When it comes to gift buying, there are always a few people in mind who get the VIP treatment: no expense spared. It’s the people in your life who deserve the most luxury, and if there’s one thing that the hi-fi realm has in abundance, it’s luxury. By the barrel-full! If you want to get your loved one a hi-fi gift that they will cherish forever (and in turn will cherish them!) then there are a great many things to chose from. Where do you begin?
Spending on a higher-priced (and higher-quality!) item is never an easy decision – we know that. This is why we make sure we know what we sell, inside-out. But we know it’s not just our opinion that matters, it’s yours! And so we always keep our eyes and ears open to the thoughts and feelings of our customers. That’s how these top 10 lists are born. Through meticulous testing by us, and even more meticulous testing from you. If you were to purchase any one of the items beneath, no matter what the occasion, we can guarantee that they will love it.
Believe me, we’ve done the research. It’s a hard job, but someone has to do it!
Let’s start with…
1. Naim Mu-so Wireless Speaker System – £895
The Mu-so hardly needs an introduction. It’s been a favourite of ours pretty much since the day it was released, and has been the flagship of our hearts ever since! It’s beuaitul. It’s sleek. It’s packed with features and it’s pretty much everything you could want from a contemporary source, all in one place. Aside from it being one of the most feature-rich all-in-ones on the market, it’s also one of the best sounding. The perfect gift, for any music lover, whether they are into their hi-fi or no.
This video gives an excellent run-down of the features…
2. Sennheiser HD800 Headphones – £1099
If your loved one loves to listen to music through headphones, you’d be hard-pressed to find a better gift than the glorious HD800s. They have been a favourite of ours for years, and despite newer models emerging every five minutes (or so it may seem!) these guys still reign supreme, and remain Sennehsier’s finest headphones. Well… that is until the announcement of the new Orpheus system coming out in 2016 – but that’ll set you back around £37,500 (price TBC) so the HD800 are probably enough. For now.
3. Audiolab M-DAC+ Plus DAC – £999.95
If you’re getting your loved one a pair of great headphones (or they already have a pair they’re proud of) they are going to need something to plug them into, which is designed exclusively to give them the very best sound. The M-DAC+ is the latest and greatest upgraded version of the original, popular and highly awarded M-DAC. It’s feature-rich and it will make your headphones sound stunning with either your Mac or PC as the music source. A definite improvement on the M-DAC – something we weren’t sure was even possible!
4. KEF LS50 Speakers – £799
It feels like we’ve spent the whole year pining after these speakers (one of our favourite bookshelf models of the year, without a shadow of a doubt!) the KEF LS50s are a firm favourite in the hifi community, and even won a Readers’ Award in last year’s awards, surpassed only by the Mu-so in 2015! Just when you thought the gorgeous LS50 was as good as it got in a choice of black or white KEF went ahead and released three stunning limited edition models in red, satin black and titanium silver. Personally, we like the red the best.
5. Oppo BDP-103D Network 3D Blu Ray Player – £599
Blu Ray players are a nice, safe gift no matter what the occasion. Pretty much everyone loves home cinema, and the better quality the picture and sound the better. Right? But just because it’s an ‘easy’ gift, doesn’t mean it can’t be a good one! If they would appreciate high-res content (who wouldn’t!) then you don’t get much better than an Oppo player. And at just over half the price of the flagship 105D, the 103D model is fantastic value for money, and will bring a great deal of joy wherever it ends up.
6. Geneva Model Cinema Soundbar – £549
Not everyone has the space for a 5.1/7.1 surround sound set up (with a separate AV receiver!), and even if they did that would make for an awful lot of gift-wrapping! So when it comes to buying your AV-loving loved one a Av related gift, a soundbar is an excellent substitute. Especially one of the quality of the Geneva Model Cinema! It scooped a 2015 What Hi-fi? award for many sound and design related reasons and is heralded for doing something different to the usual “plastic-y” stuff (well, it is Geneva!) Most importantly, it sounds stunning, so much so that – depending on your room – you’re loved one may occasionally lose themselves and believe they indeed have a full 5.1 setup (which is exactly the point!)
7. KEF X300A Wireless Active Speakers – £799
And we’re back to the wonderful KEF. And with good reason! Desktop speakers are always a great gift choice. They’re useful to pretty much everyone, and you don’t need a lot of space. But if you’re going to do it, you may as well do it right! The X300a are the highest quality active desktop speaker we’ve used (i.e. the best!) and serve as a great alternative to (and the “model up” from) the KEF EGG active speaker. They are actyually slightly larger than the KEF LS50 (as mentioned above), but will still fit nicely on larger desks (make sure your loved one clears some room though, they’re quite big and a little bit heavier than your average desktop!).
8. Pro-Ject 2 Xperience SB DC Turntable – £1049
Everyone has a analogue-head in their life. And so, for that vinylphile you love, what better gift than this? Yes, it is just over £1000, but what you get for your money here is extraordinary. Firstly, a carbon tonearm of this calibre is pretty much unheard of on this level of turntable. And then, there’s the finish which comes in a choice of black, olive or walnut. By biuying this you will also buy a (pre-fitted) high quality Ortofon 2M Silver phono cartridge, which is not available to buy separately (but if it was we suspect it would retail for over £300!). All in all, its a stunning turntable. Just make sure the lucky recipient (if not yourself…) has a suitable phono stage to connect between the turntable and amplifier – for this model we’d recommend the Trichord Dino, the perfect phono for high-end turntables.
9. HiFi Man Edition X Planar Magnetic Headphones – £1299
Do you know the Hifi Man? These are their latest (and greatest!) headphones at the time of writing, distilling the technology featured in their flagship HE1000 headphones, all the way down to something distinctly more affordable, all-the-while managing to be incredibly stylish in black chrome. Its clear HiFi Man knew they were making a statement by calling the model “Edition X”, and now it is a direct competitor to Sennheiser HD800, Beyerdynamic T1 Gen2 and Grado GS1000e headphones. If you’re buying these for yourself (or you don’t mind spoiling the surprise if they’re gifts!) we recommend you visit our showroom for a listen. And yes, we have those other models lined up for comparison!
10. Audio Affair £1000 Vouchers!
You can lead a horse to water, but sometimes you’ve just got to give it a voucher! If you have a loved one who adores hi-fi but you don’t have the first clue about what to get them, this is a very good place to turn to. Put one of these vouchers (between £20-£1000) in their stocking and let them spend their Christmas Day merrily browsing. I know I’d like that!
Remember to give us a shout if you have any questions. If none of the above tickle your fancy, there are plenty more where they came from.