AUDIO-TECHNICA ATH-AWKT

These are truly luxurious headphones. Their packaging even proclaims their greatness, because they arrive in a huge 390mm-high slip-cased box, stylishly emblazoned with Japanese calligraphy and an anticipatory circle of wood-grain, this outer casing seemingly so enormous that you might expect it to yield headphones built to adorn the head of some monumental sumo wrestler.

Then, in the manner of a Russian doll set, inside the first box is a second, and inside that second a third, this last being of a light wood construction. It is only when you open the third box that the headphones are finally revealed, nestling in satin-like fabric (which smelled very nice indeed).

And what a reveal! It’s the cups of these headphones that immediately grab your attention, though with the most sophisticated and gentle of grabs. They are beautifully carved and hand-finished