£500, Denon

Made from polished mahogany, these are the gentleman’s choice. With mean sound separation and depth, you’ll need neck muscles like The Hulk to wear them, but then being cool has never been easy. Or cheap.

Maxim rating: 5/5 

£100,  Grado

With a retro design, these golden oldie-style cans offer amazing detail and depth of bass, though the open design causes some spill. Just don’t wear them on the bus while rocking out to Metallica.

Maxim rating: 4/5 

£140, Sennheiser

These unassuming fellas may look a bit dweeby, but they pack a really meaty punch. Perfect for your iPod, they come with noise reduction technology and boast a sleek, folding design. Simply stunning.

Maxim rating: 5/5 

£65, Audio-Technica

Designed primarily as monitoring headphones for DJs, give these a whirl if you love those booming basslines. The enhanced clarity is exceptional, too. So all you need now are the decks.

Maxim rating: 3/5 

£150, Goldring

These well-padded ’phones NS100s are both substantial and comfortable. With noise-reduction technology and a closed-back design, you can keep using these little beauties even when the battery’s gone flat.

Maxim rating: 4/5 

£100, JVC

These lightweight cans don’t feature any noise-cancelling technology, but the ample padding coupled with over-the-ear styling do a decent job at drowning out other people’s phone conversations.

Maxim rating: 3/5 

£275, Bose

Bose products are just buzzing with sophistication – these boys have advanced noise-cancelling know-how. Compact and light, they’re ideal for long journeys. And for people with massive heads.

Maxim rating: 5/5 

£200, Sony

Sony’s built-in Artificial Intelligence adjusts your ‘noise profile’ to match your surroundings.There’s also a monitor switch so you can hear those surrounding piss-takers without taking the cans off.

Maxim rating: 4/5