the brand is still there – as are some of the original Tesla machines.

“It was pretty ugly,” Lichtenegger told Stereo Life magazine, “but in terms of mechanics and sound it was really worth the price.” Indeed that second sentiment could describe any number of Pro-Ject turntables since.

• See our longer list of 13 debut decks from iconic turntable brands
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3 debut CD players

Sony CDP-101 (1982)

By Autumn 1982, the CD momentum had been building for a while, but it was on October 1st that Sony launched its first player, along with the first album available on the new format – Billy Joel's 52nd Street. While early versions of CD players Sony had demonstrated loaded the disc vertically, allowing people to see the action through a transparent front, the released CDP-101 sported the horizontal tray-loading style that of course went on to be the more popular one.

As we last year noted in a 40th-anniversary ode to the disc, Sony could relay all 16 bits of a CD’s audio signal, achieving this ‘by using a single-channel DAC which alternated between left and right channels. The player did not incorporate a hold-circuit which would have allowed a slight delay in the first-decoded channel so they could be output in sync. Some make much of this. But that particular criticism was simply silly. The delay of one channel compared to the other could be fixed just by moving the speaker carrying the delayed sound closer to you. How much closer? Well, the delay was precisely 11.3 microseconds. Which means 7.7 millimetres.’

Philips CD100 (1982)

It’s hardly surprising that the two companies behind the compact disc format were the first to release CD players. While Sony’s CDP-101 had a front drawer disc tray and 16-bit DAC, Philips’ CD100 was a top-loader that only used a 14-bit DAC. So what about those last two bits of a CD’s audio signal? Well, that particular gap was bridged with a process called 'oversampling', where three extra samples of the signal were created and then fed into the DAC at four times the original rate, matching the resolution of 16-bit in the process. Clever. 

Though that theoretically increased noise levels, the CD100 tended to be the critically better-rated performer, with a naturally smooth sonic character and first-rate error correction, and while many subsequent players adopted Sony’s 16-bit DAC approach, the first players by Meridian and Marantz in the mid-80s, the MCD and CD-63 respectively, followed the CD100’s oversampled 14-bit DAC cues. 

Cambridge Audio CD1 (1986)

Cambridge Audio's first player cost a fortune when it launched in 1986 for £1500 (over £5000 / $6000 / AU$9000 in today's money), which was two to three times most others. But you couldn’t argue you weren’t getting your boxes’ worth. The CD1 comprised two – the upper one housed the disc tray and power supply while the bottom housed the DAC. Like the Philips, it too went down the oversampling 14-bit DAC method, though, keeping with the theme of quantity, incorporated three of them – two worked to nail speed and accuracy, the third took care of error correction.

Playback filters were yet another novelty of the CD1, which had nine options that covered the various pre-conversion filters that studios were using at the time in the absence of any standardisation for digitising analogue master tapes to CD.

4 debut DACs

Arcam Delta Black Box (1987)

A&R Cambridge had been going for almost 20 years before it decided to reinvent itself and change its name to Arcam, and the Delta Black Box DAC was one of the early and most instrumental products to define that transformation. It was the company’s first of its kind, and really one of very, very few of its kind around at the time – not surprising considering it was a DAC/processor designed to make domestic CD players (with S/PDIF outputs) sound better and arrived just a few years after such players began hitting the market. Sony and Marantz had outboard DACs for their higher-end players, but the Arcam was roughly three times more affordable, retailing at £249.

Co-founder John Dawson said that lots were sold as add-ons to mid-priced players, with sales figures of it and the closely related, Toslink optical input-toting Black Box 2 (1989) exceeding 10,000 units. Unsurprisingly, it also worked with the company’s own (Delta 70 CDP) CD player, which featured the same chipset, namely the 16-bit famous Philips TDA1641A. The Delta Black Box also took advantage of the Philips SAA7220 oversampling digital filter, complementing that architruee with penty of  independent stabilised power supplies and good analogue circuitry.

Also key to the Black Box design was a custom, Arcam-branded integrated circuit, which was necessary to decode the S/PDIF data stream to I2S as no commercial part was available at the itme. Dawson notes that it was a 1000-gate array made by Newmarket Microsystems and cost roughly £10,000 to tool, with each chip costing £11, but that it was the first mover advantage the brand needed – no one else had one for at least a year.

Wadia 2000 Decoding Computer (1988)

With the rise of the CD in the mid-80s, it was only a matter of time before more powerful processors and advanced number crunchers would be required to push digital audio down the evolutionary track. That was the thinking of a bunch of engineers from Minnesota who formerly worked at 3M Corporation and shared collective experience in digital telcomms R&D. In response to their dissatisfaction with the early CD players’ performance, they founded Wadia Digital and launched what was a seminal product in digital audio’s history – the Wadia 2000 Decoding Computer.

As described by Arnis Balgalvis for Stereophile shortly after the DAC’s release, the 2000 was “a sonic knockout… a development significant enough to reevaluate the status of the Compact Disc medium… for once we can be rid of the perennial qualifier: "It's good...for digital."” The result of years of R&D, it was the first decoder to resample at a 64x rate – much higher than anything else at the time – through the implementation of four AT&T DSP chips (which were replaced by Motorola ones some years later).

Wadia has many claims to fame, from producing the first outboard DAC and introducing glass fibre optics to home audio, to producing some of the most sophisticated CD players ever (like the 581ISE), but for its impact on the digital audio world at that time, the 2000 could well be considered its crowning achievement. 

dCS 950 DAC (1993)

dCS’s journey began in 1987 when Oxford University graduate Mike Story and a team of engineers established themselves as an electronics consultancy to companies such as Ferranti, Marconi Avionics and British Aerospace, leading to collaborations with the Ministry of Defence and then, thanks to Story being somewhat of an audiophile, digital audio design.

The 900 ADC (analogue–to-digital converter) was the first fruit of that particular labour and the first to use the dCS Ring circuit technology that, evolutions on of course, still lies at the core of dCS designs today. The breakthrough 24-bit design was a hit with professional engineers, including Bob Ludwig, inspiring dCS to launch the 950, the world’s first 24-bit DAC, four years later. Another hit in the professional market and the inspiration to create the company’s first consumer DAC for home use, the Elgar.

Chord DAC64 (2002)

A good 13 years after Wadia’s first DAC turned up at the Consumer Electronics Show, so did Chord Electronics’. The DAC64 was the first offspring of many from the ongoing collaboration between Chord founder John Franks and audio engineer Rob Watts, and the first to use the FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array) design which, covering everything from conversion to filtering, has been the beating heart of every Chord DAC since. 

The DAC used 64-bit filter and DAC architecture (hence its name) and a crucial part of the design was the Watts Transient Aligned filter (WTA) filter, based on the theory that the timing of transients is better captured by high sample rates and the benefits are audibly discernible. 

Speaking of the move to FPGA, Watts told What Hi-Fi?: “It was all about ultimate performance and pushing the boundaries of what was possible. I knew from the work that I had done (notably on the Deltec PDM1024 DAC) that there were serious problems within existing DACs and the only way of addressing these issues was by creating my own design using FPGA technology.” The rest, as they say, is history.

11 debut amplifiers

McIntosh 50W-1 (1949) 

In 1946, Frank McIntosh, a design consultant for broadcast and TV stations, hired Gordon Gow to help him design a high-power, low-distortion amplifier for his clients – something he didn’t believe was already on the market. This amplifier would be – you guessed it – the 50W-1. The mono tube design utilised a pair of 6L6 output tubes and, pretty remarkably and as advertised (McIntosh apparently had a thing about many amps at the time not meeting their specifications), a frequency range of 20Hz to 20kHz at less than one per cent distortion. The 50W-1 was also notable for introducing the company’s first patented circuit, the Unity Coupled, which is still used in its full-size amplifiers and even its top-line valve headphone amp. It 

Exactly twenty years later, McIntosh amplifiers would be used to power the ‘69 Woodstock music festival.

Cambridge Audio P40 (1968) 

Cambridge Audio’s first-ever product was also the first amplifier in the world to use a toroidal transformer – a significant innovation at the time and, considering its ubiquity in amplifiers now, an important one. It just happened to be being manufactured by another local company at the time, and was implemented to help handle the heavy load necessary to produce heavier (rock) music. The P40 was designed by founders Professor Gordon Edge (after whom the 50th anniversary Edge series is named) and fellow engineer Peter Lee, with the slimline case designed by Roy Gray from Woudhuysen Design.

The P40 was an instant success but proved tricky to produce in large quantities and so the P50 was introduced a year later to address that, arriving with more power under the hood and a unique active volume control that was useful for matching a variety of input levels.

Audio Research SP-3 (1972)

While during the 70s the audio industry had all but moved from using vacuum tubes to transistors (due to their smaller size and lower power dissipation), a fella called Bill Johnson was certain there was life in the vacuum tube in the right hands – or indeed circuity. With 20 years of experience in audio (he had a store in Minneapolis and had designed custom amplifiers for customers), he founded Audio Research and launched the SP-3 preamplifier, which used six 12AX7s and two 12AX7 LN tubes. At the time, Harry Pearson of The Absolute Sound publication said: “I’d be willing to flatly pronounce this preamp the best.” And he wasn’t alone in extolling its virtues, not just in terms of its performance but also its robust build and classic looks.

Audio Research stuck with vacuum tubes (which went on to have a resurgence in the 80s, of course) and 10 years later would produce one of, in our opinion, the most legendary products of all time, the (15-valve) SP-10.

Naim NAP200 (1973)

In his early 20s, Julian Vereker, then a successful racing car driver and self-taught engineer (super-tuned Minis was his speciality), switched from building his own cars to building his own amplifiers and loudspeakers, primarily out of dissatisfaction with the way recordings he made of musician friends sounded. (A pretty a multi-talented guy, eh?) When the 70s rolled around, designs were in place and he won a contract to supply London’s Capital Radio station with audio equipment, the success of which led to Naim Audio being born. 

Vereker and his co-founder Shirley Clarke were directors of their shop in Salisbury, UK (where the company’s products are still built five decades on) and their first consumer product for home use was the NAP 200 power amplifier, using a Vereker design from a couple of years previous. Anyone familiar with the revered British brand will know that the iconic NAP line is still going strong today, with this year’s NAP 250 model representing everything it has ever stood for: musical, rhythmic, dynamic sound.

A&R Cambridge A60 (1976)

The year it was founded, Amplification & Recording Cambridge (now Arcam) launched a slimline integrated amplifier that went on to become the go-to middle-market amplifier in the 80s and the natural upgrade from your budget champions such as the NAD 3020 and Mission Cyrus One (both below).

Not only did it deliver a sound that was punchy, rhythmic and dynamically expressive, but it also was well equipped with a handful of inputs (one of which was fed by a capable moving-magnet phono stage) and treble, bass and balance controls, as well as being lovely to look at. All in all, the A60 was a runaway success througout its 12-year shelf life (it was replaced by the Delta 60 in 1988) and certainly laid the foundations on which the British firm built its success.

Mark Levinson ML-2 (1977)

OK so, admittedly, the ML-2 wasn’t Mark Levinson’s first product, following a few preamplifier designs, but it was its debut power amplifier, produced from 1977 to 1986 – and a bloody good one at that. Based on the designs of the company’s first designer John Curl and finished by succeeding engineer Tom Colangelo (who was behind subsequent ML designs until Mark Levinson himself left the company to found Cello and took Colangelo with him), it was a 25-watt (into eight ohms) Class A monoblock design that could double its output as impedance halved (50 watts into four ohms, 100 watts into two), contributing to its nice fit with Quad’s electrostatics at the time. Because of that Class A operation and rate, however, this physical beast of an amplifier (30kg heavy with its giant heat sinks and side carry handles) drew 400 watts of power from the AC (!) and could heat a small living room.

Still, this natural partner to the ML-1 (one of those aforementioned preamps) blew the competition away and made up an equally legendary, tri-amplified reference system called the HQD system, featuring six ML-2s powering four Quad electrostatic midranges, two Hartley woofers and two Decca ribbon tweeters, with two LNC-2 electronic crossovers also present.

NAD 3020 (1978)

We don’t think anyone could really argue the NAD (New Acoustic Dimension) brand was established on the success of the original 3020 amplifier. It was born out of the desire by a group (led by American Marty Borish, who had just resigned as President and CEO of Acoustic Research) to offer hi-fi enthusiasts unprecedented value-for-money performance, and the Class A/B design was the brainchild of the founding group’s Björn Erik Edvardsen (known as BEE and a former Dolby Labs engineer).

This unassuming budget amplifier didn’t measure particularly well, nor would its 20 wat-per-channel output have turned many heads, and yet it could drive speakers better than most of its price-matching rivals at the time, setting the standard for sound quality in a category where most still put specification and features first. It had a balance that was smooth and full-bodied, which worked well with the less-than-refined budget kit of the time, delivering a good, coherent sound. No wonder it went on to become the best-selling integrated amplifier ever.

Krell KSA-100 (1980)

Just before the 80s rolled in, husband and wife duo Dan and Rondi D'Agostino launched Krell out of their garage. It was named after the scientifically advanced alien civilization from the classic 50s sci-fi film Forbidden Planet (one of Dan’s favourites from childhood) and made its public debut at CES 1980 with just one product – the KSA-100 power amplifier. Amplifiers are often referred to as powerhouses, and at that time the Krell would’ve epitomised that label – thanks to a deliberately excessive power supply and output stage, the KSA-100 could drive any load, regardless of impedance, delivering 100 watts of Class A power into eight ohms… or 1600 watts into one ohm! 

That was a great deal more than the high-end alternatives from the likes of Mark Levinson and Threshold at the time, and pretty groundbreaking. Not only was the arrival of such a capable power amplifier like the KSA-100 (and subsequent models like the legendary KSA50) great news for audiophiles, but it was also great news for manufacturers of high-end loudspeakers. Designers could concentrate on creating speakers safe in the knowledge they didn’t have to worry as much about the load they were putting on amps.

Musical Fidelity The Preamp/Dr. Thomas Power Amplifier (1982)

Many (including us) consider 1985’s A1 one of the most iconic amplifiers of all time, so it’s pretty impressive that it came just three years and three products after Musical Fidelity was founded. The company's first two products were a matching pair, with the bare-bones-named preamplifier arriving first, reportedly created out of the dissatisfaction that founder Antony Michaelson had with the TVP-1 preamp made under his previous Michaelson & Austin company. It quickly racked up rave reviews (and not just for its illuminated naming on the fascia), and then came the chunky power amplification partner. 

Evidently, its designer, Dr. Martin Vincent Thomas, didn't like the idea of falling in line to make The Power Amp, choosing to take matters into his own hands when it came to establishing a moniker for Musical Fidelity's first power amp. The 120 watts-per-channel Dr. Thomas was a great visual and sonic match, surprisingly powerful too.

Audiolab 8000A (1983)

The product that started it all for Audiolab, both literally and figuratively. Audiolab was formed in 1983 by Philip Swift and Derek Scotland, and its debut 8000A integrated quickly earned worldwide acclaim for its standout build quality, box-ticking featureset (tone controls: tick, headphone output: tick, phono stage: tick, separate record selector so that you could listen to one source while taping another: tick) and an insightful performance that could drive most price-compatible speakers with ease. 

Knocking the A&R Cambridge A60 off its perch, it was responsible for an overall raising of standards so far as British amplifier build quality and design were concerned, and set the standard for midrange amps for years to come.

Cyrus One (1984) 

Cyrus Audio was founded as the electronics offshoot of Mission Loudspeakers (hence the brand’s early name ‘Mission Cyrus’) and its debut products in late 1984 were two half-width integrated amplifiers – the Mission Cyrus One and, with greater power output and a more sophisticated phono stage, the Mission Cyrus Two. 

Despite its modest price of £130 (approx £600 / $700 / AU$1000 in today’s money), the One was very much a product for audiophiles – no balance or tone controls, but plenty of analogue inputs and a sound quality that outperformed pricier rivals at the time. It was highly musical and had a particularly impressive knack for detail retrieval, surfacing low-level information that other amplifiers, to quote our review, "repressed or simply rendered messy". It’s little wonder, then, how these two debuts launched Cyrus into electronics stardom in the mid-80s.

• See our longer list of 9 debut stereo amplifiers from iconic hi-fi brands

9 debut speakers

Wharfedale Bronze 2 (1932)

Wharfedale’s first speaker was built in the cellar of music and audio enthusiast Gilbert Briggs' home in a West Yorkshire town called Ilkley in the valley of Wharfe (known as ‘Wharfedale’, hence the company name). The Bronze was purely a drive unit – in those days, such things were considered cutting edge technology and radio enthusiasts would assemble their own cabinets – but a year later it was housed in a wooden cabinet for those who wanted an ‘extension’ speaker, and shortly after came the Nubian cabinet speaker in 1934. According to a history by Audio Affair, his wife, Doris Edna Briggs, would wind and solder voice-coils for these fledgling Wharfedale loudspeakers, two of which won first (the Bronze) and second place in the local Bradford Radio Society’s annual competition in 1933. Now with a factory in Bradford and production ramping up to 9000 units per year, Wharfedale Wireless Works (as it was called then) was off to a flier.

A decade later, having produced 40,000 transformers for telecomms company Marconi during World War II, the company marked the first of many milestones: the invention of the first two-way loudspeaker. In 1945, the company combined a 30cm bass driver with a 25cm full-range ‘treble’ unit, using a crossover at 1kHz. 

