This year, I asked my grillfiend and friends not to get/expect anything expensive.
I was very happy with what I received:
UE TripleFi Pros, UE700s and Etymotic HF2s. I've been revisiting headphones lately and will probably custom-reshell and recable both UEs in a few years.
Others got these:
Klipsch X10s, a Nook ST with pebbled red leather cover and four hundred books on SD, and Phiaton PS320s and 210is.
The 320 has been rebranded because of its black metal band and alligator leather cups (not its detail-rich dual drivers) and is currently sold by Prada for $650, as featured in Esquire. The true and original version is a sixth of that price.
The 210i were a secondary present, but I recommend them to anyone who likes classical music, needs to hear conversations and noises in the field, and dislikes the feeling of having large canalphone earpieces shoved into their heads. These reproduce the sound of unison flutes with such shimmering panache I really wanted a pair for myself.
Their presents:
(With white-bezeled ST)
