Bose

Whether you want to drown out the loud subway noise or the chatter of coworkers, the pricey but effective QuietComfort Acoustic Noise Cancelling headphones ($300–$350) from this top-of-the-line electronics brand is worth the splurge. Of course, Bose’s playground for the tech-obsessed offers strikingly simple speaker systems and home theaters as well as interactive in-store displays.