Acoustic Research AR-1 (1956)

Acoustic Research was founded in 1952 by inventor Edgar Villchur and his student Henry Kloss. Based on the acoustic suspension principle patented by Villchur in 1956, its first model, the AR-1, sold for $185 (over £1000 in today’s money).

The AR-1's woofer used entrapped air in the speaker’s sealed enclosure to provide a spring for the diaphragm, enabling it to move back and forth - doing the same job as the more conventional mechanical spring.

That was followed shortly afterwards by the AR-2, but in 1958, the AR-3 became Acoustic Research's landmark speaker, borrowing the AR-1's acoustic suspension technology, but bringing onboard a newly designed midrange driver and tweeter.

Quad ESL-57 (1957)

Despite what this list may have you believe, revolutionary speaker technologies don’t come along often, which makes the exploits of Quad (an acronym for 'Quality Unit Amplifier Domestic') founder Peter Walker all the more significant. In 1956, Walker introduced a speaker that used electrostatic technology instead of conventional drivers for the first time ever, waving goodbye to traditional driver cones and cumbersome cabinets and consequently the obstacles they present (such as cabinet colouration). In their place was a thinly stretched, electrically charged diaphragm between two metal grilles receiving the audio signal from the amplifier As music played, the electrical charge on the grids changed polarity and through the forces of attraction and repulsion made the membrane move, so creating sound.

That speaker would go on to be called the ESL-57 and marked a huge step up over the moving coil designs of that time (particularly in the rendition of vocals), so much so that garnered worldwide popularity and significance, remaining in production for nearly 30 years and spawning several brand-defining ‘ESL’ electrostatic siblings, the latest of which can still be seen on shop (and show) floors – and many ‘Best Of’ hi-fi lists like this one – today.

KEF K1 Slimline (1961)

After five years working for Gilbert Briggs at Wharfedale (before which he was a BBC trained engineer), Raymond Cooke decided to start his own operations under the KEF (Kent Engineering and Foundry) name. He wanted to move away from the conventional drive unit materials that Wharfedale was using at the time (paper) to experiment with the various plastics that were just becoming available. The founder also had another desire that went against the grain back then: to achieve outstanding sound quality from a slim, living room-friendly enclosure. 

While KEF launched the ‘conventionally’ sized, three-way K1 monitors in ready-built and also kit form (a popular concept in the Sixties), with their 35cm-deep, braced and heavily damped enclosures standing tall at just over a metre high, it also launched slimmer versions alongside them, with cabinets just 12cm deep. They featured the same innovative drivers with synthetic material cones – the B1814 woofer with its flat rectangular diaphragm of aluminium skinned polystyrene, the M64 elliptical midrange unit with a similar diaphragm construction, and the T15 tweeter with its hemispherical Melinex diaphragm.

B&W P1 (1966)

In the mid-60s, John Bowers started hand-assembling speaker systems in the back of the radio and TV shop he ran with Roy Wilkins in Worthing (the two had met serving in the Royal Corps of Signals during World War II. When only a year later a Miss Knight, a wealthy Worthing resident and former opera singer who had been impressed with Bowers’ speaker advice, left him £10,000 in her will (nearly a quarter of a million in today’s money), he was able to instil his skills into a business he called B&W Electronics Ltd – and the P1 were released.

The cabinet and filter were B&W's own, but the drivers came from EMI and Celestion – this was in the decade before the company started using the bright-yellow Kevlar woven composite. The profits from the highly successful, highly acclaimed P1 allowed Bowers to purchase a Radiometer Oscillator and Pen Recorder, meaning that every subsequent speaker from the P2 that soon followed could have a calibration certificate. Just as importantly, it put Bowers  & Wilkins on audio reviewers’ maps as a British brand to follow.

Spendor BC1 (late ’60s)

Spendor was founded by BBC engineer Spencer and his wife Dorothy (hence its name) Hughes and introduced itself to the world with the BC1, a brainchild of Spencer and co-designer Dudley Harwood (later of Harbeth fame), both of whom had designed drivers as part of the British Broadcasting Corporation’s R&D team.

Bextrene was the material of choice for the speaker diaphragms in Spendor’s first pair of speakers (hence the ‘BC’ (Bextrene cone) name), having featured in the BBC’s  LS5/5 studio monitors for which Hughes had been the laboratory technician. In fact, the three-way speakers utilised the only commercial 80-inch Bextrene mid-bass driver at that time, paired with a Celestion HF 1300 tweeter (ranging between 3kHz and 13kHz) and a Coles 4001 G supertweeter (above 13kHz). They were fed by a nine-element crossover comprised of film capacitors for frequency and temperature stability, and radio metal cored chokes that allowed for high transients and low resonances.

The BC1 hit the market in the late ‘60s and found their way into broadcast and recording studios before eventually being available to buy for consumers. Some 600 pairs were supposedly in operation at the BBC at one time!

Wilson Audio WAMM (1982)

Wilson Audio Founder Dave Wilson had a pretty ambitious dream to design speakers that could be configured to the room they sat in. After much experimentation, he was adamant that there was a direct correlation between the acoustic center of the driver and knowing where and when the sound from each of the drivers arrived at his listening position. Align the drivers correctly to the listening position and the result is far more integrated and thus lifelike sound. The first (of many) Wilson Audio speakers to address that was the WAMM (Wilson Audio Modular Monitor).

Each channel comprised two towers: one sub-bass module with woofers operating below 55Hz, and one with twin mid-bass drivers and an electrostatic supertweeter flanked by twin midrange/tweeter modules. The drivers were precisely placed to reduce timing differenced between them to microsends. Central to the design was the electronic crossover and equalizer.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the WAMM was the most expensive speaker you could buy at that time at $28,000. The model evolved through six versions from 1982 to 1993, and has since been revived, with the Master Chronosonic and Master Subsonic speakers still current in the company's catalogue. 

Acoustic Energy AE1 (1987)

With the introduction of the AE1 Loudspeaker in 1987, Acoustic Energy Ltd was officially born. The concept was to create a compact studio monitor (it measured only 30cm tall and 18cm wide – barely larger than a shoebox) that could handle the high volumes and dynamics of larger speakers. And boy was that concept delivered.

Acoustic Energy lined its cabinet with a concrete/plaster compound to eliminate as much resonance as possible. It developed a new mid/bass driver made of metal (rare at that time), featuring a 10cm cone of spun aluminium which was thicker at the centre than the edges and anodised to create a ‘ceramic sandwich’. And it also used an oversized magnet assembly that allowed the AE1 to accept 200W of power.

Indeed, while on the smaller side for speakers of their time, the premium bookshelf designs certainly could let rip, capable of delivering impressive punch and dynamic reach. Their huge soundstage, accuracy and speed of delivery were superb, too, as were their staggering levels of detail.

The AE1 was refined over several revisions (including an active pair) until 2016, when its SEAS tweeter went out of production, making it one of the longest-running speakers, as well as one of the most influential.

PMC BB5-A (1991)

After a stint as the manager of BBC's Maida Vale studios, Peter Thomas and former BBC engineer Adrian Loader designed the first PMC (Professional Monitor Company) speakers, the BB5-A (which BBC Radio would go on to choose for their new music studio at Maida Vale). They introduced the company’s hallmark Advanced Transmission Line technology, in which drivers were used to improve bass output.

In an interview with What Hi-Fi?, Thomas recalled being introduced to IMF transmission lines by Tom Barron (now PMC’s business development manager) at the Audio Olympia show in London. “You’ve got to hear these, there’s something very special about their sound,” Barron told him. That was, Thomas said, a “lightbulb moment”.

“Whereas the majority of speaker designers used ported or sealed cabinets, we found that a transmission line system for bass loading, if refined, gave a performance that significantly exceeded conventional bass loading principles.”

Thomas says the BB5 could be his favourite PMC speaker: “ that was the first speaker we produced commercially, and it set us on the road of what was to become PMC. Without that, we wouldn’t be where we are today.”

• See our longer list of 22 debut speakers from iconic speaker brands
• These are the best CD players we've tested that are still available

Earbuds might be the ultimate in convenience, but for deeper bass and a more impactful sound, nothing beats over-ear headphones.

You don't have to spend a lot to get a great experience – one pair on our list costs just £28. But of course, if you do spend a bit more, you'll reap the rewards – the Røde NTH-100 and Sony WH-1000XM6 are our favourite wired and wireless pairs, respectively, and both offer plenty of bang for your buck.

And if you've got more to spend? The Focal Bathys Mg or Beyerdynamic T1 (3rd Generation) won't disappoint.

We've seen some very good pairs launch recently, too, like the AirPods Max 2, Sony 1000X The Collexion and Sennheiser Momentum 5 Wireless. None of them made this main list, though the Sennheisers scored five stars.

That's a lot of headphones. Not sure where to start? Our how to choose the right over-ears guide will help you decide which type will suit you best.

No matter how different the below pairs may be, they all share one thing in common – they're all excellent, as verified by yours truly.

Our in-house review experts test around 100 pairs every year and, for this definitive list, have picked the very best wired and wireless performers for various budgets. Each pair below has passed our stringent headphones testing process and is a proven class leader in its field.

If you want a taste of every style and design that's out there, there's also our best headphones buying guide.

Best cheap wired headphones

Looking for a bargain? Bargain wired headphones that marry decent sound with a super-affordable price tag are very rare indeed, but these AKGs are the exception.

The K72's solid build means they are going to last – AKG bent the cable 80,000 times during production just to test longevity. The generous padding is nice and comfy, while the 3m cable provides enough play for listening comfortably at home. This is a classic studio headphone design, and while you could just about get away with wearing these out on the street, the long cable demonstrates that they're not made specifically for that purpose.

How about the sound? It’s pleasingly expansive, with a breadth and scale rarely found in the kind of headphones you'd normally see on the high street at this sort of price.

"By aiming for the more neutral presentation of a pro headphone, AKG has managed to deliver many of the basic ingredients of [pricier] headphones at a much lower price here," said our expert reviewers in our K72 review. They certainly come across as smoother than the similarly priced Sennheiser HD201, not to mention with better-controlled bass. The midrange isn't quite as clean as we would like, but for the money, these are the best over-ear headphones if affordability is a factor.

If you can stretch your budget slightly further, though, two current What Hi-Fi? Award winners are well worth considering instead: the Austrian Audio Hi-X15 and, even more so, the Røde NTH-100 (below).

Read our full AKG K72 review

Best cheap wireless headphones

The WH-CH520 on-ear headphones are without doubt one of the less glamorous products in the Sony headphones lineup, but that doesn’t automatically mean they are not worthy of your attention. If you want value for money, they are one of very few pairs at this price point that make perfect sense.

They are certainly well put together, with a sturdy construction that feels built to last – the headband adjustment mechanism, for example, is robust and moves with reassuring solidity. There is mild padding on the inside of the headband and the earpads, and while it's not exactly lavish, it helps no end with comfort. An all-in weight of just 147g doesn’t do any harm in this respect either, and even though they are pleather-covered, the earpads resist returning your body heat for quite a while.

While there's no ANC, you do get a marathon 50 hours of battery life from a single charge as well as Bluetooth 5.2 (with ‘Fast Pair’ for Android devices) and a few companion app features.

Sonically, the CH520 aren't the most expressive headphones you have ever heard where low frequencies are concerned, but the low end they do generate is solid, deep and properly controlled at the leading edges. Better still, they hit reasonably hard, and keep bass firmly in its lane where it can’t interfere with the midrange activity above. "The midrange itself lacks ultimate clarity," notes our WH-CH520 review, "but by prevailing price standards it’s informative and actually quite eloquent where vocalists are concerned."

Despite a few very reasonable (at this price) sonic inhibitions, Sony's budget wireless headphones are a bit of a mini-marvel at a price level severely lacking in excellent competition.

That said, if active noise cancellation (ANC) is a must-have feature, your best bets are the next-model-up Sony WH-CH720N below...

Read our full Sony WH-CH520 review

Best cheap ANC headphones

The Sony WH-CH720N aim to plug a gap in the wireless headphones market by offering active noise cancellation (ANC) and a premium-ish build quality at what is still a very reasonable price. In essence, they are designed for those who aren’t keen on forking out hundreds for premium noise-cancelling over-ears (like the Sony WH-1000XM6 below) but who equally don’t want to skimp on ANC or suffer a drop in audio fidelity by opting for a true entry-level pair (like the Sony WH-CH520 above).

The CH720N don’t fold up and away, nor do they come with a designated carry case, but they feel good in the hand and on the head; never do they feel as though they're about to be torn asunder by the wear and tear of everyday use. Battery life is excellent – 35 hours with ANC on, 50 with it off – and Bluetooth 5.2 support is a welcome inclusion too.

Sound-wise, we can’t think of a pair of over-ear headphones at this price that could keep up with such a spirited and energetic (if slightly bass-heavy) delivery. Hip-hop and rock fare especially well, greatly benefiting from the meat and texture these classy over-ears afford. Listen to the absolute percussive force you receive from Nirvana’s You Know You’re Right and you will hear exactly what we mean.

As our in-house reviewers penned in our WH-CH720N review, "the CH720N’s punchy presentational style feels tailor-made for the genres that can get the best use from it, namely rock, hip-hop, big orchestral numbers and peppy, energetic pop hits."

The WH-CH720N deliver exactly what Sony intended. For a very reasonable price, they are a dependably made, enthusiastic-sounding pair of headphones that, while occasionally straying into the realm of excessive bass, deliver good ANC and a strong feature set to the mid-to-low price bracket of the wireless headphone market. Hence they are current What Hi-Fi? Award winners.

Read our full Sony WH-CH720N review

Best overall wired headphones

There are quite a few things that make the Røde NTH-100 something of a wonder. Firstly, they are the first consumer-ready headphones the Australian company (better known as a maker of microphones) has ever made. Second, they are a pair of wired cans trying to make it in a world dominated by the all-consuming Bluetooth behemoth. Thirdly, and most importantly, they sound truly stunning for the price.

Headphones are for one of two things: they are for either casual entertainment or critical, businesslike purposes such as monitoring or mixing. It's unusual to find a pair of headphones that can fulfil both roles adequately – and it's even rarer at the sort of money Røde is asking for with the NTH-100.

The mission is achieved with startling confidence, though. Detailed, dynamic and yet relentlessly well-balanced, you really can imagine using the NTH-100 as both a pair of casual listening cans or as a studio-grade model for monitoring or mixing. They are that versatile; they are that good.

Our expert reviewers praised their midrange in particular, which they called the "star of the show". "Add in considerable dynamic headroom, a big and solidly constructed soundstage and an overarching impression of ‘control’, and it should become apparent the Røde NTH-100 are deeply capable headphones," the NTH-100 review reads.

No, you don't get many features with a pair of wired cans, and yes, paying for an extra cable seems a little mean-minded, but these shouldn't be enough to dissuade you, especially if sound-per-pound value is your primary concern. Measured by that metric, the Røde NTH-100 are pretty much unbeatable, hence their current What Hi-Fi? Award.

You might consider another Award winner in the excellent and slightly more affordable Austrian Audio Hi-X15 if your budget is a little tighter, but the NTH-100 certainly justify their extra spend.

Read our full Røde NTH-100 review

Best overall wireless headphones

These Sony over-ears are our favourite wireless overall, replacing their three-time What Hi-Fi? Award-winning predecessors, which used to sit in this very spot.

The new headphones "deliver the most detailed, dynamic, precise and open sound we’ve heard from a wireless Sony flagship," to borrow a quote from our XM6 review. Sony has raised its own benchmark for sound quality and leads the class alongside the also new Bowers & Wilkins Px7 S3.

They are also at the top of the noise-cancelling game, offering a more natural and subtle but effective alternative to the Bose QC Ultra Headphones (2nd Gen).

Not only that, but they also bring back the hinge design that allows the headphones to neatly fold up in a ball, and are wonderfully comfortable thanks to a flatter, wider headband.

Add next-gen Bluetooth features such as LC3, LE Audio and Auracast support as well as 360 Reality Audio Upmix for Cinema, which adds Sony’s spatial audio processing to any content you’re watching in stereo, and you're looking at the most well-rounded premium model on the market.

If you're looking for a new pair of wireless noise-cancelling over-ear headphones, your auditioning should start here.

We had high hopes for the even more premium Sony 1000X The Collexion which launched recently, but they only scored four in our review, so we prefer the XM6 every time.

Read our full Sony WH-1000XM6 review

Best headphones for home

Over its century or so in operation, German company Beyerdynamic has produced some outstanding pairs of headphones. The Award-winning DT 990 Pro X are another fine testament to that legacy.

They look like the kind of pair a hot shot producer would don in the studio (as evinced by the 'Pro' in the name), but at just £189 / $199 / AU$399, they're surprisingly affordable. And that's without sacrificing build quality – in our review, we found them "superbly comfortable and well-made" with the same circular earcups and generous headband as the DT 900 Pro X from 2021.

Those velour earcups are as cushioning and comfortable as ever, yet somehow manage to not generate much heat during extended wears. Which is quite an achievement. And while the headphones are just shy of 300g, the weight is distributed so well that they remain comfortable throughout our listening.

The open-backed design leaks sound, while allowing in outside noises for a more spacious performance. Great for at-home enjoyment in the private sanctuary of a listening room, not so for a busy bus on a Monday morning commute.

