Bang & Olufsen's BeoPlay brand has always been aimed at young professionals, but not the ones you might expect.
Instead of street art-influenced tattoo parlours, hipster dive bars and booming bass, its range has more of the roaring 20s about it. Think Beats - by Jay Gatsby.
The good thing is that Art Deco has aged spectacularly: it's simple, effortless and it's the reason that hidden 'prohibition' cocktail bars are dotted all around the UK's cities.
So how do they sound? And would you pay £329 for them?
BeoPlay's H6 headphones are the complete embodiment of the nu deco design language. They have a simple layer-based design, and feature simple, complementary colour palettes.
Frankly we think they're one of the nicest-looking headphones we've clapped eyes on. The circular metal accent gives them the same design quality that you'd expect on a living room speaker, while the matte plastic body and precision metal frame make sure you're reminded that this is a piece of modern technology.
They might not be your thing, but as with the angularly abrasive V-Moda range you'll be hard-pressed to find someone that feels apathetic.
Put them on though and you realise how comfortable those pads are. The natural leather cushions are extremely soft and while you may get some mild clamping in the first few days it quickly loosens.
While some - who can afford the extravagance - may choose the H6s on design alone, the sound still maters. And on this pair of headphones, the first word that comes to mind is... open. With large custom-built 40mm drivers and a dedicated bass port on both sides the H6s find a middle-ground that features wide expansive mid and high-ranges, but then delivers with a closer bass line.
The best way to describe it is that the louder you turn up the volume, the larger the concert hall becomes, so while the volume increases, the sound never feels dangerously close to your ears.
At over £329 these are definitely in the higher-end of the spectrum. Still, whatever way you cut the leather, £329 is a extremely large amount of money for some headphones that can't really claim to match the reference quality that you'd expect to find on others at that price.
This then is a purchase made on emotion. These are headphones that offer more than just sound, they're offering a chance to own something that has design at its core. But then, isn't that the choice you're making with any Bang & Olufsen product?
