The surge of rapper and celebrity headphones over the past five years or so has been annoying in the extreme to me. All the glam and glitter has been an enormous distraction from what the actual purpose of a headphone should be: to sound good. We're not going to be able to go backwards though, the fashionistas have raised the bar and a big, black, plastic blob on your head isn't going to cut it anymore. I just wish some company out there would be mature enough to make a headphone with tastefully balanced sound and sophisticated good looks.

With its new Momentum headphone, Sennheiser, it seems to me, is the adult in the room.

There's a gazillion headphones out there, sorting through them is a chore. So the InnerFidelity writers came together with their top picks for cool headphone gifts this holiday season to make your gift giving a little easier.

Meier amps are designed in Germany, but built in China by Shanling. This no doubt has contributed to a strong value for the money. And the subject of this review, the "Rock" home headphone amp, is clearly targeted at people who are looking for value--the Rock is the smallest home (non-portable) headphone amp Meier has ever made, and also the least expensive, at $240 USD, or EUR 220 (in the EU). That actually makes it LESS expensive than any of Meier's current line-up of portable headphone amps!