10 gorgeous pairs of grown-up headphones that make Beats look like Playskool

By Ryan Waniata January 28, 2014

Thanks to the culmination of downloadable music, ubiquitous smartphones, and a major expansion of manufacturers spawned in part by Dr. Dre’s Beats, the headphone industry has undergone something of a renaissance in recent years. As such, we’ve been neck deep in earcups and headbands for a long time here at Digital Trends. But every once and awhile, scattered among the litter of plastic shells and collapsible metal hinges, we come across a pair of ‘phones that are so gorgeously crafted from top to bottom, we simply have to stop and drink them in.

Inspired by those solemn triumphs of man’s will to create works of both aural and visual beauty, we’ve put together this gallery of just some of the most dazzling headphones ever forged. All of our examples offer an aesthetic that would not only look good on the mantel, but would also likely class up the entire room in which said mantel resides. If we could manage it, we’d own them all. But since that’s unlikely in this lifetime, we’re content for now to simply gaze upon their glory. We hope you’ll enjoy staring at them as much as we do.

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Headphones

Former Digital Trends Contributor

Ryan Waniata is a multi-year veteran of the digital media industry, a lover of all things tech, audio, and TV, and a…

Audio / Video

The best headphones for making phone calls for 2023

Woman wearing Sony WH-1000XM5 headphones.

Whether you're working from home or living the digital nomad life taking calls on the go, it's important to have high-quality headphones so your important discussions can happen without any disturbance. While you can use any headphones to make calls, we recommend opting for options with excellent active noise canceling (ANC), clear sound quality, and an easy-to-switch transparency mode to get the best results.

We've saved you the hard work and rounded up the best headphones with microphones for calls, and to be clear, we're talking about over-ear headphones. Prefer earbuds? We've got you covered, too, with our list of the best earbuds for phone calls. Let's get to it.

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Best Cyber Monday Headphone Deals: Apple, Beats, Bose, Sony

Best Cyber Monday Headphone Deals

Cyber Monday is over, but retailers must have missed the memo. We're still seeing Cyber Monday deals pop up from Best Buy, Walmart, and Amazon, and we're seeing great Cyber Monday headphone deals on big brands like Bose, Sony, Apple and more. The best options we've found are available right here.
Best Cyber Monday Headphone Deals
Sony WH-CH710N -- $68, was $150

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Audio / Video

Sennheiser’s Momentum 4 Wireless headphones teaser looks a lot like Sony’s WH-1000XM5

Teaser photo of the Sennheiser Momentum 4 Wireless Headphones.

In an unusual move for Sennheiser, the company has released an early sneak peek at its next flagship wireless headphones, the Momentum 4 Wireless. Only one photo of the product was included in the press release -- a close-up of the headband's intersection with the earcups -- but that's enough to tell us that Sennheiser is following in Sony's footsteps.

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