There’s no better time to treat yourself to some new headphones or speakers than the holiday season, and we’ve got a great selection of personally tested devices that we think should make your wishlist this year.
Status Pro X Earbuds
Buy Now | Price: $299
For that special person in your life who is in desperate need of some new earbuds, you need to consider the Pro X buds from Status. These little guys offer some serious audio quality and some very impressive battery life. I’ve been rocking them for the last week and can’t believe how infrequently I have needed to charge them. The active noise-cancelling works so well that I don’t use it when I am on baby-duty. Luckily, they also support an ambient listening mode, letting me enjoy my music and podcasts without disturbing the sleeping newborn. If you know someone looking for an upgrade, especially if that someone is you, pick up a pair of Pro X earbuds and don’t think twice. (Austin)
Edifier QR65 Multimedia Speaker System
Buy Now | Price: $499
After furnishing my home office and building my gaming PC in the past couple of years, it didn’t ever feel complete until I grabbed a set of QR65 speakers. Now I no longer have to depend on headphones, or even worse, the built-in monitor speakers…. These beauties from Edifier sit perfectly next to my dual-monitor setup and even replaced my desk charger, thanks to their built-in 65-watt GaN charger with three USB ports! After spending a few weeks listening to all sorts of content, I can confirm that these things sound even better than they look. They even rival my wife’s much more expensive setup for listening to her music collection. The versatility of connectivity lets me have the speakers hooked up via USB to my PC, while still having the options to connect my phone via Bluetooth and even jack-in an analog device if I feel the urge. I also appreciate the fact that while the speakers have some impressive RGB lighting, I can essentially disable it and match the aesthetic of my office. (Austin)
Playdate
Buy Now | Price: $229
In a world full of retro-inspired handhelds focused on emulation, the Playdate still stands apart as a top-tier device, offering some amazing experiences. Don’t let the lack of backlighting or the black-and-white display dissuade you. While most popular handhelds in 2025 focus on emulating older games, the Playdate offers unique, original experiences. The system comes with a handful of games built in as Season One. It also has a dedicated marketplace with a ton of awesome experiences (read my review of Mars After Midnight), and now with the launch of Season Two, it’s never been a better time to grab a Playdate. (Austin)
GUNNAR Optiks Glasses
Fallout Vault 33 | Price: $99
Gunnar sunglasses have been on my radar for some time now. The one thing that got me to finally pull the trigger on them was the Fallout-themed sunglasses. Even though they are a bit on the pricer side, they are well worth the price, and it’s packaging and lenses reflect that.
One of my favorite things about these glasses is the case they come in. That’s because it’s meant to mirror a vault door, and it feels almost as sturdy as one, too. On top of that, it comes with a Vault Boy cloth case and a branded microfiber cloth to keep the lenses nice and clean.
As for the glasses themselves, they work great. I’m a big fan of having tinted lenses, and these offer a great way to not only look good but keep your eyes comfortable in highly lit areas. As cheesy as it may sound, they’re extremely comfortable to wear, and I often found myself forgetting I had them on.
What I really enjoy about them is that it’s hard to find fashionable gaming apparel, and the Gunnar glasses are just that. You don’t have to try too hard to make them go with any outfit, and they look great on their own. (Luis)
Diablo IV | Price: $99
I often spend a lot of time at my computer, either writing or playing games. By the time I’m done with either, my eyes tend to feel a bit strained from how long I stare at my monitor. So when I got the chance to test out Diablo IV, Sanctuary Edition, I absolutely loved it. Unlike the Fallout glasses, these ones are designed to prevent a lot of blue light from screens from hitting your eyes. These glasses make long writing or gaming sessions a lot easier now because by the end of it, I don’t feel like I need to reboot my eyes. What I especially enjoy about them is that even though they’re themed around Diablo IV, it’s not in your face about it. As a matter of fact, they’re subtle enough to pass as normal glasses and can go well with all sorts of outfits. (Luis)
Witcher | Price: $99
I’ve never really had much interest in anti-blue light glasses, mainly because I work from home as a designer so wearing glasses that change the way I interpret colors is a bit antithetical to my work. Lately however, I’ve taken on additional duties at my job and have been doing a lot more database management and web admin work, both of which involve a bright white screen blasting back at my eyes. So as you can expect, minimizing that has suddenly shot these type of glasses into my interest zone and I’m happy to say that it definitely helped a lot. It’s a bit jarring to get used to working while wearing glasses that throw a yellow filter over my vision, but I was able to spend hours at work, typing away in excel sheets, with way less eye strain than normal and will likely keep these on my desk for future use. The glasses themselves are my favorite type of gaming apparel style: subtle. You wouldn’t really know the glasses are for a game unless you knew, because aside from the tiny inscriptions of witcher spell signs on the side of the frame, there’s nothing to indicate it’s for a video-game. The stainless steel frame is clean and durable feeling, and the sides have this leather wrapping around them that adds a nice contrast to the steel, evoking Geralts sheathe and swords. It even comes with a spacious leather case, or a smaller fabric one that’s perfect for bringing on the go. Overall I was pretty impressed with my first experience with GUNNAR Optiks’ glasses and can’t recommend them enough. (Diego)
SANWEAR-GAMETYPE Earbuds
Buy Now | Price: $299
I’ve been messing around with these earbuds on and off since getting them in September, and I’m still pretty impressed with them. I’ll admit I have a general disdain for any “gamer-targeted” hardware that relies on RGB lights and flashy cyberpunk design over quality technical specs, but I think this is one of the few rare cases where the hardware is actually on par with non-gaming tech. I’ve got a pair of Google Pixel Buds Pro 2 that are my main earbuds for daily use, and over the last few months, I’ve alternated between the two. Calls came in perfectly clear on both, with folk commenting on how crisp I’d sound, and I’d never get any lag or audio cuts on the Sanwear. The only thing my Google earbuds have over the Sanwear is the inclusion of noise cancellation, but honestly, the audio quality is so clean on the SanwearI that I never really missed it when using them at the gym or on walks. They’re just a great pair of earbuds to use with a really slick design. (Diego)
