This month, the Stuff team's collective ears have become particularly fond of metal. This doesn't mean we're all into tunes about dragons and satan's uglier, more evil brother: rather that we' re ready to extol the virtues of a higher-quality of headphone.

These sound isolating Denons have spun aluminium housings which keep the 11 mm drivers exactly where they ought to be and reduce unwanted resonance. They also look nice and expensive. A fine iPod upgrade, and no doubt perfect vessels for delivering oesophagus-shredding vocals and guitars turned up past 11.