Beyerdynamic intended them to act as a "sonic magnifier", showing up a song's imperfections as much as its positive attributes. And in that regard, it's mission accomplished: "Their outstanding resolution levels are properly impressive, and if you’re planning on using the DT 990 Pro X for studio use, you’ll be thrilled by how much information they unearth," we noted in our Beyerdynamic DT 990 Pro X review.

The level of detail and clarity makes them perfect for home use, where you can focus on the music, free from distraction. The fact they sound clearer, more detailed and better balanced than their five-star predecessors says it all.

Just note that these will highlight any flaws in a recording. But be discerning with your source material and you're onto a winner.

Read our full Beyerdynamic DT 990 Pro X review

Best premium wireless headphones

Take the five-star Focal Bathys, add the magnesium driver from the (wired) five-star Clear Mg, and you get the Bathys Mg, an Award-winning pair of headphones that take wireless performance to a new level.

Their asking price of £999 / $1299 / AU$2300 sets expectations high – not many wireless pairs command such a high price, and for a very good reason. Thankfully, the Bathys Mg look and feel every inch the premium pair.

The leather-topped headband and memory foam earpads are high quality, while the aluminium and magnesium yokes are built to last. Focal's trademark detailing on the outer of the earcups help them stand out, as does the backlit Focal logo (though you can turn this off if you find it too attention-grabbing).

At 350g, they're heavy, but don't feel it in use thanks to fantastic weight distribution. As you would expect at this price, they support the aptX Adaptive Bluetooth codec for higher-quality listening, though their mobile app isn't as comprehensive as some. But you do get three modes of active noise cancellation (ANC) and the ability to personalise the sound.

They can also be used wired, and have a respectable – if unremarkable – 30-hour battery life.

But it's the sound quality that's remarkable. They make the standard Bathys sound a little unwieldy by comparison, such is the Mg's level of composure. The Mg "offer more across the board: a greater sense of refinement, expression and more precise deployment of notes throughout the frequency range," we wrote in our Focal Bathys Mg review.

It's a natural, balanced sound that doesn't feel like it's adding or subtracting anything from the music. Which is exactly as it should be.

Listen to Adele's Skyfall, you're struck by the spectacular level of insight and sheer amount of detail the Mg unearth. And as Adele shifts through the gears at the track's climax, you hear plenty of stretch in their dynamic range.

The ANC is also up there with the best over-ears we've tested across the frequency range. "Upper bass and lower midrange rumbles are handled well and traffic noise is subdued nicely too," we noted. The most intense mode of ANC ('Silent') isn't as suction-y as the equivalent mode on Bose's QuietComfort Ultra Headphones (2nd Gen), which many will welcome.

As we say, worth every penny.

Read our full Focal Bathys Mg review

Best premium wired headphones

The decade-old, original Beyerdynamic T1 models are a touchstone for us as far as premium headphones go. The main evolution from this third-generation model and its predecessor is that the new pair is far easier to drive for mobile devices and laptops: the old model had a 600ohm impedance, whereas this new one takes that down to 32ohms.

That said, the high level of transparency these Beyerdynamics deliver is such that they deserve to be paired with a high-quality source – not 'just' a phone.

The resulting sound is very similar to the originals albeit cleaner, clearer, slightly less bright and a little more rounded in the treble, making them a bit more forgiving of aggressive electronics and recordings. There's that same musical delivery with a palpable sense of power and authority, and vocals come through with nuance and clarity. Our expert in-house reviews team says they were "taken by the sense of control and organisation, but also the way in which these headphones entertain" in our T1 (3rd Gen) review.

The T1 are comfortable enough for long listening sessions thanks to a nicely shaped, Alcantara-covered headband and generous velour-trimmed earpads. These aren’t the kind of open-back headphones that impress on a short listen, but given a few days or even weeks, it’s hard not to be captivated by their spell.

Want closed-back versions of these headphones that don't leak sound? See our five-star Beyerdynamic T5 (3rd Generation) review. For anyone with more cash to spend, the Sennheiser HD820 and the Focal Stellia should be on your shortlist.

Read our full Beyerdynamic T1 (3rd Generation) review

Best for audiophiles

Best for audiophiles? From a wireless pair? Let us explain...

While it's true that wired pairs will sound better, the Sennheiser HDB 630 set new standards for wireless headphones thanks to a neat accessory that comes bundled in the box. This lets your sound source (for example a smartphone, tablet or laptop) to support the same high-quality Bluetooth codec as the headphones themselves (the highest being aptX Adaptive). Which bestows you with hi-res 24bit/96kHz listening.

Hence the 'best for audiophiles' moniker.

During our testing, we found it boosted the sound quality from a smartphone, with significant gains in clarity and solidity. As we wrote in our review: "These are wonderfully smooth and natural sounding headphones, full of shape and dynamism across the frequency range."

Listening to Christine And The Queens' Mountains (We Met), there's bags of midrange texture to the vocals, while the presentation is dynamic yet precise. There's plenty of scale, but it all remains musically cohesive, making for "the most informative and entertaining sound we’ve heard from wireless headphones at this price."

You can listen wired using the supplied cables (USB-C and 3.5mm), though you still need power in order to do so. But with 60 hours of life between charges (with ANC on; 45 hours when the dongle is in use), you'll have plenty of time to plan a recharge.

The ANC is one of the few negatives we could find. It's far from bad, but is merely good whereas some of its rivals are really great. It isolates you from your surroundings, but others are more effective at cutting off the outside world.

Still, the sound quality more than makes up for it. Audiophiles wanting the convenience of a wireless pair, these are the best over-ear headphones for you.

Sennheiser's Momentum 5 Wireless are another five-star pair (and are a little cheaper), but they just lost out to the Sony WH-1000XM6 for a place on this list.

Read our full Sennheiser HDB 630 review

Also consider

• Austrian Audio Hi-X20: Analytical Rode NTH-100 alternatives
  Hugely revealing affordable wired over-ears which are exceptionally precise for the money. They have a lower-end leanness while the Rodes are fuller in the bass and more forgiving of lower-quality recordings.
• Bowers & Wilkins Px7 S3: Excellent Sony WH-1000XM6 alternatives
  With arguably the best design on the market and a sound performance that rivals the class-leading Sony XM6 in this list, these B&Ws are fantastic options – particularly if you find them at a discount. Just know that their ANC isn't quite as good.
• Beyerdynamic DT 900 Pro X: Closed-back alternatives to the DT 990 Pro X
  If you don't like the DT 990 Pro X's leaky design, you might prefer their closed-back siblings.
• Austrian Audio Hi-X25BT: Better-sounding Sony WH-CH720N alternatives
  If you can spend a little more and don't need active noise cancellation. These Austrian Audios deliver the best sound performance before you get to the premium Sony WH-1000XM6 level.
• Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones (2nd Gen): More intense Sony WH-CH720N alternatives
  Bose's ANC is the most intense around. That makes it incredibly effective, though some people aren't keen on the vacuum effect, preferring a more natural noise cancellation. These are much pricier than the Sony WH-CH720N, but much more effective at silencing the outside world.
• Apple AirPods Max 2: iOS-centric Sony WH-1000XM6 alternatives
  Not a five-star pair, admittedly, but for Apple users, the AirPods Max 2 are still a treat. Nothing works better than Apple's ecosystem, and the sound and ANC are improved, just not by as much as we were hoping.
• Sennheiser Momentum 5 Wireless: Cheaper rivals to the Sony XM6
  Sennheiser's newest Momentum headphones deliver a rich, refined and smooth presentation, expressive and detailed midrange and fantastic battery life, and all for less than the asking price of the XM6.

How to choose the best over-ear headphones for you

These days, over-ear headphones come in many styles. You have wired models with open-back (which leak sound) or, more typically, closed-back designs (which don't), predominantly for listening at home when portability isn't a priority – though wearing wires out and about is fine too, of course! You can read all about the closed-back vs open-back headphones differences here. Go wired for the best possible sound quality for your budget.

Prioritise convenience and features? Go wireless. These are best for portable, on-the-go listening, not only because of their wire-free nature but the fact that nowadays many throw in active noise cancellation (ANC) for more privacy with your music – a Godsend for listening in particularly noisy environments. For these Bluetooth pairs, you'll want to note battery life, Bluetooth codec and Bluetooth Multipoint support, all of which can affect your headphone user experience and/or audio quality.

Unsure which route to go down? Our wired vs wireless headphones guide traverses all the pros and cons of each.

Alternatively, if you know which style you want already, you can visit our dedicated Best Buys for more focused lists – best wired headphones, best wireless headphones and best noise-cancelling headphones. Want a pair of high-end headphones to plug into your desktop or component hi-fi system? As well as the pairs featured above, we also have a definitive list of the best audiophile headphones to satisfy healthier budgets.

But if you are still on the fence as to what sort of pair to punt for, the list above will give you a comprehensive overview of the best pair for each style and price point.

How we test over-ear headphones

Here at What Hi-Fi? we review hundreds of products every year, including bucketfuls of over-ear headphones. After all, the likes of Sony, Bose, Apple and Sennheiser often update their numerous pairs every 12 to 24 months, and that isn't even taking into account all the other renowned – and less so – headphones brands. So how do we arrive at our review verdicts, and why can you trust them?

We have state-of-the-art testing facilities, where our in-house team of expert reviewers, who have over 150 years of collective experience, carry out all our product testing. We have price-appropriate DACs to help us test wired headphones, and put wireless noise-cancelling over-ears through the wringer in working offices, out and about on city streets, and on public transport (including planes when we can), too.

We spend weeks living with every pair we test to ensure every aspect is reviewed thoroughly, from their comfort and build quality to features and performance. Our test tracks span a variety of music genres, too, from classical to hip-hop and everything in between. In line with how we test all products at What Hi-Fi?, all verdicts are agreed upon by the reviews team as a whole, helping to ensure consistency and avoid individual subjectivity.

As over-ear headphones come in multiple forms – wired and wireless, noise-cancelling, open-back or closed-back – and naturally span a wide price spectrum, we keep hold of current five-star class leaders of every type and budget to compare with each pair we review to determine its star rating and position in this eminent list.

Indeed, from all our reviews, we choose the products to feature in our Best Buys, such as this one. That's why if you take the plunge and buy one of the products recommended above, or on any other Best Buy pages, you can rest assured you are getting a What Hi-Fi?-approved product.

You can read more about how we test and review headphones at What Hi-Fi?.

FAQ

Recent Updates

• July 2026: Added mentions of the Sennheiser Momentum 5 Wireless and Sony 1000X The Collexion, both of which we reviewed recently. Added the Momentum 5 Wireless to 'Also consider'.
• May 2026: Rewrote the intro to mention our recent AirPods Max 2 review. Added AirPods Max 2 to 'Also consider'.
• March 2026: Replaced 'The quick list' section with the new tabletop widget. Rewrote intro to mention AirPods Max 2.
• January 2026: As well as adding the Sennheiser HDB 630 to the main list, we've replaced the Grado SR325x with the Beyerdynamic DT 990 Pro X and the Dali IO-8 with the Focal Bathys Mg. The Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones (2nd Gen) have also made the 'Also consider' section. And we culled a couple of models from that section to reflect the updated main list.
• March 2025: The newly reviewed Sennheiser HD 505 make our Also Consider list as cheaper wired open-back alternatives to the Grados in this list. The new Beyerdynamic Aventho 300 miss out on our top sports but are solid wireless efforts nonetheless.
• January 2025: The new Dali IO-8 replace the Mark Levinson No.5909 as the best premium wireless headphones, proving the more compelling performers and overall package at this lofty price point.
• November 2024: Our newly crowned What Hi-Fi? Award 2024 winners in this list have been labelled as such. The excellent Austrian Audio Hi-X25BT are also new Award winners and have been added to our Also Consider section, having not quite made the definitive list due to their closeness in price to the Sony WH-CH720N and lack of active noise cancellation. Sadly, the also newly reviewed Earfun Wave Pro fall short and do not make the cut.

MORE:

The best headphones – all styles, all budgets

The best headphones deals on the internet right now

The best headphones amplifiers: the best way to boost your personal listening

Wired vs wireless headphones: the pros, cons, and which are best for you?

Meet Danial Shimiaei, the director of engineering at high-end brand Mark Levinson. On our recent visit to the impressive Harman Luxury Audio site in Northridge, California, we got a chance to talk to Danial about his journey in audio, his taste in music and what makes the Mark Levinson brand so special.

What Hi-Fi?: What made you interested in hi-fi?

Danial Shimiaei: Probably when I was about 15 years old, a young straggly kid, I was bored and just walking around in a small town in northern California; and I went into a hi-fi store. It was there I got my first taste of listening to proper playback.

What did you hear? 

It was a Pat Benatar record that had just come out and I was hooked. I could not believe what emotional impact music could have. It was a very, very dynamic song and just captivated me. 

What was the first piece of music you bought?

My first two records were [Pink Floyd's] Dark Side of the Moon and Steely Dan’s Aja. Having been a foreigner that came to America and didn't speak English properly, I gravitated towards music that didn't have any lyrics, because I didn't understand them. So even when I was listening to music that had lyrics in it, I really focused on the music itself, the instrumentation, the frequency, the bandwidth and the dynamics. And of course, back then, without being educated in it, none of it was calculated for me.

What was your first hi-fi system? 

My first hi-fi was my brother's record player and receiver, which were both Pioneers. I forget what speakers he had, but that was my introduction. I would just sit there for hours and listen to different types of music and try to connect with it and understand the movements. That's where it all kind of came together.

How did you come to work in audio? 

I was still in high school and my first job was working as a component-level technician. I had a good acumen for electronics and started interning at a hi-fi shop in Santa Monica. The owner took me under his wing and taught me the electro-mechanical side of things. I first started with repairing turntables, then cassette decks and slowly started moving to more sophisticated parts of electronics, amplifiers and so on. 

And at the same time, I had a friend who was a drummer. He was playing in a couple of different bands and one day he goes, “Do you want to be a roadie?” I was, "Okay, sure, I'll help you lug your drums around." I was maybe 16 years old, and we'd go to gigs and set up things. 

How did you then end up working for Mark Levinson?

So it was a long journey. I worked in the music industry for about 15 years and then in film and TV post-production for about 20 years. Through that time I stayed on the technical side and was involved with building facilities, listening environments and recording studios, and so on. 

About a year and a half ago, there was an opportunity because of the relocation of Mark Levinson to the Harman campus in Northridge, California and I joined the company.

What does your job involve?

I'm the director of engineering for Mark Levinson audio. I have a team of mechanical, electrical and software engineers that work on the future roadmap for the products and also any kind of sustaining engineering that is required.

What do you think differentiates Mark Levinson from its rivals?

Quite a bit. First of all, we have our DNA – the Mark Levinson DNA. There's circuit topology, what we take into account for circuit design and the integrity of the signal that goes through it. We also hold a lot of patents within the products that we manufacture and always look at how we can make something better. At the same time, we react to what the market is really looking for. In recent years there has been a lot of movement towards streaming and so we have the No.519 [music streamer], for example.

What is your favourite Mark Levinson product, past or present? 

Wow, probably the new ML 50 mono power amplifier. Sonically, it's superior to any of the predecessors that I have heard, and the way it controls, and the clarity that it delivers is just superior. We've had a very limited run of demos at various shows, but everyone has just been absolutely floored by it.

Measurement or listening, which takes priority?

Listening. Measurements are necessary when we're doing the engineering work. But at the end of the day, you have to look at not just the chart or a number, you have really got to listen to it and see what it is capable of delivering.

What’s your reference system for comparing products?

Our own products are really our reference. One of the things that really speaks highly of our products is that you’ll find Mark Levinson amplifiers in pretty much every one of the research rooms used by the various Harman teams that are based here. We also use our amplifiers with appropriate JBL and Revel speakers (both brands are also part of the Harman Luxury Group) to make sure they work well. 

Which rival do you admire the most? 

I'm impressed with Classé. Very impressed with the products. All around, I think they are elegant.

What system do you use at home? 

I have a Mark Levinson system. Currently, it's just the No.5805 integrated amplifier and a No.519 music streamer. The speakers are a very old pair of AMT ESS Heil.

What are your three favourite albums?

Ooh, that's a really really tough one.

I would say The Dark Side of the Moon by Pink Floyd. Anything by The Police. And from more of a modern orchestral viewpoint, I really love Hans Zimmer's work.

What will the Mark Levinson products of 20 years from now look like?

They’ll be a lot smarter. We're obviously looking at pushing performance as much as technologies and the abilities within our supply chain allow us. However, there's going to be a lot of smartness about it, how we interconnect and how we interface with it.

MORE:

Read our review of the Mark Levinson No. 5909 wireless headphones

Mark Levinson kicks off 50th anniversary with limited-edition ML-50 amp package

It’s an incredibly exciting time for wireless headphones.

2025 saw the release of new flagship headphones from industry giants such as Sony, Bose, Sennheiser, and Bowers & Wilkins. Now, Apple has entered the competition with the long-awaited AirPods Max 2.

Six years in the making, the new AirPods build on the original Award-winners with some very welcome improvements in sound and active noise cancellation (ANC).

They’ve earned a spot in this list, but they’re up against some very fierce competition that has gained a lot of ground since the original AirPods Max released.

It’s not just Apple that should be concerned about the competition, though, as it makes choosing the right headphones rather difficult for the prospective buyer.

Luckily, that’s where we come in. We’ve reviewed hundreds of pairs of headphones over the years, and the list below has been carefully selected after our rigorous testing process.

