There’s an unwritten rule in high-end audio about avoiding the B word–“best”–because this hobby is more about preferences than any standardization of greatness. (I know, we’re the ones who title the pages of our bi-annual Buyers Guide “best” this and “best” that, but that’s only to trigger the Google search engines.) But when I listened to this headphone rig in the Warwick Acoustics room at the 2024 Florida International Audio Expo, I had this distinct impression that it doesn’t get any better than this–at least in 2024.
Words and Photos by Marc Phillips
This sound quality comes at a high price, obviously. The Warwick Acoustics APERIO headphone system you see above retails for a cool $50K in that gold finish, and marginally less for silver and black finishes. It does help that the APERIO headphone amplifier can be used as a very high-quality preamplifier in a two-channel system, but that’s still a lot of money.
The sound of the APERIO headphone system from Warwick Acoustics–which operates out of the UK–was almost otherworldly. First of all, it’s perfectly balanced from top to bottom. Rather than focus on just killer bass or a convincing soundstage and imaging, music just sounds close to prefect each and every time. I played Dire Straits’ “Private Investigations” from Love Over Gold, and honest-to-goodness it rivaled any rendition I’ve heard on a number of world-class two channel systems. Even Cream’s “White Room,” which normally isn’t a favorite because it sounds so dirty and grungy, sounded completely musical–at least musical enough to prompt two back-to-back listens.
That’s when it hit me. The Warwick Acoustics APERIO does top out at $50K. As we all know, however, $50K doesn’t go that far in the world of high-end audio. I could easily imagine being an audiophile with excellent tastes but perhaps a less-than-ideal living environment–living in an apartment with grouchy neighbors, for example, or needing a place to listen without bothering the rest of your loved ones.
I could live with this system indefinitely without “needing” a big pair of speakers to make everything sound right. I’d set up the APERIO on a table like you see here, next to the comfiest of all armchairs, and no one would see me for weeks on end. Plus, Warwick Acoustics has a whole line of headphones and amps and other devices that are far more affordable, but offer up a big chunk of the APERIO sound. Warwick Acoustics might have been the biggest surprise at FLAX, and I can’t wait to take another listen.
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