HiFiMAN HE-400

If you’re quickly passing by this post because you see the $300+ price tag at the bottom, we urge you to wait! These headphones are actually cheap. Your eyes are wandering off again, aren’t they? Now you think this is some kind of sales pitch where we tell you included with these cans is a set of knives that slice through a watermelon in mid-air (perfect for your next watermelon slicing competition), but the reason we say they are cheap is because they happen to be one of the most affordable sets with planar magnetic drivers we’ve ever come across. Unlike the headphones you own now (which almost definitely use dynamic drivers), these guys deliver full, detailed audio directly into your head. They do so with magnets, an ultra-thin diaphragm and—we suspect—magic. If you never joined the planar magnetic cult, now’s the cheapest time do so.