Brent Butterworth

It's weird for a 50-year-old audio writer to be reviewing a product that's targeted at people half his age or less. Guys my age like products labeled "audiophile-grade" or "reference," not "Nuke" or "Boom." Meaningless as such marketing terms are, though, you gotta figure Behringer did something to make the iNuke Boom Junior iPod/iPhone dock earn its badass moniker.

With hundreds of new headphones coming out last year, S+V got so wrapped up in product reviews that we never got around to covering what I think is probably 2012's most important audio story: a recent research project that should augment the audio world's spotty understanding of how headphones should be voiced.

Monster has earned a rep for some of CES's flashiest press events, but this year, the company outdid itself with an event that was so heavy on celebs, strutting models, and co-marketing announcements that the products themselves seemed lost in all the glamor.

The video guys didn't stand a chance. Even with all the talk about 4K TVs, CES 2013 was a headphone show. There were so many new models introduced that it'd be impossible for anyone to see and hear them all. But I tried.