The year in wireless hi-fi and headphones: 2025's top winners and losers — and what I want to see in 2026

In the hotly contested and heavily congested world of hi-fi and headphones, 2025 ends in such stark contrast to 2024 that you'd scarcely believe mere months separate the two (but that is how time works, after all). It's like the big dogs went into hibernation for a year – a collective re-think; a fallow year in response to trying economic times – only to emerge stronger and more powerful.

Last year was a moment for niche European hi-fi brands, who saw an empty, near-silent dance floor and chose to inherit it by dancing to their own new tunes. Such was the dearth of input from audio's global heavy hitters, plucky underdogs found their moment in the limelight. In the UK, for example, Bowers & Wilkins released its fantastic Pi8 earbuds and Cambridge found much success with its inaugural, affordable P100 cans.

But if I thought these ...