Struggling to find a gift for the music lover in your life? We have some of the best present ideas for the music fan in your life, for budgets ranging from £30 all the way up to £500.
Currys PC World’s huge selection of audio products offers something for all kinds of music fans. Here are some of our favourites.
Sony WH-1000XM3
£329 - Buy now
Sony’s WH-1000XM3 headphones have it all. They look good, are comfortable enough for all-day wear and their active noise cancellation is best in class.
These headphones sound spacious, detailed and have a subtlety that makes music sound involving and natural. The battery lasts up to 30 hours and you can talk to your phone’s digital assistant directly through the internal mic.
There’s a reason the Sony WH-1000XM3 are What Hi-Fi? 5-star award winners.
Sonos Play:5
£449 - Buy now
Sonos never seems to make a dud product. And there’s now a wide array of multi-room speakers for all kinds of homes and budgets. The Sonos Play:5 is a good place to start for music.
It’s loud and powerful enough to act as your main hifi. And, for a speaker that takes up less room than some bookshelf speakers, the Play:5’s bass is alarmingly deep and authoritative.
Also consider the Sonos One, the first Sonos unit with Amazon Alexa support and the Sonos Beam, a compact sound bar.
Sony Walkman NW-A45
£219 - Buy now
Don’t just make do with your phone if you want the best music experience on-the-go. The Sony NW-A45 is a dedicated audio player, like many of us used to own a decade ago, and is both a great way to get top sound quality and escape from phone notifications.
The NW-A45HNB supports Hi-Res Audio, has LDAC for ultra-high quality Bluetooth streamed audio and Sony has made improvements to the circuitry and soldering for purer sound. There’s 16GB of storage as standard, but a microSD slot lets you hold a huge music library.
Sony PS-HX500
£299 - Buy now
A record player offers the tactile music experience missing from digital and streamed music. The Sony PS-HX500 offers the best of both worlds.
As well as being a great record player in its own right, the Sony PS-HX500 can rip records as ultra-high quality lossless DSD and WAV files.
This 5-star deck has an open soundstage, stylish minimalist looks and a highly stable one-piece tone arm.
Roberts Revival iStream 3
£229 - Buy now
Even if you have big floorstanding speakers in your living room, there’s still a place for the Roberts Revival iStream 3. This DAB radio melds classic Roberts design and its signature warm sound with the cutting-edge tech of the latest wireless speakers.
It can act as a simple radio for the technophobes at home, but also has Bluetooth, multi-room audio and streaming service support over Wi-Fi via the Undok platform. Slot some rechargeable batteries into its bottom take your music with you.
Jam Heavy Metal
£59.99 - Buy now
The sound quality of small Bluetooth speakers varies, but the Jam Heavy Metal is hard to beat at this price. This classy-looking portable wireless model has an aluminium shell and audio that can compete with most sub-£150 units.
Like most Bluetooth speakers of this size, the Jam Heavy Metal uses a passive radiator for surprising bass depth and power for such a small speaker. The two active drivers also deliver clear treble with great presence. If you want a speaker that can be taken just about anywhere, this is a good choice.
Audio Pro Addon C10
£269 - Buy now
The Audio Pro Addon C10 is one of the best multi-room speakers for the true fan of audio quality.
A 5.25-inch long-throw driver provides the bulk of the sound, while a pair of 3/4-inch tweeters fill in the higher frequencies. Feet on the Audio Pro Addon C10’s bottom also angle the speaker upwards slightly, for optimal tone.
On the techy side, the Audio Pro Addon C10 has Bluetooth and Wi-Fi and support for several of the most popular streaming services including Spotify, Deezer, Tidal and audiophile favourite Qobuz.
Amazon Echo Dot (2018)
£49.99 - Buy now
The new Amazon Echo Dot may not be the audio nut’s first choice of gadget. However, it does represent a major sound quality improvement over the original design. It’s a looker too, thanks to its softened fabric-clad sides.
The Echo Dot is one of the best ways to try out smart home tech. You can also simply treat it as a way to make your home hi-fi smart. A 3.5mm output lets you plug it into all sorts of traditional equipment, even that made decades before Amazon Alexa was an idea in a brainstorming business meeting.
Google Chromecast Audio
£30 - Buy now
The Google Chromecast Audio is one of the few truly affordable gifts for someone with high-end tastes in audio. It’s an adapter that turns any non-smart, non-wireless hifi into an up-to-date, connected one.
It uses Google’s smart home infrastructure to let you stream audio from your phone and streaming services to your speakers. The 3.5mm output on the dongle itself works either as an analogue output or an optical output for hooking up to a high-quality DAC.
- Brought to you In Partnership With Currys PC World. Buy headphones, hi-fi and more at Currys.co.uk.
