A great pair of headphones can be the most personal hi-fi you own. The right choice depends less on price and more on where and how you listen: on a flight, at your desk, or in a quiet room at home. Here is how we guide our clients.
1. Wireless with noise cancelling: for travel and everyday life
If you fly often, commute or work in busy spaces, wireless headphones with active noise cancelling are the place to start. Today the best of them sound genuinely high end.
- Bowers & Wilkins Px8 S2: custom 40 mm carbon cone drivers, a dedicated amplifier and DAC with true 24 bit audio, aptX Lossless support and up to 30 hours of playback, finished in Nappa leather and die cast aluminium.
- Focal Bathys: French hi-fi tuning with Silent, Soft and Transparent noise cancelling modes, more than 30 hours of battery, and a USB DAC mode for a wired, high resolution connection to your laptop.
- Sonos Ace: lossless audio, spatial sound with head tracking and up to 30 hours of battery. If you own a Sonos soundbar, TV Swap sends the TV sound straight to your headphones.
2. Open back: for the most natural sound at home
Open back headphones let air move freely behind the drivers, which gives a wide, spacious sound that feels closer to listening to speakers. The trade off is that they let sound in and out, so they are best enjoyed in a quiet room.
- Focal Clear MG: magnesium M shaped drivers, a remarkably accurate and balanced sound, and the EISA Best Headphones award for 2021 to 2022. Supplied with both 3.5 mm and XLR cables.
- Focal Hadenys: detailed, warm and dynamic, with a light magnesium yoke and memory foam cushions for long sessions.
3. Closed back: for privacy without wires to a phone
Closed back headphones keep the sound in and the world out, without needing batteries. They suit shared spaces at home or in the office.
- Focal Stellia: pure Beryllium drivers with a 5 Hz to 40 kHz frequency response, cognac or mocha leather, and a low 35 ohm impedance that makes it easy to drive from portable sources.
- Focal Azurys: Focal's hi-fi sound in a comfortable closed design, in a striking azurite blue.
Our advice
Comfort and sound are personal, so the best way to choose is to listen with your own music. Bring a playlist you know well and try them side by side.
Hear it for yourself in Dubai
Visit the Auratech Experience Centre in Al Barsha to hear our systems set up the way they would be in a real home. Book a demo and tell us what you would like to hear, and one of our specialists will have it ready for you, or get in touch and tell us about your space.