26 T3 MARCH 2021Horizon
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Presuming we’re leaving
out ear buds and on-ear
headphones here, both for
reasons of space and because each
category is a subjective minefield,
GaGu will limit this selection to only
over-ear kit. There are a couple of
key kinds of cans, both of which
tend to have a very different feel:
closed-backed and open-backed.
The former is a completely
sealed enclosure. Sound goes one
way, towards your ears. This means
the majority of outside noise can’t
make it in to ruin your tunes, and is
the logical reason that you’ll only
find noise cancelling cleverness in
closed-back cans. They’re close,warm, and keep the real world
away – they’re core to the patented
Guru family-avoidance technique.
GaGu’s top pick doesn’t stray far
from the meta, as he’ll suggest the
Sony WH-1000XM4 (£350) all day
long – but those Apple AirPods Max
(£549) do sound mighty amazing.
Open-back headphones allow air
through to your ears, preventingpressure from building up; they
therefore sound much more
natural, and have a far, far wider
soundstage. Hooray, except: they
let every other sound in, and bleed
their own sound out. If you can find
a quiet spot to sit back and relax
you’re in for something wonderful,
but if you can’t you’ll be able to
hear your children screeching and
they’ll be able to hear that you’re
listening to the Bee Gees on a loop.
The Beyerdynamic DT 990 Pro
(around £89) is a heavily favoured
set on the low end; head to the high
end, and you find utterly incredible
kit like Focal’s Utopia – but they do
cost £3,699.Which kind of headphones offer the best experience?
JIM GILBERT, VIA EMAIL
There are a couple of key kinds
of cans, both of which tend to
have a very different feel:
closed-backed and open-backed
T3’s tech wizard sounds off on
headphones, exercise and cheese
ABOVE
Blissfully
unaware of
the inbound
Asteroids
attack...