Christmas Gift Guide 2018: 20 gadget gift ideas for music lovers

SOUNDS LIKE SANTA

It’s that song-obsessed friend who won’t suffer through a Christmas playlist unless it’s played in lossless WAV format. They own Driving Home for Christmas on limited edition, tinsel-rimmed vinyl. They refuse to watch the Queen’s speech because it’s not broadcast in 7.1. What do you buy for the audiophile who has everything – including a ceaseless taste for only the best? Worry not: we’ve rounded up a sweet-sounding selection of Christmas gift ideas that’ll have music lovers rocking around the Christmas tree right through ’til New Year.

MARSHALL STANMORE II VOICE (£350)

Send home the groupies: voice-controlled tunes are the next big thing in rock’n’roll – and they don’t come more muscular than this amp-like effort from Marshall. No, you can’t plug in your guitar, but you can hit up Alexa for dressing room tunes from your Hard Rock III: Bone Shakers playlist. Equipped with a trio of drivers, it’ll kick out the pre-show jams with 80 Watts of pure beef – just the thing to get you pumped for a spot of a stage diving.

CYRUS SOUNDKEY (£99)

Every self-respecting audiophile knows that upgrading their headphones is a surefire way to make their music sound better. Sadly, the same can’t be said for buying a DAC: pick up a cut-price converter and there’s every chance they’ll suffer audio output worse than Dad’s old casette player. Give them a Cyrus SoundKey, though, and they’ll be eking new details out of that Pavement B-sides compilation in no time: plug this portable widget into a phone or laptop and it’ll cut out a ton of nasty signal noise, no problem.

HAY SONOS ONE (£229)

Not familiar with the Sonos One? It’s a genius speaker that sounds good, plays nice with your smart home kit and can do multi-room music for good measure. Buy a bundle and you’ll be all set for an Alexa-enabled house party. Not familiar with Hay? Its a Danish furniture brand – and it’s just had a crack at coating the cord-free Sonos in a range of limited-edition colour schemes. Perfect for getting jiggy with the hygge.

SOUNDMAGIC E11C (£50)

Sequel to the much-lauded E10Cs, these budget ‘buds from Soundmagic are the perfect replacement for the ‘phones that came with your phone. With a built-in remote, subtle styling and superb sound quality, stick them in your ears this Christmas and you’ll be forgiven for double-checking the price tag: they’re a clear winner in the official Bang For Buck standings.

MANCHESTER BEST (£40)

The Flood Gallery in Greenwich makes awesome posters that riff on your favourite bands and movies. Hit up their website and there are hundreds for you to peruse that pay homage to everything from Ghostbusters to Led Zeppelin. Since this one combines two of our greatest loves – beer and jangling guitars – it gets a nod above the others. We wouldn’t recommend trying The Fall’s own-brand White Lightning, mind: it might result in you losing a member or two.

MASSIVE ATTACK: MEZZANINE SUPER DELUXE (£100)

OK, this one’s not an album full of festive cheer – but if you’re after a true treat for the ears, this 20th anniversary reissue of Bristol trio Massive Attack’s moody Mezzanine is a must. Dripping with texture, depth and atmosphere, pump up the bass for the ominous Angel, re-live The Matrix with the angsty chorus of Dissolved Girl before sitting back for the percussion pops on Teardrop – all remastered on glorious vinyl for your listening pleasure, together with an entire album of previously unreleased remixes. Turn the lights down and enjoy.

AUDIO PRO ADDON T3 (£148)

Faintly reminiscent of a friendly koala, this lunchbox-sized speaker is no snoozy marsupial. In fact, it’s one of the best portable Bluetooth boxes out there. Sure, it’s less fun to cuddle, but take this noise-maker to the zoo and the bears will surely appreciate its dynamism, drive and sheer potency. After all, their hearing is twice as sensitive as ours.

FOREVER CHANGES 50TH ANNIVERSARY BOX SET (£53)

Want to wallow in despair about how far music has fallen? Don’t be such a scrooge. Instead, enjoy the psychedelic sounds of Love’s 1967 banger – freshly re-issued and only a year late for the 50th anniversary. Oops. A commercial flop at launch, Forever Changes has since gained the recognition it deserves – and this new box set includes outtakes and alternative mixes spread over four CDs, one LP and a DVD.

SONY WH-1000XM3 (£330)

True scrooges face an endless battle against mind-melting Christmas music. If it’s not on the radio, it’s blasting out on adverts and tinkling over the supermarket tannoy. Put paid to the overplayed: Sony’s latest flagship cans are its best ever, with noise-cancelling tech so good you won’t hear a single jingling bell. They also happen to be extremely comfortable, offer excellent audio customisation options and sound incredible. Step aside Bose.

