Find the perfect gift for music lovers with our edit to the best speakers and headphones.

Perhaps you are someone who eyes anyone with a passion for audio equipment – also known as, the rather macabre-sounding “audiophile” – with suspicion. Who has the time or inclination to worry about drive units, memory-foam ear pads or amplifiers? What is wrong with a simple pair of Apple earphones and the in-built speakers on your laptop?

Well, try, any of the below – whether it be the Master & Dynamic MH40 headphones or the Bowers & Wilkins Zeppelin – and you will understand. Plug in your iPhone, select a track, and you will be granted access to a whole new dimension of listening – where music has layers, bass exists without tinnitus and all your favourite artists sound, well, more like they were intended to be heard. Whether you’re a professional at this listening to quality speakers and headphones game, or you’re an amateur – it’s time to invest in some mature audio equipment. And here are our favourites.

Everything Master & Dynamic do is focused towards your listening experience. On these MH40 lamb-leather, over-ear headphones, for example, covered cables reduce outside noise for more clarity and memory foam ear pads trap the music in. So revered is their quality, that the brand has been able to make a pair of headphones for Sir Paul McCartney in the past. If it’s good enough for a Beatle, it’s good enough for us. Crafted using stainless steel, these look as good as they sound, too.

If you’re someone who still refers to one of these things as a “wireless”, then the following might be a little lost on you, as this is one of the most innovative radios you can get. It is Spotify-enabled – in case you get bored of listening to DJs on the DAB and FM stations it can also broadcast. It also has a rather minimalistic, stylish design – encased as it is in American walnut. And it packs a punch in sound quality, too. Give it the accompaniment it deserves with these tangle-resistant ME01 in-ear headphones by Master & Dynamic.

The first thing you’ll notice about Bowers & Wilkins’ iconic Zeppelin Air Speaker Dock is how it looks. Rather impressive isn’t it. Is it a spaceship? Is it a contemporary piece of furniture? No, whatever you do don’t sit on it, because it’s a rather priceless bit of audio kit, which will fill your room (without bothering the neighbours – the sound is rich rather than loud), with whatever you put into the iPhone dock (or through the USB port). It will also double up as a rather smart centrepiece for whatever room it inhabits. B&O Play’s Beolit 15 AirPlay Portable Wireless Speaker, meanwhile, might not hold court in the same way (not that, with its sleek anodised aluminium casing, it isn’t handsome). But with its impressive 360-degree surround sound that you can take anywhere, it travels better than the Zeppelin (ironic for a speaker named after a mode of transport, but hey).