We’ve chosen the very best for each category, so there’s truly something for everyone, no matter your budget or feature requirements. Bear in mind that we’re focusing on over-ear headphones for this guide – those who opt for in-ears should check our best wireless earbuds buying guide, or our overall best headphones guide if you truly have no preference.

Noise-cancelling is becoming increasingly popular in the headphone world, so if you’re determined to block out the outside world during your commute, you might want to dip your toes into our best noise-cancelling guide.

For now, though, let’s check out the very best wireless headphones our experts have picked out – some of which may well end up on our best headphones deals round-up, too.

Best overall

The WH-1000XM6 are the latest flagship model in Sony's highly successful wireless headphone series, which has spawned multiple What Hi-Fi? Award winners over the years. Their predecessors, the WH-1000XM5 won our 2024 Award, though the new XM6 look to be on track to take their crown come October and keep that winning legacy alive.

If you are looking for over-ear Bluetooth headphones with class-leading sound and top-notch noise cancellation and can afford their premium asking price, the XM6 are the best all-rounders we have come across.

They are wonderfully comfortable thanks to a flatter, wider headband; add next-gen Bluetooth features such as LC3, LE Audio and Auracast support as well as 360 Reality Audio Upmix for Cinema, which adds Sony’s spatial audio processing to any content you’re watching in stereo; and borrow some of the Sony sound technology found in the company's premium Walkman range.

What's more, the new headphones "deliver the most detailed, dynamic, precise and open sound we’ve heard from a wireless Sony flagship," to borrow a quote from our XM6 review.

They are also very close in noise-cancelling performance to the Bose QC Ultra Headphones, our favourite noise-cancellers (below).

The WH-1000XM6 also outshine their closest rivals in sound quality and outright value. That said, the similarly priced Bowers & Wilkins Px7 S3 are on even terms when it comes to performance and do look and feel nicer than the Sonys (hence their position in this list below) – they simply don't block ANC as well.

If you can't afford the XM6, however, the WH-1000XM5 are still on sale and our next-best recommendation in light of their discount, trumping their closest rivals – the Sennheiser Momentum 4 Wireless and Bose QuietComfort.

Read our full Sony WH-1000XM6 review

How the brands stack up: Sony vs Bose headphones; Sony vs Sennheiser headphones

Best cheap

Nailing the basics well enough at the most budget of the market is no easy task, which is probably why many of the reputable headphone brands choose not to compete in it. Thankfully, Sony does. With the entry-level WH-CH520, it has proven it is just as capable of producing affordable wireless headphones as premium ones.

The WH-CH520 don't look in any way glamorous – you don't get a foldable design or premium materials. If anything, our reviewers found them "a little plasticky". But keep your expectations for the budget price realistic and you will soon realise these are reassuringly well made – they feel properly constructed and in our weeks living with them proved solid and robust as they accompanied us in our daily routines and survived a few purposeful yanks during durability testing.

The good news continues in the features department – again, if you remember that these cost roughly the price of a round of drinks. The headline feature is a 50-hour battery life (or 40 hours on full volume), which quite frankly the majority of premium headphones don't reach – not even Sony's range-topping WH-1000XM5 above. That is one of the benefits of not having power-hungry features like active noise cancellation and spatial audio eating away at your battery.

What you do get is Bluetooth 5.2 (allowing for 10m of wireless range from your source), physical on-cup playback buttons, and compatibility with Sony's Headphones Connect control app, which offers EQ presets and custom adjustment, plus a hearing test to help you find your ideal sonic balance.

So far, so solid, but what most impresses us about the WH-C520, and singles them out from the hoard of other uber-affordable Bluetooth over-ears we have tested, is their sound performance. As our experts noted in our five-star Sony WH-CH520 review, they "don’t take long to establish themselves as a nicely balanced, quite informative and enjoyable listen".

Again, you ought to keep your expectations in check – clarity and dynamics are good, not great, and naturally they aren't as expressive across the frequencies as any other pair in this buying guide. But that’s really to judge the Sonys by the standards of more expensive headphones. For their modest asking price, they are very listenable indeed and much more so than any rival pair we have come across.

Ultimately, the WH-CH520 are built to a price but compromised in the least compromising way.

Read our full Sony WH-CH520 review

Best cheap noise-cancelling

If you can't afford the Sony WH-1000XM6 (our best overall pick above) but still want decent-performing over-ears that include active noise cancellation, you won’t do better than the Award-winning Sony WH-CH720N.

They are the middle sitters in the best Sony headphones lineup (above the WH-CH520 but below the XM6 and bass-boosted, inadvisable ULT Wear) and the only ANC pair below £100 / $150 / AU$200 we recommend in our best noise-cancelling headphones guide. Indeed, while wireless headphones with ANC used to be exclusive to the higher end of the market, the sound-blocking technology has trickled down: “[ANC] came out of the aviation industry many years ago with single microphone configurations with static implementation to cancel out ambient noise at a high cost, making it a novelty item reserved for premium consumer headphones," says Mikael Herje of Harman International, the parent company of JBL. “But it has now become an ‘always on’” feature.”

Don't expect sound or noise-cancelling quality to match that of their flagship siblings, of course, but during testing we were amazed at how few compromises Sony has had to make to keep quality high and costs down.

The WH-CH720N are spirited, energetic performers that do justice to lively music genres like rock and pop – "they imbue their musical cargo with heft and conviction, operating on the front foot in delivering an immediate, assertive sound with an emphasis on forceful, burly bass," said our in-house experts in our WH-CH720N review. They also have the texture and detail to fulfil subtler, quieter tracks, and bass can also be brought down a little in the Sony Headphones companion app if you aren't a bass fiend.

They don’t have a fold-down design or come with a carry case, the latter of which is slightly disappointing even at this modest price point, but the WH-CH720N feel surprisingly well-made and offer a comfortable fit, even during prolonged listening sessions. Our reviews team generally got on well with the physical on-earcup buttons for playback, volume and ANC, too.

Their active noise cancellation is effective, even if it doesn't encase you in silence like the Sony XM6 or Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones (below). It's certainly powerful enough to drown out background office noise. Add to all their sound, ANC and usability wins a week-long (50-hour) battery life, and you can begin to realise why our reviews team continues to like them so much, years after their May 2023 launch.

This isn't a particularly crowded area of the headphones market, but nevertheless, in that time no other wireless over-ears we've tested anywhere near their price have come close, including competitors from Sennheiser and Lindy.

If you can, however, almost double your budget and happily forgo noise cancellation, we can't recommend the newly reviewed Austrian Audio Hi-X25BT (below) enough. Very rare mid-market marvels, they prioritise performance over features and, as you would hope for the price difference, sound notably better than the WH-CH720N.

Read our full Sony WH-CH720N review

Best mid-price

Let's get the negatives out of the way first: Austrian Audio's first crack at Bluetooth headphones don't have active noise cancellation, Bluetooth Multipoint or a companion app, and they don't support higher-quality Bluetooth codecs such as aptX. So why, when they overlook many modern wireless headphone features, are they current What Hi-Fi? Award winners? One word: performance.

If you want to listen to your music untethered and don't care for ANC, you won't find better performers than the Hi-X25BT at this mid-range price. As our expert reviewers noted in our Hi-X25BT review, they offer "a resplendently clean soundscape for us to enjoy, bringing the sort of clarity and sparkle that we’ve rarely heard at this level... the X25BT are a pristinely polished set of bay windows granting a wide, unclouded view of your musical catalogue."

A notable step up in sound quality from the Sony WH-CH710N above, they are snappy, free and fun and sound even better when you connect the cable. Bass heads might crave more bass from their leaner balance, but what you do get is pleasingly agile and taut.

Indeed, Austrian Audio has prioritised performance above features here, and we can't argue with that when they sound this good. The mid-price wireless headphones market was crying out for a really decent pair, with the likes of the Sennheiser Accentum Wireless and veteran Beats Solo 3 not cutting it on the performance front, so we're glad that glaring gap has finally been filled.

Read our full Austrian Audio Hi-X25BT review

Best noise-cancelling

Avid travellers or those with particularly loud children may be looking for the best noise-cancelling headphones in the business, and they come from none other than the brand that first innovated in active noise cancellation technology for headphones – Bose.

So it's no surprise that the American audio giant's latest cans, the Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones (2nd Gen), boast class-leading noise-cancellation, as well as a wealth of functionality and a smart, nicely fitting design.

Bose has consistently set the benchmark for noise cancellation efficacy in wireless headphones, and despite Sony having boldly closed the gap here with its WH-1000XM6, the Ultra Headphones (2nd Gen) still just about prevail for outright sound-blocking intensity in their ‘Quiet’ mode. “Whether you’re riding public transport or walking past roadworks or construction, they provide a blanket of silence so that your music (or podcasts) can bask in the spotlight,” our Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones (2nd Gen) review reads.

Bose engineer Mark Bergeron told What Hi-Fi? that the key to attaining optimal sound quality in noise-cancelling headphones is to ensure the ANC system is well implemented: “Precise acoustic cavity and porting designs help regulate airflow and pressure variations across key frequency ranges, helping to make the system robust, consistent, and well-behaved during transient events or environments." Indeed, Bose has nailed both elements.

Bose has also added lossless listening over a USB-C cable to the Ultra Headphones (2nd Gen) in addition to the 2.5mm port, but be aware that both wired methods require battery life.

One of the more innovative features is Bose’s Immersive Audio technology, which is basically its take on spatial audio. The technology peaks with ‘Cinema mode’, which pulls dialogue and mid/upper sound effects into greater focus when watching movies – with music, we find it much more hit and miss.

Sonically, the Ultra Headphones (2nd Gen) are a step forward compared to their predecessors, with a punchy, entertaining and defined sound.

“Compared to the originals, the newcomers make small but meaningful gains when it comes to clarity and detail, while sounding that bit more solid and musically tighter and shedding a layer of excess richness,” our experts said.

However, when compared to the competition, the likes of Sony have stormed ahead in the sound department.

“Sony’s latest generational sonic evolution has convincingly out-leapt Bose’s, the XM6’s delivering not only more natural, even-handed tonality than the Ultra 2 but also greater clarity, texture, drive and dynamic subtlety,” we said.

Still, the Ultra Headphones (2nd Gen) are easily among the very best Bose headphones in the company's history. Rivals such as the XM6 sound better, but the Bose can’t be beaten for outright noise cancellation.

Read our full Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones (2nd Gen) review

Best Apple

When Apple released the original AirPods Max back in 2020, they completely changed the game. A new category of super-premium wireless over-ear headphones was essentially created overnight, and many rivals scrambled to catch up in the following years.

Fast forward to 2026, and Apple’s over-ear rivals have not only caught up but raised the bar by quite a bit, resulting in a four-star rating for the Apple AirPods Max 2. They’re still great headphones though – particularly if you’re an iOS user.

The seamless usability when paired with an iPhone or other Apple device return, but the H2 chip adds nifty new features such as Conversation Awareness, Adaptive Audio, next-gen Adaptive EQ, personalised volume and Siri gestures. The much-hyped Live Translation feature is also available if you own the iPhone 16 or later.

ANC is also an improvement on the original pair, with the rumbles and screeches of the London Underground damped down in a natural, airy way that doesn’t intrude on the music.

Speaking of music, there have also been small gains in detail, precision, dynamics and weight, largely thanks to the addition of a new high dynamic range amplifier, revised DSP (Digital Signal Processing) and updated Adaptive EQ.

“The Max 2 headphones have an admirably smooth balance, one that is very easy to listen to,” our Apple AirPods Max 2 review reads. “There’s a dash more punch to the sound and the edges of notes are etched out with a little more precision, and they sound a bit more open compared with the first-gen models.”

Voices are strong, and Apple balances all the elements very well, but the top end is slightly rolled off, which loses some crispness and bite. After six years, we were hoping for a more substantial audio upgrade.

Other elements remain disappointingly familiar too, with the same design, case and 20-hour battery life. This is still a very premium design, in fairness, with a stainless steel headband and memory foam earcups that are beautifully made and comfortable to wear for hours. We do wish the headphones were lighter and foldable, though.

Apple could have done more with the AirPods Max 2, which remain similar to the original in a few too many ways. But for Apple’s signature ease of use and ever-expanding futuristic features, these may well be the wireless over-ear headphones of choice for iOS users out there.

Read the full Apple AirPods Max 2 review

Best for style

The Bowers & Wilkins Px7 S3 may be in what you could argue is the 'beauty spot' in this list, but their performance and feature talents wholly justify their place in it too. As a Sony XM6 alternative, there is none better.

For this price, you can get seriously good-sounding wired headphones that will outperform the Bowers. But if you simply must have wire-free and noise-cancelling convenience, this is the most insightful pair we have come across bar the even pricier T+A Solitaire T (£1200 / $1600 / AU$2160). Indeed, these Bowers sound better than higher-priced rivals such as the Apple AirPods Max (above) and Focal Bathys, and are on level terms with the Sony XM6.

"Our time cross-examining the Px7 S3’s sonic talents leaves us finding few gaps in their armour," says our test team. "The Px7 S3 really are exceptionally refined and detailed headphones... [they] drop you deep into a performance, breaking the boundary between you and your music and insisting that you become a part of the experience, a little like a mate at a gig who ushers you ever-closer towards the stage."

While the Bose QuietComfort Ultra (above) and Sony XM6 block out sound more competently than any the Px7 S3, these Bowers do a reasonable job: "Road rumbles are reduced, the chatter of voices is softened, and sharp bangs or yells have the edge taken off to keep you from jumping out of your seat when a door slams or a passing car beeps its shrill horn," reads our Px7 S3 review.

Elsewhere, their features satisfy the price point, with aptX Lossless and Adaptive Bluetooth support and a 30-hour battery life (with ANC on). A lighter construction makes for an even more pleasant fit than their very comfortable predecessors, the Px7 S2e, too.

For anyone after the convenience of wireless and ANC without sacrificing too much sound quality, these good-looking Bowers are highly recommendable for ambitious budgets that cannot entertain the T+A Solitaire T.

Read our full Bowers & Wilkins Px7 S3 review

Best for audiophiles

As much as we love wireless headphones here at What Hi-Fi?, their sound quality is inherently limited by the Bluetooth technology they, and the source device, support.

Step forward Sennheiser. They’ve provided an innovative solution with a USB-C dongle that grants your phone (or other device) the same high-quality Bluetooth codec the headphones themselves support. And it works wonders.

The benefits are clear, with our Sennheiser HDB 630 review stating that “the presentation gains in clarity and solidity” with a wonderfully smooth and natural sound, "full of shape and dynamism”.

The HDB 630 are miles ahead of their predecessors, the Momentum Wireless 4, in terms of detail, dynamic expression, and refinement. We even think they surpass our current benchmark, the Award-winning Sony WH-1000XM6, in outright sound quality.

That's even without the dongle, which is only part of the story. Track after track, the Sennheisers take you closer to the music for a greater sense of scale, less congested arrangements, and a more rewarding listen, making them the ideal choice for audiophiles.

The discreet, minimalist design is comfortable over long listening sessions, with responsive touch controls and the option for wired listening over USB-C or 3.5mm.

Battery life is a liberal 60 hours – dropping to 45 hours with the dongle – while active noise cancellation is decidedly ‘good’ rather than ‘great’, though the HDB 630’s design physically isolates you well from the outside world to begin with.

The Sennheiser HDB 630 are an attractive all-around package, but their ambitious method to upgrade wireless sound quality makes them a clear pick for audiophiles.

Read our full Sennheiser HDB 630 review

Best for high-end

Focal picked up a five-star rating for its previous pair of wireless headphones, the standard Bathys. So it had big shoes to fill.

The Mg model switches the 40mm aluminium/magnesium driver for one made from pure magnesium – hence 'Mg'. You can really hear the difference when compared to their 2022 predecessors. The Mg offer "a greater sense of refinement, expression and more precise deployment of notes throughout the frequency range," we wrote in our review.

They also have a greater degree of control over lows and highs. Compared to them, the originals sound a little unwieldy.

The sound is natural and balanced, with plenty of weight, precision and texture. Levels of insight are off the chart, making flagship rivals from the likes of Sony, B&W and Dali sound lacklustre by comparison.

They're suitably plush too, and built to last, with a leather headband and memory foam earpads, and a yoke made from aluminium and magnesium. But they won't be to everyone's tastes. They're heavy – almost 100g heavier than the Sony WH-1000XM6 – and only come in the chestnut (read: brown) finish. The Focal logo is backlit too, though you can turn this off.

They also don't have touch controls, and their app is a little bare bones compared to some. But they only lack features in a bid to focus purely on performance. In our view, it's a tradeoff worth making.

And they do have plenty of other features. The Sound Personalisation mode feeds you test signals to create your own sound profile based on your hearing. Wired listening is possible up to 24-bit/192kHz using the Mg's built-in DAC, and they even support a virtual assistant.

The noise cancellation is also up there with the best around. Upper bass and lower midrange rumbles are dispatched with ease, while traffic noise is nicely muffled too. All of which will help you focus even more on the high-end sound quality.