QTX ACE (£33)

Yes, you can still buy blank cassettes. Yes, you can use this retro ghetto blaster to tape songs off the radio. Yes, you can also stream to it via Bluetooth. And yes, you can do all of this in public, using battery power. No, we don’t know why. Nostalgia, eh?

PRO-JECT AUDIO JUKE BOX E (£370)

We’re all for the vinyl revival, but record players are fiddly beasts. After a Buck’s Fizz and several brandy snaps, the last thing you want to be worrying about are phono stages, power amps and getting your beard caught in all those cables. Avoid connection confusion with this all-in-one wonder from Pro-Ject. More music centre than turntable, it harbours a phono stage, power amp, line preamp and several other things beginning with ‘p’. You just add the speakers. And the records, obviously.

RUARK MRX (£400)

British firm Ruark has long been building outstanding speakers for the audiophile at home, but it’s never ventured into the world of wireless – until now. Meet the MRx: an understated stunner that puts heavenly audio in a cordless connected package. Pair it up via Bluetooth, connect it to the Wi-Fi or stick an ethernet cable in the back – whichever way you do it, a sleigh load of music awaits, with support for Spotify, Deezer, Tidal and more. It’s also multi-room compatible, plays nice with a host of high-res file formats and cuts a classy dash beside your cabinet. The only thing it can’t do is improve your taste in Christmas tunes.

ULTIMATE EARS MEGABOOM 3 (£170)

Rockin’ around the Megaboom, have a Bluetooth holiday. Everyone dancin’ merrily, for almost the whole day (20-hour battery life will vary depending on conditions). You will find its range and bass appealing, when you hear, no distortion, from its drivers. Get the app and start the party! Also, this 360-degree speaker is tough and fully wateproof.

MORRISSEY: ALONE AND PALELY LOITERING (£20)

He’s a melancholy sort, old Morrissey. Always loitering about, writing sad songs. If your average Joe did that, it’s unlikely someone would publish a photographic portrait of them. Then again, your average Joe probably wasn’t the frontman of The Smiths. And, while he’s grown tiresome of late, there’s no disputing Morrisey’s impact on the seminal Mancunian outfit. So celebrate his glory years with this anthology of shots by renowned photographer Kevin Cummins – chief snapper at NME for more than a decade – which shows the singer at the height of his fame and is packed with previously unseen material.

NURAPHONE (£349)

Optoacoustic emissions might sound like something you need to take pills to treat, but these incredible cans use them to deliver audio tuned to your ear – firing sounds down your canals, monitoring the feedback and tweaking the EQ to suit. Spooky. With a design that combines in-ear buds with on-ear ‘phones, the next-gen Nuraphones are weird in theory, wonderful in practice and nothing like anything you’ve ever stuck in your lughole before.

ROCK ON HEADPHONE STAND (£14)

Do you think Ozzy stuffs his headphones in a drawer when he’s done with his daily Crazy Train session? No, the Prince of Darkness probably sets fire to them and hangs them from a nearby satanic symbol. Or something similarly epic. Make like the rock god you’re not with this hardcore headphone stand. Not as cool as flaming cans, but a lot less expensive.

ROBERTS STREAM 94I (£200)

As a wise man once said (no, not one of those ones), “sometimes the subtlest soundbox shouts the loudest.” So it is with the Stream 94i: besides DAB, FM and internet radio, this understated streamer now has Bluetooth on-board, so you can fire it up for festive speaker duties. And, with bass that’s far more powerful than its diminutive shell suggests, it’s ideal for your annual Cliff Richard streamathon.

ELECTRIC LOVE BLUEPRINT (£35)

Can’t sleep for the sounds of Kraftwerk? Sounds like a classic symptom of living with a proper electronica geek. Distract them from Brian Eno for an hour or two with this appealing poster: it’s a family tree in blueprint form, tracing the whole history of electronic music. That it might inspire them to dig out their Moog Theremini is a risk you’ll have to take.

KEF LSX (£1000)

True audiophiles know that you can’t put a price on perfect audio. From speaker cables to amplifiers, every element of a listening setup can be tweaked to the tune of thousands – and once you go down that rabbit hole, it’s a one-way ticket to a new mortgage. Worth it for the fidelity though, right? Cap your spending with this £1k pair from KEF: not for the cash-strapped listener, these high-end speakers offer outstanding audio quality without a wire in sight. Sure, you’ll still need a small loan to afford them, but as a standalone package they’re unbeatable – and you can’t upgrade the cables.

ALBUM ART (£19)

True musos make their sonic selections based on audio alone. In fact, many have blindfolds set aside for that very purpose. For the rest of us, it’s all about a good album cover. Some bold font here, a black and white photo there: even in the era of streaming and daily mixes, there’s nothing like an iconic sleeve to keep a song stuck in the mind. This compendium from Thames & Hudson celebrates the art of, well, cover art – and, with vinyl back on the agenda, it’s a must for audiophiles and design fans alike.