Legendary guitar maker Fender releases its first consumer headphones and speakers

Legendary guitar maker Fender has joined fellow axe specialists Marshall and Orange in launching a range of consumer audio products through a new offshoot, Fender Audio.

Its first products are a pair of over-ear wireless headphones and two portable Bluetooth speakers.

Fender's guitars have been used by musical icons like Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Bruce Springsteen and Kurt Cobain. It already sells speakers and headphones, but with a pro bent. The new Fender Audio models are much more consumer friendly.

The speakers are called ELIE, which stands for Extremely Loud Infinitely Expressive. Both models – the E6 and E12 – feature built-in subwoofers and claim "world-first Waves SOC [system-on-a-chip] implementation" that promises more power at a higher efficiency, resulting in "greater volume and acoustic clarity" than rival speakers of the same size.

In other words, they go up to 11.

The ELIE 12 speaker has 120W of claimed power, double that of the ELIE 6's 60W claimed rating. But the smaller ELIE 6's battery lasts longer – 18 hours, compared to 15 hours for the ELIE 12.

As well as low-latency Bluetooth, both models offer wired connections through a combined XLR/6.35mm input, so you can plug in your Fender guitar, say, and get jamming. Hi-res audio up to 24-bit/48kHz is supported, and there is also a 3.5mm auxiliary output.

Use Fender accessories, and you can connect another two wireless channels.

You can also link two ELIE speakers in stereo mode, or multiple units (up to 100) in multi mode. Imagine the noise. That's similar to the PartyBoost feature on JBL's Bluetooth speakers like the Flip 7 and Charge 6.

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Then there's the Fender MIX over-ear wireless headphones. They have a neat little FWD Tx USB-C transmitter which enables lossless (LHDC-V), low-latency (LC3), and Auracast transmission modes when plugged into source devices, for higher quality wireless playback – up to a claimed 24-bit/96kHz quality in lossless mode.

Inside are 40mm Graphene drivers, and the cans have active noise cancellation (ANC) and support 360-degree spatial audio technology. The headphones also support wired listening via USB-C and even in 'passive' mode via 3.5mm. Meaning you can listen to music via 3.5mm even if the cans aren't charged up.

The headphones promise a battery life up to 100 hours without ANC, although this number halves to 52 hours with ANC turned on.

They're also modular, so you can easily swap out parts to replace them without having to buy a whole new pair.

The Fender ELIE 6 will cost $300 (around £220 / AU$450), the ELIE 12 will cost $400 (around £300 / AU$600) and the MIX headphones will cost $300 (around £220 / AU$450). They will all be showcased at CES 2026 in January.

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