Doctor Who arrives spruiking branded headphones

You’ve seen headphones from celebrities before, so now prepare to see a pair from a fictional character, as the good doctor takes his TARDIS on a trip to overseas manufacturers to get a pair of on-ear cans made.

BBC is teaming up with American electronics company Massive Audio for something that basically takes a page out of the celebrity headphone catalogue and yet blends it with the fictional, resulting in Doctor Who-inspired headphones arriving in both the wired and wireless varieties.

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Going on looks alone, the headphones appear to be Beats clones with over-the-ear cups, designed with 57mm speakers that the company says have been “tuned for accurate sound reproduction” and featuring a foldable hinge so you can store the headphones easily.

With options for being wired or wireless, customers will be able to choose whether they want to be tethered to a smartphone or listening away from it, and with a microphone built into the either the cable (wired version) or headset (wireless version), you’ll be able to take calls, too.

Massive says the battery on these should be good for a good 30 hours, too, and is rechargeable through the standard microUSB cable most rechargeable headphones use, while dual 3.5mm headphone jacks on the headphones won’t just cater for wired listening on either model, but will let you plug in and daisy chain other headphones to your own, making it possible to link several pairs of headphones to the one source, similar to what we’ve seen from Monster in the past.

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It isn’t Massive’s first dance with Doctor Who, either, with the company builds speakers made in the image of two other Doctor Who characters in the past, with a TARDIS phone box speaker, as well as one made to look like a Dalek.

“Following the success of Massive Audio’s TARDIS and Dalek speakers, Doctor Who headphones seemed like the perfect next step,” said BBC’s Soumya Sriraman.

We’re not sure quite what these will sound like and have yet to play with them, but with the option of either a “DW” Doctor Who logo on the side or that of a TARDIS, and the band offering up the words from the TARDIS Police Box, as well as a Doctor Who-branded carrying bag, this pair of headphones feels more like it’s targeting the fan of the franchise and not necessarily a lover of audio.

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As for pricing, US pricing puts these cans at around $80 and $120 for the wired and wireless versions respectively, suggesting local prices of around $150-170 for the wired and $200-250 for the wireless.

Given what these are, we’re not sure that would make a lot of sense, though collectors might end up disagreeing. This is The Doctor, after all.

If you’re still convinced, expect to find the Doctor Who headphones at the BBC Shop in Australia soon, and we can only imagine also at the ABC Shop.