Headphones. 2014. The perfect match? Why? Because there's no better way to spend the wettest winter and spring on record than by totally blocking out the droning traffic, train and noise left over in the wake of the festive season.
With 4K increasing in popularity it seems only fair that audio is given the same treatment with new high-end headphones hoping to become your living room cans of choice. Add to that the purchase of Beats by Apple and you've got a brand-new range of Beats headphones that, for the first time, justify their premium price tags.
As you can see there's no better time to invest than now and with more set to be unveiled ahead of iOS 8 this is just the start for 2014.
To help sort through this confusion and pick the right pair of headphones for you, we've pulled together a buyer's guide (above) and a list of our 9 favourite headphones and earphones. Hopefully it will give you some inspiration to find the audible companion you've been looking for.