If you’re on the hunt for a set of super premium headphones, you’ve got another set to put on your short list: Acclaimed portable hi-fi player manufacturers Astell & Kern and legendary German audio brand Beyerdynamic have collaborated on an absolutely stunning new set of over-ears, aimed at the poshest listeners in the land.
Called the AK T5p 2nd Gen (yeah, it’s a bit of a mouthful), the new headphones are handmade in Heilbronn, Germany, using premium materials like sheepskin earpads and braided cables made of pure silver and pure copper. The closed-back headphones feature what the companies call Test Technology drivers, which they claim provides extremely balanced and dynamic sound.
Those who want a set of the new over-ears better act fast: They are only making a thousand pairs of the AK T5p 2nd Gen model, aimed largely at buyers of Astell & Kern’s heinously great-sounding portable music players. And they’re not for the light of pocket, either. The headphones will retail for $1,199 per set — more than many great-sounding speaker systems.
Those on a bit more of a budget may be interested in another partnership from Astell & Kern. The company has also joined forces with lesser-known audio brand Jerry Harvey Audio on a beautiful set of in-ear headphones called the Diana Siren Series Universal Fit In-Ear Monitors.
With a striking red finish and beautiful braided cables, the headphones will certainly impress anyone who sees you wearing them. They feature a three-way, three-driver design aimed at offering listeners with balanced sound without any noticeable distortion. The company claims that this means they are even suitable for mixing and mastering work — something that’s typically reserved for those with dedicated rooms and hyper-expensive speaker setups.
Like their bigger brothers, the Diana Siren Series model doesn’t come cheap: They will hit the market in December of this year for $799 per pair, which is easily enough to get a very (very) nice set of over-ear headphones.
Still, if you’re after an extremely posh set of headphones to pair with one of Astell & Kern’s hyper-premium portable music players, there are probably few better options out there — both models of headphone even come with the company’s preferred 2.5 mm balanced audio cable (as opposed to the larger, unbalanced 3.5mm cable sported by most other headphones).
Instagram is making its way to yet another screen, and this time, Apple TV is getting a taste of the Reels rabbit hole. The company has launched a dedicated Instagram app for Apple TV, bringing Reels, longer videos, and live shows to the big screen. So, if watching one quick clip on a phone somehow turns into an hour of scrolling, there's now a much larger screen for that.
Instagram brings Reels and more to Apple TV
Audio-Technica, a brand well known for making some of the best studio and professional headphones on the market, has just come out with the ATH-AWX7000, which the company itself claims to be its "finest headphones ever." The new flagship closed-back headphone has debuted at an eye-watering price of $3,799. It combines hand-finished Japanese woodwork with a newly developed 58mm driver.
The earcups are made from Kiso cypress, a prized wood historically used for Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples. Each housing is finished by hand with traditional Echizen lacquer, which brings out the grain and is expected to darken over time. The frame and sliders are finished in a deep navy kachi-iro shade traditionally associated with samurai.
This post is brought to you in paid partnership with Best Buy.
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