The strangest luxury speakers I’ve ever seen get a key audio upgrade

Vivid Audio describes its handmade Giya loudspeakers as "the world's most recognisable" – and with their shell-inspired shape and bold colours, it's hard to disagree. They look like they've been beamed in from another planet.

The Giya Cu upgrade is available across the Giya floorstander range, with key audio upgrades including a new copper-capped midrange drivers – hence the "Cu" moniker.

It's fair to say that the Giya speaker design is divisive, and that's entirely intentional. "The Giya range is a direct, deliberate challenge to every aesthetic and acoustic convention," Vivid says. But the strange shape isn't a gimmick – audiophiles praise their clarity and transparency.

Giya Cu speaker: key features and pricing

There are four speakers in the range, all available in the Cu edition. The baby is the four-way, five-driver G4 Cu, and the range-topper is the G1 Spirit Cu.

While the Giya Cu looks like other generations of Giya speakers, it has been revised with a lighter, stiffer enclosure that delivers improved structural rigidity.

There are those new copper-capped mid-range drivers, which were first used in the firm's flagship Moya M1, that promise to deliver clearer midrange and a more natural soundstage, and the Moya influence is also visible in the restyled grilles. There are also new, more accessible speaker connection terminals.

Inside the Giya resin-infused glass and carbon fibre enclosures, there are reaction-cancelling mounts for mechanical stability, super flux magnets for precise driver control, and tapered tube loading on all of the drivers for resonance control.

And whether you go for the huge G1 Spirit or the slightly less dramatic G4, the promise is "perfect clarity and precision in every note and breath".

Prices for the Giya range start at £30,000 / $34,000 (about €34,400 / AU$61,575), rising to £82,500 / $95,000 (about €94,600 / AU$169,325) for the Giya G1 Spirit before customisation. That may seem a lot, but the firm's flagship Moya speakers cost more than four times that.

The Vivid Audio Giya Cu luxury loudspeakers are available now.