Finding the best gifts for the music lover in your life can be a lot of fun. With the massive amount of technology available and gifts at any budget sure to impress, there is something for everyone. Let’s take a look at a few of the great options for your favourite audiophile.
Gift the basics: Music!
It used to be overwhelming to buy music as a gift. Going into a music store and rifling through the thousands of albums was seriously stressful. Those days are gone.
Virtually all music is online and available for a small price. Your gift of an iTunes or Google Play card allows for them to choose their own music, taking all of the pressure off you.
If you want to up your game, consider gifting an annual subscription to a streaming service such as Apple Music or Spotify. The genius of streaming services is that they learn the preferences of the listener, and can introduce them to new music they would not have otherwise heard. They provide endless choice and have evolving playlists across all genres.
Gift Wireless Headphones
You can’t go wrong with a new pair of headphones. Wireless technology has come a long way recently and all music lovers deserve to enjoy it. There is a complete sense of freedom that comes with cutting the cord and rocking wireless headphones. They come in a wide array of styles, with a variety of features that would put them on the “best gifts” list of anyone on your shopping list.
Best Buy offers a wide array of wireless headphones. If you want to seriously impress with high-end on-ear headphones with desirable features like noise cancelling, look no further than the Bose QuietComfort series.
Give Wireless Speakers
One of the coolest innovations in consumer audio is the wireless speaker. There is one main differentiator in the market today: Bluetooth vs. Wi-Fi speakers.
Bluetooth goes anywhere you do
Bluetooth speakers can operate anywhere you want to go to enjoy music: on the deck, at the beach, camping, on the golf course. All you need is a charged battery and a phone or tablet to connect to the speaker and the sweet sounds are with you. The best part is they come in every colour, shape, and size, and match any style. The Sony EXTRA BASS line also incorporates eye candy in the form of LED lighting.
Wi-Fi Speakers can transform your home
Wi-Fi speakers connect directly to your home network and open up a whole new level of possibility: whole home audio. The beauty of Wi-Fi speakers is that you can connect them throughout the home and have them play the same music all over your house without missing a beat.
If you choose, you can also assign different music to each speaker, all from user-friendly apps. You are not tethered to the speaker in the way you are with Bluetooth, which requires your device to be within 15-20 feet. Some Wi-Fi enabled speakers are even Bluetooth compatible!
Many manufacturers, such as Jam Audio, make speakers in the same line that are different sizes to accommodate the different sized rooms you would use them in.
The resurrection of the turntable
If you want to give the gift of music the way artists and audio engineers intend for it to be heard, vinyl is your answer. There is no digital format that compares, which is why vinyl and turntables are making a major comeback.
Digital audio is compressed, and there are inevitably many musical nuances that are lost in the compression process. The dynamic range present in vinyl will make your audiophile crave the depth and clarity they didn’t even know they were missing in their digital music files. A turntable can lift the veil and open that world up to them.
If your music lover has an AV receiver and separate speakers, adding a turntable like the award winning Rega RP1 to their setup is going to bring them pure joy.
A subwoofer will shake the Christmas tree!
There is nothing like hearing a sub kick in for the first time. The impact is undeniable. Not only that, it’s cool to say. Subwoofer. You’ll enjoy telling others that was your gift, and the recipient will wear that badge with pride.
There are bass frequencies that most speakers cannot reproduce; they are just not designed to. The amount of power that it takes to generate those low frequencies is massive. That is where the “powered” subwoofer comes in. The music lover in your life will feel that kick drum in their favourite songs, and notice the low end come to life. It has the added benefit of revolutionizing TV and movies as well.
Subs, as they’re also called, add realism to everything from car chases to explosions, while completing the layers of dramatic tension audio engineers strive to create.
Sound bars elevate the audio
There are inevitable sacrifices that we have made in our constant push towards thinner and lower profile televisions, none more prevalent than audio. The physics of a speaker require both girth and depth, neither of which are offered in the latest flatscreen HD, 4K or OLED televisions.
Enter the sound bar. These brilliantly engineered speakers will immediately elevate the audio experience offered by any of today’s sleek screens. They have real speaker drivers in them, and will strive to match the clarity offered by the amazing visuals today’s TVs can produce. Many are Bluetooth compatible, so your music lover can stream songs to the beefed up sound bar, upping their game with music, movies, and television.
There are two kinds of sound bar, those that are designed to sit on a shelf, and lower profile units like the Sonos PLAYBAR that could be mounted below a flat panel monitor.
Buying any audio inspired gift for a music lover will be appreciated, so don’t be intimidated. Finding the balance between budgeting for a quality product, when prices seemingly have no upper end, and avoiding a low quality purchase is easier than you might think. Best Buy has a great selection of everything you may be considering, and the product reviews and Plug-In Blog are great resources to ensure you are giving a gift that will be appreciated and last.
