One of the perks of the job when you work for What Hi-Fi? (and I'm contractually obliged to state that there are many) is that you regularly get to experience such enormous quantities of audio products, be they great, terrible or somewhere in between. The list of headphones with which I've had ears-on listening time is growing by the day, and despite having been in the job only for around a year and a half, it's been a delight to hear and sometimes play with the sort of kit that most people wouldn't necessarily have regular access to.
This all being said, a lot of my time is spent with the sort of modestly priced kit – headphones, wireless earbuds, portable speakers – that's well within the range of the average consumer. Don't get me wrong, I love a good pair of headphones, be they cheap and cheerful Sony buds or the endlessly rewarding delights of a premium pair of Grados, but this is very much the tip of the hi-fi iceberg. If you want a hint of how deep that metaphorical icy colossus actually goes, the £450,000 / $375,000 Magico M7 floorstanders will give you an indication of how costly some of this stuff can become.