Read our full Focal Bathys Mg review

Also Consider

• Sony WH-1000XM5
  Can't afford the new XM6? Their XM5 predecessors are still easy to recommend for more modest budgets while they are still available on shop shelves.
• Bowers & Wilkins Px7 S2e
  While now replaced by the Px7 S3 found in our main list, these older Bowers & Wilkins remain solid Sony WH-1000XM5 alternatives that combine a lovely full, lush, detailed sound with modern specs and class-leading aesthetics. If you can find them at a decent discount while final stocks last, we'd pounce.
• T+A Solitaire T
  If your wireless headphones ambitions lie beyond the premium B&Ws on this list, why not splash the cash on the best-sounding Bluetooth headphones we've ever heard? The uber-premium Solitaire T take sound performance to the highest possible level without wires being added to the equation. Priced accordingly, they are really quite innovative.
• Sennheiser Momentum 4 Wireless
  Another Sony WH-1000XM5 rival worth considering, Sennheiser's latest Momentum continue the line's legacy of competitive sound and effective ANC. Their USP? A massive 60 hours of battery life – twice that of the Sonys. We miss the blingy look of former Momentum models, but you may like the minimalist look of the well-made Momentum 4.
• Dali IO-8
  Decent Bowers Px7 S3 alternatives that aren't quite as detailed but still remain an attractive all-round proposition.
• Grado GW100x As wireless headphones to use in private at home or in the garden, these quirky, open-back (i.e. leaky) Grados are first class.

What to consider before buying wireless headphones

The world is awash with wireless headphones of various form factors, prices and feature sets, so how do you know which pair is best suited to you? If you are unsure, here are some things to consider before you start browsing:

Budget: set your price (and expectations)
First things first, think about your budget. Fortunately, recommendable wireless headphones and earbuds are available well below £100/$100/AU$100, and you can even get once-premium features such as active noise cancellation, high-quality Bluetooth codecs and long battery lives nearer the top end of that bracket.

You can, of course, easily pay five times that in the over-ear market (up to 10 times for the few highest-end pairs), which primarily gets you superior sound and noise-cancelling performances, more luxury materials and, in some cases, new and innovative features like spatial audio that haven't yet trickled down. Whatever your budget, rest assured that the pair listed above that best matches it is the best your money can buy.

Style: in-ears, on-ears or over-ears?
The wireless headphones above are all over-ear designs that, as you might've guessed, sit over your ears, with the earcups connected by a headband. These tend to provide good physical isolation and an enveloping, spacious sound. But if you want in-ear designs – like AirPods – that major in discreetness and portability, not to mention ultimate affordability, you should check out our wireless earbuds buying guide instead.

You can also get the smaller on-ear headphones that sit – yep – on your ears, like the Grado GW100x, but the choice in that now-limited market is ever dwindling.

Features: which are must-haves?
Thankfully, many of the most desirable wireless headphone features are available across the price spectrum.

1. Bluetooth connectivity goes without saying, of course, but you might want to consider which Bluetooth codecs your phone, music player or other audio device supports and get a pair that supports the same one. After all, which codec your music signal is packaged and wirelessly transmitted in affects sound quality.

2. What you might find useful on a practical everyday basis, particularly if you use your wireless headphones for work, are features like Multipoint Bluetooth, allowing you to connect to two devices (a laptop and phone, say) simultaneously for easier switching between music playback and calls.

3. This one's a biggie: active noise cancellation, or ANC. Do you need to block out noise from a train, plane, automobile or anything else? If so, you're in luck as most wireless headphones nowadays offer ANC, even at the affordable end. (In our list above, all but the entry-level Sony WH-CH520 and Grado GW100x do.) While any over-ears physically offer a level of isolation – a “solid passive noise cancellation baseline,” as Mikael Herje of Harman International (JBL, Mark Levinson etc) calls it – ANC uses microphones and digital sound processing (DSP) to block a larger amount and wider frequency of sound. You can read how active noise-cancelling technology works here. Noise-cancelling levels can sometimes be incrementally adjusted, and you will want to dive into our reviews to see how effectively it is executed.

Most ANC models also offer a Transparency (or Ambient) mode that, counterintuitive to noise cancellation, temporarily encourages surrounding sound in so that you can hear, say, train announcements or road traffic. If that sounds useful, make sure that box is ticked. If ANC is your number one priority, you might be best served by our best noise-cancelling headphones buying guide.

4. Check for extras. Wireless headphones increasingly come with companion apps and offer extra features designed to enhance your listening or simply your wearing experience. Auto-wear detection, for example, recognises when you take the headphones off and automatically pauses your music or video. Spatial audio (3D immersive audio) is gaining traction and beginning to appear in premium pairs, such as the AirPods Max and Bose QuietComfort Ultra above, as well as the new Sonos Ace. We find its implementation and worthwhile-ness hit and miss, mind you.

Battery life: how much do you need?
Look out for a manufacturer's battery life claims and, of course, our real-life test of them, particularly if you want to take your headphones on regular long trips. You should expect at least a 24-hour battery life, no matter what your budget, although 30-plus hours is increasingly common. Many wireless headphones now offer a 'quick' or 'fast' charge that blesses you with an hour or two's playback from just minutes of being plugged in, too, so that is one to look out for as well.

Water resistance: do you need it?
If you are clumsy or plan to wear your wireless headphones to the gym, consider a pair that is in some way weatherproof. An IP rating on the spec sheet is the typical marker for how water- and dust-resistant a product is, and a common wireless headphone rating tends to be IPX4, which 'gives protection against splashing water... hitting the product from an angle. Unfortunately, many manufacturers of over-ears choose not to use IP certification, in which case we would be weary about exposing their headphones to the elements in case you damage them and/or void their warranty.

Need further help in your buying decision? Our more comprehensive how to choose the right pair of headphones advice should answer any outstanding questions you may have.

Comfort: how long do you wear headphones for?
Every pair in this buying guide has passed our test as being comfortable to wear for a couple of hours at a time, but if you want a pair you can wear for several hours or most of the day, consider a pair's weight, materials and headband padding generosity, as well as how sensitive your head and ears are to pressure and heat. Our headphone reviews always present the overall wearing experience from several review team members to paint a picture of their fit and comfort.

How we test wireless headphones

While we at What Hi-Fi? have access to custom-built, state-of-the-art testing facilities, where our team of experienced in-house reviewers test the majority of hi-fi and AV kit that pass through our door, wireless headphones are naturally on-the-go products that deserve to be tested as such.

To that end, our wireless headphones reviewing process tests everyday aspects such as the portability and ruggedness of their build, their long-wear comfort and how their claimed battery life translates into real-life use. For pairs with active noise cancellation, as are increasingly common these days, we test their sound-blocking ability in various environments, such as an office, on public transport and – when we can – during flights.

Our in-house reviews team lives with every wireless headphone for weeks, using them at office desks, at home and during commuting, so we can mirror the experience you would have and give you an accurate impression of what they are like as daily music companions. Even once a pair has been tested and its review published, we ensure the team continues to use the best ones – those listed in this buying guide – so that we can stay on top of any firmware updates and update the reviews and relevant buying guides accordingly.

Of course, sound quality is key in forming our verdicts and star ratings too. As What Hi-Fi? is all about comparative testing, each pair we review is compared to the best in its price and style class – whether that's one standout pair or a few we favour the highest among the 75+ models we listen to every year for reviews and What Hi-Fi? Awards judging. So, if we get a pair of over-ear wireless headphones in for review around the £300 / $350 / AU$550 mark, we will test it against the class-leading Sony WH-1000XM5 and likely another close five-star competitor too. We keep current What Hi-Fi? Award-winning headphones, as well as plenty of five-star pairs, in our on-site stockroom, allowing us to easily compare new products to rival ones we know and love.

We all love music – that is why we so frequently curate test track lists as a team – and, to help us test consistently across products, we have go-to test playlists that span various genres and that we are familiar with.

In accordance with how we review products on What Hi-Fi?, all wireless headphone review verdicts are agreed upon by the team rather than an individual reviewer to eliminate any personal preference and to make sure we're being as thorough as possible, too. There's no input from PR companies or our sales team when it comes to the verdict, with What Hi-Fi? proud of having delivered honest, unbiased reviews for decades.

You can read more about how we test and review headphones at What Hi-Fi?.

Specs comparison

Wireless headphones FAQs

Are wireless headphones better than wired?

In terms of sound quality, Bluetooth headphones have made huge progress in recent years, closing the gap between the sonic capabilities of wireless and wired models. The introduction of higher-end wireless headphones such as the Apple AirPods Max and Dali IO-8 have pushed wireless performance further than ever before.

The gap still remains, though: the best wired headphones at a particular price will still sound notably better than the best wireless pair at that same price point. So if sound quality is key and you don't mind sacrificing cable-free convenience and noise cancellation to get it, wired is still the way to go.

A more detailed comparison can be found in our wired vs wireless headphones guide.

Wireless headphones or earbuds: which are better?

The answer to this FAQ is less black and white, as both headphones and earbuds have their strengths over one another. Headphones, by which we are referring to on-ears and over-ears, have better physical isolation and a more enveloping soundstage, and also are less obtrusive to your precious ears, often making them more suitable for longer wearing. If you're after the best possible wireless sound quality, you'll find it in a pair of wireless over-ears.

Earbuds, however, deliver a more direct sound due to their in-ear positioning, and are more discreet to wear and transport thanks to their compact, portable nature. There is also a far wider choice of earbuds on the market at the budget end of the spectrum due to the exploding popularity of AirPods.

Which are 'better' for you depends on which qualities you value more.

Is noise-cancelling worth having?

All headphones provide some level of isolation from the outside world, whether that be via their in-ear 'plug' design or the clamping force of over-ear earpads. That's why getting the correct fit is so important, as Bowers & Wilkins' Steve Hoyle told What Hi-Fi?: “The better the headphone fits a wider range of users, the greater the passive isolation, which in turn reduces the amount of work required for the ANC.”

But ANC technology is paramount if you want to be truly isolated from office chit-chat street noise or the sound of transport engines, and the levels in which it can do so nowadays are highly impressive, with Bose leading the way alongside the likes of Sony, Apple, Bowers & Wilkins, Dali and Sennheiser.

Historically we would advise caution about buying wireless headphones with ANC as the technology more often than not detrimentally impacted sound quality, but manufacturers are increasingly finding ways for the two to live harmoniously, so it isn't as much of an issue nowadays.

In a headphones expert discussion about ANC, Sennheiser’s Christian Ern said that the key to this is striking the right balance in ANC intensity. “On one hand, the residual noise reduces the perceived sound quality for the user. On the other hand, the stronger you drive ANC, the more likely it is that a user may experience sound deterioration in some cases, like extreme noises or leaks in the sealing between the headphone and ear.”

Are wireless headphones waterproof?

Most true wireless earbuds nowadays are waterproof – not least if they have first and foremost been designed for exercise, such as sport headphones. Sometimes, only the earpieces or the charging case are waterproof, so it is worth checking that.

That isn't so much the case for wireless over-ear headphones, which generally don't have protection from water or dust and therefore should be hidden from rainstorms as much as possible... and kept away from poolsides! The best way to check if headphones are waterproof (or 'water resistant, as most literature labels it) or not is to check their official technical specification on the company's website, or our review of them.

Water (and indeed dust) resistance for headphones is often measured and presented as an IP (Ingress Protection) rating, an international standard that indicates the degree of protection in electrical products against the 'intrusion of objects, water, dust or accidental contact'. A rating consists of 'IP' plus two numbers – the first number indicates the level of protection against solid objects (dust), while the second number represents the level of protection against water. Which numbers correspond to which levels of protection can be found on our IP ratings explained advice article.

Can you answer calls with wireless headphones?

Almost all wireless headphones and earbuds these days integrate one or more microphones that facilitate the taking and making of voice calls (and in some cases also help to deploy active noise cancellation and/or voice control). That means you can answer your phone calls without having to pick up your phone, provided your headphones are indeed connected to your phone over Bluetooth. Most wireless headphones have touch controls or physical buttons that include an answer/hang-up key, though pairs with built-in voice assistants let you do that simply by using your voice, completely hands-free.

Can you use wireless headphones when they run out of power?

In the case of wireless earbuds, no. When they (and in the case of AirPods-like true wireless earbuds, their charging case) run out of battery, tough luck – you’ll need to plug them in and charge them up to hear your sweet, sweet tunes through them.

However, wireless headphones tend to feature a 3.5mm or USB-C jack for you to wire your headphones to your device if you so choose – or, indeed, as a temporary measure if their battery is flat. Traditionally, and in most cases, this is possible as the analogue (wired) output does not required the headphones' digital circuitry to work. That said, some wireless over-ear pairs nowadays only work when they have power, even for only wired listening.

Can wireless headphones connect to a TV?

If you have thin walls, like to watch TV when the kids are asleep, or would simply like a more involving personal listening experience that your TV’s speakers can’t give you, listening to TV audio through wireless headphones can be transformative.

Of course, you need to make sure your TV can output audio via Bluetooth. Some Bluetooth-equipped TVs even offer their own audio delay settings, which can help you marry up picture and sound. If your TV doesn't, you could buy and plug in a Bluetooth transmitter dongle for it, though be weary that this could introduce lip-sync errors.

Speaking of which, one issue when using wireless headphones with a TV is lag – the delay between what you see on the screen and what you hear. This is due to latency: the time it takes the sound to travel from the source to the headphones. But Bluetooth standards and codecs have steadily improved latency and squashed most of the issues, so the best headphones and best TVs today (and from the past few years) shouldn't have any problems.

You can read more about how to connect headphones to your TV here.

Are wireless headphones good for gaming?

This is where we would point you to our comprehensive gaming headsets vs headphones article, though the quick answer is: yes, they can be good for gaming – buy a pair of good open-sounding, mic-inclusive wireless headphones that can transmit audio to your console (via a dongle) or PC while also doubling up as your commuter music companions, and they will be very effective.

But dedicated gaming headsets – while not typically great for music – are often tuned for a better, more immersive gaming audio experience and are likely to have higher compatibility with more gaming devices, as well as a more accurate microphone and perhaps even other gaming features such as a mixer for balancing chat audio and game audio.

When is the best time to buy wireless headphones?

There isn't a bad time to buy any of the wireless headphones in this guide, as all of them have been tested and recommended at their original prices, but there are certainly better times of the year to buy…

You can often find good headphone deals year-round, especially on popular big-brand pairs from, say, Sony at competitive retailers like Amazon. But you will typically see the biggest savings and best-ever prices land during sales events. The biggest two are Black Friday and Cyber Monday (November), while both Amazon Prime Days (typically July and October) also tend to offer year-best prices. Boxing Day and January sales also see prices come down more than they do most of the year.

Again, deals are year-round affairs when it comes to headphones and every month we round up our pick of the best headphones deals and best wireless earbuds deals on the internet, on pairs only we recommend. Interested only in AirPods? We have an AirPods deals page that we track regularly too.

Are wireless headphones safe?

Yes, wireless headphones are completely safe to use. Bluetooth headphones emit low-level non-ionising radiofrequency radiation far below the levels dangerous to humans. Cancer Research UK conducted studies involving large groups of people in 2019 and found no connection to an increased cancer risk.

As with all headphones, however, there is a risk of damage to your hearing if you listen at high volumes for extended periods. Make sure to keep your headphones at a safe volume and take regular breaks.

Do wireless headphones work on planes?

The short answer is yes, wireless headphones work on planes and you are free to use them during most of the flight. Different airlines have different rules, however, and most will probably ask for electronic devices such as headphones to be removed during take-off, landing and safety briefings.

Always listen to flight attendants’ instructions, but otherwise your wireless headphones will work perfectly fine at 30,000 feet.

Glossary

AAC: Advanced Audio Coding. The default audio codec for Bluetooth on iOS devices, though it's not owned by Apple and is also supported by Android devices. It can handle 24-bit/44.1kHz audio files, with a bitrate of up to 320kbps.

Active noise cancellation (ANC): A powered technology designed to reduce the external surrounding noise you hear when wearing noise-cancelling headphones. Essentially, microphones on the outside of the earcups detect the noise around you and create a mirror image of that noise (the compression and rarefaction of the air) called ‘antiphase’. Added together, the noise and ‘antinoise’ cancel each other out.

aptX: An audio codec synonymous with Bluetooth and developed by chipmaker Qualcomm. It offers higher quality than the ‘standard’ SBC and AAC. It comes in various forms, from the ‘classic’ aptX to the most superior aptX Lossless, though aptX HD and aptX Adaptive are the most commonly supported these days.

Bluetooth standard: Also referred to as Bluetooth ‘specifications’ or ‘versions’. Overseen by the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG), Bluetooth standards mark the developments in Bluetooth wireless technology. They typically improve connection efficiency (meaning longer battery life), security, stability over long ranges, latency and interference. The latest standard is Bluetooth 5.4.

Bluetooth codec: A software format that compresses and encodes music so that it can be efficiently transmitted wirelessly between devices. The receiving device that supports the same codec then decodes that music for playback. AAC and SBC are the most common, though aptX is of higher quality.

Bluetooth Multipoint: A Bluetooth feature that allows a pair of wireless headphones to establish and maintain a Bluetooth connection to multiple devices (say, a laptop and a phone) simultaneously.

Closed-back: Closed-back headphones have an enclosure behind their drivers, with any back-firing sound hitting the enclosures. This prevents excessive sound leakage from your headphones, unlike open-back headphones (see below). Nearly all wireless headphones are closed-back.

EQ: Often adjustable in wireless headphone companion control apps, equalisation gives you an easy way to tweak the sound to some extent to suit their preferred balance – typically, you can boost or reduce treble, midrange and bass frequencies.

