On-ear and up there: SoundMagic scales new heights

What? Why are you looking so squirmy?

Because this a slightly tough sell. Normally with SoundMagic the story is along the lines of “these pocket money earphones will pulverise whatever plastic nasties came free with your phone.” And they are, and they will.

And these won’t?

Oh, undoubtedly they will. But SoundMagic is stepping up to another level here. These on-ear wired headphones are £189.99 and, even though the street price will knock a few tens off that, that’s not pocket money, nossir. Up in that quadrant of headphone technology the differences between one pair and another are more nuanced than, say, just about anything versus the crap white earphones that came in your smartphone box.

Ah, I see. So this time it’s more that “these moderately expensive headphones will probably offer marginal gains against similarly priced or slightly spendier models”?

Bingo. Tough sell. But it’s worth it, if anything, because SoundMagic is trying so hard. It was on the verge of releasing the P55 Vento headphones a year or so back, but when the initial response to them was a bit meh-flavoured, it pulled them immediately and sent them back to the engineers. Probably withheld their custard cream rations.

And you think it’s worked?

Hey, no one likes a biscuit-less workplace. Even, we assume, in China. Anyway: over 45 driver revisions since the first incarnation, says SoundMagic. Stainless steel and aluminium construction, and a replaceable cable that works with either iOS or Android phones. They’ve got to be good, haven’t they? And we’ll find out soon, with a review. But if you’re a brand-trusting impulsive sort, you can buy the Vento P55 immediately – at hifiheadphones.co.uk here, or Amazon here.