Blue Microphones has carved a niche for itself in producing reference grade digital mics for podcasters and professionals at reasonable prices. It is now ready to enter the headphone market too, with something different to the norm.

At present, the mid to high-end market is dominated by brands such as Beats, which aims its products squarely at a certain generation and those who consider headphones as fashion statements. Blue Microphones has opted to do things a bit differently. It has created a set of cans with an integrated analogue audiophile amplifier that cleans and refines digital tracks, giving a first-of-its-kind experience to the user.

Two 50mm fibre-reinforced dynamic drivers are employed in the ear cups that are sealed with tuned damping materials. And the amplifier has an output power of 240mW. It also has three control settings, with audio still able to be listened to when off entirely. There are also "on" and "on+" positions, which deliver natural, detailed sound and bass enhancement through an analogue low-frequency circuit respectively.

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The headset is rechargeable, with a 1,020mAh battery capable of up to 15 hours of playtime. In addition, thanks to the clever pivoting-arm design of the headband, the Mo-Fi headphones know when you have removed them so switch off when they are not on your head.

Even when the battery runs out, they will continue to play without the amplifier engaged.

"Until now, the only way to get a high-fidelity experience was to use expensive audiophile headphones tethered to a bulky amplifier - not the way most of us want to listen," said John Maier, CEO of Blue.

"With Mo-Fi, we’ve brought a high-end listening experience to the mobile world we all live in."

Blue Microphones' Mo-Fi headphones will be available soon from Amazon and other UK retailers, priced at £274.99. They come with a 1.2 metre cable with Apple iPhone and iPad controls, and a 3 metre cable without, for home use.