Google Fast Pair: Or simply ‘Fast Pair’. If your Android or Google device supports this always-on feature, it will automatically scan for nearby Bluetooth headphones and, when detected, suggest you pair with them via an on-screen pop-up. This bypasses the need to enter your device’s Bluetooth settings menu to initiate pairing. Apple has its own version of this for Apple devices and AirPods.

IP rating/code: Developed by the IEC (International Electrotechnical Commission), the ‘ingress protection’ system classifies products on how resistant they are to environmental factors. The first number of an IP code relates to resistance against physical particles (i.e. dust, sand etc.), while the second relates to the resistance against liquid particles, usually in the form of water. These days, IP67 is common and desirable in the consumer electronic space, though many wireless headphones don’t carry official IP ratings.

Open-back: Open-back headphones don’t have an enclosure behind their drivers, which means that sound is fired both towards and away from the listener’s ears. Some of the sound being fired away from the ears leaks out of the earcups and can therefore be typically heard by neighbours, while noise in your surroundings can also creep into those open earcups. That’s why open-back designs are rare in portable wireless headphones.

SBC: The most basic and widely supported Bluetooth codec around. It handles up to 16-bit/48kHz audio files, with a bitrate up to 345kbps (though manufacturers tend to limit their devices to 256kbps to avoid battery drain).

Spatial audio: Typically associated with Apple, who somewhat coined the term, this immersive audio technology is designed to deliver surround sound and 3D audio through AirPods, often with dynamic head tracking that moves the soundstage according to your head movement. Some other manufacturers, such as Bose, have now implemented their own spin on the technology into their headphones.

Transparency mode: Also known as ‘Ambient’, ‘Aware’ or ‘Hear-through’ mode, and a relatively new feature typically found on wireless headphones with active noise cancellation. In contrast to ANC’s purpose, it is designed to allow external surrounding noise into the earcups so that you can hear, say, a train announcement without having to remove the headphones from your head.

Wireless headphones coming soon

• Loewe Leo: The Leo are TV-maker Loewe's first pair of wireless headphones, and they're pitched at the higher end the market. With a £1299 / €1299 price tag, they're billed as a "standalone hi-fi audio solution". They support audio up to 24-bit/96kHz, and you can customise the sound based on your hearing profile. Can Loewe strike it big first time? Stay tuned for our review.
• JBL Tour M3: In an interesting move, JBL have provided a firmware update to their existing JBL Tour M3 headphones that tweaks the sound curve. JBL claims this will result in a clearer, more balanced sound, while the menu of the Smart Tx transmitter has also seen an update. Will this be enough to get the Tour M3 onto our best headphones list? Keep an eye out...

Recent updates

• April 2026: The long-awaited Apple AirPods Max 2 replace their predecessors in the 'Best Apple' category, while two questions have been added to the FAQ section: 'Are wireless headphones safe?' and 'Do wireless headphones work on planes?'.
• January 2026: The Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones (2nd Gen) replace their predecessors in the 'Best for noise cancelling' category, while the Sennheiser HDB 630 are a new entrant for 'Best for audiophiles'. The Focal Bathys MG have been moved to the new category of 'Best high-end', while the Grado W100 is now in our 'Also Consider' section.
• September 2025: The Focal Bathys Mg are a new entrant in the new category of 'best for audiophiles'. We've also refined the AirPods Max and Bose QC Ultra Headphones entries to reflect recent changes and news of a sequel pair, respectively, and added the Loewe Leo to 'Coming soon'.
• May 2025: The just-tested Bowers & Wilkins Px7 S3 knock the pricier Dali IO-8 off their perch, and are our pick for audiophile-level sound and stylish alternatives to the Sony XM6.
• April 2025: There are no new entries this time, but it will be interesting to see if the newly announced Focal Bathy Mg can improve on its five-star predecessors and make it onto our main or Also Consider lists.
• March 2025: While we have tested the very decent Beyerdynamic Aventho 300 in recent weeks, they don't quite have the performance to make our revered main or Also Consider lists, which stay the same for this month at least.
• February 2025: The newly reviewed Dali IO-8 replace the Mark Levinson No.5909 as our 'Best audiophile' pick due to its superior sound quality. The Mark Levinsons are now in our Also Consider list below.
• January 2025: While this is likely going to be the year of some big headphones launches, including the Sony WH-1000XM6 (successor to the XM5 in this list's top spot), it's early days and nothing game-changing launched at the CES 2025 tech show in the wireless headphones space. Our list remains the same, then.
• December 2024: We've added a specs comparison for easy cross-referencing figures for, say, battery life across the pairs featured in this list.
• November 2024: The Austrian Audio Hi-X25BT move from our Also Consider section to our main list, fresh from their What Hi-Fi? Award 2024 win, plugging the gap between our budget and premium picks. We have also added a Glossary to explain key wireless headphone terms and features you may not be familiar with.
• October 2024: The newly reviewed Austrian Audio Hi-X25BT make our Also Consider list, filling a much-needed gap in the mid-market space. Sadly, the highly anticipated Cambridge Audio Melomania P100 get no such inclusion, having disappointed our reviews team.
• August 2024: The Dyson OnTrac wireless headphones have been the talk of the tech town this month, but sadly they don't come close to troubling the class leaders. Perhaps the newly announced Cambridge Audio Melomania P100 over-ears will. Watch this space.
• June 2024: We've reviewed two new wireless headphones since our last update in May, but neither beats their respective rival to make this list. The Philips Fidelio L4 are good noise-cancelling headphones with lots to like, though, while the highly anticipated Sonos Ace proved disappointing.
• May 2024: Two new recommendations: the Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones as our favourite noise-cancellers, and the Sony WH-C520 as the best budget pair. Our Also Consider picks have also been revised based on our latest reviews.
• March 2024: We replaced the AirPods Pro 2 earbuds with the AirPods Max over-ears, given their falling price and suitability to the buying guide's headphones orientation.
• January 2024: We added an 'Also Consider' section to give you even more choice.
• December 2023: We replaced the Bose QuietComfort Earbuds II with their successors, the new Bose QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds, due to their superiority.
• November 2023: We labelled our newly crowned What Hi-Fi? Award winners as such.
• August 2023: We added the fantastic Sony WH-CH720N headphones as our best cheap noise-cancelling entry, replacing the outgoing Sennheiser HD 250BT.

Quoted experts

Below is a list of headphone engineers and experts whose quotes provided directly to What Hi-Fi? have been quoted in this buying guide.

• Christian Ern – principle portfolio manager at Sonova Consumer Hearing GmbH (owner of Sennheiser)
• Mikael Herje – director of Global Category Communication Headphones and Wearables BU at Harman International (parent company of JBL, Mark Levinson et al)
• Steve Hoyle – category line director of headphones at Masimo Consumer, parent company of Bowers & Wilkins, Denon et al
• Mark Bergeron – category engineer at Bose Corporation

Today's best deals

The word audiophile gets thrown around a lot. The truth is, though, that it’s a very elite group of people. If you happen to be a member of the club, it means you have very specific requirements for your audio hardware, including your headphones.

You, after all, want sonic perfection. So you may well be considering something specialist, such as a premium set of wired open-back headphones, or perhaps some studio monitors over one of the more generalist wireless active noise-cancelling (ANC) sets currently in vogue.

On top of that, you’re probably thinking about pairing them with hardware that’s a fair bit more competent than a standard smartphone. A dedicated portable music player, say, or using an external DAC with your phone or laptop; or, perhaps, plugging straight into a hi-fi system's dedicated headphone amplifier.

Which is why, as fellow audiophile club card holders, we go the extra mile when testing headphones. We help track down the top products, cabled or wireless, that will meet audiophiles' strict standards.

Our in-house team of expert reviewers have rigorously tested audiophile headphones in their hundreds over the decades, and here have handpicked the class-leading performers across a wide range of prices. They are not necessarily prohibitively expensive; great-value sound worthy of the 'audiophile' label does indeed exist.

Best value audiophile headphones

Say hello to the best audiophile headphones for outright value. Grado's SR325 headphone model has set the benchmark at this price point for years, and its latest SR325x are the best iteration the Brooklyn-based company has produced yet.

While they may only be a modest improvement over the previous SR325e, when you consider that those old-timers previously topped this list of best audiophile headphones for years, any improvement is an achievement in itself.

The bigger achievement is that the SR325x picked up a What Hi-Fi? Award in 2021, 2022 and 2023 for being the most impressive sounding pair at their price. Indeed, nothing has beaten them since they arrived three years ago.

So, for those familiar with previous SR325 iterations, what's new here? On the surface, not much; there are flatter foam earpads, an updated cable and lighter-coloured stitching on the firmly padded headband. But the real work has gone on under the hood. The 44mm drive unit has a revised motor system, new diaphragm and upgraded coil, all to improve efficiency and reduce distortion. And the new 8-conductor cable uses 'super' annealed copper to deliver a purer sound.

The result is a smoother listen, more authoritative bass and an overall cleaner, clearer sound. "These headphones have always been detailed and articulate performers, and that hasn’t changed," our in-house reviewers note in our SR325x review, "but the ‘x’ generation sounds that bit more precise and insightful." They deliver rhythms with enthusiasm and plenty of punch, and sound effortlessly musical.

They do have an open-back design, though, meaning they leak sound in and out like a sieve and don't quite have the outright weight and low-end punch of closed headphone designs. If you don't mind that because you're after a pair primarily for private listening in a quiet room in your home, and don't require oodles of bass, you'll be rewarded.

Our experts advise pairing the Grados with "an outboard DAC of the quality of Chord’s Mojo for the laptop and phone, and at least Astell & Kern’s A&norma SR25 music player" if you want to hear the scale of the SR325x’s talents.

Got a smaller budget? The next-model-down Grado SR80x are equally impressive for their lower price level, while the Beyerdynamic DT 900 Pro X (open-backs) and DT 700 Pro X (closed-backs, below) are worthy alternatives for those who don't dig Grado's retro vibe.

Read our full Grado SR325x review

Best studio audiophile headphones

These closed-back headphones, like their DT 900 Pro X open-back cousins, are aimed at content creators, with Beyerdynamic labelling them as 'studio' headphones. 'Studio' or not, they have plenty to offer content consumers too. With a spacious, precise and nimble sound and comfortable, lightweight design, they are the best traditional closed-back over-ears our expert reviews team has come across at this accessible price.

At their heart is Beyerdynamic’s Stellar.45 drive unit. It’s designed and manufactured in-house and uses a layered Peek polymer diaphragm, with a damping material sandwiched in between, and a Neodymium motor system.

The aim? To deliver a detailed sound with an easy load which will allow the headphones to be driven by laptops and smartphones without any problems.

And it works! The DT 700 Pro X sound effortlessly composed – the order and precision with which instruments are presented give music a solid foundation on which the headphones can build.

"The honesty in the execution is second to none at this price and the headphones still communicate dynamic shifts of percussion, strings and wind instruments extremely effectively," reads our DT 700 Pro X review. It's not the most exciting presentation we’ve ever heard, the headphones choosing to major in careful control and subtlety instead, but they're still musical and far, far from sounding sterile and unemotional.

Add to that the lack of sound leakage inherent to their closed-back design, plus a reassuringly robust build ("the overall impression you get is that this is a pair of headphones that’s going to give you plenty of mileage over the years," note our in-house reviewers), and you're onto a winner for creators and consumers alike.

Read our full Beyerdynamic DT 700 Pro X review

Best audiophile headphones for comfort

A pair of wired headphones that blend exceptional comfort with outstanding audio quality? Wouldn't that be something...

The Beyerdynamic DT 990 Pro X replace Beyerdynamic Amiron has our pick of the most comfortable cans around, carrying on from the outgoing DT 900 Pro X as an outstanding pair of headphones for long sessions of listening both at home and in the studio.

They're just so supremely comfortable, with Beyerdynamic's near-iconic velour earcups providing outstanding comfort and softness while avoiding the production of on-ear heat during extended listening stints.

Note, of course, that these are open-backed headphones, meaning sound leaks freely to the potential irritation of anyone nearby.

Thanks to their signature Stellar.45 drivers employing Beyerdynamic's layered Polyether Ether Ketone (‘PEEK’)’ thermoplastic polymer diaphragm coupled with a Neodymium motor system, the DT 990 Pro X live up to the sonic legacy of their forebears in quite some style.

However you judge them, the five-star cans excel. Beyerdynamic claims the DT 990 Pro X act as a “sonic magnifier” to your music, and while they won't shy away from poor recordings or certain sonic oddities or quirks, they rarely actively highlight or over-egg the faults in the tunes we feed them.

They're remarkably detailed headphones, with exceptional resolution paired with far more clarity and openness than found on the outgoing DT 900 Pro X. No matter the source devices or the files they're tasked with tackling, Beyerdynamic's mid-range headphones barely show any signs of struggling.

Instead, they're an engaging, rich and informative listen. The DT 990 Pro X handle dynamics superbly as they tease out low-level variations with ease, and as we said in our review, they're "composed, clear and precise, but they don’t fall into the trap of sounding emotionally distant or unengaging".

Comfort and sonic class in one excellent package, the DT 990 Pro X are a stunning blend of convenience and performance. Truly impressive.

Read our full Beyerdynamic DT 990 Pro X review

Best premium audiophile headphones

It’s been over a decade since we first laid ears on the original T1 model, and they have since become something of a touchstone for us as far as premium audiophile headphones go. In those years the model has reached its third generation, and it mainly separates itself from its predecessor by being easier to drive for laptops and mobile devices (The old model had a 600 ohm impedance, while this new one takes that down to 32 ohms). That said, be under no illusions – high-quality source material is still vital to make the most of their undeniable talents.

They're open-backed, so the usual provisos about leaking sound apply (try their Beyerdynamic T5 siblings if you'd prefer talented closed-backs instead). Indeed, they're intended for home listening, which is aided by the provision of a 3m cable. Incidentally, the cable is easily detachable, so if it ever does break or get damaged, swapping to a replacement will take a matter of seconds. Oh and it doesn't make much mechanical noise as you move around – always a plus.

A nicely shaped, partially Alcantara-covered headband and generous velour-trimmed earpads that don't overheat ears in a hurry make them suitable for longer listening sessions, too.

Sound-wise, the T1 3rd Gen don’t let the lineage down. They're a little cleaner and clearer than their predecessors, sounding a bit less bright and more rounded in the treble. It makes them more forgiving of aggressive electronics and recordings, but they're still admirably even-handed and balanced. As our T1 (3rd Generation) review notes, "We’re pleased to report that Beyerdynamic hasn’t over-egged the bass frequencies either, with the T1 (3rd Gen) sounding as tonally convincing as ever."

What impresses us most is how utterly faithful they are to the recording – vocals come through with particularly wonderful nuance and clarity – and their renditions of even denser music are exceptionally organised and coherent.

For around the same price, you might also want to consider the Grado RS1x, but their more retro aesthetic might put some people off.

Read our full Beyerdynamic T1 (3rd Generation) review

Best luxury audiophile headphones

Focal made its name with loudspeakers, but the French company is now equally admired for its headphones – and the Clear Mg are some of its finest.

Before you even open the box it’s clear that these are high-end audiophile headphones. The packaging is suitably luxurious and there’s no denying the high-quality materials and standard of build, with the appearance certainly a far cry from many of its comparatively drab-looking competitors. A carry case and two detachable cables are included (1.2m 3.5mm and 3m 4-pin XLR), but for the price you might expect a slightly longer 3.5mm cable in the box as well.

Stick the Focal Clear Mg on your head and they’re every bit as comfortable as you’d hope. Their 450g weight is distributed well, with the thick, leather-cushioned headband and microfibre earpads ensuring that there’s not too much inward pressure.

Like many on this list, the Clear Mg are open-backed and therefore better suited to home listening than taking out and about, but that lack of an enclosure means they excel when it comes to transparency and dynamic expression. Their presentation is expressive and entertaining, with plenty of clarity, texture and punch. You can also expect precise stereo placement, plus surefootedness and control when it comes to rhythms.

Tonally, the Clear Mg are, to quote our Clear Mg review, "full-bodied in a manner that eludes most rivals, and this presentation results in instruments and voices coming through in a more natural and engaging manner". They're convincing in all the right ways, without sounding as though they're trying too hard.

A word of advice from our in-house reviews team: "Don’t let the inclusion of a 3.5mm jack and relatively short lead tempt you into using your phone as the primary source... the Clear Mg will produce decent volume levels in most set-ups [but] you really need quality electronics to justify their expense."

If the blingy design isn’t for you, the Grado GS3000x are also worth considering if you can find some extra cash, but in performance-per-pound terms the Focals are our undisputed high-end champs.

Read the full Focal Clear Mg review

Best money-no-object audiophile headphones

What with Yamaha's broad range of musical products, its headphones tend to get overlooked. The YH-5000SE are an attempt to change that; an ode a modern-day successor to the Japanese company's 1970s HP-1, which was the first pair to use its orthodynamic driver (an older term for what we now call a planar magnetic driver). These one-of-a-kind open-backed headphones are certainly built for audiophiles. And they're excellent.

They're made of lightweight materials – the earcup housing is made of magnesium, while the rest of the headphone’s structure uses a mix of steel, ABS, leather and aluminium – which combine with the soft leather (or suede – both are supplied) earpads to make for some of the most comfortable headphones we've ever worn.

