When it comes to headphones, you have three basic choices to make. You either go for 'cans' that fit over the top of your head and sit on or around your ears; you can choose earbuds - which hang just on the cartilage 'hook' of your ear; or you can plump for canalphones, the type that you shove right down your ear canals.

The latter has experienced a huge uptake in popularity in the past few years. Once the idea of inserting a foreign object deep into my ears seemed an objectionable concept; now it seems second nature - and earbuds are slowly but surely being consigned to also rans.

It's easy to see why this is happening: the passive sound isolation you can achieve with a snug-fitting pair of canalphones allows you to get closer to the music without having to crank the volume up to deafening levels, and the design has proved so popular that all sorts of variations on the theme have sprung up.

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