32 Delightful Gift Ideas for Music Lovers and Audiophiles

These earbuds from Soundpeats earned a rare 10/10, WIRED Recommends badge on recent review because of how fantastic they sound for the money. At under $100, the xMEMs solid-state driver earbuds offer some of the most lifelike sound quality I've ever heard from any earbuds. They also have basically every feature you'd want from a pair of buds, from noise canceling and an IPX4 water resistance rating to an AirPods Pro-beating eight hours of battery life with noise canceling enabled. Take that, Cupertino.

Sennheiser's HD650 headphones are legendary in audio circles, and for good reason. The open-backed design lets in the sound of the outside world, but that openness creates one of the widest, most balanced soundstages we've ever heard from a pair of headphones. It sounds like your favorite band is set up right in front of you.

This special-edition version of the HD650 comes in partnership with Drop, with one serious benefit (besides the special blue-black color): They're way cheaper. Where the normal HD650 retail for north of $300, these can be had for just $200, which is a screaming deal for some of the best headphones you can buy for under $1,000. They're also super comfortable, making them a top choice for extended listening sessions.

Runners, cyclists, and folks who wander around busy urban areas often don't want to plug their ears fully, and I don't blame them. It's super hard to tell whether a car is coming, or even to hear things like car horns and bike bells, when you have your ears plugged with typical buds. That's where these open earbuds from Sony come in. Now in their second generation (7/10, WIRED Recommends), the Linkbuds Open do an excellent job of ensuring that you never are caught off guard with what's happening outside your music, thanks to large holes in the middle of each bud. Sound quality is decent, and they even have multi-point connection so that you can easily pair and use them with a phone and laptop at the same time.

The best way to make sure headphones last a long time is to keep them somewhere safe, and that's why we like this cheap headphone stand. With simple metal construction and rounded hangers for two pairs of over-ears, it's a great place to admire your listening options, and to keep them safe when they're not on your noggin.

NPR collaborated with Earpeace to make these easy-to-carry earplugs that don't make music sound worse, they just bring down the volume. That's super important, especially in environments like concerts where the sound can easily cause hearing damage. This isn't the most fun gift, but those who go to shows a lot will actually love them—there's nothing worse than having to put in normal foam earplugs when it's too loud and hurting your ears, only to lose all the fidelity. If these are good enough for NPR critic Bob Boilen to attend thousands of shows in, they're good enough for you!

There is nothing worse than being caught out at a show without proper hearing protection, only to have your ears ring the entire next day. Hearing damage is no joke, and tinnitus and other physical issues from listening to music too loud should be avoided at all costs. Enter these awesome adjustable earplugs from Loop, which let you choose how much sound you want to let into the buds.

Cinematic sound doesn't have to cost a lot. This wired 5.1 soundbar system from Vizio (8/10, WIRED Recommends) will elevate your tinny TV speakers to the next level, with a wireless subwoofer and two surround speakers that create a more immersive listening experience than you'll find from stand-alone bars in this price range. The only downside is that you have to wire the surround speakers to the subwoofer with included cables. It's a small price to pay for … well … such a small price to pay for a 5.1 system.

This Bluetooth-enabled turntable isn't the highest-fidelity of the bunch, but it is excellent for those just starting a vinyl collection. I like that it has a headphone jack on the front for silent bedroom listening, and it also has Bluetooth onboard, which makes it a perfect gift for anyone who already has a speaker lying around. Sure, it's not analog end-to-end if you're using Bluetooth, but half the fun of listening to vinyl isn't the fidelity, it's watching the records spin and playing with the liner notes!

WIRED reviewer and audio expert Ryan Waniata says that this upgraded turntable (9/10, WIRED Recommends) changed the way that he heard his favorite vinyl. It has excellent build quality and components, a stylish design, and some of the best isolation feet we've used in a mid-tier turntable like this. We like the physical speed switch, which lets you pick between 33 rpm and 45 rpm records, and we also like that it comes with an Ortofon 2M Blue cartridge right out of the box—something we sometimes recommend folks upgrade to.

Most entry-level turntables come with built-in phono preamps, which take the signal from the stylus and bolster it to the “line level” your amp or powered speakers expect from those red and white RCA input cables. Adding an external phono preamp like this one from Cambridge Audio is a great way to raise the overall fidelity. If your friend, family member, or loved one has been getting into audio, this can be a really useful upgrade; my parents got me one for my birthday a few years back, and it's been a big and awesome change on my own system.

They might not seem like a glamorous gift, but there are very few vinyl enthusiasts who wouldn't joyously accept record sleeves as a gift. Think of them like the socks of the record world; you're always misplacing them, and you never—ever—can have enough.

One of the most annoying things about most “now playing” stands—where you put your record sleeve while the plastic is spinning—is that they are too damn skinny. This one from Koeppel Design solves that problem, with space for up to 10 records or a couple of box sets.