The design is a little more functional than some of the 'wow' headphones you get at this price level, but that's fine by us. "These headphones feel beautifully engineered and are built with obvious care," penned our impressed reviewers in our YH-5000SE review.

Besides, what matters is performance, and fortunately that's exceptional. The YH-5000SE come close to equivalently priced Stax electrostatics when it comes to outright resolution and clarity, but in our opinion they deliver the sound with greater verve, which makes them a more enjoyable listen. "It is hard to think of an alternative that’s as insightful and balanced," noted our team – is there a greater compliment?

The one downside (apart from the price, of course) is that you'll need to buddy them with sufficiently high-end partnering kit, otherwise you won't hear them at their best. And that would be a crime. Yamaha would naturally point you to its HA-L7A headphone amplifier, which was tuned using the YH-5000SE, though they worked well during our testing with everything we tried, from our reference hi-fi system to a laptop connected to the Chord Hugo TT2 DAC/headphone amplifier.

If you want to audition some others before taking the plunge, take a trip to your nearest Focal dealer and ask to try the French brand's Utopia and Stellia models.

Read our full Yamaha YH-5000SE review

Best portable headphones

The Sennheiser HDB 630 is an atypical entry on this list, which mainly consists of open-back wired headphones for home listening.

If, however, you want a set of cans to use on the go, or to use paired with a mobile device while traveling, they are the best we have tested – thanks to the inclusion of one nifty gadget.

The supplied BTD 700 USB-C dongle adds full-fat AptX Adaptive streaming to any source. That grants you significantly better streaming quality via Bluetooth (up to 24bit/96kHz) than you will get from most phones, laptops or tablets on their own.

The sound still can’t match the quality you’ll get from a decent headphone amp feeding a pair of the wired cans on this list. But if you’re an audiophile looking for a portable set of headphones, the HDB 630 is the best option we have tested to date.

Paired with the dongle, the HDB 630 repeatedly impressed our reviewers, delivering a natural, dynamic, detailed sound regardless of which test track we threw at them. They also come with a number of perks you won’t find on the other, mostly cabled, open-back headphones on this list.

These include ANC, which is a definite boon when travelling, helping block out commuter noise, or background office rumblings. They offer a comfy fit, too, and they have good enough noise isolation to ensure you’re not annoying those around you – something that can’t be said of open-back offerings.

As we say in our full review: “Sennheiser’s most ambitious wireless headphones not only nail sound quality in their own right but also bless iPhones and other audio sources with a significant sound upgrade via a neat bundled accessory. The result? Sony XM6-beating sound performance in a well-built, feature-rich and competitively priced package.”

This makes them our current recommendation for serious music fans looking for a great-sounding pair of headphones to use on the go, rather than at home.

Read our full Sennheiser HDB 630 review

Best high-end audiophile earbuds

Sennheiser’s IE 900 will appeal to purists who want to get the best audio possible from a high-quality source, period. They put sound quality front and centre, so if that is paramount to you, then these wonderful IEMs are the way to go.

This is a suitably premium package befitting the best audiophile headphones, with six ear tip options and three cables with a choice of normal 3.5mm and balanced 2.5mm and 4.4mm connectors.

Sennheiser's engineers have chosen to go with a single driver rather than the more fashionable multiple-unit approach that many rivals take and it's made with rigidity and low resonance in mind. The results are fantastic.

They’re impressively revealing, clear and open-sounding, able to dig deep into the production of a recording – and highlight any shortcomings in it (or your partnering kit). "These Sennheisers capture the music’s energy superbly," notes our IE 900 review. "They sound confident and insightful, revealing layers of low-level information and organising it into a structured and cohesive whole." They strike a wonderful balance between over-analysing and having fun, too, and that goes a long way toward how entertaining they sound.

Partner them with a high-quality outboard DAC, such as the Chord Mojo, and use good-quality files and you'll hear just why the IE 900 justify their hefty price tag. Our reviewers' only complaint was that the signal cable is prone to transmitting any noise caused by movement – an issue if you want to wear these headphones on the move.

If you've got even more to spend, you might also want to consider Shure's KSE1200.

Read our full Sennheiser IE 900 review

Best wireless audiophile headphones

Focal picked up a five-star rating for its previous pair of wireless headphones, the five-star Focal Bathys, so when a fancier follow-up pair was announced, we knew they'd have big shoes to fill.

Happily, the Bathys Mg fill them and then some. The more costly cans swap the 40mm aluminium/magnesium driver for one made from pure magnesium, hence the 'Mg' moniker.

That makes a serious difference when compared with their 2022 predecessors, as the Mg offer "a greater sense of refinement, expression and more precise deployment of notes throughout the frequency range," as we wrote in our review. They also have a greater degree of control over lows and highs, outstripping the originals to a remarkable degree unwieldy.

The sound is natural and balanced, with plenty of weight, precision and texture. Levels of insight are off the chart, making flagship rivals from the likes of Sony, B&W and Dali sound lacklustre or hesitant by comparison.

The Focal Bathys Mg are suitably plush too, offering a durable build furnished with a leather headband and memory foam earpads, plus a yoke made from aluminium and magnesium. We admit that they're heavy – almost 100g heavier than the Sony WH-1000XM6 – and only come in the chestnut (i.e. brown) finish, so that won't be to everybody's tastes.

They also don't have touch controls, and their app is a little bare bones compared to some, but they only lack features in a bid to focus purely on performance. To us, it's a trade-off worth making considering how good the Bathys Mg sound.

They do have plenty of other features, anyway. The Sound Personalisation mode feeds you test signals to create your own sound profile based on your hearing. Wired listening is possible up to 24-bit/192kHz using the Mg's built-in DAC, so you can push the performance further if you want to go down the wired route.

The noise cancellation is also up there with the best around. Upper bass and lower midrange rumbles are dispatched with ease, while traffic noise is nicely muffled too, all of which will help you focus even more on the audiophile-grade sound quality.

If you have the money and you're set on wireless headphones, very little comes close to the Focal Bathys Mg.

Read our full Focal Bathys Mg review

Also consider

Looking for an alternative to the audiophile headphones above?
Below are models that come close to being included in this list but don't quite make the final cut. They are five-star performers that we think still deserve your consideration, especially if something on our list doesn't take your fancy. They might even be a better fit for certain people with certain demands or circumstances.

• Bowers & Wilkins Px7 S3: As more affordable alternatives to the wireless Dalis above, Bowers & Wilkins' premium Bluetooth noise-cancellers offer a more luxurious design alongside dynamic expression and detail that, while comparatively inferior, are highly competitive at their lower price point.
• Sony WH-1000XM6: Another more affordable wireless alternative is this brand-new Sony, which is on par with the B&Ws above from a sound quality perspective but blocks noise better.
• Dali IO-8: The IO-8 were our pick as the best wireless audiophile headphones, so if you want a more affordable alternative to the Bathys Mg, they remain a safe five-star bet.
• Grado RS1x: At many of the price points above are invariably Grado competitors that are just as good as the entry we've chosen. The RS1x are one example, massively transparent and musical open-back performers. If you don't mind their dated design, they're mighty strong alternatives to the Beyerdynamic T1 3rd Gen above.
• Austrian Audio The Composer: Austrian Audio is another manufacturer whose sound-first headphones have consistently impressed. Its latest, The Composer, is a worthy pick if you're serious about hearing as much detail in your music as possible but cannot stretch your budget to the aspirational Yamaha over-ears in our list.
• Austrian Audio Hi-X20: For tight budgets, these Austrian Audios are well-made headphones with a sparklingly clear sound that delves deep into your music’s finer details, delivering studio sound without requiring you to spend a fortune.

How to choose the best audiophile headphones

If you want the best sound quality possible for your budget, which seems likely considering you've landed on an audiophile headphones buying guide, you'll be best served by a pair of over-ear wired headphones. These prioritise performance and aren't held back by sound-limiting wireless functionality or other distracting, costly features such as active noise cancellation. If that's the case, you should read all about the differences between closed-back vs open-back headphones so that you can determine which of the two types available is best for you. In short, open-backs leak sound in and out and tend to sound more spacious and precise than traditional, non-leaky closed-backs.

If you do want to add modern-day convenience to the mix, you could opt for audiophile headphones that combine state-of-the-art noise-cancelling technology with state-of-the-art Bluetooth performance, like the Dalis in our list above. Just know that a class-leading pair of similarly priced wired headphones will trump even the best wireless models in the sound department. Our wired vs wireless headphones article outlines the pros and cons of each style.

So what else do you need to consider when buying audiophile headphones? If you're spending north of around £300 / $300 / AU$600 on a pair, we recommend you partner them with a high-quality source, such as a portable music player, or a quality headphone amplifier (whether that is one built into, say, a stereo amplifier or an external dedicated one) to extract the best performance from them. Want to primarily plug your pair into an (inherently poor-sounding) laptop? You should certainly consider connecting them to a decent DAC.

Also, keep in mind that over-ear audiophile headphones tend to be designed primarily for home listening; neither only a 3m supplied cable nor an open-back design is ideal for the train or open-plan office.

Or perhaps you want the best in-ear audiophile headphones (sometimes referred to as IEMs or in-ear monitors), in which case you can expect a discreet design and a performance that majors on clarity, directness, precision and musicality, with little in the way of features – many don't even have an in-line remote for answering calls. Again, wired earbuds will sound significantly better than wireless earbuds that cost a similar amount.

How we test audiophile headphones

With over 150 years of collective testing experience, What Hi-Fi?'s in-house reviews team tests over 100 pairs of headphones every year, many of which are what we would call 'everyday' wireless headphones but also plenty that are worthy of the 'audiophile' label.

We have state-of-the-art testing facilities where our expert reviewers carry out all our product testing, giving us complete control of the environment and partnering equipment these tests are conducted in and with.

We test audiophile headphones with various source equipment – from laptops connected to USB DACs to our reference hi-fi system – depending on their price point and form factor, to see how they work in their most likely real-world set-ups.

Each pair is given plenty of running in and testing time, with various music genres and recording quality making up our test tracks. Importantly, we compare each audiophile headphone under review with the current class leader(s) at their price point – often a What Hi-Fi? Award winner – to ensure we can contextually place its talents within the market.

In line with how we test and review all products at What Hi-Fi?, the star rating we award each pair of audiophile headphones is agreed upon by several team members rather than simply an individual reviewer, helping to ensure consistency and avoid any personal preference.

From all our reviews, we only choose the very best products to feature in our Best Buys, like this one. That's why if you take the plunge and buy any of the audiophile headphones recommended above, or something else on another Best Buy, you can be assured you're getting a best-in-class, What Hi-Fi?-approved product.

Read more about how we test and review headphones at What Hi-Fi?

Audiophile headphones FAQ

Recent updates

• September 2025: The Beyerdynamic DT 990 Pro X are our pick as the best headphones for comfort, while the Focal Bathys Mg replace the Dali IO-8 as our favourite luxury wireless cans. The IO-8, meanwhile, drop to our also consider section.
• March 2025: The Dali IO-8 are our new best audiophile wireless pick, replacing the veteran Mark Levinson No. 5909. Meanwhile, the brand-new Sennheiser HD 505 wired mid-range over-ears just miss out, lacking the rhythmic ability to trouble the Beyerdynamic DT 700 Pro X below.
• January 2025: The CES 2025 show didn't deliver anything of note in the audiophile headphones market, but just before Christmas Meze and Final launched wired over-ears, which we hope to hear soon. For now, our list remains unchanged going into 2025.
• November 2024: Our 'Best Value' Grado SR325x pick has just won its fourth consecutive What Hi-Fi? Award so is now labelled as such. Despite testing several pairs during our Awards season judging, nothing troubled the class leaders on this list.
• August 2024: No new entries this time. Since our last update in June, we've tested two pairs that, on paper, fit the audiophile profile. The budget, wired Sivga SV021 Robin over-ears seemed promising but ultimately lack refinement and authority. And the ambitiously priced wireless Dyson OnTrac proved disappointing too, lacking the sonic talents of their best wireless headphone competitors.
• June 2024: The wireless Mark Levinson No. 5909 replaced the Sony WH-1000XM5 in light of a recent price drop, making the superior-sounding over-ears better value. We also added FAQs to offer you extra buying advice.
• April 2024: We added an 'Also Consider' section above to give you further choice if nothing in our handpicked list suits your requirements.
• February 2024: We broke down picks into price- and design-related categories to help you more easily find a pair that's right for your priorities and budget.
• November 2023: We labelled headphones on this list that had recently won a What Hi-Fi? Award 2023, such as the Grado SR325x. This label indicates a class leader.

Today's best deals

We wonder how many headphone and hi-fi manufacturers saw a green light beam in front of their eyes when, at the end of 2020, Apple announced a pair of wireless headphones costing twice as much as the then-current premium competition. The AirPods Max didn’t exactly push the price parameters of wireless over-ear headphones – Bang & Olufsen’s flagship pairs had already attracted a ‘premium’ for, as had a handful of special edition pairs (remember the 24ct gold-plated Dr Dre Beats Pro?). 

Nevertheless, the audacious move by such a big company would have surely spurred some brands to consider similar ambitions. The rise in pricier wireless headphones in the years since, like these Mark Levinson No. 5909, the T+A Solitaire T, Focal Bathy and Bowers & Wilkins Px8, would suggest so – though the ongoing maturation of headphone and Bluetooth technology will have naturally played its part too.

The Mark Levinsons enter our test room doors as one of the most expensive wireless pairs we have tested and therefore do so with a weight of expectation on their shoulders. Can wireless performance ever be so good as to justify such an expense? That’s the question our in-house reviews team set out to answer.

Price

• One of the priciest wireless pairs we've come across
• Now significantly discounted in the UK

Price is naturally the elephant in the room with us as we unbox the No. 5909. It’s their most obvious talking point – before you’ve heard them, at least. 

When they launched in January 2022, they carried a price tag of £999 / $999 / AU$1599 – twice as heavy as that of the five-star AirPods Max and Beyerdynamic Amiron Wireless and roughly three times more than the Sony WH-1000XM5 and their Bose, Sennheiser and Bowers & Wilkins rivals. You can now pick up the Mark Levinsons for closer to £600 in the UK, although the original pricing is holding up much better in the US and Australia.

While it’s hard to quantify how much better sounding than their more affordable peers they need to be to justify their price – twice as good? – it’s clear that to earn a recommendation from us they need to be significantly better than the cheaper competition. And the only way they’re going to do that is by sounding significantly better.

Features

• High-quality Bluetooth codec support
• Competitive battery life with 'fast charging'
• Decent albeit not class-leading ANC performance

While there’s more to most products we test than their specification, you’d expect a pair at this price to tick the right boxes – and the right boxes the No. 5909 do indeed tick. Wireless connectivity comes in aptX Adaptive and LDAC flavours, which are essentially the best-quality Bluetooth codecs currently widely adopted. Qualcomm has come up with a superior next-gen aptX Lossless solution that can supposedly wirelessly transmit lossless audio uncompressed, but two years on from its launch it is still yet to reach a decent number of devices. So, high-quality Bluetooth support: tick.

Active noise cancellation – an increasingly prevalent feature in wireless headphones and earbuds to the point that it’s almost expected – is another box ticked and comes in three modes: ANC High, Adaptive and ANC Low. An Awareness mode designed to let noise in for temporary convenience is available in (effective) Voice Pass and (more effective) Ambient options too. You can set your preferred ANC and Awareness settings in the accompanying Mark Levinson app, and they are then the two modes that, alongside ‘off’, you can cycle through using the right earcup’s dedicated ANC button.

That’s arguably the biggest justification for using the app, which otherwise simply lets you activate on-head detection so that music is automatically paused when the headphones are taken off/put back on (which works well); set an auto-timer to turn the headphones off after a period of no music playing; and choose between Neutral (default and, we find, preferred), Enhanced and Attenuated EQ sound profiles. For many, following initial experimentation, the app will be surplus to everyday listening needs.

Noise cancellation is well implemented, albeit more functional than forceful in its intensity (you don't get Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones levels of ANC, that is for sure). That’s not a criticism exactly; the Mark Levinsons physically block sound more than most pairs anyway due to their substantial build and solid-yet-satisfactory clamp force, and we admire the consistency of their sonic character and quality when noise-cancelling is on and off – not by any means a given for ANC wireless headphones. We don’t feel compelled to activate ANC on relatively noisy public transport but are pleased it’s there when a quieter classical piece comes on and that extra isolation from the outdoors and focus on the music is beneficial. 

Activating noise cancellation doesn’t detrimentally impact battery life as much as it can either, though naturally there is a difference between the claimed ANC on (30 hours) and ANC off (34 hours) figures, which we’re pleased to say translate in real-life too. We find an hour of mid-to-high volume, ANC-activated playback drains three to four per cent (note that battery status is also viewable in the app).

Handily for the forgetful, a 15-minute ‘fast’ charge offers six hours of listening, too. In this day and age, you won’t be surprised to read that the No. 5909 charge via USB-C, and you’ll also be more relieved than surprised to know that a 1.2m USB-C charging cable and both 1.25m and 4m USB-C to 3.5mm cables for wired listening come supplied, packaged in an ovular hardshell case alongside a USB-C to USB-A adaptor, an airplane adaptor… and of course, the headphones themselves. Mark Levinson clearly believes the No. 5909 will be used both on the fly and at home, and it’s probably right.

