8. Mix match and Sounds

Everyone’s ears are different - and everyone’s tastes are different. Bose headphones are well known for giving a warm coloration to the music you listen to and Bose fans like that; some people prefer or need more bass or treble than others. Sleek Audio is hoping to make one set of headphones suit everyone by including not just the usual small, medium and large tips (sized from the company’s experience fitting hearing aids) but also interchangeable bass ports and treble tips. The $250 SA6 in-ear headphones will ship with “neutral” ports fitted but you can pick from two other bass and treble options to get the sound you prefer. All six ports fit neatly in the carry case so you can swap for different types of music if you’re really picky. The swiveling cables are also replaceable; initially that’s in case they get damaged but Sleek hopes to produce Bluetooth modules in the future so you can switch between cables and wireless on the same headphones.

You can’t customize Etymotic’s $179 etyBLU Bluetooth headset quite as much. Yet, the etyBLU offers the same noise isolation as the famous Etymotic in-ear headphones, and it also has a removable gooseneck-boom microphone. You can snap it into place in a noisy environment to get clearer calls and pull it off when you don’t need it so you don’t feel so much like you work in a call center.

Reattaching a boom microphone could be less fiddly than changing the volume - too many headsets expect you to remember complex combinations of which button to press for how many seconds to activate different functions. BlueAnt’s $120 BlueGenie Bluetooth headset uses voice control - so you can talk to the headset to choose how you talk to your callers. Say “reject” to ignore an incoming call; say “pair mode” and the headset will talk you through typing in the PIN code to pair with your phone; say “check battery” and it will tell you how much power is left. Plug it into the optional car kit and it will speak the name of callers, so you don’t have to look away from the road.