Onkyo is a familiar name to hi-fi fans, so the news that the Japanese company is moving into heapdhones may well attract interest.
Citing the rocketing sales of smarpthones, Onkyo is looking to capture a slice of a very lucrative headphone market with its high-end offering.
It's starting out with four sets of headphones, two closed back on-ear - the ES-HF300 and ES-FC300 priced at £179/$290/$AU27 and £149/$242/$AU230 respectively when they arrrive in March, and two in-ear sets, the IE-HF300 (£129/$209/$AU199) and IE-FC300 (£99/$161/$AU153) set for April.
Phonics
The on-ear sets fold down and feature 40mm titanium drivers, and as a nice touch, Onkyo's driver housing is shaped to resemble its volume control on its hi-fi products.
The ES-HF300 will come with a oxygen-free copper cable encased in clear elastomer and complete with gold plugs - which should at least remove any doubt about how much your cable is destroying your Speed Metal.
The ES-FC300 will come in three finishes - with red cable, white with white cable and violet with, wait for it, violet cable.
The in-ears have a 14.3mm dynamic transducer with the IE-HF300 packaged with the audiophile-grade 6N copper cable, while the IE-FC300 comes with red, violet, or white tangle-free elastomer cable.