Build

• Exceptional build quality
• Basic plasticky on-cup playback controls

Their design panders to both use cases – hefty and padded enough to enjoy for hours at home, yet also glitzy and compact enough (the cups can fold flat) to take out and about. Perhaps dubiously resembling AKG’s Quincy Jones-endorsed N90Q model from years previous, their red anodised aluminium frame, metallic painted ear cups (in red or black) and leather headband and earpads don’t immediately strike us as impressive for the money. Initially, we find ourselves questioning their perceived-versus-real value, especially as we slide our fingers over the small, plasticky earcup buttons. But after handling and wearing the No. 5909 for several weeks, it becomes easier to appreciate the remarkable quality of their construction. 

In that time, however, we don’t become any more attached to the on-cup controls. We wish Mark Levinson had opted for a classier, more intuitive three-key volume and playback button, as it isn’t easy to quickly discern between the middle (play/pause and skip track) and side (volume up and volume down) controls when they’re being worn.

Sound

• Clearer, cleaner and more detailed than the cheaper competition
• Decent wired headphones and DAC pairing still sounds superior

That an unremarkable button is the first and last of our criticisms gives you a strong hint at the answer to the question we posed at the beginning of our review: can wireless performance ever be so good as to justify such an expense? Again, the No. 5909 need to perform substantially better than the class-leading crop of cheaper competition – and they do.

If we hadn’t unboxed the Levinsons and gone through the simple Bluetooth pairing process ourselves, we would be tempted to check for any wires dangling from the earcups. While the No. 5909’s performance is still short of the best available from similarly priced wired headphones, it’s easily the best wireless headphones performance we’ve come across.

The first adjective that comes to mind when we don the Mark Levinsons on our heads, connect them to our Astell & Kern music player via aptX HD Bluetooth and play Black Country, New Road’s Chaos Space Machine is ‘sparkling’, such is the crystal-clear and crisply detailed manner in which they present the track’s thespian instrumentation. The soundfield their 40mm Beryllium-coated drivers produce has the spic-and-span cleanliness and astute organisation to not be overwhelmed by the sonic density and frenetic energy of the experimental piece – even at higher listening levels, surprisingly. And every corner of it appears to embrace the subtle details and dynamics the septet has artistically shoehorned into the wild composition.

The vivacious production of Toto’s Rosanna gives the Mark Levinsons a sonic canvas on which to truly showboat – those drums biting, vocals rich, and guitar lines and keyboards infectiously musical. They lap it up as enthusiastically as a dog eats spilled ice cream. No part of the frequency spectrum is given undue priority, and that, coupled with the headphones’ attention to detail and brisk nature, makes the No. 5909 utterly compelling to listen to in a way lesser wireless headphones are not.

They aren’t just concerned with having a good time, either, as impressively shrewd when delivering the subtle dynamics and lingering harmonics of Ludovico Einaudi’s piano playing, and when asked to convey the woodwind textures and hit the climactic heights throughout The Hobbit: The Unexpected Journey soundtrack. 

The Mark Levinson No. 5909 aren’t necessarily replacements for a wired set-up you’re happy with; a laptop feeding a Chord Mojo 2 DAC connected to Grado SR325x wired headphones offers greater all-round sonic sophistication and finesse. But they are not a million miles away and, of course, are much more practical to travel with.

First reviewed: August 2022. Updated review: November 2024.

Tester's notes

Our rigorous testing process for the Mark Levinson No.5909 involved comparing their sound and noise-cancelling abilities against the cheaper crop of premium competition to see whether they justified their higher price tag. We test dozens of wireless headphones across all price ranges every year and consequently have an unparalleled context of the market, while direct, side-by-side comparisons allow us to assess new arrivals against our What Hi-Fi? Award winners and five-star favourites to gauge exactly where they sit within it. You can read more about how we test and review headphones at What Hi-Fi? here.

Also consider

MORE:

Read our review of the Apple AirPods Max

Also consider the Beyerdynamic Amiron Wireless

These are the best wireless headphones 2024

Need ANC? Check out our best noise-cancelling headphones guide

When we think of the history of high-end audio, it’s not long before the Mark Levinson brand comes to mind. The company was formed in 1972, and along with the likes of Krell, Audio Research and Wilson Audio, it established the top-end market sector we know and love today.

In the early years, Mark Levinson’s amplifiers embedded the brand firmly in enthusiast’s minds, a reputation reinforced by a series of fine digital products through the 1990s. Turntables have never been part of the equation, at least until recently.

Mark Levinson waited until 2017 to release its first turntable, the No.515. This record player is still in production and currently retails for £9999 ($10,000, AU$20,0000), a considerable amount that gives the company a fair bit of leeway to introduce something more ‘affordable’ – a relative term, of course, that in this case refers to just over a third off the original’s price.

Build

The No.5105 isn’t simply a stripped-down version of its older brother, though. It’s an all-new design intended to be an ideal analogue source for the company’s 5000 series of components.

The skillset required to make a good record player is different to that needed to make quality electronics, so it makes sense for a company such as Mark Levinson to work with a turntable specialist for such products. The company was open about the partnership with VPI for the original deck but has been more tight-lipped about its partner for the No.5105, saying only that it’s a manufacturer from Germany.

Whoever it is, the partnership has done a great job with regards to the basic engineering, build and finish of this deck – it really is lovely. The plinth is made of an immaculately machined block of nearly 50mm thick aluminium. It feels immensely solid and goes a long way to explaining the No.5105’s hefty 34kg weight. 

The front panel is another chunk of aluminium, in this case around 25mm thick, bead blasted and black anodized. There’s a small tinted glass window embedded in it, echoing the styling of other 5000 series components, and this is home for the speed and standby controls. The deck sits on three adjustable feet, and there’s even a spirit level built-in on the top of the plinth to make it easier to get everything level.

The deck’s power supply is housed in the plinth and the carefully mechanically isolated DC motor has enough in the way of torque to get the heavy platter up to speed in a matter of seconds.

That platter is made of aluminium and weighs a considerable 6kg. On the underside, it’s loaded with damping material to control resonances. This platter is topped by a thin carbon fibre-look polymer mat covered with some rather brash branding that seems out of place with the overall sophistication of the deck. That extra branding is also unnecessary given that the front corner of the plinth already tells us that this is a Levinson product.

The platter is attached to a diamond-coated, stainless steel spindle that’s claimed to be much harder and so prone to lower friction than a conventional stainless steel shaft. The bearing, in which the spindle sits, is paired to it during manufacture to ensure tight tolerances.

It’s all topped off by a heavy record clamp that’s shaped to remind us of the distinct volume controls on the company’s amplifiers. The clamp is made of aluminium with a brass insert to add more mass. We listen to the No.5105 with and without the clamp in place, and prefer the extra sonic solidity and focus using it imparts.

The arm is another classy piece of engineering. It’s a 25cm design with a carbon fibre arm tube fused to a solid aluminium headshell. If you choose to go for the optional Ortofon Quintet Black S moving coil cartridge, as we have, then it will be factory-fitted right down to the tracking force being set.

Features

We’ve noticed a move from turntable manufacturers to make their decks easier to set up and use, and that can only be applauded. In the past, you either had the dealer assemble your deck, or be confident enough in your abilities to do the job yourself – great if you have the knowledge and experience, but no fun if you’re simply interested in playing your vinyl.

Like any record player, the No.5105 benefits from careful placement away from the speakers and other sources of vibration. A good, level support is a must. That said, we’re impressed by the turntable’s resistance to feedback, which points to a well-controlled chassis and good levels of isolation.

If you want to hear this record player at its best, a suitably talented partnering system is essential. We plumb the No.5105 into our reference set-up of Cyrus Phono Signature/PSX-R2 phono stage, Burmester 088 preamp (with MC phono module)/911 Mk3 amplifier and ATC SCM50 speakers. We also have on hand Vertere Acoustics' Phono-1 phono stage, Naim’s Supernait 3 and ProAc’s Response D2R to gauge how this player performs in a more modest set-up.

There’s always a danger of a manufacturer struggling when it steps out of its comfort zone, but that certainly isn’t the case here. We get the impression that Mark Levinson set out to deliver a highly polished and easy-to-use, premium record-playing package, and that is exactly what it has done. The No.5105 is no harder to get working than a typical budget Pro-Ject or Rega, and that’s something to be praised.

With the cartridge pre-fitted and tracking weight already set, all we have to do is fit the platter and square-sectioned drive belt and hang the bias weight in place. Be careful when you put the drive belt on, though; make sure the belt stays free from contamination and that it doesn’t twist unduly once fitted.

Obviously, power also needs to be connected, but it’s a little surprising that Mark Levinson doesn’t supply a signal cable in the box, given how complete the rest of the package is.

While most enthusiasts would probably prefer to use their own favourite lead, the electrical demands of a phono signal will mean that not all interconnects will work well. Of course, you’ll also need to connect an earth wire to avoid hum in most installations. Still, despite all this, we’re listening to records in less time than it takes to make a nice cup of masala chai.

Sound

If you’re looking for sonic authority, this could well be the deck for you. We play Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony and are impressed with the boldness of the presentation. The No.5105 sounds muscular, delivering the dynamic swings of the music with authority.

There’s a good sense of scale here, and we’re pleased with the package’s ability to render a stable yet layered stereo image. Instruments are nicely focused and their positioning doesn’t start to blur when the music becomes more demanding.

A large part of a record player’s tonality comes from the cartridge, and here the Ortofon Quintet Black S delivers exactly what we’ve come to expect from the Danish brand’s more premium offerings. It’s a clean, even-handed performer that errs slightly on the cooler side of neutral, which suits the turntable’s character well. When mounted in the No.5105, we have no issue with the cartridge’s detail resolution or its ability to track low-level instrumental strands in a complex piece of music. It’s a good choice for the turntable design and works well in context.

This Mark Levinson sounds big-boned and composed no matter what we throw at it. There’s good insight when we play Orff’s Carmina Burana, the turntable able to communicate the over-the-top drama of this piece well. Singers come through with a convincing presence and there’s no issue in revealing subtle instrumental or vocal textures.

The No.5105 is an analytical performer in the ballpark of class-leading turntables such as the SME Model 6 and VPI Prime 21+ when it comes to information retrieval, but it still falls short of being a totally convincing all-rounder. To achieve that, the deck’s presentation needs more enthusiasm and rhythmic coherence.

That much is obvious when we play Bob Marley’s Stir It Up. Here, the No.5105 gives the song a less playful feel and consequently loses some of the music’s easy-going charm. Individual notes are well enough defined, but they don’t quite come together to communicate the song’s lilting rhythm or the allure of Marley’s distinctive vocals. Basslines in particular lack a degree of articulation and expression, leaving the overall result a little leaden.

We listen to a range of music, from Miles Davis’s Kind Of Blue and Holst’s The Planets through to Four Tet’s There Is Love In You, and find that the No.5105 has distinct preferences. It excels when the music demands a large-scale and powerful presentation. There’s plenty of attack here and it’s matched to a pleasing degree of control and composure. With suitable recordings, this Mark Levinson is a convincing performer delivering a pleasing level of clarity.

But, ask the deck to have a bit of fun and it doesn’t quite have the expressiveness and dexterity to do so. It even makes the Four Tet album sound a bit lifeless, which it certainly isn’t.

Verdict

Make no mistake, there's plenty to admire here. The No.5105 is thoughtfully made and a pleasure to use, not to mention unquestionably capable in the sound department. With the right music, it delivers a strong performance. But it doesn’t quite hit the highs in this market in the way the company’s electronics routinely manage to hit theirs. That’s enough to make it worth a listen rather than an essential buy.

SCORES

• Sound 4
• Features 5
• Build 5

MORE:

Read our guide to the best turntables

Read our SME Model 6 review

Read our VPI Prime 21+ review

Read our Vertere DG-1/Magneto review

Arcam, one of the best-known brands in British hi-fi, has been acquired by Harman International Industries.

Harman is a division of a Samsung, following an $8 billion deal last year, and the owner of audio brands including AKG, JBL, Lexicon and Mark Levinson. In November 2012, Arcam had become a wholly owned subsidiary of JAM industries, based in Montreal.

The news was revealed in an email to Arcam customers from Scott Campbell, director of sales and marketing at Arcam.

"Arcam and Harman share a like-minded passion for bringing the highest quality sound into people's lives," the email reads.

"Harman recognises the value and potential of Arcam’s people, technologies, and brands, and we expect the combination will deliver growth opportunities and benefits to our customers. We believe this is an unprecedented opportunity to grow Arcam’s engineering capabilities and extend its product reach into new markets."

The existing management team in Cambridge, England - where Arcam, originally A&R Cambridge, was founded - will remain, as will sales and distribution channels in the US.

Arcam managing director Charlie Brennan adds: "Becoming part of Harman will give us access to technology and resources that should give us the means to develop better products in the future.

"I don't envisage any sudden moves - it's business as usual for all of the Arcam team. I believe we can make a big difference to the high-performance brands that Harman has owned for years and will continue my quest to save the world from bad sound with a bigger and stronger company behind us."

Let's hope the Arcam hi-fi and home cinema products benefit from the partnership.

Read more:

Samsung buys Harman International for $8bn

A&R Cambridge A60 (1976) vs Arcam A19 (2013)

Arcam unveils new Muso speaker

Behind the scenes at Arcam HQ

10 of the world's most expensive amplifiers

The No. 519 is a ‘Swiss Army knife’ sort of audio player, and it promises to play pretty much everything you can throw at it (within reason).

There is a slot-loaded CD drive. Fancy streaming? No problem. You can do it by ethernet, wifi or aptX Bluetooth. Services supported include Spotify Connect, Tidal, Qobuz, Deezer, Rhapsody and Napster, plus internet radio stations and podcasts.

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Got your own material? Play it from USB hard drives or networked storage devices. The No. 519 supports high-resolution audio up to 24bit/192kHz from PCM, as well as DSD. For low-res MP3s and the like, Harman Clari-Fi processing promises to ‘rebuild’ detail lost in compression.

Next we have the Mark Levinson No. 526. This is a dual-monaural preamplifier, which features a hi-res DAC and phono stage. It offers connectivity to accommodate ‘any analogue and digital music source’.

It has two balanced analogue and three single-ended analogue audio inputs, plus six digital inputs including asynchronous USB, AES/EBU balanced, optical and coaxial.

Like the 519 audio player, this preamp is capable of hi-res digital decoding up to 24-bit/192kHz PCM (plus DSD).

The Mark Levinson No. 519 audio player will be released in July 2016, while the No. 526 preamp comes out in May. Prices have yet to be announced.

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Today the likes of Bang & Olufsen, Naim, Mark Levinson and Bowers & Wilkins are busy developing in-car systems for the luxury end of the automotive market.

So we thought it would be fun to try out Jaguar's new, and much-acclaimed, XF kitted out with a top-of-the-range B&W audio system. It's one of several in-car audio reviews we'll be running in the Ultimate Guide to High-End Entertainment, on sale July 31st.

Check out our exclusive review, brought to you by whathifi.com.

Jaguar XF
£33,900

5 stars

For
Terrific bass, fine imaging and real character; superb to use; DAB and iPod options included in the purchase price

Against
Assuming you can afford the car, nothing at all

Verdict
About to order a new XF? You absolutely must make sure you get one with these systems fitted

If your first reaction to the notion of high-end hi-fi in a car is a dismissive one, think again. Many's the audiophile brand with a foothold in the automotive market, including such luminaries as B&O (Audi), Mark Levinson (Lexus), Naim (Bentley) and, as in this Jaguar, Bowers and Wilkins.

The cynical could attempt to paint this as a marketing exercise, but in practice, it makes plenty of sense. Assuming you drive, how many hours do you spend in a car? More than you'd like, we'd wager. So it makes sense to have a decent hi-fi onboard: there's every chance you might be listening to it more than your home system, at least during the week.

Plenty of speakers, lots of power
Hence the amount of effort poured into the XF's hi-fi system by B&W: the company says the finished product took three years to develop and fine-tune.

At its heart, it uses a powerful 440w amplifier coupled to Dolby Pro-Logic II processing. An impressive 14 speakers are strategically positioned around the cabin, including four aluminium-dome tweeters, nine Kevlar-cone midrange drivers, and a subwoofer the size of a small fuel tank mounted in the spare wheel underneath the boot floor.

One drive unit is mounted in the top of the dashboard to ensure a proper 'fill' between left and right channels, coupled to better imaging: it's supported by the Pro-Logic II processor, which operates in full 7.1 mode for optimum results.

Smarter than the average system
The front-end, meanwhile, is just as impressive. Opting for the B&W speaker system (£1290 in basic XFs, £890 in Premium Luxury and SV8 models) automatically includes an iPod controller, which cleverly gives full track and artist info on the screen, as well as DAB radio and the already-standard single-slot CD player. Voice control, a CD changer and digital and analogue television options are also available at extra cost.

Delivers the sonic goods too
Sound quality is exactly as a B&W system ought to be, with plenty of drive in the midrange, a fast, expressive touch with complex rhythms, and - most impressively – none of the leaden, boom'n'bang bass that can afflict some cars with powerful boot-mounted subwoofers.

Instead, low-frequency support is taut, agile and properly placed within the car, while voices have excellent character and presence. Overall, it's a real achievement, and well worth ticking that option box for.

Tech specs
Power: 440w
Drive units: 4 x aluminium-dome tweeters, 8 x Kevlar midrange drivers, subwoofer
iPod support: Yes
DAB Support: Yes
TV option: Yes,
analogue and digital
Touchscreen control: Yes